Frischenberg Castle

Frischenberg Castle
Creation time :	after 1313
Castle type :	Hilltop castle
Conservation status:	ruin
Place:	Sennwald
Geographical location	47 ° 13 '54 "  N , 9 ° 26' 57"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 13 '54 "  N , 9 ° 26' 57"  E ; CH1903:  752,238  /  two hundred and thirty-three thousand one hundred forty-four
Height:	585  m above sea level M.

The ruins of Frischenberg Castle are located in the municipality of Sennwald in the Swiss canton of St. Gallen . It was built after 1313 by the barons of Hohensax and was abandoned around 1551 and fell apart.

location

The hilltop castle is located on a rocky ridge above the hamlet of Sax between Gams and Sennwald, around 130 m above the St. Gallen Rhine Valley at 585 m. ü. The older and larger castle complex of Hohensax is located on the same rock ridge around 400 m above Burg Frischenberg , which is why Frischenberg is also regarded as the outer bailey of Hohensax. In later times, however, Frischenberg was the center of its own rule and was temporarily in different hands than Hohensax.

history

The Frischenberg Castle was probably built by Ulrich III. von Hohensax built after 1313 after he had sold the Wildenburg near Wildhaus to the Toggenburgers . Frischenberg was first mentioned in a document in 1320. In 1393, Duke Leopold IV of Austria bought the castle together with Hohensax Castle and the lordships belonging to it as a result of an internal feud between Ulrich Eberhard III. of Hohensax and his nephew. However, the castles and manors were returned to Ulrich Eberhard IV as pledge. Since this was in league with the Appenzellers, Frischenberg remained undestroyed in the Appenzell Wars.

Via Elisabeth von Hohensax, Hohensax and Frischenberg fell to Kaspar von Bonstetten . When the Appenzell family occupied the dominion in 1405, they retained sovereignty over the castle of Frischenberg and the villages of Sax and Frümsen, which now formed the dominion of Frischenberg. The village of Gams and Hohensax Castle remained with the Bonstetten and have since been referred to as the Hohensax rule. The lower jurisdiction and the ownership rights of the Frischenberg rule left the Appenzell Hans von Sax, from whom they were bequeathed to his brother-in-law Lutz von Schönstein, the sovereignty remained with Appenzell. In 1440 Ulrich von Hohensax bought the castle and lordship of Frischenberg from Schönstein. In 1446 the Appenzell family conquered Frischenberg Castle as part of the Old Zurich War and burned it down. Albrecht V von Hohensax zu Bürglen bought the Frischenberg estate from Ulrich von Hohensax in 1454, but had to pledge it to Lütfried Mötteli from St. Gallen due to financial difficulties . After the St. Gallen War , sovereignty over Frischenberg fell to the Swiss Confederation , and in 1499 the castle and rule fell to Ulrich IX. von Hohensax surrendered, as he had distinguished himself in the Swabian War on the part of the Swiss Confederation. In 1517 he received all sovereign rights over the area that was now part of the Sax-Forstegg rule . The castle was probably still habitable at that time, but was abandoned in 1551 at the latest when Ulrich Philipp von Hohensax built the Saxon outdoor seating area, today's “Schlössli Sax”. The ruin was later partially destroyed by a quarry. The Hohensax und Frischenberg Ruins Foundation has been trying to secure the ruins since the 1990s.

investment

The castle is located on a rock that drops steeply on three sides. The ruins still preserved suggests an elongated building with 1.5 m thick walls, the uphill side probably a tower or Palas was in front. There were probably other utility buildings below the rock. Parts of the facility were destroyed by a quarry.

literature

• H. Rudoph Inhelder: «Burg and Herrschaft Frischenberg». In: Werdenberger Jahrbuch , 5th year. / 1992. Salez 1992.

Web links

• Castle world: Castle Frischenberg

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The von Schönstein family sold Frischenberg Castle to Ulrich von Sax. State Archives St.Gallen. 06/10/1440. Signature: AA 2 U 03. Link
2. ^ Gustav Benjamin Schwab, Johann Jacob Hottinger: Switzerland in their knight castles and mountain castles, Volume 1. Chur 1828, p. 125f.