nothing is known about the original builder of the castle, but in 1190 the herren von siebenthal may have lived in mannenberg. in 1270 the castle "mamerberg" was owned by the knight peter von raron. under the von raron family the estate was divided into the mannenberg castle and the herrschaft of mannenberg-reichenstein. the castle is first mentioned in 1304 as "castrum de mannenberg" and around that time peter von raron sold it to heinrich iv von strättlingen. the castle was sold to the counts of gruyères in 1336 while the estate passed to the heirs of the von raron family following their extinction. in 1456 the freiherr von bubenberg acquired the herrschaft and in 1494 sold it to the city of bern.