Gleichen

Gleichen is the name of two groups of castles in Germany, thus named from their resemblance to each other .

The first is a group of three , each situated on a hill in Thuringia between Gotha and Erfurt.
One of these called Gleichen, the Wanderslebener Gleiche , was besieged unsuccessfully by the emperor Henry IV in 1088. It was the seat of a line of counts, one of whom, Ernest III, a crusader, is the subject of a romantic legend. Having been captured, he was released from his imprisonment by a Turkish woman, who returned with him to Germany and became his wife, a papal dispensation allowing him to live with two wives at the same time . After belonging to the elector of Mainz the castle became the property of Prussia in 1803. The second castle is called Mühlburg . This existed as early as 704 and was besieged by Henry IV in 1087. It came into the hands of Prussia in 1803. The third castle, Wachsenburg , was still inhabited in 1911 and contained a collection of weapons and pictures belonging to its owner, the duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, whose family obtained possession of it in 1368. It was built about 935 .

Wikipedia