Burgjoß Castle

The origins of Burg “Jazaha” on the Jossa river date back to the late 12th or early 13th century, when it was established as a Fulda fief. Instead of an initial wooden structure resting on piles and surrounded by a moat, a sandstone castle was built around 1160. In 1176, Fulda enfeoffed the Lords of Jossa with the castle and the court. In the 13th century, the Lords of Jossa settled on the Bergstraße, and their possessions were gradually sold. As a result, the castle and court changed hands multiple times. By 1326, the Isenburg family already owned a quarter of the castle. After the extinction of the Lords of Jossa before 1367, the complex became a Ganerbenburg (a castle owned by multiple families). Shares changed between regional noble families such as the Lords of Hutten, the Counts of Hanau, and higher-ranking nobles like the Counts of Rieneck and the Electors of Mainz. In 1451, half belonged to the Counts of Hanau-Münzenberg, the rest to the Lords of Thüngen and Hutten. The latter eventually acquired the entire village but sold all their possessions in the Jossatal valley to the Archbishopric of Mainz in 1541. Under Elector Daniel Brendel von Homburg, a renovation to a Renaissance moated castle took until 1573. Kurmainz used the castle as a Kellerei (cellarage) and administrative center. With the secularization in 1803, the Jossgrund came to the Principality of Aschaffenburg, later to the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt, to Bavaria, Prussia, and finally to Hesse in 1945. A forestry office has been located in the castle since 1814.