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Der Fall des Zollern

A Historical Novel in Progress

At the beginning of the fifteenth century, the House of Zollern is ancient and respected, but financially weakened. Its ancestral castle towers above Hechingen, visible for miles around. Yet a conflict has long been brewing within the family—one that will eventually bring ruin not only to two brothers but to the castle itself.

Count Friedrich XII, known as the Öttinger, is proud, combative, and accustomed to having his way. His brother Eitelfriedrich also claims rights over the lordship and the castle. While Friedrich relies on personal loyalty, rank, and the power of his house, Eitelfriedrich increasingly turns to law, agreements, and more powerful allies.

The novel tells how family quarrels, debts, feuds, and wounded pride escalate into a conflict that ends in 1423 with the fall and destruction of the first Hohenzollern Castle.

But the story is not only about counts, towns, and political interests. It also follows craftsmen, fighting men, peasants, and women whose lives are changed by the struggle. Historically documented people and events are interwoven with fictional lives.

The novel is currently being read by test readers and undergoing further revision.

The Story

The story begins in 1416. Friedrich orders an attack on Dietingen, a village within Rottweil’s sphere of influence. The town of Rottweil pursues his men and has prisoners executed as robbers. Friedrich sees this as an assault on his honor and his rights. A cycle of retaliation and enmity begins.

At the same time, the quarrel with his brother Eitelfriedrich grows more bitter. Debts and property are at stake, but so is a more fundamental question: Who is truly master of the Zollern?

Both brothers can point to legal claims. Yet legal rights, actual power, and personal recognition drift ever farther apart. Friedrich even loses his ancestral castle for a time, later regains it, and becomes all the more determined never to surrender it again.

When the Imperial Cities, Württemberg, and other opponents join forces against him in 1422, the siege of Zollern begins. The castle holds out for almost a year.

Inside, men such as the historically documented Merloch von Dettlingen and the young Heinrich struggle to keep the garrison alive. The stonemason Konrad and Matthis work tirelessly to repair the walls and defenses. In the besiegers‘ camp, other characters experience the same war from a very different perspective.

As the siege wears on, one thing becomes increasingly clear: artillery alone will not decide the outcome. Hunger, exhaustion, political isolation, and the question of whom people can still trust matter just as much.

Friedrich and Verena

Friedrich’s private life, too, begins to unravel during these years.

His marriage to Anna von Sulz is childless and has long been troubled. Friedrich’s restless, violent way of life and his pride have created a distance between them, deepened still further by the quarrel between the brothers.

In Mössingen, Friedrich meets another woman.

Historical sources record that the count had a lover from Mössingen, but her name is unknown. In the novel, she is called Verena. She is close to Friedrich not because of his rank, but because she sees, behind the quarrelsome count, a man who needs warmth and trust as much as anyone else.

At first, their relationship remains sheltered from public view. During the siege, however, Verena’s loyalty becomes apparent. She puts herself in danger trying to bring gunpowder and supplies for the wounded to the besieged castle.

What began as a hidden relationship becomes a love that survives captivity, defeat, and the fall of Zollern.

Historical Background

The heart of the novel rests on real events.

The Counts of Zollern belonged to an old Swabian noble family. Their rank and sense of standing, however, far exceeded the economic strength of their now small and fragmented territory. Sales, pledges, debts, and costly feuds had weakened the house over generations.

Added to this was the conflict between Friedrich and his brother Eitelfriedrich. The brothers represent different ideas about how the House of Zollern might survive: Friedrich places his faith in self-assertion, personal allegiance, and the defense of ancient rights; Eitelfriedrich relies more heavily on law, order, and political safeguards.

The conflict with Rottweil and other Imperial Cities makes matters worse. In 1422, the siege of the castle finally begins. In May 1423, the exhausted garrison surrenders. The first Hohenzollern Castle is subsequently destroyed.

But the story of the family does not end there.

After the Fall

The novel does not simply end with a military defeat.

Its epilogue follows the survivors: Friedrich, who is no longer on the Zollern when his castle falls; Verena, whose love for him endures; Eitelfriedrich, who must ask himself how much responsibility he bears for the destruction of the ancestral seat; and Konrad, who loses not only the woman he loves but also the work of many years.

Eitelfriedrich begins to pick up the political and financial pieces and secure the future of the house.

Only a new generation opens up a different prospect. In 1454, under Jost Niklas, construction begins on a second castle on the Zollern.

And Konrad, too, will see the mountain once more.

Why This Subject?

I grew up in Hechingen, below Hohenzollern Castle. The Zollern mountain and its castle were therefore part of the familiar landscape of my childhood.

That made me all the more curious, later in life, about the history of the first castle, destroyed in 1423 after months of siege and now almost entirely hidden beneath the buildings that succeeded it.

What really happened on that mountain? Why did a dispute escalate so far? And how did not only counts and towns, but also craftsmen, soldiers, peasants, and families experience the conflict?

Those questions gave rise to the novel.

Writing the Novel

In writing it, I try to reconstruct the documented historical foundations as accurately as possible. Contemporary accounts, later chronicles, charters, and historical studies help me understand the people involved, the military events, and the topography of the castle hill.

But historical sources never tell the whole story.

Where the sources fall silent, the novel begins. That is where conversations, relationships, motives, and lives take shape—not with the claim that things must have happened exactly this way, but with an attempt to tell the story as it might have happened.