Schloss Rochsburg

Rochsburg Castle (German: Schloss Rochsburg), which was probably founded in the late 12th century, stands on a rock spur, surrounded on three sides by the Zwickau Mulde river, above the eponymous town quarter in Lunzenau in Saxony. The medieval site and its division into the inner bailey, outer bailey and two zwingers is still easy to recognise. In its present appearance the schloss dates, however, to the Late Gothic and Renaissance periods. Its main construction phases date to 1470 and 1548; it is an important example of Renaissance architecture in Saxony. Over centuries the Rochsburg has formed the centrepiece in the Saxon district of Rochsburg.

Although a certain Gunteros de Rochsberg was mentioned several times from the 1190s, it is not certain whether the castle itself was built before 1200. Gunteros was first mentioned in 1195 in a Wettin document. The name of the Barony of Rochsburg appears several times in the records of the early 13th century.

In 1283, there is the first record of the burgraves of Altenburg as the vassals of the Wettins at Rochsburg. In 1296, the "castrum Burggravii Rochsberg" is named as the apparently preferred residence of Dietrich II of Altenburg.

In 1329, the castle went, through marriage, to Otto of Leisnig, whose descendant, Albert II, ran into financial difficulties and sold the Barony of Rochsburg on 10 March 1448 to Henry, Lord of Gera. The lords of Gera enfeoffed their newly acquired territory four years later to Zschaslaw of Schönfeld for 1500 Schock Freiberg groschen over a period of five years. Because he did not get his money back, Rochsburg became a Wettin amt and Zschaslaw of Schönfeld its Amtmann. On 28 October 1467 the Count of Hohnstein seized the Rochsburg in a coup de main operation. What motivated him to do so has not been established. For two years he remained there undisturbed before, in 1469, Electoral Saxon troops used the absence of the count to recapture it.

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