The Alte Burg is a ruined spur castle that only comprises half a bergfried and is located in the Lower Saxon district of Osterode in the Harz Mountains of central Germany. The name means "Old Castle".

The ruins stand on a hill spur between the valleys of the rivers Söse and Lerbach. Today the ruins find themselves within a cemetery. The castle ruins cannot actually be visited even though access through the cemetery is possible.

Of the old castle on a site measuring 40 x 60 metres, only a small part of the bergfried has survived. The greater part of the castle was used as a quarry and much of the stone was carried away. The remaining tower ruins were extensively repaired. Originally the round bergfried was 33 metres high and had an outside diameter of 15 metres. Its walls were up to 3.5 metres thick and it had 5 stories.

The castle was first recorded in 1153. It belonged in the 12th century to Henry the Lion. After his death, his son, Otto IV inherited it. Later he bequeathed it to Otto the Child. Other owners were Albert the Tall and Henry the Admirable. In the 14th and 15th centuries the castle became the seat of the dukes of Grubenhagen and was used as a dowager seat for the family. It was last lived in by Duchess Elisabeth who died in 1513. After that it fell into ruins.

Alte Burg (Osterode)

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Herzberg Castle (German: Schloss Herzberg) is a German schloss in Herzberg am Harz in the district of Osterode am Harz in the state of Lower Saxony. The present-day, quadrangular building has its origins in the 11th century as a medieval castle. After a fire in 1510 it was rebuilt as a schloss and is one of the few in Lower Saxony that was constructed as a timber-framed building. Because it belonged to the House of Welf for 700 years it is also known as the Welf Castle of Herzberg (Welfenschloss Herzberg).

Herzberg Castle stands on a wooded eminence (275 m above sea level (NN)) immediately above and west of the centre of the town of Herzberg am Harz, which lies on the southwestern edge of the Harz Mountains. A stretch of the River Sieber runs past the castle to the north.

The present castle is an enclosed four-winged building with a rectangular courtyard (40 x 58 m) and was rebuilt after a serious fire in November 1510. Since the new castle was completed in 1528 its basements have been made of sandstone. One wing has an upper storey of stone, while the upper floors of the other three wings have been constructed using timber-framing. Its access through a gate tower and adjoining barbican has been retained. The old castle and the inner courtyard of the new one are entered after passing through the two-story gatehouse. The castle tower, known as the Clock Tower (Uhrturm), was built in the eastern corner. Its three upper storeys are made of timber.

Originally the schloss was a medieval castle that was based on a hunting lodge built on the spot between 1024 and 1029. The castle was probably built at the behest of King, later Emperor, Lothair III, known as Lothair of Süpplingenburg.

In 1144, Herzberg Castle was given to the von Göttingen family of ministeriales from Bavaria by the House of Welf, who charged them with maintaining the castle and its surroundings. Previously, Count Hermann of Lutterberge had lived here, but he died in 1143 without any heirs who could inherit the fiefdom. The castle was first recorded in 1143 and, in 1158, it finally became a Welf allodial possession as the result of an exchange of property between Frederick Barbarossa and the Welf, Henry the Lion. Henry the Lion gave up estates inherited through his first wife, Clementia of Zähringen in Swabia. Since then the castle has been in Welf hands uninterruptedly for 708 years until the demise of the Kingdom of Hanover in 1866.

Empress Maria of Brabant, widow of Emperor Otto IV, made out a deed at the Hertsberg in 1218, thus the castle was an imperial residence for a short while. In 1279 the castle served as the residence for the widow of Duke Albert the Great. From 1337 to 1714 the castle was a ducal residence almost continuously.

In 1290 the castle became the residence of the Welf line of Brunswick-Grubenhagen, which was formed around this time. From 1486 the dukes of the Principality of Grubenhagen lived here until they died out in 1596. Thereafter the estate was transferred to the Welf line of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

There was a major fire at the castle in 1510. The lord of the castle, Duke Philip I, his wife, Catharine, and their son, Philip, were rescued at the last minute from the rapidly engulfing flames. The duke's shield bearer and the duchess's chambermaid died in the fire.

