Marking Time in Marksburg Castle

Working in the Vineyard

After seeing all of the castles and the near vertical vineyards from the river, it was fitting that we got to go exploring. The Marksburg Castle sits above the town of Braubach and is one of the principal sites of the Rhine Gorge UNESCO World Heritage Site. Although it was never used as a royal residence, it served as a fortress protecting this portion of the Rhine River. Its butter-churn shaped tower makes it stand out from all of the other castles along the river. It is also the only castle along the valley between Bingen am Rhein and Koblenz that was never destroyed.



This castle began its life as a stone keep in 1100 built by the Eppstein family. A few years later they expanded it into a castle to protect

L to R: View from the castle, Cannons

Braubach and to reinforce the customs facilities. Since boats from northern Europe and from the Mediterranean used the Rhine to transport goods, it was common for customhouses to dot the river and for the towns to require tolls. Because folks didn’t particularly want to pay tolls or to have their goods pawed through at customhouses, forces from the castles upheld the law, making these folks pay fees and fines. Marksburg Castle was sold in 1283 to Count Eberhard of Katzenelnbogen; for the next two hundred years it was used by the family, who rebuilt and expanded it. In 1429 the Count of Hesse expanded the castle to house artillery and added the round towers. When Napoleon came to power, he gave the castle to the Duke of Nassau who used it for a prison and as a home for disabled soldiers. The German Castle Association purchased the castle in 1900, making it the headquarters for this group in 1931.

Although the Marksburg Castle is in use and has been restored to some

Left: Castle entry
Center T to B: Smithy, Kitchen
Right: Wine casks and steins

extent, they haven’t done much with the path that leads inside. If you wanted to invade on horseback, you’d have a really hard time – as did those of us headed to the interior. Once past the entry, the floors smoothed out allowing us to follow our guide throughout the parts of the structure that are open. Within the walls were a blacksmith’s forge and a kitchen; they looked a lot alike with their metal implements and their open hearths. Associated with the castle are several acres of vineyards, the produce from which were stored in large casks kept within the castle; the giant tasting steins make it evident that the castle inhabitants enjoyed their wine. Near the kitchen was the dining room with another small room that opened into this space – evidently if you needed to relieve yourself during dinner and you wanted to continue to be part of the conversation at the table, all you had to do was step into the toilet leaving the door open. The mind boggles.

L to R: Dining room, Toilet

There were other interesting rooms in the house, in particular the bedroom. The room, itself, wasn’t unusual, but the bed was. During the

Sit-up bed and trundle bed

time the castle was in operation, people believed that sleeping flat on your back could be fatal. The beds were short with the head area propped up so that your legs were fairly straight but you were semi-sitting, definitely with your head higher than your feet. On the woman’s side, there was a trundle bed that held a baby. From what I could tell, the room was hot in the summer and cold in the winter – not my idea of a comfortable place to sleep.





The creepiest place in the castle was the armory. Although I do like to

Armory

look at a well decorated piece of mayhem, along with the artist drapery of military ware, this room was filled with mannequins in historic suits of armor.  While these represented the change in armament through the years, all I could think about was how they all looked poised to move. And if they had, I’m sure I’m not the only one on the tour who would have been startled. After this room I was happy to be out in the sunshine and to see the castle gardens as well as the views from the top of the walls.

L to R: Garden bird, Anemone 

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