Feldeck Castle

The former Feldeck Castle was a fortification built in the Middle Ages at the entrance to the Felda Valley in the Dietlas district of the municipality of Dorndorf in the Wartburg district of Thuringia.

The structural remains of the mighty moated castle are located in the north of the historic village of Dietlas, about two kilometers south of Dorndorf. The original complex is in a protected location in the middle of the Felda river plain, which was incorporated into the castle's fortifications by weirs in the Middle Ages.

To protect its numerous possessions in Dorndorf, Feldeck Castle was built by Hersfeld Abbey in the High Middle Ages. It was a sister castle to Krayenburg, which was also owned by Hersfeld Abbey on the other side of the Werra. The dynasts of Frankenstein are again to be named as the castle's bailiffs; they had transferred the castle to Buchonian ministerials, the knights Dietzel and Johann von Taft in Großentaft. With the sale of their possessions in 1330 (Frankenstein sales letter), this castle also passed to the Counts of Henneberg. In 1376, Werner and Wetzilo von Bennhausen are mentioned as castlemen at Feldeck, followed in 1423 by Georg von Buchenau, son-in-law of Wetzilo von Bennhausen. The family of the Knights of Buchenau, after decades of dispute, broke away from their liege lords, the Counts of Henneberg, in a feud and switched to the side of the Landgraves of Thuringia. The Hennebergs therefore handed over the castle to the Knight von Prasser in 1487 and to the Lords von Wechmar in 1506. At the beginning of the 16th century, it was entrusted to their bailiff of Schmalkalden, Knight Rudolph von Boyneburgk at Gerstungen Castle, who was also simultaneously the pledge owner of the adjacent Amt Frauensee with Krayenburg. During the Peasants' War, the Werra Heap formed and marched through the Felda Valley in 1525 to the cities of Salzungen, Vacha, and Kaltennordheim. The commanders and garrisons of the castles usually surrendered without a fight, as was also noted at Feldeck Castle.

In 1533, the Knights of Hanstein are mentioned as being in possession (pledge possession?) of the castle. Melchior Rudolf von Boyneburgk sold Feldeck Castle with Dietlas in 1622 to the bailiff of Lichtenberg, Hans Melchior von Buttlar. From 1600, extensive renovations and alterations began, changing the main building of the castle, originally probably a square residential tower. During the Thirty Years' War, Feldeck Castle is also said to have been plundered; the manor house was set on fire. In the 17th century, the estate adjacent to the west of the castle was rebuilt, and the moat was probably partially filled in at that time.

In the 19th century, Feldeck Castle had been upgraded by Max von Buttlar into a residential castle with numerous antiques. The castle remained in the family possession of the Buttlars until its expropriation in 1945 and was reacquired by this family after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Shortly after the expropriation, the keep and the gatehouse are said to have been demolished. During the GDR era, the castle was used as a children's sanatorium. The farm buildings of the estate were irrelevant and were gradually demolished.