Kalsmunt Castle (Ruin) (Wetzlar)

The castle ruin of the old Imperial Castle Kalsmunt can still be seen today on a 256 m high basalt cone above the city of Wetzlar.

The old Imperial Castle Kalsmunt: According to Karl Metz, this castle/palace is already an early Roman foundation. For Zedler, Charlemagne built this castle around the year 785 to better keep the already existing city in check. It is said to have been named Carols Mons (Carlmund or Carlmont) by him. The imperial coins for Wetzlar were minted at the Imperial Castle Kalsmunt.

The explanation by J. P. Chelius from 1664 has not yet been refuted, who wants to derive the name from "Carolus mons" and assumes that Emperor Charlemagne had the tower built around 800.

The Imperial Castle was expanded around 1180 by Frederick Barbarossa above Wetzlar to protect the city and the position of the Imperial Bailiwick and to secure the surrounding Wetterau as imperial land.

Kalsmunt was an imperial mint, but no minting year is known. A denarius struck under Frederick Barbarossa shows a crowned figure enthroned on a folding chair with a lily scepter and palm branch and the inscription: Calsmund. The mint was probably not on Kalsmunt, but in the trading city of Wetzlar, and its origin can be dated to about 1160; an Arnoldus monetarius has been documented in Wetzlar since 1241.

In 1226, a person named Winterus von Kalsmunt is mentioned for the first time, bearing the name.

In 1252, the castle was expanded into a fortification. A number of castle men are mentioned in documents. In 1257, the city fortification of Wetzlar is confirmed by document.

In 1284, Tile Kolup appears as Emperor Frederick II. The population initially believes him, but soon distrust prevails, and he is first imprisoned and interrogated on Kalsmunt. On July 7, 1285, he is finally burned at the stake.

On June 28, 1285, an agreement is reached between the castle people and the city of Wetzlar not to harbor enemies of the city in the castle. The background of the agreement is the city's dispute with the Roman King, in which the castle remains impartial. The castle is never attacked.

King Rudolf of Habsburg appointed Count Adolf of Nassau as castle captain of Kalsmunt Castle in 1286. Adolf held the office until he himself was elected King of the Holy Roman Empire. Already in 1292, he transferred the office of castle captain to Gottfried von Merenberg.

The Lords of Merenberg were richly endowed in the area around Gleiberg Castle. After the death of Hartrad VI von Merenberg, the Lordship of Merenberg, and with it the castle captaincy of Kalsmunt, passed to the House of Nassau-Weilburg. They repeatedly used the castle captaincy as collateral.

Around 1500, the castle no longer had military significance; as an imperial fief, the fortification was entirely in the possession of the Lords of the House of Nassau-Weilburg. Count Philipp III of Nassau-Weilburg handed over the bailiwick of Wetzlar and Kalsmunt Castle to Philipp the Magnanimous in 1536. The? Landgraves? of Hesse became? castle captain of the castle. This was part of an extensive territorial exchange.

In 1609, the Landgrave of Hesse had the remains of the ruin recorded and measured. The oldest floor plan of Kalsmunt is drawn.

In 1740, the castle experienced a renaissance once again, as an expansion into a fortress was planned. However, this then failed due to cost reasons.

Since 1803, the castle has been owned by the city of Wetzlar.

In 1836, the "Wetzlar Association for History and Archaeology" under its chairman Paul Wigand had the ground-level entrance broken into the three-meter-thick wall of the keep. Access was previously on the first floor via a tower ascent building.

The Wetzlar city building authority initiated excavations in 1928, about which Carl Metz reported in Lieb Heimatland, 1928, Nos. 27 and 28.