Runkel Castle (), a ruined hill castle from the High Middle Ages, is located in the city of Runkel in the Landkreis of Limburg-Weilburg in the state of Hesse.
Location
Nestled in the valley of the Lahn River, the town and castle are, in a straight line, east of Limburg an der Lahn, southwest of Wetzlar and northwest of Frankfurt am Main. The hill fort is situated at above sea level and rises about above the valley of the Lahn.
History
As the hill had already attracted the attention of the Celts, it is probable they gave it its name: “Run – kall”, the Celtic word for “rock mountain”. In 1159, a Sigfridus de Runkel was mentioned in the documents but the castle was built a little earlier by a man with the same name, probably on the orders of the Holy Roman Emperor, perhaps Frederick Barbarossa, to protect the strategic pass between Weilburg and the southern side of the region. At the time when the castle was built, there was just a ferry. The bridge was not built until the Late Middle Ages.
Around 1250, a dispute over the sales and inheritance of the properties arose between Siegfried V von Runkle and his cousin, Heinrich (died 1288). In 1276, as a result of their quarrel, the cousin was driven from the castle. He went to the other side of the Lahn River, where he built the Schadeck Castle as Trutzburg and created the Westerberg line. Dietrich III von Runkel enlarged his Herrschaft in 1376 to the Zehnten (tithing districts) of Schupbach and Aumenau and built a more modern castle next to the original building. Dietrich IV (died after 1462), by marrying Anastasia the Wied-Isenburg heiress, gained the Grafschaft of Wied, started the Wied – Runkel line and increased his influence in his region. In 1440, the building of the stone bridge over the Lahn River was commissioned but, because of a dispute over the proceeds from the duties and tolls, it was not finished until 1448. In 1543 Philipp Melanchthon, the Protestant reformer, visited the castle as the guest of Count Johann IV von Wied-Runkel (died 1581), the nephew of the Archbishop of Cologne Hermann of Wied.
In 1595, a new dispute began over the castle, this time between the two lines, Wied-Isenburg and Wied-Runkel, and the County of Wied was divided between them. Wilhelm IV von Wied-Runkel was given the “Obere Grafschaft Wied (Upper County of Wied)”, including Runkel and Dierdorf, while his nephew Johann Wilhelm von Wied Runkel was left with the “Niedere Grafschaft Wied (Lower County of Wied)”, including Wied, Braunsberg and Isenburg. As a result, Runkel became the center of the Upper County of Wied.
During the Thirty Years War, in 1634, the Croats under the command of an Imperial General, Graf von Isolani, burned the city and castle of Runkel. The Upper Castle was left in the ruins while the Lower Castle was rebuilt in 1642.
In 1692 Friedrich von Wied-Runkel left to his grandson Maximilian Heinrich von Wied-Runkel the Upper County of Wied, especially enlarged with Isenburg, which had belonged to the Lower County of Wied until then, and the County of Wied-Runkel was born.
In the eighteenth century, the castle often changed its name and banners as the armies of various countries moved back and forth across the valley of the Lahn. The banners flew above the Castle for the Electorate of Hannover in 1719, the Electorate of Saxony in 1758, the Kingdom of France in 1759, and the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1796 (after a night-long fight with the French in the streets of Runkel). In 1791, the Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold II, raised the County of Wied-Runkel to the rank of principality.
Under the Treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine (German, Rheinbundakte), the Principality lost its independence in 1806 and went to the newly created Duchy of Nassau on the other side of the Lahn River. The Duchy had been carved out of the old Grand Duchy of Cleves and Berg (whose remaining lands went to Prussia in 1813) but it lasted for only 60 years before it was annexed in 1866 by Prussia. In the beginning, for several years, Prince Karl Ludwig Friedrich Alexander von Wied, demoted to a minor nobleman, was the administrator of the new District of Runkel for his superiors, the Dukes of Nassau.
