Rüdenburg Castle

The Rüdenburg was most likely erected as a hilltop castle between 1050 and 1062 by Count Bernhard II of Werl. Its strategic location on the Römberg served to secure the newly acquired territories of the Werl counts and to control an important long-distance trade route. Under Frederick the Quarrelsome (1092–1124), the castle remained in the possession of the Counts of Werl-Arnsberg until it fell to enemies through an ambush. Later, the castle may have been divided between the Counts of Arnsberg and the noble lords of Rüdenberg. From 1132, Herimannus de Rüdenberg is documented as the owner, serving both the Archbishopric of Cologne and the Counts of Arnsberg. The marriage of Count Gottfried II to Agnes von Rüdenberg solidified these relations. With Konrad II von Rüdenberg († around 1261), the family reached its peak, but the division of the inheritance among his sons initiated its decline.