In 774, Charlemagne donated land in the valley of Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines to the priory of Lièpvre. The grounds also included a mountain known as Staufenberg. In 1147, King Louis VII, then on a crusade, was asked to settle a dispute between the monks and Conrad III of Hohenstaufen, King of Germany, regarding the castle of Estuphin. It consisted of two towers, one belonging to the King and the other to the future Frederik Barbarossa. During the following decades the first tower became the Haut-Koenigsbourg castle, and the second remained a ruin. The monks never retrieved their land.