Wallenstein Castle

The Wallenstein castle ruin is the high medieval ruin of a hilltop castle in the Wallenstein district of the North Hessian municipality of Knüllwald. The spur castle, presumably built in the 12th century, was destroyed in the Thirty Years' War and only parts of it remain today. The castle ruin is located in a small side valley of the Efze in the Knüllgebirge on a west-sloping mountain spur, 354 m above sea level. Above the castle lies the 474-meter-high Babloh mountain.

The subsequent construction was Neuenstein Castle, about six km southeast on a hilltop above Saasen, a district of Neuenstein. Both castles were located on an old road that led from Hersfeld via Homberg (Efze) and Fritzlar to the Kassel area.

The castle was probably built in the 12th century by the Hersfeld Abbey to control the western part of the Hersfeld territory, after the Thuringian Landgrave had established himself in Homberg and from there threatened Hersfeld possessions and rights. At the beginning of the 13th century, Count Albert V of Schauenburg held the castle "Waldinsteyn" as a pledge, after which he called himself Albert von Wallenstein from 1223. In 1250, he sold half of the castle and its associated property back to the Hersfeld Abbey. From this time on, Albert (I) von Wallenstein built the presumably more favorably located Neuwallenstein Castle (Neuenstein Castle), which was henceforth the family's main seat. In 1267, his son Albert II von Wallenstein concluded an exchange agreement with Abbot Heinrich III of Hersfeld to regulate the estates around the two castles, whereby Neuenstein Castle was mentioned for the first time.

When Albert II von Wallenstein died without descendants in 1284, the property fell to Conrad von Wallenstein, probably a brother of Albert I von Wallenstein. Conrad, who referred to Wallenstein Castle as his castle in 1290, thus became the founder of the new Wallenstein line. He no longer held the title of count, as in all probability his Schauenburg ancestors had already sold the high court "Ditmelle", with which the count's title was associated, to the Archbishopric of Mainz in the first half of the 13th century. Over time, the castle was pledged several times; for example, in 1332 it was in the possession of Simon von Homberg, who six years later returned half of it to the Wallenstein family. At the end of the 14th century, the entire castle was again in Wallenstein possession.

Thereafter, ownership rights changed several times. In the 15th century, the Lords of Elben had a share in the castle. In 1438, Archbishop Dietrich of Mainz had to hand over the castle to Landgrave Ludwig I of Hesse, as he had already gained patronage over the Hersfeld Abbey in 1432. In 1456, Hans von Wallenstein was enfeoffed with half of Wallenstein Castle by the Hersfeld Abbey. When the local Wallenstein line died out in the male line in 1521, their share went to the von Reckrodt and in 1529 as a Hersfeld castle fief to their heirs Hund, while the Hersfeld Abbey simultaneously and until 1730 also enfeoffed another branch of the Wallenstein with a castle fief in Wallenstein. The Hund held their Hersfeld castle fief until at least 1594. In 1559, the von Schachten, as co-heirs of the von Reckrodt, also received a quarter of the castle as a Hessian landgravial hereditary castle fief, which they sold to the Wallenstein in 1616. In 1637, the castle was destroyed in the Thirty Years' War by Croatian imperial troops. Since it was no longer useful for the Hessian landgraves, to whom the castle and the associated administrative district had already fallen in 1588 and the entire Hersfeld territory after the end of the war in 1648, it was not rebuilt. The Hund's share passed to the von Buttlar upon their extinction in 1660 and from them in 1695 to Landgrave Philipp of Hesse-Philippsthal. He in turn sold his share in 1700 to his brother Karl, the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel. The Landgraves pledged this part to the last Wallenstein until their extinction in 1745 and then confiscated it as a lapsed fief.