Greetsiel Castle

Greetsiel Castle was the ancestral castle of the East Frisian count and prince family Cirksena. It was located in the center of the East Frisian village of Greetsiel in the district of Aurich in Lower Saxony. From 1490 until her death in 1522, the East Frisian countess Almuth Cirksena resided in the castle.

An initial chief's castle, the so-called olde huus in Greetsiel, was built between 1362 and 1388 by the East Frisian chief family of Cirksena. Originally, the family had its seat in Appingen, located two kilometers to the south. After the access to the open sea became silted up there, the Haro Edzardsna relocated the family's seat to the recently established Siel. With the rise of the Cirksena as the leading chief family, Ulrich Cirksena had a four-winged complex with a defensive tower built at dat olde huus between 1457 and 1460. On December 23, 1464, Ulrich was elevated to the rank of imperial count by Emperor Frederick III and was given East Frisia as a fief. Even after the relocation of the government seat to Emden and later to Aurich, the castle remained one of the most significant sites of East Frisian history. During the Gelderland Feud, Balthasar of Esens captured Greetsiel Castle in 1534 and kept it as a pawn for the peace settlement. In 1462, Count Edzard the Great was born here. Under his rule, the count's house achieved the largest expansion of its sphere of influence.

Wikipedia