
This Napoleonic period saw the fortress being used primarily as a prison and a place for disabled soldiers to live. These owners had intentions of fortifying the castle, and among other things, they put artillery batteries in place and constructed ramparts.įollowing the breakup of the old German empire in the early 1800s, Marksburg Castle fell under the ownership of the Duchy of Nassau. The Counts of Katzenelnbogen went on to build Gothic additions in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, but when the last of these counts passed away in 1479, ownership of the fortress was turned over to the Count of Hessen and the Landgraves of Hesse.

In 1283, Count Eberhard II of Katzenelnbogen purchased Marksburg Castle in Germany. Next came the Lords of Eppstein, who constructed a Romanesque complex that had a triangle-shaped layout, though this was not to be the final renovation project.


Some scholars believe that the lower keep may have been constructed as early as 1117, with the Noble Freemen of Brubach serving as the founders. The history of Marksburg Castle extends back to the year 1231, at least in terms of when it was first referenced explicitly.
