Vetzberg Castle (Ruin)

The ruins of Vetzberg Castle are located in the village of Vetzberg, a district of the municipality of Biebertal in the district of Gießen in Hesse, approximately 1.5 kilometers (as the crow flies) northwest of Gleiberg Castle. The ruins of the hilltop castle stand prominently on the extinct volcano of the same name, Vetzberg.

The upper castle of the hilltop fortress with its keep was probably built in the first half of the 12th century. It was first mentioned in a document in 1150. In 1226, it was then attested as Vogtisberg. This designation, from which the current name is derived, indicates that the castle was a secondary castle of the Counts of Gleiberg and was occupied by their bailiffs. From the middle of the 13th century, the complex was expanded with the construction of the lower castle.

Conradus de Deyrenbach (Konrad von Dernbach), mentioned in 1226, is considered the progenitor of the Dernbach Ganerbschaft, which was particularly significant in the 14th and 15th centuries and included not only Vetzburg but also the small moated castle (motte) Alt-Dernbach near Herbornseelbach. The branch of the family that had to sell Alt-Dernbach to the Counts of Nassau after the Dernbach Feud built Neu-Dernbach Castle in Dernbach, now part of the municipality of Bad Endbach, before 1350. The individual family branches sometimes called themselves von Dernbach, sometimes von Vetzberg (Voitsperg), with and without surnames such as Rode, Graul, Krig, Holzappel, Ruchschade, or Mul.

Over time, due to inheritances alone, up to 34 co-heirs (Ganerben) shared the Vetzberg property. Some of the Vetzberg co-heirs gained notoriety through unbridled robber knighthood, for which they used Vetzburg as a base. The castle was therefore besieged and destroyed several times, most recently by the city captain of Frankfurt in 1463. It was only when the "Eternal Landfrieden" (Perpetual Public Peace) of 1495 put an end to these activities that the last Vetzberg co-heirs left the now insignificant castle. The four remaining co-heirs sold their rights and possessions to the Princes of Nassau-Weilburg in 1765. The castle, which had become strategically and militarily worthless, gradually fell into disrepair.