Burg Rotenhan is a castle ruin about two kilometers north of the Ebern village of Eyrichshof in Landkreis Haßberge, Unterfranken, Bavaria, Germany. The castle is the ancestral home (Stammsitz) of the Imperial knight family Rotenhan.
History
The family Rotenhan has its roots with three brothers von
Langheim, cofounders of the Langheim Abbey in 1132. Later the name
“de Rotha(ha)” was used. In 1229, reference is made to a Winther
and Wolfram “de Rotenhagen”. It was an allodial holding of the
family rather than a fief. The door on the steps entrance belongs
to the late Romanesque-early Gothic time period. In 1323 there was
a siege by the Würzburg Bishop Wolfram Wolfskeel von Grumbach for a
year under the pretext of counterfeiting and breach of feudal
loyalty. After the conquest, the structure was destroyed, by the
contract of 1324 never to be rebuilt. The family of Rotenhan later
built their new castle, Eyrichshof, down the hill below the
castle.
Literature
-
Genealogisches Handbuch des in Bayern immatrikulierten
Adels. Band 13. Degener, Neustadt an der Aisch/Mittelfranken
1988, P. 567-578.
- Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Band 125, Adelslexikon,
2001, C.A. Starke Verlag, ISBN 3-7980-0825-6
-
Die Kunstdenkmäler des Königreichs Bayern, III, 15,
Bezirksamt Ebern, P. 197-201. (München, 1916)
- Isolde Maierhöfer: Ebern (Historischer Atlas von Bayern,
Teil Franken , Vol. 15). München, 1964
- Joachim Zeune: Burgen im Eberner Land, Ebern 2003,
Eberner Heimatblätter, 2 Volumes
- Bitha Rotenhan: Rotenhan-Häuser - ein Bilderbuch.
Bamberg, 1988
- Gottfried Frhr. von Rotenhan: Die Rotenhan. Genealogie einer
fränkischen Familie von 1229 bis zum Dreißigjährigen Krieg.
(Veröffentlichungen der Gesellschaft für fränkische Geschichte,
Reihe IX, Vol. 34). Neustadt an der Aisch, 1985
- Julius Frhr. von Rotenhan: Geschichte der Familie von
Rotenhan älterer Linie. 2 Volumes., 1865
- Siegfried Frhr. von Rotenhan: Geschichte der Familie
Rotenhan. Rentweinsdorf, self published, 1989