Büchold Castle

As part of the municipality of Büchold, the castle looks back on a long and eventful history. The Büchold hilltop castle ("castrum") was first mentioned in a document in 1299 as a monastic settlement of the Würzburg Johanniterhaus. A few years later, due to high debts of the Johanniterkommende, the property passed into the possession of the Counts of Rieneck and was acquired in 1364 by the Lords of Thüngen. For more than 200 years, it remained in their possession with the entire Büchold lordship. The Lords of Thüngen expanded the Romanesque castle complex into a magnificent Renaissance castle. With the House of Thüngen, the Lutheran faith also found its way into Büchold around 1540. In 1596, Dietrich Echter von Mespelbrunn took over Büchold Castle and lordship. He carried out a strict re-Catholicization of Büchold. It was the time of the Inquisition and witch trials, which did not spare Büchold either. The women accused of being witches were tortured in the castle dungeon and burned on the Galgenberg. Witness to the re-Catholicization is the parish church of St. Nikolaus u. Mariä Heimsuchung, which received its present form through Philipp Christoph Echter. From 1652 to 1749, the castle was then the feudal lordship of the families von Dalberg, von Greiffenclau and von Ingelheim. Towards the end of the 17th century, the Dalbergs brought Büchold to great prosperity once again. They had a magnificent Baroque garden laid out east of the castle, which lasted for over 100 years.