Gendtburg Castle

**Location**
 **Founder**

*Gendtburg Castle* (*Gendtburgcasteel* in Tarajani Dutch) is the most important castle of the County of Edeland, and the seat of its ruling house, House Van Gendt. It is deemed to be the most beautiful castle of the whole East Tarajan, and some have moved further to say it is one of the most beautiful castles ever built in Esamir.

## History

The first fortification ever built on the hill over Gendtburg was a stone tower, extreme outpost of the Saxon Knights in those lands, built at the end of the XIV, when the Sixty Years War was slowly reaching its land and the Order's lands were extended further north. Its firt castellan and builder was Ottokar Von Strasse, who held it for more then a whole decade with the title of Komtur, before being promoted to Meister in 1405. Von Strasse is best remembered as the man who ended the decades-long conflict with the Sinaitic and Planitan tribes; but he was also a great builder of castles, true symbols of the new hegemony imposed by the Order over the newly conquered territories. Gendtburg and its castle became one of the pillars of this new regime.

The original tower saw more and more modifications and extensions during the following years: between 1423 and 1430 two new fabrics were added, in order to host a more numerous garrison of knights. In 1445 this garrison had to resist an assault by three Planitan tribes, which lasted for almost three months: Gendtburg was razed to the ground, but the castle (where the population had seek refuge) held, and it was finally relieved by an Order's army hastily sent up north by Meister Ulrich II Von Bergenfort. The castle began to gradually loose its military importance during the following decades, thanks to the wavering threat of further Planitan raids, but it was still attacked in 1462, this time however by a far different foe: a combined Ajanic-Saxon army. These were indeed the years of the so-called Gotteburg War, which saw a coalition of cities of the Middensteden allies itself with different minor houses of ministeriales (lesser knights), vassals of the Order, rising against Saxon rule. In 1461, the rebels even sent a call for help to Astana, from where Shah Kalihaan II moved to their rescue, in what was to be the last major Ajanic expedition to the east. The castle fell after seven months of siege, but its garrison received a safe-conduct by the Shah, in sign of respect for their valor. Gendtburg was subsequently retaken by the Knights in 1467.

During the final decades of the XV century the castle was assigned again to a Komtur, and the following century didn't see any event of importance. However, the castle was continuously embellished in order to mirror its administrative role.

In 1595, Gendtburg, its castle, and the surrounding lands were assigned for the first time to a Landgrave, a noble not belonging to the Knights, but vassal of the Order, in the wake of the process generally known as the Order Devolutions. The first Landgrave of Gendtburg was Karl Von Husse, and his House kept the title for more than twenty years. He built the new exterios walls of the castle, following the most recent developments of military architecture, and making it able to resist even the most modern firearms and cannons. During the same period the Order, in full decadence, and now without any support from the Aloian mainland after the Reformation had brought an end to the Saxon Order, lost more and more of its direct power over the lands once taken from the Planitans and the Sinaics. In 1610 it pledged its loyalty to the Kingdom of Tarajan, in an attempt to preserve its dominions against increasing pressure from the north (Planitans) and the south (Antanares). Taking the opportunity offered by the new situation of peace at the western borders, Karl III Von Husse transformed the castle in a magnificent aristocratic residence, center of a little but prosperous court. After his death without heirs in 1637, the castle was acquired by one of his former vassals, August Van Gendt, a Tarajani emigrè of non-noble descent, who was able to rise socially thanks to his incredible administrative skills. From there onward, the castle followed the vicissitudes of this young noble House.