EHRENBREITSTEIN, a town of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine province, on the right bank of the Rhine, facing Coblenz, with which it is connected by a railway bridge and a bridge of boats, on the main line of railway Frankfort-on-Main-Cologne. Pop. Above the town, facing the mouth of the Mosel, on a rock 400 ft. high, lies the magnificent fortress of Ehrenbreitstein. The sides towards the Rhine and the south and south-east are precipitous, and the south side, on which is the winding approach, is strongly defended. The central fort or citadel is flanked by a double line of works with three tiers of casemate batteries. The works towards the north and north-east end in a separate outlying fort. The site of the castle is said to have been occupied by a Roman fort built in the time of the emperor Julian. In the i 1 th century the castle was held by a noble named Erem bert, from whom it is said to have derived its name. In the I2th century it came into the possession of Archbishop Hillin (de Fallemagne) of Trier, who strengthened the defences in These were again extended by Archbishop Henry II. (de Fene trange) in 1286, and by Archbishop John II. of Baden in 1481. In 1631 it was surrendered by the archbishop elector Philip Christopher von Soetern to the French, but was recovered by the Imperialists in 1637 and given to the archbishop elector of Cologne. It was restored to the elector of Trier in 165o, but was not strongly fortified until 1672. Between this date and 1815, the castle suffered many vicissitudes; it afterwards was reconstructed.