The Wiesenburg Castle ( or ) is a castle located in the Wiesenburg district of Wildenfels, Germany, on a hill overlooking the eastern shore of the

Mulde The Mulde () is a river in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Elbe and is long. The river is formed by the confluence, near Colditz, of the Zwickauer Mulde (running through Zwickau) and the Freiberger Mulde (wit ...

river. The castle protects the bridge across the Mulde to Schönau and Wildenfels.

Structure

Today's

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

arose out of a medieval castle, the construction of which probably began around the year 1200. The castle was first mentioned in a document dated 1251. The building was expanded in the 14th century. The only remains of the original castle are a part of the round

keep A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residen ...

, remnants of the castle wall, and a moat. Today's courtyard, with its

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

construction and the octagonal gate tower, were developed when the castle was reconstructed in 1664 after the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

History and owners

300px, Wiesenburg Castle, lithograph 1839 The first owners were the Vogts of Weida, who monitored the settling of the Kirchberg, Saxony basin and the Mulde area south-east of

Zwickau Zwickau (; ) is the fourth-largest city of Saxony, Germany, after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz, with around 88,000 inhabitants,. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ''Zwickauer Mulde''; progression: ), ...

. The inhabitants of more than twenty villages in the area had to pay

socage Socage () was one of the feudal duties and land tenure forms in the English feudal system. It eventually evolved into the freehold tenure called "free and common socage", which did not involve feudal duties. Farmers held land in exchange for ...

to the castle, for example, all villages in the Rödel valley. Later, the castle ownership changed many times:D. Zühlke: '' Werte unserer Heimat'', vol. 31: ''Zwischen Zwickauer Mulde und Geyerschem Wald'', Berlin, 1980 * 1350 the castle came into the possession of the

House of Wettin The House of Wettin () was a dynasty which included Saxon monarch, kings, Prince Elector, prince-electors, dukes, and counts, who once ruled territories in the present-day German federated states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The dynas ...

* 1412–1591 the castle was owned by the ''von der Planitz'' family * 1523, i.e. before the

German Peasants' War The German Peasants' War, Great Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt () was a widespread popular revolt in some German-speaking areas in Central Europe from 1524 to 1525. It was Europe's largest and most widespread popular uprising befor ...

, the castle was sacked by the serfs. Two years later, the peasants revolted again. Based on the time-imposed fines, one can calculate that 283 farmers must have participated in the uprising. That would have been almost all farmers of the estate subject to socage. * 1591 the city of

purchased the castle and the dominion * 1618 the Elector of Saxony obtained them * 1663 castle and lordship of Wiesenburg plus the city of Kirchberg were sold to Philip Louis of Holstein-Sonderburg * 1724 the lordship was acquired by

Augustus II the Strong Augustus II the Strong (12 May 1670 – 1 February 1733), was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1697 to 1706 and from 1709 until his death in 1733. He belonged to the Albertine branch of the H ...

, who turned it into am Amt * 1803 the

great hall A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages. It continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great cha ...

collapsed * 1864 the castle and dominion were separated, the castle was sold to the district poor law association * 1864–1911 the castle was in use as a poor house * 1911 the castle was bought back * 1945 the castle was publicly owned; many homes were created inside the structure. The farm buildings were used by the local '' Landwirtschaftliche Produktionsgenossenschaft'' (collectived farms, comparable to a ''Kolkhoz'' in the Soviet Union). 1990 the castle is privately owned again. It is not publicly accessible.

Legend

Legends tell of a secret passage which connects the castle with a "robber's castle" in the ''Kiefericht'' (a grove on the other side of the Mulde Valley).

Footnotes

Castles in Saxony Buildings and structures in Zwickau (district) {{Saxony-struct-stub