Hohensax Castle

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Hohensax Castle
Hohensax ruins

Hohensax ruins

Alternative name (s): Sax Castle
Creation time : 1200
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: ruin
Place: Sennwald
Geographical location 47 ° 13 '49 "  N , 9 ° 26' 37"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 13 '49 "  N , 9 ° 26' 37"  E ; CH1903:  seven hundred fifty-one thousand eight hundred and twenty-one  /  232978
Height: 750  m above sea level M.
Hohensax Castle (Canton of St. Gallen)
Hohensax Castle

The ruins of Hohensax Castle , more rarely Sax , are located in the municipality of Sennwald in the Swiss canton of St. Gallen . It was built around 1200 by the barons of Sax and has been in ruins since 1446.

location

The ruins of the Höhenburg are located on a rocky ridge above the hamlet of Sax between Gams SG and Sennwald, around 300 m above the Rhine valley at 750 m. ü. M.

history

Hohensax Castle was first mentioned in a document around 1210 as Sax Castle. It was built by the Churrätischen barons of the Sax and named after them. The villages Sax, Salez and Gams belonged to the castle. It was not until 1393 that the name "Hohensax" appeared. During the division of power in 1248, the castle came to Ulrich von Sax, who founded the Sax-Hohensax sideline. In 1393 the castle was plundered as part of a family feud and by Ulrich Eberhard III. von Sax-Hohensax with the villages of Sax and Gams sold to the Dukes of Austria. These set Ulrich Eberhard IV as a feudal man in the Hohensax rule. His alliance with the Appenzell people saved the castle from destruction during the Appenzell Wars.

The castles of Hohensax and Frischenberg with the villages of Gams and Sax fell to Kaspar von Bonstetten via Elisabeth von Sax-Hohensax . When the Appenzeller conquered the area in 1405, the Bonstetten only got the Hohensax and Gams castles back in 1411, which now formed the Hohensax rule. In 1446 the Appenzeller conquered and destroyed the castle during the Old Zurich War . The keep was collapsed on one side. The ruin came under the rule of Sax-Forstegg in 1640 and therefore belongs politically to the municipality of Sennwald today. The owner of the facility is still the local community of Gams. The ruins were secured in 2008 by the “Pro Hohensax und Frischenberg” foundation.

Reign of Hohensax

The rule Hohensax was named after the castle and comprised the area of ​​today's municipality of Gams as well as parts of the municipality of Sennwald south of the village of Sax. The rule arose from the division of inheritance from the possessions of the noble family Sax-Hohensax and was a fiefdom of the dukes of Austria since 1393. Through marriage and inheritance, it fell to the Bonstetten family, who were citizens of Zurich. For this reason, the Appenzeller occupied the rulership during the Old Zurich War in 1446 and did not give it back to the Bonstetten until 1461. At the request of the subjects, Schwyz and Glarus acquired the rulership rights in 1497 and joined them to the Landvogtei Gaster .

investment

The facility covers an area of ​​approx. 90 × 50 meters. In the center of the complex were residential buildings, a cistern and a 22 m high keep behind a moat and a shield wall . It measures 9 × 9 m, its walls are up to 2.5 m thick. There was a high entrance on the south side . The Palas of 5 x 35 m was probably supplemented by farm buildings in the walled courtyard.

gallery

  • ruin

  • Hohensax ruins

  • Hohensax ruins

  • panorama

literature

  • Jakob Obrecht: "The construction investigation on the tower and shield wall of the Hohensax ruins, Sennwald SG, 2008". In: Middle Ages. Journal of the Swiss Castle Association . 14th century / No. 4. Basel 2009.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Restoration of the Hohensax castle ruins. Documentation. Foundation “Pro Hohensax und Frischenberg”, 2005, p. 5.
  2. ↑ Restoration of the Hohensax castle ruins. Documentation. Foundation “Pro Hohensax und Frischenberg”, 2005, p. 7.