The fertile Bode basin had been settled since the
Paleolithic; the town's name may refer to
Anglian tribes which in the 2nd and 3rd century AD moved from the
Baltic coast southwards to present-day
Thuringia. A fortification at the site named
Osteregulon is mentioned in a 941 deed of donation, issued by German king
Otto I when he enfeoffed Siegfried, firstborn son of Margrave
Gero, with the surrounding estates. The castle secured a causeway across the Bode river, part of an important trade route from the cities of
Goslar and
Quedlinburg to the
Ottonian residence in Magdeburg. After Siegfried's early death, the area passed into the possessions of newly established
Gernrode Abbey. Merchants and craftsmen settled there, and a fortified town was laid out in the 11th century at the behest of the
Saxon counts from the
Ascanian dynasty. A parish church was first mentioned in 1206. Conquered by the Lords of
Hadmersleben about 1250, the Egeln citizens were vested with
town privileges; Otto of Hadmersleben founded a
Cistercian nunnery (Marienstuhl monastery) at the site in 1259. After the Hadmersleben dynasty became extinct in 1416, Egeln fell to the
Prince-Archbishops of Magdeburg who had the castle rebuilt as a summer residence. In the
Thirty Years' War, Egeln Castle temporarily served as headquarters of the
Swedish troops under Field Marshal
Johan Banér. Here he met with the young nun
Anna Margareta von Haugwitz, the later wife of
Carl Gustaf Wrangel, and became her guardian. Part of the Prussian
Duchy of Magdeburg from 1680, the demesne passed into
state ownership while Egeln obtained the status of an
independent city. The Marienstuhl nunnery was finally dissolved by order of the Napoleonic king
Jérôme Bonaparte in 1809. After the Napoleonic Wars, Egeln was incorporated into the Prussian
Province of Saxony by 1816. After
World War II, Egeln was part of
East Germany and the manor became a
Volkseigenes Gut ("People-Owned Property"). After
German reunification, the castle complex has been extensively restored. ==International relations==