Runkel Castle

Runkel Castle ( German: Burg Runkel ), a ruined hill castle from the High Middle Ages, is located in the city of Runkel in the Landkreis ( District of ) Limburg-Weilburg in the state of Hesse, Germany.

Nestled in the valley of the Lahn River, the town and castle are, in a straight line, 3.75 mi (6.04 km) east of Limburg an der Lahn, 18.6 mi (29.9 km) southwest of Wetzlar and 37 mi (60 km) northwest of Frankfurt am Main. The hill fort is situated at 492 ft (150 m) above sea level and rises about 115 ft (35 m) to 131 ft (40 m) above the valley of the Lahn.

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 of 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 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 (County 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.

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