Oeslau Castle

Oeslau is a district of the Upper Franconian town of Rödental in the district of Coburg.

The historic core of Oeslau, today's Domäne, lies between the Röden and the Itz. The Röden flows into a mill stream of the Itz, the Wohlsbach, within the village area, and then into the Itz. There were up to four mills in the village.

The first mention of the settlement ozzelen, from which today's Oeslau developed, dates back to 1162. Chuonart Marholt de Ozzelen was probably the head of the settlement and was appointed as the first arbitrator in a dispute over the boundaries of ecclesiastical property in a document by Bishop Eberhard II of Bamberg by Hermann Sterker, Burgrave of Meissen.

The estate with a defensive structure was built on a medieval trade route from the Main valley to Erfurt and an earlier ford across the river Röden. Over the centuries, the defensive structure developed into a moated castle and finally a palace. Owners included, since the 14th century, the noble family of the Coburgs, who sold the property to the mint masters of Rosenau in 1451. In 1600, the castle and estate were acquired by Duke Johann Casimir for 28,000 guilders and passed to the princely chamber of Coburg as a domain. Nothing remains of the medieval structure. In 1632, during the Thirty Years' War, the village was destroyed. Reconstruction took about a hundred years. In 1848, a fire destroyed the moated castle. A new building in the Old German castle style was erected in place of the farm building.