Gleichen
Gleichen is the name of two groups of castles in Germany, thus named from their resemblance to each other.
Castles in Thuringia between Gotha and Erfurt
The first is a group of three, each situated on a hill in Thuringia between Gotha and Erfurt.One of these called Gleichen, the Wanderslebener Gleiche, was besieged unsuccessfully by the emperor Henry IV, [Holy Roman Emperor|Henry IV] in 1088. It was the seat of a line of counts, one of whom, Ernest III, a crusader, is the subject of a romantic legend. Having been captured, he was released from his imprisonment by a Turkish woman, who returned with him to Germany and became his wife, a papal dispensation allowing him to live with two wives at the same time. After belonging to the elector of Mainz the castle became the property of Prussia in 1803. The second castle is called Mühlburg. This existed as early as 704 and was besieged by Henry IV in 1087. It came into the hands of Prussia in 1803. The third castle, Wachsenburg, was still inhabited in 1911 and contained a collection of weapons and pictures belonging to its owner, the duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, whose family obtained possession of it in 1368. It was built about 935.