Kapfenstein Castle

Kapfenstein Castle
Kapfenstein ruin
Alternative name (s):	Ober-Sansch
Creation time :	13th Century
Castle type :	Hilltop castle
Conservation status:	ruin
Place:	Küblis
Geographical location	46 ° 55 '18.5 "  N , 9 ° 46' 32"  E Coordinates: 46 ° 55 '18.5 "  N , 9 ° 46' 32"  E ; CH1903:  777,971  /  199 396
Height:	1060  m above sea level M.

The castle Kapfenstein , even upper-Sansch called, is the ruins of a hilltop castle at 1,060  m above sea level. M. above the hamlet of Tälfsch in the municipality of Küblis in Prättigau in the Swiss canton of Graubünden .

Surname

The name means "castle from which one looks out" and is related to the Middle High German verb kapfen , which means as much as to look .

investment

Detail of the information board

The remains of a curtain wall follow the natural course of the plateau . In the southern area it has been preserved to a height of several meters, on the north side it has mostly slipped. The original wall was originally about 1.4 m thick and was later reinforced by an additional 1.5 m. The loop windows of the old wall received a funnel in the new one. The interior of the facility is covered with rubble; only the remains of the former walls are visible. The architectural context of the remarkable complex can no longer be recognized.

history

Wall closure

View from the northeast

The lords of Kapfenstein are attested from the 13th century: In 1249 Ulricus de Kaphinstain is scheduled to act as arbitrator in a dispute with the Chur bishop over the Gräpplang castle near Flums . In 1275 Heinrich von Kapfenstein is mentioned as deceased. 1365 Kapfenstains is mentioned in Zizers ain acker waz . The wording suggests that the family no longer existed then.

There are no written documents about the founding time of the castle itself; documented it is 1275 called for the first time: When the conditional transfer of his property to the Bishopric of Chur Walter took from Vaz County Shams and castle Kapfenstein out. He had acquired the latter in a barter from the late Heinrich von Kapfenstein . ... et castro de Kaphenstain cum et pertinenciis es omnibus, que cambivi cum domino Henrico pie memorie de Kaphenstain .

Like Strahlegg Castle , Kapfenstein was also lent to the Straiff family . In 1351 the children of the deceased Simon Straiff renounced their rights to the castle ze Kapfenstain and the two towns, including hearing from Count Friedrich von Toggenburg and his wife Ursula von Vaz for a compensation of 40 marks. Anton von Castelmur mentions an additional change of ownership in 1940, which Meyer / Clavadetscher does not see: On April 1, 1351, