The following article was written by Günter Scharnberg (†), Grönwohld, who spent a lot of his time working with the Scharpenbergs from Linau. I put it into the Free Internet Encyclopedia Wikipedia about 2003.

It will not be known to all readers that in our nearer homeland, especially in Lauenburg, at the end of the Middle Ages many robber barons lived in permanent castles. Such a robbery castle was from the end of the 13th century to 1349 in Linau near Trittau in possession of the robber barons of Scharpenberg (by Scarpenberghe). This gender plays a certain role in the history of Lauenburg, and it is often mentioned there. Around the time of 1400, the Scharpenbergs also owned the famous Grander Mill (Germany's most idyllic watermill)

Her castle was especially strong and solid. To close after the still existing foundations of the tower, these were over two meters thick, consisting of rough boulders, connected with Segeberger lime. The superstructure probably consisted of bricks, of which remnants can still be found below the surface of the earth. The castle square will have been about 500 x 100 meters in size, without the farm buildings, which must have been located a little further away. The actual castle was located on a hill of about 3 1/2 meters. The moat, of which a piece can still be seen today, was connected to the Bille. The castle allowed a good view over the old road Hamburg-Lübeck, so that the Scharpenbergs from the height of the castle could watch the passing travelers and merchants well.

Among the predatory knights, those of Scharpenberg were particularly notorious and feared. Their raids extended them to the area of Hamburg. How much the Hamburg had to suffer under their robberies, is clear from a document in the Luebecker Urkundenbuch 2 page 912, which states:

... dat se roveden ere dorpe, alse Bernebeke (Barmbek), Barlebesbuthle (Barsbüttel), Jelevelde (Jenfeld) and Henniscevelde (Hinschenfelde) dar se nomen scolen hebben : 58 ossen unde Koyge, 85 Scap, theghen unde swyn unde vortmer thu Hersloh (Hasloh), Hummersbüthle (Hummelsbüttel), Wedele and Rellinghe (Rellingen), and wen ere borghere guenen unde volgheden thu der Linowe na erne gueke unde have de en afgeroved weren, dat en dar nen antworde en wart mer guade wort unde grote sleghe.

that is, when the citizens followed their cattle to Linau and tried to retrieve it, they were beaten down.

In order to put an end to the robberies of the Scharpenbergs, in 1291 the Wendish princes and cities, on the one hand, and the dukes of Lauenburg, on the other, united in an alliance in which it was decided to attack and destroy the Lauenburg robberies, especially those of Linau. which happened, but probably not thoroughly enough. The peace was closed to Deitzow. In this contract was agreed that the losing robber barons should grind their castles themselves. However, this did not prevent the Scharpenbergs to rebuild their castle with determination and continue their old craft to the dread of the tortured population.

Then in 1312 Count Gerhard II of Schauenburg moved against the castle Linau and shot at her with Bliden, but had to pull off again without the cause and the Scharpenbergs laughed in their small arms, because their stronghold resisted all attacks and bombardments. 14 years later, in 1326, Count Johann von Holstein near the Holstein border built the castle Trittau to defend against the Linauer and put a crew there. It came to Borchardestorpe (Borstorf) to a hard fight, from which although Count Johann emerged victorious with many prisoners and rich prey, but the raids of the Linauer were still led.

Also, an attack of the Hamburg and Lübeck in 1338 on the castle Linau was in vain.

In 1344, the Dukes of Lauenburg tried: Erich the Elder and the Younger to make an amicable way the Scharpenberg harmless by the brothers Heino and Lüdeke bought the castle Linau. The Scharpenbergs then moved to Schloß Dartsingen (now Neuhaus) on the Elbe. Irrespective of that, they continued their mischief from there. After all, the great Scharpenbergs even had the audacity to simply take possession of their old ancestral seat in an alliance with Heinecke von Brocksdorf and continue their robberies here freshly and freely.

In 1349, however, the Scharpenbergs, after they had asserted themselves for about 70 years, finally put the craft. Counts Gerhard and Johann von Holstein, Adolf von Schaumburg, Duke Erich von Lauenburg and the Lübeck and Hamburg allied to form an alliance to tackle the enemy together. For three weeks they besieged the castle Linau. The Hamburg and Lübeck had 2,500 men alone. Although the Scharpenbergs were very well supplied, they could not withstand this superiority in the long run and their otherwise strong castle finally faltered due to the stone balls thrown by the Bliden and after the Hamburg reinforcements had sent their reinforcements. On September 23rd of the year 1349 the Scharpenbergs had to surrender. 1,500 Hamburger and Lübecker immediately broke off the walls and the tower in the happiest mood, so that the once almost impregnable festival Linau was completely razed to the ground. The foundations of the tower are, as mentioned at the beginning, still present today.

So the goal of a once so powerful robber knight sex was set. The Scharpenbergs remained after their defeat in the possession of the Linauer lands.

In 1354 the brothers Lüdeke and Hermann von Scharpenberg made claims for damages against the city of Hamburg "for the sake of all sorts of disputes that the Linau was broken." However, their demands were smoothly rejected.

100 years after the destruction of the castle, Volrad von Scharpenberg pawned the "Hof tho Linow, dat dorp darsulvest and the dorp tho Wentorpe together with the Feldmark tho Ekenhorst" for 2400 thaler to the Duke Bernhard of Saxony-Lauenburg for 20 years. In 1471 the Scharpenbergs sold everything to Duke Johann IV of Saxony-Lauenburg. They also continued to live in Lauenburg and devoted themselves for the most part to the agricultural profession. Descendants of them live, although not irrefutably detectable, even today in Mecklenburg, Lauenburg and Holstein.

The former castle of Linau is the only one in our area, of which relatively many remains can still be seen. The place can be easily reached from the bakery and host Scharnberg's home in a few minutes. On the castle square near Linau a golden cradle and a golden chain, which reaches three times around the "Wischhof", are to be buried.

As far as the article by Günter Scharnberg (†), in which more often by "robber barons" is spoken. Personally, I oppose this term, which was demonstrably not shaped until the 19th century, when there were no knights at all. Many of the "raids" were carried out as part of the feudal system, thus fully complied with the then prevailing law. For this reason, I have separately referred to the Natur of the feud and strongly recommend this article to the reader.