An older document about the second Norman invasion of 892 mentions a newly built castle into which the monks of Prüm Abbey fled.

Substantial expansion measures, making it more like a fortress, were then carried out between 1513 and 1540 by Dietrich IV, Count of Manderscheid-Blankenheim, Lord of Schleiden, Daun, Neuenstein, Kronenburg and Neuerburg etc.

This line of rulers held the castle and its estate until its dissolution by French Revolutionary troops in 1794, when the bastions were built as part of the expansion measures for artillery.

Its importance as a fortress is emphasized, especially during the Thirty Years' War (1618 to 1648), because at the outset it was repaired and stocked with munitions and then made ready to defend against Swedish, Dutch, Irish, Polish and French troops.

The castle is maintained today by Bund Neudeutschland (with its HQ in Cologne), as a Jugendburg and youth hostel, managed by the Krump family.