Blankenburg Castle

Great Blankenburg Castle (German: Schloss Blankenburg) was built on the limestone hill of Blankenstein (305 m above sea level (NN)) in the town of Blankenburg in the district of Harz in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Nearby is the Little Castle with its Baroque garden, tea house and museum, the town wall, the pheasant garden, the castle park and the castle pond.

Around 1123 Lothair of Süpplingenburg had Blankenburg Castle built on the Blankenstein. Its suzerainty later passed to the House of Welf through Henry the Proud and Henry the Lion.

In 1128 Poppo, from the Frankish noble family of Reginbodonen, was given the county as a fief. His sons shared the county: Conrad received Regenstein Castle and Siegfried I, the Blankenburg. Siegfried I (Henry the Lion) did not return from a pilgrimage and left two sons, Henry and Siegfried II.

In 1181 the castle and town of Blankenburg were besieged, under the direction of Bishop Dietrich of Halberstadt, by imperial armies. Emperor Frederick Barbarossa took over the reins of power.

In 1182 Blankenburg was captured and eventually handed over for plundering. The brothers, Henry and Siegfried II went into captivity, but were given the county back again after peace was re-established. The castle was rebuilt and greatly extended.

In 1190 Count Henry took over the "agreed" estates of Regenstein and Siegfried II retained the County of Blankenburg, his descendants keeping possession of Blankenburg until 1343. Thereafter, the Blankenburg and Regenstein Castle went back to the younger Heimburg line of the House of Regenstein.

In 1386, according to legend, the Blankenburg was supposed to have been secretly looted in the night by Dietrich of Wernigerode, while Count Busso was absent. There is a carved head in the castle wall that recalls this raid.

Around 1500 Count Ulrich XI, despite serious debts, had the east wing knocked down and a palace-like building constructed. In 1539 Count Ulrich V broke away from the Roman Catholic Church.

On 19 November 1546 a fire broke out at night before the new building had been occupied, which destroyed large parts of the old castle. According to legend, the fire was start with dry kindling by the castle firelighter under the stairs of the old castle, after baptists had paid him with gold. The sleeping residents noticed the fire too late.

Text adapted from “Blankenburg Castle (Harz)” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Blankenburg Castle ranks #3,277 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #254 of the 505 mapped in Germany. Founded 1123, it is older than 85% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 564 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 3,692 times in the last 60 days, more than 79% of the atlas. 5 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Germany compares in the castle statistics.

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