Ruine Nienburg: Remains of a Moated Aristocratic Castle in Germany
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Germany
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page6 sections
History
Ruine Nienburg is the remnant of a former moated aristocratic castle in Germany, in a forest east of Ostenfelde, a district of Ennigerloh in North Rhine-Westphalia. The castle belonged to the lowland type known as a Niederungsburg, a fortress built on wet, low-lying ground where moats and marshes formed much of its defense. It was newly built in 1422 as the episcopal fief Nygeborg, a fortified property held from a bishop or prince-bishop in return for obligations and loyalty.
Medieval ownership
The site was mentioned in the fourteenth century as “castrum tor Horst.” Ownership was held by the noble lords of Lippe until 1358, followed by a lord of Horst. Hermann von Ostenfelde possessed it in 1422, and Jaspar von Oer of Haus Geist held it in 1481. Lüdeke Vincke von Ostenfelde became its owner in 1494, followed by Anna von Landsberg, the wife of Fröndt Droste zu Erwitte, from 1510.
Through Anna von Landsberg, the Droste zu Erwitte family acquired Nienburg in 1540. Later owners included Johan von Drost in 1557, Dietrich von Droste in 1595, and Johann Eberhard Droste, who held it from 1622 to 1638.
Conflict and destruction
Johann Eberhard Droste lent money to Adolf von Nagel, owner of Loburg, to settle debts. When the loan was not repaid, Droste took Keuschenburg as a lawful pledge. Dietrich Hermann von Nagel, a relative of Adolf von Nagel who lived at Vornholz, challenged the seizure.
Dietrich Hermann von Nagel served as a major general under Christoph Bernhard von Galen, a seventeenth-century prince-bishop who exercised both religious and territorial authority. Proceedings were brought against Johann Eberhard Droste, who was found guilty. Droste appealed to the Imperial Chamber Court in Speyer, the supreme court of the Holy Roman Empire at that time, and the case was suspended.
Johann Eberhard Droste was arrested on 26 April 1675. On the orders of Christoph Bernhard von Galen, soldiers under Dietrich Hermann von Nagel destroyed Nienburg on 7 August 1675. In 1685, ownership of Keuschenburg and Nienburg was assigned again to Johann Eberhard Droste. On 1 November 1697, a relative of Christoph Bernhard von Nagel bought Keuschenburg and the destroyed Nienburg from the late Lord von Droste zu Nienborg.
A local legend holds that treasure lies buried at the castle, guarded by a giggling devil who rattles chains.
Remains
Ruine Nienburg lies beside a hiking path in marshy woodland. Its surviving layout centers on a main island surrounded by a double moat, with four outer baileys around the fortified core. A double moat consists of two separate water-filled defensive ditches, while a bailey is an enclosed area adjoining or surrounding the main castle core.
Keep and main island
The main island measures 22 by 15 metres and is enclosed by the double moat. At its center stands the five-metre-high stump of the former keep, the principal fortified tower used for defense and refuge rather than as the lord’s ordinary residence. The surviving tower remnant measures 6.5 by 8.5 metres.
Outer baileys and water system
Four outer baileys once surrounded the main island. They contained additional buildings, probably timber-framed, whose remains could still be seen at the beginning of the twentieth century. A larger manorial residence also stood within this outer-bailey area. Water for the moats entered the castle complex from the southwest.
Nearby sites
