The castle was the center of a noble estate and is actually a manor house according to this definition, but due to its special significance in the history of the country and its once rich furnishings, it has been called a castle for quite some time. The house experienced a brief heyday from the end of the 16th to the early 17th century and was one of the most mature works of the Renaissance in Schleswig-Holstein. However, various alterations have changed the complex so extensively that the former shape can only be guessed at.
The estate has been inhabited and farmed for more than 800 years. The name Rantzau - or Rantzow - indicates an even earlier Wendish settlement of the area. The Rantzau family itself is not of Wendish origin, but the first knights who settled here took the name of their estate, as was customary at the time. The first known member of the family is Johann von Rantzau in 1226, who was a squire in the service of Adolf IV and was raised to the knighthood around 1235.[3] Johann von Rantzau was the founder of the various Rantzau lines, which became influential in the history of Schleswig-Holstein in the following centuries. The estate, which developed here around a small fortified castle with a manor house, remained in the possession of the family for more than 500 years. During these centuries, Rantzau did not play a particularly significant role in the history of the state and served as a seat for different branches of the growing Rantzau family.
The estate experienced a brief heyday under Heinrich Rantzau, who had the manor house rebuilt starting in 1590. Heinrich Rantzau was an eager builder and had already ordered numerous new buildings on the at times more than 70 estates of the Rantzau family. His other buildings included Wandsbek Castle and the manor house at Nütschau. The new building at the ancestral home of his family was one of Heinrich Rantzau's last buildings; he died in 1598. Until his death, he used it for occasional stays, but his headquarters was Breitenburg Castle. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the castle belonged largely to the Breitenburg line of the family. Christian zu Rantzau attained the status of an imperial count in 1650 and founded the imperial county of Rantzau in southern Holstein. In the course of this, the estate passed as compensation to Duke Friedrich III, who shortly thereafter sold the property to another member of the Rantzau family. In 1655 the estate passed again to Christian zu Rantzau, who had to pay a price of 64,500 Reichsthaler for it. His grandson Christian Detlev zu Rantzau was allegedly murdered by his brother Wilhelm Adolf zu Rantzau near Barmstedt Castle in 1721, whereupon the reigning Danish King Frederick IV confiscated the Rantzau property. In 1726, the sister of the two brothers was able to reacquire the Rantzau and Breitenburg estates, but she had to part with one estate again, having been financially hard hit.
In the following years, the estate experienced various owners who left different traces on the buildings. Friedrich IV sold Rantzau Castle in 1728 to Heinrich Reventlow from Lehmkuhlen, not far away, who went bankrupt in 1737 and sold the property as early as 1740 for 94,000 Reichsthaler to the Eutin Prince-Bishop Adolf Friedrich. The latter had the old Renaissance seat converted into a three-winged Baroque palace, among other things by adding the central building. Adolf Friedrich was elected King of Sweden in 1751 and sold the estate to his chief court marshal Jakob Levin von Plessen. Since von Plessen had no heirs - his children had all died young - and he was also in debt to his neighbor Count Heinrich Christoph von Baudissin, the estate was sold to the count in 1761. The estate then remained in the possession of his family for over 200 years.
At the turn of the century, the estate still owned 2,600 hectares of farmland. The land holdings had to be gradually sold off. For example, after the First World War, several leasehold villages were released from the estate. After the Second World War, the manor house had to serve as a refugee camp and took in more than 170 people, some of whom lived there until 1960. In 1965, the manor house was separated from the estate and sold to the Majerholz family, and later the remaining estate land was also sold. The new owners set up a manor hotel in the house, but it no longer exists today. In 1976 and 1978 the buildings of the former farm were destroyed by arson.
The castle is privately owned and was sold to a new owner in 2009. A conflict arose with the monument protection authority after plaster was removed from walls and ceilings during exploratory work. According to press reports, the building has changed hands again, and the future use of the mansion is uncertain. It can neither be visited nor entered. The actual state of decay is documented by an expert report published on the Internet by the current owner.
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