Today's Castle: the Marksburg

Of all the lovely castles you can see on a boat tour of the Rhine, only one still looks the way it did in the middle ages: the Marksburg. The rest are either ruins, or have been reconstructed.

The Marksburg overlooks the town of Braubach, just north of Mosel, Germany. The original core was built in the late twelfth century by the Eppstein family, important knights. They added on more over the years, including the early thirteenth-century hall.

In 1283 they sold the castle to Count Eberhard II of Katzenelnbogen, whose very wealthy family expanded the castle further; however, almost everything you see dates to before 1400. These days the castle is furnished in the style of the late 14th century. Some of what you can see in the pictures looks very good, but sadly the kitchen features these quaint bunches of dried herbs instead of skinned eels or goats' heads or something else authentically medieval.

A noble bedchamber. The castle even has a great legend. According to the story, the castle was originally known as Brauburg, and only got its current name later. The daughter of one of the Eppstein owners, Elizabeth, loved a handsome knight named Siegbert von Lahnstein, and the families approved the match. But as the wedding preparations were underway, Siegbert was summoned away to a war against Bohemia, and he was killed. Among those who came to comfort the young lady was a monk named Mark.

The following year, a man appeared, a knight named Rochus von Andechs who always wore black. He claimed to be Siegbert's cousin, and with Siegbert's inheritance he tried to claim his bride, too. The Lord Eppstein was in favor -- why let all those negotiations with the Lahnstein family go to waste? But Elizabeth could not warm to him. She felt there was something very wrong with Rochus that no one else in her family could see. So she turned to Brother Mark for advice. The young monk also thought there was something odd about Rochus and he prayed to Saint Mark for help. On the night before the wedding Saint Mark appeared to the monk and told him that Rochus belonged to the Prince of Darkness. (Above, the 14th-century hall.)

Brother Mark rushed to the wedding and burst in at the crucial moment. Ignoring the shouts of the assembled families, he ran forward and pressed his cross against the chest of the black knight. At this Rochus silently stamped his foot on the ground, which swallowed him. Brother Mark then told his story, and the castle was renamed in honor of the saint who had saved the Eppsteins from an alliance with the devil.