The palace at Birstein, originally a fortified royal hunting lodge, was first cited in documents in 1279 as "castrum birsenstein" and gave its name to the surrounding town. The name comes from the archaic verb "birsen" (= "birschen"), which means to hunt with tracking dogs. The palace was remodeled several times and took its present form in 1764-1768. It is still inhabited by members of the Isenburg-Birstein dynasty, whose ancestor Heinrich II von Isenburg obtained it as part of his marriage settlement with Adelheid von Hanau in 1332.