Bödigheim Castle

Around 1250, the Rüdt family settled in Collenberg and received Collenburg as a fief. At the same time, the Rüden family had their ancestral seat in Amorbach (Templerhaus). A Wipertus Rude de Rudenau (Weiprecht Rüdt von Rüdenau) had extensive possessions on the Main between Miltenberg and Wertheim, as well as in the Walldürn, Buchen, and Amorbach areas. In 1285, Weiprecht donated a part of the tithe from Gönz to Amorbach Abbey. In return, the abbot of the monastery in Bödigheim and Bishop Berthold II von Sternberg of Würzburg allowed him to build a castle with a chapel in Bödigheim (on the site of the present-day castle). This permission was documented by the parties involved and several witnesses. The Bödigheim village church, which had fallen into disrepair due to lack of funds, was also restored by Weiprecht. In addition, he acquired a Fronhof with Vogtship in Bödigheim from Amorbach Abbey, in exchange for possessions in Gönz and Weckbach. The newly built castle had two residential houses, each inhabited by a branch of the family, who henceforth bore the name "Rüdt von Bödigheim". Both branches provided Mainz officials and castlemen at Wildenberg Castle in the 14th and 15th centuries.

The Swabian League destroyed Wachbach Castle in 1523, whose owners from the Rüdt von Collenberg family had appeared as supporters of Hans Thomas von Absberg. The war correspondent Hans Wandereisen created a series of woodcuts depicting the actions of the League's punitive expedition; see Wandereisen woodcuts from 1523.

In 1595, an expansion of Bödigheim Castle with a barn in the forecourt by Hans Rüdt is known. Three years later, he added another residential house to the castle. Hans died in 1601 at the age of 36 from a wound. His son Wolf Albrecht had to flee to Frankfurt during the Thirty Years' War. Upon his return, he found his castle and forecourt plundered and largely destroyed. He died during a visit to Adelsheim in 1644 and was buried there. His only son, Johann Ernst, who was only four years old, was sent by his mother Ann Maria, née von der Haydt, to the Count of Wertheim, whom he accompanied to Holland, while his mother skillfully managed the estates.

The line of the Rüdt von Collenberg at Collenburg died out in 1635; the Bödigheim line henceforth called itself Rüdt von Collenberg again.

After completing his studies, Johann Ernst returned in 1662 and, at the age of 22, took over the administration and reconstruction of his possessions. He is the progenitor of all living Rüden today and was able to expand his property despite the difficult circumstances. Later he became a knight captain of the Odenwald knight canton. With his wife Anna Christine, née von Adelsheim, he had 13 children. However, only two sons and two daughters reached adulthood. Two other daughters drowned together with his wife during a trip to Adelsheim in the floods of the Seckach, swollen by heavy rainfall, and were buried in Adelsheim. His eldest son, Wolf Ernst, took over the business in 1712.

From 1722, a baroque castle complex was built below the old castle. Since 1712, Bödigheim Castle, palace, and park have been in the unchanged possession of the Barons Rüdt von Collenberg; a civil law partnership manages the complex. In the 1990s, extensive renovations were undertaken and apartments were built into both castles. The castle area was converted for residential purposes between 2003 and 2005.