Plattenburg (castle)

The Plattenburg is a water castle in the independent municipality of Plattenburg in the German district of Prignitz in northwestern Brandenburg. It was first documented in 1319, making it the oldest surviving water castle in northern Germany.LocationThe lowland castle is located in Prignitz. Due to its picturesque location in a region of forests and lakeland, the castle was the summer residence of the bishops of Havelberg in the Middle Ages.HistoryThe castle was first mentioned in 1319, Bishop Reiner of Havelberg having purchased it from Margrave Waldemar of Brandenburg.In 1548 Plattenburg became the seventh Prignitz district. After the death of the last bishop of Havelberg, Busso II, the Elector of Brandenburg, Joachim II, who had recently converted to the Lutheran Church, had his son Frederick IV elected as Bishop of Havelberg in 1551.In 1552, the preacher Joachim Ellefeld burned the Wilsnack's holy blood hosts and was incarcerated at the Plattenburg. Elector Joachim II pledged the castle to his chamberlain, Matthias of Saldern. In 1560 he was given the castle and estate (including Wilsnack) as a heritable and personal enfeoffment.