Reichenbach Castle (Ruin) (Lichtenau)

The origins of the complex date back to the 5th century, when the Chatti built a rampart here. From around 750 to 1219, the fortified mountain was likely owned by the Counts Gozmar, who established a castle there in the mid-11th century and called themselves Counts of Reichenbach from 1089. In 1207, the Counts of Reichenbach-Wegebach-Ziegenhain donated the monastery complex and its associated property to the Teutonic Order. Through the marriage of Frederick, a Ludovingian landgrave's son, with the heiress Luitgard of Ziegenhain-Reichenbach in 1185, the castle came into the possession of the Ludovingians. This led to conflicts with the Archbishop of Mainz, who acquired half of the castle in 1189/90. The castle was repeatedly the scene of conflicts, for example around 1220 and 1225. In the Thuringian-Hessian War of Succession in 1249, troops conquered the castle for the later Landgrave Heinrich of Hesse. Thereafter, it remained Hessian but was pledged multiple times.