Rotenburg Castle

The Rotenburg castle ruin is the ruin of a hilltop castle on a steep, 620.2 m above sea level high hill in the valley of the Kleine Wiese between Niedertegernau and Wieslet in the municipality of Kleines Wiesental in the district of Lörrach in Baden-Württemberg.

Only a few historical facts are known about the castle; only minor remains of masonry, as well as ramparts and ditches to secure the complex, have been preserved. Nearby is the small castle Bürgle.

The early history of this small castle complex is still unknown; it was probably built only after the year 1200, as can be seen from the type of masonry of the core castle. It is possible that the ramparts surrounding the castle hill could also originate from an older predecessor building. The builders were probably the Lords of Rotenberg, a collateral line of the noble family of Rötteln. They were first mentioned in documents in the middle of the 13th century. After two traceable generations of the family, they died out with Dietrich V von Rötteln-Rotenburg around 1280. Before his death, Dietrich bequeathed all his possessions in his will to the Prince-Bishopric of Basel and the St. Blasien Monastery. However, the Rotenburg and its associated possessions, in contrast, fell to the Lordship of Rötteln and thus came into the possession of the main line of the Lords of Rötteln, and after their extinction in 1316, to the Margraves of Hachberg-Sausenberg.

Nothing is known about the end of the castle either; it may also have been damaged by the Basel earthquake on October 18, 1356. In any case, it was referred to as a ruin in the 16th century.