Burg Lichtenfels

Burg Lichtenfels in the municipality of Lichtenfels, Germany, was established by the monastic community of Corvey in the medieval period.

The first fortification was raised in 1189 under Abbot Witukind von Spiegel as a hilltop stronghold to protect Corvey’s lands, but this initial structure was destroyed soon after its founding. The site was rebuilt in the years 1223 to 1230 under Abbot Hermann I, when the castle again served the abbey’s territorial interests.

On 21 July 1267 Corvey handed the castle over as a pledge to Count Adolf I of Waldeck. Armed conflicts in 1297 resulted in Corvey conceding full possession to Count Otto I of Waldeck. Documentary records identify the family Nymmes among the castle’s Burgmann families and pledge-holders, and from 1413 the castle became the long-term seat of a branch of the Herren von Dalwigk, who acted as vassals of the Waldeck counts.

A medieval settlement with a church stood in the valley beside the castle. That village appears in documents under different names: as Eisenbeck in a 14th-century record and again in the late 18th century, and as Ensenbecke in 1598. The modern village of Dalwigksthal was established in 1851 on the site of that valley settlement.

During the 16th and 17th centuries the Archbishops of Cologne, acting as Dukes of Westphalia, repeatedly asserted claims over nearby places such as Münden, Neukirchen, and Rhadern, producing prolonged confrontations. In the course of those disputes the castle was reportedly destroyed by the early 17th century. A partial rebuilding took place in 1631.

A substantial restoration was carried out between 1908 and 1914. In the 1960s the renovated castle served as a recreation home for the Anker-Werke. In the late 1980s entrepreneur Tan Siekmann purchased the property and undertook a careful restoration. The building then housed the company Biodata until the firm’s bankruptcy in 2001. Since 2004 the Siekmann family has lived at the castle, which also serves as the headquarters of the company Safe-com.