Bärenburg Castle (Andeer)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bear Castle
Bärenburg Castle hill

Bärenburg Castle hill

Creation time : around 1200 to 1300
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: Ruin, rubble
Construction: Rubble stones
Place: Other
Geographical location 46 ° 35 '35 "  N , 9 ° 25' 21"  E Coordinates: 46 ° 35 '35 "  N , 9 ° 25' 21"  E ; CH1903:  752,014  /  162 120
Height: 1100  m above sea level M.
Bärenburg Castle (Canton of Graubünden)
Bear Castle

The Castle Bear Castle is the ruins of a hilltop castle in the municipality of Andeer in Shams in the Swiss canton of Grisons . Andeer's coat of arms shows the motif of the castle.

location

Andeer's coat of arms

The ruins of the former Bärenburg castle are located at 1,100  m above sea level. M. south of the village Andeer high above the deeply cut gorge of the Hinterrhein on a wooded hill, above the hamlet of the same name. The castle above a cleared landscape can be easily reached in ten minutes via a footpath that turns right from the road above the hamlet.

investment

plan

The connections in the once extensive facility are difficult to make out in the overgrown masses of rubble. Originally the whole fortress was surrounded by a 1.6 meter thick bering ; individual sections of it are still recognizable. In the west there was apparently an elongated building with an extension of about 19 by 6 meters. The foundations of a rectangular tower measuring 8.6 by 6 meters were found on the northern rock spur, but today it can hardly be made out. A second tower could have stood in a debris field in the southern part of the facility. There was an outer gate in the southwest; a wall joint documents the later extension of this part. What has been preserved is an approximately 20-meter-long part of the Zwingermauer , which closed off the castle to the west towards the gorge. It is not possible to say with certainty whether a neck ditch in the south was created artificially.

In the winter of 1977/78 an approximately 8 meter long piece of the eastern curtain wall collapsed.

history

South wall
West wall, closing against the gorge

The time when Bärenburg Castle was built is unknown and there is no written documentation. The Lords of Bärenburg are mentioned for the first time in 1257 with the brothers Konrad († 1296) and Bartholomäus († 1290/98). From the 13th to the 15th century, the Bärenburgs formed an Upper Council knightly family and were closely connected to the bishopric in Chur . They were probably episcopal vassals and / or ministerials of the barons of Vaz . After they died out in 1338, they were also owners of episcopal fiefs. Testified are Simon von Bärenburg (1299-1337) and his brother Bartholomäus (1308-1325?) And 1369 Bertram († 1395).

According to the still attested Symon von Bärenburg, son of Bertram, the family seems to have died out in the male line in 1424. In 1443 the Lords of Werdenberg referred to themselves as Lords of Bärenburg; Ursula von Vaz was married to Rudolf von Werdenberg. In the Chur Buoch der Vestinen from 1410, the Bear Castle is mentioned as vesti Berenburg .

During the shame feud , the castle occupied by Schwyzer and Glarner servants was broken in 1450 and could not be rebuilt without the consent of the gotzhus , the church association. Even after the castle was destroyed, the Bärenburg estate remained in existence: in 1456, Vogt Parren von Patzen vor zitten castler ze Berenburg called himself . In the same year, the Werdenbergers sold the Schams rule together with Obervaz to the Church of God.

In 1472 it was recorded that the Sufner interest , which had to be delivered to Berenburg , was to be delivered to Splügen Castle from now on . Said Parren von Patzen was sealed in 1480 ( sat at Bernburg ) and in 1492 there is talk of the Hof zuo Berennburg located in Schams .

  • gallery

  • Bering residue

  • Debris of the collapsed ring

  • Wall joint

  • Look into the gorge

literature

Web links

Commons : Bärenburg (Andeer)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files