Hammerstein castle

[2] The ruins are situated on top of a hill on the east Rhine banks, south of the village of Hammerstein in the district of Neuwied in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

The place is known, among other things, for the story of Otto von Hammerstein, Count of Engersgau, who entered into a marriage with his distant relative (in the 7th degree) Ermengarde de Verdun, daughter of Godfrey the Captive, Count of Verdun, and Mathilde de Saxony († 1008).

Complications ensued between 1018 and 1027, involving Archbishop Erkanbald of Mainz and even Holy Roman Emperor Henry II.

His son Henry V, who dethroned him in 1125, also deposited these important insignia and ornaments of the empire at the castle of Hammerstein.

[5] Hammerstein remained an imperial castle until 1374 when Emperor Charles IV transmitted the feudal sovereignty of the place to the Electorate of Trier.