it through his wife; throughout the 14th century the wealthy and powerful counts expanded and elaborated the defenses, creating most of the castle we see today. Ca. 1340 they built the Gothic interior chapel, dedicated to St Mark, from which the casrtle derived its present name.

In 1429 the male line of the Counts of Katzenelnbogen became extinct, and the territories went to the Landgraves of Hesse, who would expand the castle to accommodate artillery and add the pointed bastions and round towers of the