Rodersen Castle (Ruin) (Wolfhagen)

Rodersen Castle, originally known as Roderikessen, was built approximately between 1180 and 1200 under the feudal lordship of the Archbishop of Mainz. Its primary purpose was to secure the interests of Mainz in the border region with the then Thuringia. Around 1231, the castle suffered its first destruction by troops of Landgrave Konrad of Thuringia during a feud with Mainz. Around 1240, the castle presumably passed as a sub-fief to the von Gudenberg family, who subsequently named themselves after the castle. Its final destruction occurred around 1261 during the Thuringian-Hessian War of Succession by Landgrave Heinrich I of Hesse. It then remained a ruin. Between 1960 and 1972, excavations were carried out at the ruin, now known as Rodersen.