Campell Castle

Campell Castle
	Campell ruins
Alternative name (s):	Campì
Creation time :	around 1100 to 1290
Castle type :	Hilltop castle
Conservation status:	ruin
Place:	Sils in Domleschg
Geographical location	46 ° 42 '1.6 " N , 9 ° 28' 17" E Coordinates: 46 ° 42 '1.6 " N , 9 ° 28' 17" E ; CH1903: 755,450 / 174150
Height:	772 m above sea level M.

The Campell ruins , also called Campì, are the ruins of a hilltop castle in the area of the municipality of Sils im Domleschg in the Swiss canton of Graubünden . The name camp bel means beautiful field.

location

Play media file

Aerial view of Campell Castle.

The ruin is located southeast of the village at 772 m above sea level. M. on a ledge above the Albula at the end of the Schin Gorge on the edge of a small terrace on which the castle estates used to be.

Building history

Plant plan

The current appearance of the facility is shaped by the last extensive renovations from the 16th and 17th centuries. The original structure has been preserved, especially on the tower and the east wing. A building historical study carried out by the cantonal monument preservation agency revealed an exemplary construction sequence in five phases - from the fortified tower of the 13th century to the palace complex of 1635.

1st construction phase (13th century)

The beginnings of the castle can be found in a reinforced residential tower ( keep ) with four floors. Access was via a high entrance on the east side on the third floor. There were two lavatory bays on the north wall . At the eastern end of the castle plateau stood a second building made of stone. However, only a small part of the wall remains from him, which was built over in the second phase.

2nd construction phase (13th or early 14th century)

The entire plateau was built over up to the outermost edge, thus significantly enlarging the facility. It received a bering with a gate, a sunk trench with a drawbridge on the western attack side and a forecourt with battlements and parapets with dovetail battlements . On the east side was a courtyard with entrances to the two floors of the residential wing. On the ground floor of this building was a large kitchen with a fireplace and two sinks.

3rd construction phase (15th century)

The tower was raised by two floors and provided with a pent roof on the inside . On the fifth floor to the west there was a covered arbor. In the northern part of the forecourt, a tower-like two-story building was built. A new cistern was built on the northern slope to collect the roof water.

4th construction phase (16th century)

The complex developed from a castle to a palace. Instead of the forecourt, a three-storey palace was built with dovetail crenellations, an interior gable roof and arcades in the south on the third storey. Access to the facility was moved further south and was accessible via a ramp. The opening of the former castle gate was walled up. A newly erected truss wall on the northeast corner of the facility formed an additional obstacle for potential attackers. At the beginning of the 17th century the facility was destroyed by fire, probably in connection with the turmoil in Graubünden during the Thirty Years' War.

5th construction phase (1635)

The hall was rebuilt. The ridge of the roof faced west and the battlements of the 4th phase were bricked up. A paneling room was built in on the 2nd floor and a lavatory next to the bedroom. The two lower floors of the tower were expanded to provide access to the hall and the high entrance was moved to the 2nd floor. The east wing remained in ruins and was used as a stable.

history

State 1984

Written information about the builder is missing, but it was probably the Lords of Campell who built the center of a small clearing lordship here. In 1289, an income register of the Diocese of Chur names an Egeno de Campell, who had to pay the Church of High Rats fifteen shillings a year. The sex was initially free, but then became dependent on the Chur bishop and became his ministerial.

The Knights of Campell probably died out in the 14th century. There is just as little evidence for the assumption that the family was driven out in a feud with the barons of Rhäzüns as there is for the assumption that the Engadine Campell family descended directly from the noble knightly family.

A note in the property register of the Diocese of Chur from 1389 indicates that Bishop Hartmann had given Hans and Gottfried von Ehrenfels goods that had previously been fiefs of the Lords of Campell. At that time the castle itself was probably not yet in episcopal hands, because it is not mentioned in the 1410 "Buoch der Vestinen". However, this must have changed shortly afterwards, because in 1418 Bishop Campell loaned Hermann von Schauenstein-Ehrenfels.

In the second half of the 15th century, a branch of the Rink (or Ringg) family sat at the castle. In 1457 a Junker Taniell Ring von Gampell is mentioned for the first time; he should have come into possession of the episcopal fief through his mother Adelheid von Schauenstein . At least until 1493 the Rink sat at the castle, then it fell back to the Schauenstein-Ehrenfels. In 1562 Rudolf von Ehrenfels sold Campell Castle with goods and tithes to his cousin Gilly von Ehrenfels.

In 1567, Hercules von Salis zu Rietberg, governor of Graubünden, bought it. Campell inherited half each of the sons Andreas and Anton von Salis-Rietberg. Captain Andreas von Salis (1563–1635) from and to Neuensins and Aspermont and his wife Margaretha Carlin von Hohenbalken donated half of the castle, the western part in 1634 to their son Andreas von Salis-Rietberg. In 1635 Andreas married Maria Magdalena von Salis-Soglio, the daughter of Nikolaus von Salis-Soglio. Its initials NVS and the year were scratched into the still damp plaster after the last reconstruction.

By 1700 the castle was no longer inhabited, but it was still in good condition. In the following decades the slow decay began and around 1900 the Albula line of the Rhaetian Railway was built through the outer moat. In 1932 the Engadin family Campell was able to acquire the castle and bequeathed it to the Campell / Campi Ruin Foundation in 1987. Since then, this has been committed to researching and maintaining the beautiful complex. From 1991 to 1998 the ruin was examined structurally and the masonry preserved.

The facility is under the protection of the Swiss Confederation and has been open to the public again since 2001.

gallery

entrance
inside the tower
Door inside
in the hall
Inscription NVS.

swell

Information board on site

literature

Jerome H. Farnum: 20 excursions to romantic castle ruins in Switzerland . Bern / Stuttgart 1976
Fritz Hauswirth: Castles and Palaces of Switzerland. Volume 8: Graubünden 1. 2 . revised and additional edition Kreuzlingen 1981
Lukas Högl, Campell / Campi: Completion of the restoration work . In: Middle Ages: Journal of the Swiss Castle Association . 11th century / no. 1. Basel 2006. pp. 63-64
Info brochure. Sils. i. D. 2006
Erwin Poeschel: The Castle Book of Graubünden . Zurich / Leipzig 1930
Campell / Campi Ruins Foundation (ed.): The Campell / Campi castle ruins .

Web links

Commons : Burg Campell - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Castle world: Campell Castle (Campi)