Duke George of Brunswick and Lüneburg lived in the castle until 1635 with his wife, the Landgravine Anne Eleanor of Hesse-Darmstadt. In 1629, the first Elector of Hanover was born here, Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

In 1714 the schloss was given up as a residence and from 1882 it was the seat of the district court of Herzberg. In 1900 a museum was established in the castle. Although the castle had survived largely undamaged by fire over the centuries, it suffered severe damage at the end of the Second World War, which has since been repaired. On the night of 4 April 1945, there was a mighty explosion at a nearby ammunition dump, where 40,000 kg of explosives and 8,000 mines had been stored. This blew the roof off the castle and, in the wake of the explosion, the museum was destroyed and probably looted. In 1947, further damage was caused when some nearby military bunkers were blown up.

Today the castle houses a small cultural centre with a restaurant, a museum and the great hall, which is used for various cultural events. The museum portrays the history of the forestry industry in the Harz, the castle's history and that of the Welfs. Other exhibition areas present the history of Herzberg arms manufacture as well as the work of Herzberg organ maker Johann Andreas Engelhardt. In part of the permanent exhibition there is a facsimile of the Gospels of Henry the Lion, a masterpiece of Romanesque book illumination of the 12th century containing the four Gospel accounts.



Herzberg Castle

Scharzfels Castle (German: Burgruine Scharzfels) is the medieval ruin of a fortification located east of the village of Scharzfeld in the borough of Herzberg am Harz in central Germany. It lies in a wood on a ridge about 150 m above the Oder valley. For centuries after its construction in the 10th or 11th century it remained an impregnable fortress. The inner ward is built on a dolomite rock outcrop about 20 m high. The castle was first captured after a siege in 1761 during the Seven Years' War and then blown up.

Of the fortifications of the former outer ward nothing visible remains apart from a well house. The lower or outer ward is now a flat terraced area with a tourist restaurant. From the outer ward a stairway, built in the 19th century, leads to the upper ward on the 20 metre high dolomite rock. The rock has an area of about 20 x 60 metres. This eyrie-like position with its vertical rock faces made the castle impregnable. The stone castle buildings were built on top of the rock or in gaps. According to contemporary accounts, there was at least a palas and a tower. Of the buildings and the defensive wall only preserved fragments remain that have now been restored. In contrast, the tunnels and rooms hewn out of the rock still exist, including the 15 metre long corridor that runs from the castle entranceway.

Several hundred metres away from the castle ruins is the rock known as the Frauenstein which was once an observation tower and an outwork.

The castle of Scharzfels was probably built in the 10th or 11th century and belonged in its early days to the Magdeburg archdiocese. It only became of historical significance through Emperor Lothair of Süpplingenburg who acquired it in 1131 and turned it into an imperial fort (reichsfeste). This purchase is witnessed by the same document in which the castle is mentioned in writing for the first time, as Castrum quoddam Scartuelt. From that time the castle was home to several lines of counts, including the counts of Scharzfeld who were named after the castle. After they had become extinct, the castle went in 1300 as a fief of the Principality of Grubenhagen into the possession of the counts of Hohnstein. After the extinction of the Harz-based line of the House of Hohnstein in 1593, the feudal castle and house returned to the House of Grubenhagen. In 1596 Duke Henry Julius of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel inherited the fortress. Later it passed into the possession of the Hanover line of the House of Welf.

In 1627 the castle was expanded, occupied by a garrison and heavily fortified. In the centuries after the construction of the castle no enemy power was able to capture it, despite conflicts such as the Peasants' War and the Thirty Years' War. In the 17th century Scharzfels became a state gaol. From 1695 Eleonore of the Knesebeck (b 1655) resided here, who came from a prestigious ancient Lüneburg family, albeit of the lesser nobility. She became the maid to Princess Sophia of Ahlden after Sophia's marriage in 1682. Between the vulnerable sixteen-year-old, Sophie Dorothea, who had married into the House Hanover, and Eleanor a friendly relationship developed, a sort of mother-daughter relationship, and she was a confidante in the extra-marital love affair of her mistress with the reckless Count of Königsmarck, serving as a letter bearer. The family of Eleanor of the Knesebeck tried again and again to initiate a legal process and sought in vain for a bail of 100,000 talers. The prisoner remained incarcerated in a tiny room, only being allowed to see an old nurse once a day. Her family eventually bribed the roofer, Veit Rentsch. As a result, Eleanor was freed in 1697 with outside help in a daring rescue action, being lowered about 20 metres down from the high castle rock, her body being tied to the body of her rescuer, who abseiled with her. Previously, he had made an opening in the roof of the room where the prisoner was held and hauled her out with a rope. Below, her brother waited with a handful of mounted men and carried them to safety. She traveled to Vienna, where she managed secure an imperial letter of protection and drove to Brunswick. In 1717 she died in a village near this city. From the family of her former mistress, she received 2,000 talers in support.

