This entry is based on an article from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Gleichen, two groups of castles in Germany, thus named from their
resemblance to each other (Ger. gleich = like, or resembling). The first
is a group of three, each situated on a hill in Thuringia between Gotha
and Erfurt. One of these called Gleichen, the Wandersiebener Gleichen
(1221 ft. above the sea), was besieged unsuccessfully by the 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 (see
Reineck,
Die Sage von der Doppelehe eines Grafen von Gleichen,
1891). After belonging to the elector of Mainz the castle became the
property of Prussia in 1803. The second castle is called Mühlburg (1309
ft. above the sea). 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 (1358 ft.), is still inhabited and contains 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 (see Beyer,
Die drei Gleichen, Erfurt, 1898). The
other group consists of two castles, Neuen-Gleichen and
Alten-Gleichen. Both are in ruins and crown two hills about 2
m. S.E. from
Göttingen.
The name of Gleichen is taken by the family descended from Prince Victor
of Hohenlohe-Langenburg through his marriage with Miss Laura Seymour,
daughter of Admiral Sir George Francis Seymour, a branch of the
Hohenlohe family having at one time owned part of the county of
Gleichen.