Heidelberg Castle is the epitome of a romantic castle ruin, but the surrounding nature of the castle is not just beautiful, it is also quite dangerous. One of the castle's regents, Frederick V, came down with a heavy fever shortly after he took reign; it was probably malaria. The disease was spreading in the region during his time because midges found perfect breeding conditions at the near riverside of the Neckar. But his doctors could consult the physicians of the Heidelberg University, the first university of Germany, and cure him with medicine they harvested from nature.