In 1761, during the Seven Years' War, a body of French troops, numbering some 6,000 men, appeared in front of Scharzfels Castle. They succeeded in forcing the surrender of the castle which had been defended by 40 gunners, 100 infantry from the Harz and 250 invalids from Hanover. When the defenders refused to give up voluntarily, the French attacked the castle with an assault and bombardment, but met with no success. As the result of a tip-off about a hidden path to the Liethberg a hill in the vicinity, the French were able to destroy the outwork at Frauenstein by shelling and then bombard the castle. After a ten-day siege, the garrison surrendered the castle on 25 September 1761. The capture of this hitherto impregnable fortress caused great jubilation in Paris. Their joy was dampened somewhat when it became known that the defenders were largely invalids. After only four days' occupation the French blew up the castle and withdrew when it became known that Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick was advancing on Scharzfels. Since that time, the castle site has lain in ruins.

Scharzfels Castle is no. 151 in the system of checkpoints in the Harzer Wandernadel hiking network; it lies on the Karst Trail and Harzer Baudensteig trail. The north face of the dolomite rock is used for climbing.

Scharzfels Castle

Plesse Castle is situated to the north of Göttingen in Germany, close to the village of Bovenden.

The castle was transferred in 1015 from the private estate of Meinwerk, bishop of Paderborn to the city of Paderborn. Since 1150 it is the seat of the noble lords of Plesse, who named themselves for the castle. Holy Roman emperor Henry VI traded Plesse Castle in 1192 for Desenberg Castle close to Warburg in Westphalia, but the trade was already reverted in 1195. In 1447 the lords of Plesse transferred their possession of Plesse Castle to the Landgrave Ludwig of Hesse and in return received it as a fiefdom. The explanation for it lies in the fragmentation of the dukedom of Brunswick-Göttingen. The leading noble families could not avoid being drawn into the ensuing conflicts. They therefore sought protection from a powerful liege lord. They found this protection and backup with another ruler, who was Ludwig of Hesse.

In 1536 the protestant reformation was introduced to the dominion of Plesse, which also comprised the surrounding villages. The house of Plesse became extinct with the death of Dietrich IV of Plesse in 1571. Landgrave William IV of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) then took possession of the dominion of Plesse, as this was his right as liege lord. Moritz of Hesse-Kassel converted the people of the Plesse dominion to the reformed creed in 1614. Between 1623 and 1624 he and his family took refuge in the castle various times. After a siege in 1627 during the Thirty Years' War the castle and the dominion of Plesse were ceded temporarily to the landgrave George II of Hesse-Darmstadt. In 1660 the castle was abandoned finally and afterwards served as a quarry for the residents of the surrounding villages.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe visited the castle in 1801. Subsequently to French occupation in 1807 the dominion became the Canton Bovenden in the Kingdom of Westphalia. After the collapse of Westphalia in 1813 the now Electorate of Hesse-Kassel retook control of the dominion of Plesse. In a barter between Prussia, the Kingdom of Hanover and the Electorate of Hesse-Kassel the dominion of Plesse became part of Hanover on May 1, 1817. Starting in 1821 first attempts to restore parts of the castle were undertaken, and between 1853 and 1864, on initiative of the ruling family of Hanover, it came to a complete restoration of the castle. The earlier affiliation of Plesse to Hesse can still be seen even today. The villages of the former dominion of Plesse still belong not to the Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Hanover, but belong to the Evangelical Reformed Church.