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Altenstein

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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a castle upon a rocky mountain in SaxeMeiningen, on the south-western slope of the Thuringerwald, not far from Eisenach. It is the summer residence of the dukes of Meiningen, and is surrounded by a noble park, which contains, among other objects of interest, a remarkable underground cavern, 500 ft. long, through which flows a large and rapid stream. Boniface, the apostle of the Germans, lived and preached at Altenstein in 724; and near by is the place where, in 1521, Luther was seized, by the order of the elector Frederick the Wise, to be carried off to the Wartburg. An old beech called "Luther's tree," which tradition connected with the reformer, was blown down in 1841, and a small monument now stands in its place.