King's robbery, Royal Court and Imperial Palace Kaiserswerth.

Here around 1190.
In the "coup d'état of Kaiserswerth" in 1062, the Archbishop of Cologne, Anno II, abducted the still minor German King Henry IV from this imperial palace.
Emperor Frederick the 1st (Barbarossa) moved the Rhine toll from the Dutch town of Tiel to Kaiserswerth in 1174. For this purpose, he had Kaiserswerth expanded into a mighty fortress whose completion did not take place in 1184, as is often claimed, but probably only in 1193 under his son Henry VI. The remains of the imperial palace visible today date from that time.
After the expansion by Emperor Frederick the 1st (Barbarossa), the palace consisted of a three-storey palace with a mighty keep in the middle. The main entrance was in the Klever Tower to the north-east of it. A semicircular enclosure wall with a moat in front and two corner towers provided protection from the land side.

The palace was relatively unique in its dimensions and architecture. It had its own harbour on the palace grounds, an oratory for the emperor, a chapel in a tower (Klevischer tower), which was also the main entrance to the core castle, an unusual staircase leading to all floors, comfortable toilets, a steam bath and a palace hall over 50 m long for receptions and representation.

The imperial palace in Kaiserswerth had a palace length of 50 m plus the klevischer tower. On the entire side of the Rhine, the main staircase led up to the palace hall on the top floor for access to all floors. In addition to the aforementioned hall, the palace was equipped with guardrooms, storerooms, a cistern, private rooms for the emperor and rooms heated by a hypocaust (perhaps a steam bath?). A convenient lavatory was built over several floors.

The main gate was housed in the Klev tower (10 x 10.8 m at a height of about 30 m). A chapel, which could be reached from the palace hall by means of a bridge, was located above the main gate. In the keep, which measured 17 x 17 m and was about 55 m high, there was another intimate hall at main hall level.
At the back, in the spandrel between the lavatory and the private rooms, a small harbour had been created. From there there was direct access to the imperial private rooms.

Kaiserswerth is the creation of a master builder who knew how to creatively combine traditional building forms from the area of palaces and castles. Who this master builder was and where he came from will certainly remain unknown to us. Quote Biller.

Reconstructed after Thomas Biller, „the Pfalz Emperor Frederick the 1st (Barbarossa) Kaiserswerth, Rekonstruktion und Interpretation“.