Nidda

Nidda takes its name from the river that flows through the Wetterau. A circular moated castle was built here around 1100 by the family that became the counts of Nidda, guarding the roads that passed through their lands. In 1187 Count Berthold II gave the parish and substantial lands to the Knights Hospitaller, who established a commandery whose buildings shaped the town for centuries. Nidda was first described as a town in 1234.

The county passed by inheritance to the counts of Ziegenhain, and in 1333 both counties were united under Count Johann I. When their ruling line died out in 1450, the landgraves of Hesse inherited Nidda. After the town passed to Hesse-Darmstadt in 1604, its old moated castle was demolished and replaced by a Renaissance residence.