Possibly named after a local chieftain during the
Saxon Wars of Charlemagne, a
water manor house at the site was first mentioned in an 1129 deed. Temporarily held by the comital
House of Regenstein from 1330 onwards, it was rebuilt as a castle named
Schloss Hessen (
de), while the surrounding village arose in the 14th century. The estates were acquired by the
Welf dukes of
Brunswick-Lüneburg in 1343, then an
exclave within the territory of the
Prince-Bishops of Halberstadt on the trade route to
Leipzig. Hessen became the residence of the
Wolfenbüttel crown prince
Julius in 1560; his son
Henry Julius was born here in 1564. Large parts of the castle were rebuilt in a
Renaissance style with extended parks and gardens. Julius' widow,
Hedwig of Brandenburg resided here until her death in 1602. Duke Henry Julius had an organ built for the Hessen castle chapel, finished in 1610, which his widow
Elizabeth of Denmark donated to
Frederiksborg Castle in 1617. Elizabeth likewise lived in Hessen until her death in 1626. During the
Thirty Years' War, the village was plundered by both Imperial troops under Count
Gottfried Heinrich zu Pappenheim in 1628 and
Swedish forces in 1641. After the war, the Brunswick dukes used Hessen castle only sporadically as a hunting lodge. The decayed building had to be restored by the ducal master builder
Hermann Korb from 1726 onwards. By 1790, it served as the centre of a Brunswick
demesne. After
World War II, Hessen fell to the
Soviet occupation zone and became part of
East Germany in 1949. Located near the
inner-German border, the neglected castle complex fell into ruins and parts were demolished in the 1950 and 1970s. The remnants were secured and renovated since the
Peaceful Revolution of 1989. ==External links==