Löwenburg

Mount Löwenburg (455 m), one of the name-giving seven mountains in the Siebengebirge, is located in the city of Bad Honnef. You have to climb a bit at the end of your way up to the top, but it’s worth all your efforts.

At the top

From up here, you have a wonderful view across the Rhine Valley and the other hills. You almost feel like the lord or the lady of the castle. See the fog lifting up there on the Löwenburg, and the splendor of dandelions and other flowers in summer. Moreover, you can visit the ruins of another medieval castle, also called Löwenburg.

Even on cold days a visit to Löwenburg is exiting, as long as the way up is not icy. On those days, I am grateful for my own sturdy shoes and windproof clothing. Poor people in the Middle Ages did not have all this. Above all, imagine a hard winter at the castle, with the wind whistling through the cracks and almost no heating.

Detailed article

Read more about Löwenburg Castle and its eventful history in the chapter on castle ruins.
Löwenburg Castle

The Count of Sayn’s castle Löwenburg

Count Henri II of Sayn had Löwenburg castle in the Siebengebirge built around 1200. In the beginning, the castle was small. At that time, a war for the throne of the Holy Roman Empire was raging in Germany between Otto IV of Brunswick-Poitou, favorite nephew of Richard the Lionheart, and Philip of Swabia of the Hohenstaufen family. As Cologne had initiated Otto’s candidature, the Rhineland was devastated. The Counts of Sayn stood firmly on Otto’s side.

Moreover, a bitter feud raged between them and Dietrich of Landsberg, a follower of the Hohenstaufen. Only the marriage between Count Heinrich III of Sayn and Mechthild of Landsberg ended the feud. This marriage brought the Count wide lands and the rise to the higher nobility, in other words he became a powerful and respected prince.

This position of power certainly saved his life when he was accused of heresy in 1233, which almost always meant death on the stake. Count Heinrich III succeeded in ousting fanatical inquisitor’s jurisdiction  and take his court to a worldly court that acquitted him.

German names
Löwenburg feminine in German, lion castle, or better: castle as strong as a lion. Indeed, the Counts of Sayn had a lion in their coat of arms. Löwenburg castle was a border fortress, built during a time of troubles, so they probably named the mountain and their castle after their heraldic animal, as a warning to the territorial neighbors.