But Prince Karl was one of the last two surviving male members of the House of Wied-Runkel. He died in March 1824, followed a month later by his childless brother, Prince Friedrich Ludwig. With the death of the brothers, the Wied-Runkel line ended, leaving the Castle to the Wied-Neuwied line and its head, Prince Johann Karl August von Wied, their father's third cousin.The father of the brothers, Prince Christian Ludwig von Wied (1732–1791), and Prince Johann Karl August von Wied (1779–1836) were third cousins because they were both the great-grandsons, respectively, of the oldest and youngest sons of Count Friedrich III "the Elder" of Wied (1618–1698).
Today, the castle is owned by Maximillian, Prince of Wied. However, he resides at Neuwied Castle. Runkel castle houses a museum, a chapel, an archive and the private wing of the owner's great uncle Metfried, Prince of Wied. The Upper Castle is still in ruins and inaccessible to visitors but it is still possible to enter the main keep.
The Sovereigns of Runkel
Lords of Runkel
c. 1159 : Siegfried I von Runkel, Lord of Runkel c. 1181 : Siegfried II von Runkel, his son, Lord of RunkelFor the descendants of Siegfried II, the second Lord of Runkel, see "House of Runkel", Genealogy.eu, a Czech-built website in English about the royalty and nobility of Europe through the Middle Ages. c. 1191–c. 1221 : Siegfried III von Runkel-Westerburg, his son, Lord of Runkel and Westerburg after 1221–c. 1250 : Siegfried IV von Runkel-Westerburg (died 1266), his son, Co-Lord of Runkel, Lord of Westerburg after 1221–c. 1226 : Dietrich I von Runkel, his brother, Co-Lord of Runkel after 1250–1277 : Heinrich I von Runkel-Westerburg, son of Siegfried IV, Co-Lord of Runkel, Lord of Westerburg c. 1270–1288 : Siegfried V von Runkel, son of Dietrich I, Co-Lord of Runkel, Sole Lord of Runkel from 1277 1288(?)–1352 : Dietrich II von Runkel (died after 1352), his son (or uncle ?), Lord of Runkel 1352–1402 : Dietrich III von Runkel (died 1402), his son, Lord of Runkel 1402–1417 : Friedrich III von Runkel (died before 1417), his son, Lord of Runkel 1417–c. 1427 : Siegfried VIII von Runkel, his brother, Lord of Runkel c. 1427–1462 : Dietrich IV von Runkel (died 1462), his brother, Lord of Runkel 1462–1487 : Friedrich IV von Wied-Runkel (died 1487), his son, Lord of Runkel, Count of Wied from 1454 1487–1505 : Wilhelm III von Wied-Runkel (died 1526), his son, Lord of Runkel, Count of Wied and Moers 1505–1533 : Johann III von Wied-Runkel (died 1533), his brother, Count of Wied 1533–1535 : Philipp von Wied-Runkel (died 1535), his son, Lord of Runkel, Count of Wied 1535–1581 : Johann IV von Wied-Runkel (died 1581), his brother, Lord of Runkel, Count of Wied 1581–1591 : Hermann I von Wied-Runkel (died 1591), his son, Lord of Runkel, Count of Wied (with Wilhelm IV) 1591–1595 : Johann Wilhelm von Wied-Runkel (died 1633), his son, Lord of Runkel, Count of Wied (with Wilhelm IV) 1581–1595 : Wilhelm IV von Wied-Runkel (died 1612), brother of Hermann I, Lord of Runkel, Count of Wied (with Hermann I and Johann Wilhelm)
Upper Counts of Wied
1595–1612 : Wilhelm IV von Wied-Runkel (died 1612), Count of Wied (Upper County) 1613–1631 : Hermann II von Wied-Runkel (died 1631), brother of Johann Wilhelms, Count of Wied (Upper County) 1631–1640 : Friedrich II von Wied-Runkel (died 1698), his son, Count of Wied (Upper County, also 1691–1692), 1638–1698 Count of Wied (Lower County) 1640–1653 : Moritz Christian von Wied-Runkel (died 1653), his brother, Count of Wied (Upper County) 1653–1664 : Johann Ernst von Wied-Runkel (died 1664), his brother, Count of Wied (Upper County) 1664–1691 : Ludwig Friedrich (died 1709), his son, Count of Wied (Upper County) 1691–1692 : Friedrich III "the Elder" von Wied-Runkel (died 1698), his uncle, Count of Wied (Upper County, also 1631–1640), 1638–1698 Count of Wied (Lower County)
