Barony of Bilstein
The Barony of Bilstein () was a dynastic lordship with extensive estates in the region of the present German states of Hesse and Thuringia and a territory of the Holy Roman Empire. History Wigger counts The barony probably began with Count Wigger I. He is recorded to have had extensive comital rights and estates in the Germarmark march on the middle Werra (the area of Frieda and Eschwege), at Hainich (Bad Langensalza, Schlotheim, Mühlhausen and Oberdorla) and in the Obereichsfeld from 967 to 981 AD. The fragmented estates of Count Wigger extended via Dornburg an der Saale as far as the area of Zeitz, where he is mentioned from 965–981 as the March of Zeitz. Along with the , the counts of Kevernburg, the counts of Schwarzburg and counts of Weimar, the Wiggers were a powerful comital family in Thuringia in the 10th through 12th centuries. Counts of Bilstein Starting in about 1130 AD, the Wiggers' descendants named themselves after their family seat, Bilstein Castle, which is located in the Höllental valley west of Albungen, today a village in the borough of Eschwege. This castle is estimated to have been built by them around 1100 AD. In this period they