Rodenberg Castle (Ruin) (Menden)

Rodenberg Castle, also known as Rodenburg, is located in the area of the present-day city of Menden (Sauerland). It was a spur castle and the ancestral seat of the Lords of Rodenberg. Later, it came into the possession of the Archbishops of Cologne. After its destruction in 1301, it was not rebuilt. Today, it is a ruin.

It was built before 1244. It is situated on a mountain spur sloping to the north, south, and west, above the Hönne river. It was the ancestral seat of the ministerial family of the Lords of Rodenberg. This family held considerable feudal and proprietary possessions in the area of the present-day city of Menden. In 1272, the Rodenberger family acquired the Free County of Menden from the Counts of Arnsberg. Because they abused their rights, the Archbishop of Cologne, Siegfried von Westerburg, seized the opportunity to take possession of the castle and staff it with his own burgmannen. Already in 1262, against this background, he elevated Menden to a city, which, however, was temporarily destroyed again after the Battle of Worringen in 1288. Due to lack of money, the castle was pledged to the Count of Berg. He passed it on to the Counts of the Mark. Only Archbishop Wigbold von Holte succeeded in bringing the castle back under archiepiscopal control. Only a short time later, in 1301, the castle was successfully besieged and destroyed by Count Eberhard II of the Mark. Although King Albrecht granted permission for reconstruction in 1306, this never happened. The fortified city of Menden, with its city castle, took over the function of a fortress.