Waldeck Castle (Ruin) (Lorch)

Waldeck Castle is a castle ruin near Lorch in the Rheingau-Taunus district. It is located in the Rheingau above the Tiefenbach in a northern side valley of the Wisper.

Waldeck Castle was a Mainz border fortress to secure the Rheingau Gebück, opposite Sauerburg and Sauerthal.

The founding of the castle in the 12th century is not documented; a Wolfricus de Waldeckken is first mentioned in a document in 1147. Presumably, he was a noble free man or ministerialis who named himself after Waldeck Castle. The castle became a Mainz open house on June 24, 1315. By the 13th century at the latest, various families lived in the castle, distinguishable by their surnames (Ganerbenburg). Among others, the Marshals of Waldeck, the Waldbott of Waldeck, and the Stumpf of Waldeck can be identified. Coexistence was precisely regulated in a castle peace treaty. Due to the legal form of the Ganerbenburg, the shape of the castle also developed in a special way. Each co-owner built their own castle house, in which they lived with their family (compare Eltz Castle). In the 18th century, the castle was granted as a fief, but it fell into disrepair in the 17th to 18th centuries, after which it was demolished.