Wasserburg Dietenhofen

The water castle at Dietenhofen once stood on low ground surrounded by a wide moat. Built early in the 13th century as a simple tower, it became the seat of the Dietenhofen family whose name still marks the market town. After a fire in 1523 the ruins were cleared away and a plain two-storey manor house took its place. A round tower in the new building shows where the old castle walls once stood. The castle’s final summer came on 21 July 1523 when troops of the Swabian League arrived with ten thousand foot soldiers, a thousand horsemen and a hundred cannon. They burned the stronghold to stop Kunz von Rosenberg using it again as a refuge for his bandit raids. A coloured woodcut by Hans Wandereisen shows the blaze, the village houses beyond and the triangular courtyard framed by two massive corner towers. In the background another fire marks the fate of nearby nests of robbers. Today the manor serves as the Dietenhofen local museum. The plain two-winged building with its mansard roof and dressed stone corners keeps the memory of the water castle alive. Inside, displays tell the story of the Rosenberg feud and the Swabian League’s campaign. Outside, the old moat still curves around the grounds, and the village’s timber-framed houses look much as they did in the Wandereisen print.