Qualla: Berum Castle

Berum Castle: Introduction

Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Matthias Süßen at de.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. On 17 April 1628, a 26-year-old count and a lieutenant of the imperial army got into an argument at Berum Castle. We do not know the cause - some quarrel about quarters, perhaps, or rations, or a slighted honor. What we know is that the lieutenant's blade went into Count Rudolph Christian's left eye, and that within hours East Frisia had lost its ruler. The army had been billeted in the castle as guests. That detail matters: the dynasty died in its own dining hall.

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Image: Matthias Süßen at de.wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0

Berum Castle: From Chieftain's Seat to Cirksena Stronghold

Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dickelbers, CC BY-SA 3.0. Berum Castle first surfaces in the historical record in 1310, already standing, already serving as the seat of a chieftain of the Norden area named Syrtza or Sytze. Nobody knows exactly when it was built, or how long the Syrtza family had been there before the document referred t...

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Image: Dickelbers | CC BY-SA 3.0

Berum Castle: Renaissance Walls, a Swedish Princess

Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Matthias Süßen, CC BY 3.0. In the late 16th century Count Edzard II decided the medieval pile needed updating. He pushed the walls outward, dug new moats, and finished the renovation in 1591 with a spire stabbing up over the East Frisian flatland. After his death, his widow took over the project. Catherine...

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Image: Matthias Süßen | CC BY 3.0

Berum Castle: A Treaty and a Tragedy

Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Lokilech, CC BY-SA 3.0. On 28 January 1600 the Treaty of Berum was signed inside these walls, and East Frisia bought the Lordships of Esens, Stedesdorf and Wittmund from the County of Rietberg - a real-estate transaction that completed the county's territorial shape. Twenty-eight years later, the Thirty...

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Image: Lokilech | CC BY-SA 3.0

Berum Castle: What Prussia Left Standing

Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Tuxyso, CC BY-SA 4.0. Prussia took over East Frisia in 1744, and Prussia had no use for a widow's residence in the marsh. The castle decayed. In 1764 the main building was knocked down and its furniture auctioned off. What survives today is the front castle - a long brick range attached to the defensi...

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Image: Tuxyso | CC BY-SA 4.0