Harburg Castle (Ruin) (Haynrode)

Harburg was likely built around 1073/74 as a fortified counter-structure to Hasenburg and was first documented around 1120 as "Horeburg." It probably belonged to the Margraves of Stade and later came into the possession of Archbishop Adalbert I of Mainz. Although burgraves of Harburg appear between 1133 and 1148, it remained a ministerial castle without a larger administrative area. In 1139, it was enfeoffed to the Counts of Gleichen. A feud between Archbishop Konrad of Mainz and Emperor Barbarossa led to the destruction of Harburg in 1165, after which it was transferred to the Landgrave of Thuringia as a co-owner. Following the death of Archbishop Johann of Luxembourg-Ligny in 1373, warlike conflicts erupted, during which citizens from Duderstadt and Heiligenstadt captured Harburg and handed it over to Adolf von Nassau.