Lehen Castle

The castle's origins trace back to the early Middle Ages, when a Frankish manor stood on this site. Later, a moated castle was built, first documented in 1294 when Arnold von Kochendorf transferred it as a fief. The Lords of Kochendorf, originally vassals of the emperor, became impoverished and died out in 1450. The fief passed to the Grecken von Kochendorf in 1440. After the destruction of the moated castle in the Peasants' War in 1525, Wolf Conrad Greck I had the current Renaissance castle built on the same site in 1553. A coat of arms stone above the entrance bears witness to him and his wife Sibylla Greck née von Gemmingen. In 1606, Johann Philipp Greck sold the castle to Friedrich I of Württemberg, who planned to build a commercial port here. However, these plans fell through with his death in 1608, and the sale was reversed by 1615. The Grecken von Kochendorf owned the castle until their male line died out in 1749. Subsequently, the fief passed to Reinhard von Gemmingen-Hornberg. In 1806, the suzerainty passed to the King of Württemberg, who granted the castle fief to General Johann Carl Georg Freiherr von Breuning in 1814. He had the curtain wall removed and the moat refashioned in 1818. After several changes of ownership, the industrialist Karl Erwin Merkle acquired the castle in 1953 and had it converted into a hotel, which it remains to this day. Between 2001 and 2005, the listed building underwent extensive renovation.