Ernsthofen Castle

The origins of Ernsthofen Castle date back to a Frankish settlement in the 8th or 9th century. An earlier farm, which was expanded into a castle between the 12th and 13th centuries, gave the village of Ernsthofen its name. The first documented owners were the Lords of Rabenhold in the early 15th century, who sold the castle and the village to the Lords of Wallbrunn in 1440. The Wallbrunns expanded the complex as the ancestral seat of their small dominion. After conflicts with the Landgraviate of Hesse, particularly during the War of the Landshut Succession and the Sickingen Feud, the Wallbrunns were forced to hold the castle as a fief from Hesse starting in 1521. In 1542, the village and castle were almost completely destroyed by a fire. Following further disputes and another conquest by Hessian troops in 1569, the castle was finally sold in 1722 to Landgrave Ernst Ludwig of Hesse-Darmstadt, who used it as a hunting lodge until 1770. In the 19th century, it served as an official residence for forest officials before passing into private ownership in 1923.