Counts and Princes of Wied-Runkel
1692–1706 : Maximilian Heinrich von Wied-Runkel (died 1706), his grandson, Count of Wied-Runkel 1706–1762 : Johann Ludwig Adolf von Wied-Runkel (died 1762), his son, Count of Wied-Runkel 1762–1791 : Christian Ludwig von Wied-Runkel (died 1791), his son, Count of Wied-Runkel, since 1791 Prince of Wied-Runkel 1791–1806 : Karl Ludwig Friedrich Alexander Prince of Wied (died 1824), his son, Prince of Wied-Runkel until 1806, demoted to the rank of State Lord, with the titles of Prince of Wied and Lord of Runkel
State Lords of Runkel
1806–1824 : Karl Ludwig Friedrich Alexander zu Wied (died 1824), Prince of Wied, Lord of Runkel 1824–1824 : Friedrich Ludwig zu Wied (died 1824), his brother, Prince of Wied, Lord of Runkel 1824–1836 : Johann Karl August zu Wied (died 1836), his 3rd cousin once removed, Prince of Wied, Count of Isenburg, Lord of Runkel and Neuerburg (House of Wied-Neuwied) 1836–1848 : Wilhelm Hermann Karl von WiedFor the descendants of the last Sovereign Prince of Wied, see “House of Runkel", Genealogy.eu, for more details. (died 1869), his son, Prince of Wied, Count of Isenburg, Lord of Runkel and Neuerburg, 1848 dismissed, the sovereignty of Runkel lost 1995–present Henrich George von Runnacles.
Layout of the Castle
The castle consists of an upper or main castle and a lower castle.
The Upper Castle is in ruins since it was destroyed in the Thirty Years War but it is still walkable. At the highest point of the rock, above the existing structure, in the Lahn bridge (built between 1440 and 1448 ), is the keep, which can be climbed. Standing around the mighty ruins of the palace, the keep and another former residential buildings form the appearance of a shield wall on the Lahn side. At both ends, each tower is about ) wide, with the same height and thickness of the Keep. It is unusual for a castle to have three keeps so it can be said that the Runkel Castle is a rarity.
The Lower Castle, after the destruction of the Thirty Years War in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, was rebuilt and expanded. It now consists of two– or three-story buildings, one of which, shaped like an U, connects with the Upper Castle to form an enclosed courtyard. The other buildings, formerly used for farming, are located within a courtyard, which is surrounded by a circular wall. Unlike the Upper Castle, the buildings of the Lower Castle are well preserved and, for most of the time, still used today.
Legends There are two legends about the origin of the name of the Castle.
In 778, on the orders of the Emperor Charlemagne, a knight went to the Pyrenees to fight against the Moors but he was captured at the Roncevaux Pass and sold into slavery. When he returned, he built a castle and named it after his place of imprisonment. Hence the name “Runkel”. In the front of the Castle, the slopes were planted with the vines imported from Spain, because the pass is in Spain. Since then, they have produced a red wine called Runkeler Rote ("Runkel Red").
In 1136 the Emperor Lothar II, on his way to the Reichstag, stopped at the Roncaglii fields near Piacenza in northern Italy and, at these fields, a certain knight named Siegfried was given a high position in the imperial entourage. To celebrate the promotion, the Emperor bestowed upon Siegfried the nickname of “Ronkal”. Thereafter, the modified form of the name was passed to his family and to the Castle. As for the namesake, it is now called Roncaglia, a frazione (administrative division) of the comune (municipality) of Piacenza.
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