Bertradaburg

The Bertradaburg is a ruined hill castle on a rock spur, , above the village of Mürlenbach in the county of Vulkaneifel in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It thus stands in the geographical centre of Merovingian Francia.

== History == The castle was built on the remains of a Roman castrum, which probably guarded the Roman road from Trier to Cologne. In the castle, according to local tradition, Bertrada, the mother of Charlemagne is said to have lived which implies that his birth was around 747 AD. The existence of the castle is first recorded in the 13th century when it is mentioned as a state fortress of the princely imperial abbey of Prüm (cf. the Middle Rhine Register or Mittelrheinisches Urkundenbuch), archaeological finds have indicated that there were earlier fortifications on the site.