Berleburg

Berleburg lies in the Rothaar Mountains beside the Odeborn. Its castle and settlement were recorded in 1258, and the place became a residence of the counts of Sayn-Wittgenstein. Great fires struck the town in 1488 and 1522, but it continued to develop as a centre of the county. In the eighteenth century Berleburg became a haven for religious dissent and a centre of the Inspiration movement arising from radical Pietism. The Berleburg Bible was printed here between 1726 and 1742. Tolerance diminished after Count Casimir's death in 1741. The territory passed to Hesse-Darmstadt in 1806 and to Prussia after the Congress of Vienna.