The Wiesenburg Castle (german: Burg Wiesenburg or ) is a castle located in the Wiesenburg district of

Wildenfels Wildenfels is a municipality in Germany, Landkreis Zwickau in Saxony. It is situated 9 km southeast of Zwickau. The construction of Wildenfels castle was begun before 1200 by the lords of Wildenfels. Between 1440 and 1706 it was a fief with ...

, 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 (with ...

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

Structure

Today's

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

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 (from the Middle English ''kype'') 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 c ...

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

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

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

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

History and owners

300px, Wiesenburg Castle, lithograph 1839. The first owners were the Vogts of Weida, who monitored the settling of the

Kirchberg, Saxony Kirchberg is a town in the Zwickau district, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated at the western end of the Ore Mountains, 11 km south of Zwickau Zwickau (; is, with around 87,500 inhabitants (2020), the fourth-largest city of Saxony after ...

basin and the Mulde area south-east of

Zwickau Zwickau (; is, with around 87,500 inhabitants (2020), the fourth-largest city of Saxony after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz and it is the seat of the Zwickau District. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ' ...

. 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 Feudalism, 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 excha ...

to the castle, for example, all villages in the Rödel valley. Later, the castle ownership changed many times:D. Zühlke: ''

Werte unserer Heimat Werte der deutschen Heimat (literally "Values of the German Homeland") originally ''Werte der Deutschen Heimat'' and, between 1970 and 1990 called ''Werte unserer Heimat'', was a series of publications by former East German Academy of Sciences at B ...

'', 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 () is a dynasty of German kings, prince-electors, dukes, and counts that once ruled territories in the present-day German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The dynasty is one of the oldest in Europe, and its ori ...

* 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 (german: Deutscher Bauernkrieg) was a widespread popular revolt in some German-speaking areas in Central Europe from 1524 to 1525. It failed because of intense oppositio ...

, 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; german: August der Starke; lt, Augustas II; in Saxony also known as Frederick Augustus I – Friedrich August I (12 May 16701 February 1733), most commonly known as Augustus the Strong, was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as Ki ...

, who turned it into am

Amt Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to ...

* 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, and continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great ...

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 In East Germany, a Landwirtschaftliche Produktionsgenossenschaft (LPG) (English: 'Agricultural Production Cooperative') was a large, collectivised farm in East Germany, corresponding to the Soviet kolkhoz. In the agriculture of East Germany, ...

'' (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