Wittgenstein Castle (Bad Laasphe)

A castle at this location was first mentioned in a document in 1187 under the name "Widenkindigstein." It served the House of Battenberg to secure its influence in the region. A contract from 1190 between Count Werner I of Battenberg and Wittgenstein and Archbishop Konrad I of Wittelsbach of Mainz, which stipulated the transfer of the castle as a fief in exchange for payment, was not fully realized. It was not until 1223 that Archbishop Siegfried II succeeded in binding Wittgenstein Castle as a fief to Werner's sons. In 1238, the House of Battenberg was divided, with the castle and the town of Laasphe falling to Siegfried I, who thereafter called himself Count of Wittgenstein.