The three villages have different endings to their names because in the past they had been divided among Prussia (Neuwiedermuß and Hüttengesäß) and the Grand Duchy of Hesse (Altwiedermus) which had different spelling conventions.

The castle and the surrounding town were first mentioned in a historical context in the year 1258, and other sources may refer to it as early as 1231.

The castle's earlier names, Raneburg, and also Roneburg, likely derive from the old High German word "Rone," which means a fallen tree.

One of the members of the Hohenlohe family, Gottfried III of Hohenlohe-Brauneck, sold the castle in 1313, to the archbishop of Mainz.

In 1476, the archbishop of Mainz, Diether von Ysenburg, signed possession of the castle over to his brother, count Ludwig II of Ysenburg-Büdingen.

In 1736 Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf took over the castle, and made it into a place of refuge for members of the Protestant Moravian Church.

After two years, the castle could not accommodate the number of people who came to see it, and the Moravians founded another congregation, Herrnhaag, on top of a nearby hill near Buedingen.