Meiningen Castle

The exact construction date of Meiningen Castle is unknown, but due to its strategic importance for the Meiningen March and royal estate, as well as a Werra ford, it is presumed to predate the year 1000. It is believed that a simple fortification already existed during the Hungarian invasions between 899 and 955. In 1008, Henry II transferred the royal estate of Meiningen to the Prince-Bishopric of Würzburg. The Würzburg bishops expanded the existing complex into a moated castle to protect this exclave. They appointed ministerial feudal lords from the lower nobility as castellan, including Gumbert von Meiningen (1168) and Otto von Meiningen (1240). In 1406, the Junkers von der Tann took the castle as a fief. Their increasingly hostile attitude led Bishop Johann II von Brunn to storm the castle and imprison the Junkers in 1418. During a citizen uprising in 1432, the people of Meiningen destroyed the castle and expelled the castellans due to their aggressions. Between 1509 and 1511, Bishop Lorenz von Bibra had the castle rebuilt in the Renaissance style.