Dohna Castle

Dohna Castle
Burg Dohna
Dohna
Remains of the walls of Dohna Castle
Dohna Castle
Coordinates	50°57′05″N 13°51′14″E / 50.951514°N 13.853796°E / 50.951514; 13.853796Coordinates: 50°57′05″N 13°51′14″E / 50.951514°N 13.853796°E / 50.951514; 13.853796
Type	hill castle, spur castle
Code	DE-SN
Height	155 m above sea level (NN)
Site information
Condition	wall remnant
Site history
Built	around 950
Garrison information
Occupants	burgraves, nobility

Dohna Castle (German: Burg Dohna, Czech: Donin) on the road from German Saxony to Bohemia was the seat of the burgraves of Dohna. Of the old, once imposing double castle only a few remnants of the walls remain. The ruins of the old castle are located on the hill of Schlossberg near the subsequent suburb of the town of the same name, Dohna, in the district of Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge in Saxony.

Dohna Castle was probably founded around A.D. 950 by Emperor Otto I (936–973) on the Schlossberg hill on the site of a Sorbian fortification. This region around the Schlossberg had been a Sorbian settlement from prehistoric times. The name of the settlement was Donin, from which the castle received its name. The castle was the centre of the imperially immediate lordship of the burgraves of Dohna. They had the task of guarding the trade route to Bohemia, keeping the conquered Sorbs in check and protecting emissaries of the church.

Dohna Castle was first mentioned in the records in 1040 in connexion with the conflicts between King Henry III (1039–1056) and Duke Bretislaus of Bohemia. The Margrave of Meißen, Eckard II (1038–1046), probably held Dohna Castle as an imperial fief. Later, the castle fell under Bohemian lordship.

In 1076, the Duke, and later King, of Bohemia, Vratislaus II (1061–1092), was enfeoffed by Henry IV (1056–1106) with the Gau of Nisani. He ceded the Gau of Nisani with Dohna Castle to his son-in-law, Wiprecht of Groitzsch, who later became the Margrave of Meißen (1123–1124), as a dowry for his daughter. In 1112 Wiprecht of Groitzsch relinquished Nisani and Dohna Castle to Henry V (1106–1125). On recovering possession of the castle by Groitzsch in 1117, Bohemian supremacy was re-established. At the beginning of the 12th century Dohna Castle was destroyed, but then rebuilt by the Duke of Bohemia, Vladislaus I (1109–1125) around 1121.