Trendelburg Castle

The Trendelburg castle complex is a unit consisting of a fortress, located at the highest point of the mountain, and a fortified settlement. The floor plan of Trendelburg Castle is trapezoidal. It was surrounded by a moat, now filled in, and a rampart. The well is no longer locatable. According to tradition, a spring was located in the neck ditch. The castle is separated from the houses of the village by a neck ditch carved out of the rock. A connection existed via a wooden walkway with a drawbridge. This led through a low gate into the castle courtyard. The mighty, 38-meter-high keep is integrated into the western wall. It has an escape entrance from the castle courtyard and a dungeon. Four machicolations served for defense. Three original loopholes are preserved in the western wall. The restored wall, adorned with battlements, is accessible. Opposite is the main gate, formerly accessible via a drawbridge. The current entrance is flanked by two corner towers. One spire is destroyed. The other tower is extended with a half-timbered superstructure. The gatekeeper used to live here, and the town prison was in the tower. Two other towers reinforce the corner points of the castle wall. In one, a privy, the castle toilet, can be seen from the outside. The roofs of the main building, called the Feste Haus (Strong House), as well as the three corner towers, are still covered with sandstone slabs. Three floors are developed. In the stair tower, still visible, there was a spiral staircase. An extension of the building, which served as an administrative and court house, took place after the Thirty Years' War, when Landgrave Karl (Hesse-Kassel) had additional floors added to the castle chapel. The oak staircase, which replaced the old spiral staircase, was installed during this time.

The originally Saxon territory was conquered by Charlemagne. Since then, it belonged to the Bishopric of Paderborn and until 1021 to the County of Warburg. A document in the State Archives Münster from the Liber Vitae of Corvey Monastery mentions Trendelburg, "drendelborch" in the 13th century. The Counts of Schöneberg ruled the area from Hofgeismar to Deisel until 1306. Konrad III von Schöneberg, 1249–1311, built Trendelburg Castle on a sandstone rock in an exposed location. Here, important trade routes crossed the ford over the Diemel. In atonement, Konrad pledged military service to the Archbishop of Mainz in 1303. Shortly thereafter, he lost his ancestral castle to the Bishopric of Paderborn in battle. In the peace treaty concluded in 1306, Trendelburg became a common administrative and judicial seat for the Bishopric of Paderborn and the Hessian Landgrave Heinrich I. The widow Maria von Schöneberg sold fiefs and hereditary estates to the Hessian Landgrave in 1429. After a long war with Paderborn, Trendelburg finally came into Hessian possession in 1465 under Landgrave Ludwig II and was granted town rights by him in 1472.

During the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), Tilly's army repeatedly stormed Protestant Trendelburg and burned down the town. The plague raged among the inhabitants. After the end of the war, Landgrave Carl extended the main building and converted the castle into a fortified hunting lodge.

In the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), French troops initially occupied the castle without a fight under Colonel Pereuse. A bitter battle against Duke Ferdinand's army, in which the castle was set on fire by mortars and cannons, led to the defeat of the 300 defenders.

Important offices such as the Rentamt (revenue office) and court were relocated in the 19th century. Thus, the castle lost its former significance. It served as the seat of the Prussian forestry office.

In 1901, the Adalbert von Stockhausen family, whose ancestors had been connected with the fortunes of Trendelburg for centuries in Wülmersen and the manor of Abgunst, bought the castle and established it as a residential castle.

In 1949, the conversion into a castle hotel began. A restaurant area was added between the west wall and the main house, and hotel rooms were set up from the first floor to the attic. A corner tower with a half-timbered superstructure at the main gate was converted into a wedding tower.

With the Brothers Grimm fairy tale Rapunzel, Trendelburg is a member of the German Fairy Tale Route. In Trendelburg's fairy tale and legend tradition, five different Trendula legends are known: "Origin of the Wolkenborst", "Kruko or the Magician of Krukenberg", "Trendula Creates Mountains", "Death in the Murder Chamber", and "A Prophecy". Other legends enrich the spectrum, such as: "The Night Raven", "Peas and Bacon", "The Diemelnix", "The Laundry Well", "Giants on Trendelburg and Sababurg", and "Stockhausen – the Wild Hunter in Reinhardswald".

Trendelburg Castle houses a hotel with a restaurant and an outpost of the Trendelburg civil registry office. Since 1996, the castle has belonged to Privathotels Dr. Lohbeck. Primarily, repair work on the castle wall and renovations in the main building have been carried out. The opening of the keep is planned. The castle courtyard is accessible to the public. Since 2012, the keep has been re-roofed according to historical models.

The so-called Rapunzel Tower with its half-timbered superstructure served as a backdrop in the 1958 Heinz Erhardt film "Vater, Mutter und neun Kinder" (Father, Mother and Nine Children).