Wettin Castle is a former castle that stood near the town of Wettin

Wettin, Saxony-Anhalt

Wettin is a small town and a former municipality in the Saalekreis district of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, situated on the River Saale north of Halle. Since 1 January 2011, it is part of the town Löbejün-Wettin. It is known for Wettin Castle, the ancestral seat of the House of Wettin, ruling dynasty of...

 on the Saale

Saale

The Saale, also known as the Saxon Saale and Thuringian Saale , is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Franconian Saale, a right-bank tributary of the Main, or the Saale in Lower Saxony, a tributary of the Leine.-Course:The Saale...

 river in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, and which is the ancestral home of the House of Wettin, the dynasty

Dynasty

A dynasty is a sequence of rulers considered members of the same family. Historians traditionally consider many sovereign states' history within a framework of successive dynasties, e.g., China, Ancient Egypt and the Persian Empire...

 that included several royal families, including that of the current ruling family of the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

.

In 982, Dedo I (d. 1009) and Frederick (d. 1017), sons of Dietrich, count of Hassegau or Hosgau, received lands taken from the Wends

Wends

Wends is a historic name for West Slavs living near Germanic settlement areas. It does not refer to a homogeneous people, but to various peoples, tribes or groups depending on where and when it is used...

, including the county (or Gau) of Wettin on the right bank of the Saale. There is a legend that the family is descended from one Wettekind, but this can not be attested in any history. At least one reference claims that the castle was built by a descendent of Dietrich named Thimo.

That castle is a rebuilt ruin, used as part of a building that houses a school and other public institutions but other castles owned by the Wettin family, from the 15th century, still exist in Meissen

Meissen

Meissen is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albrechtsburg castle, the Gothic Meissen Cathedral and the Meissen Frauenkirche...

, and on the Elbe

Elbe

The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...

river.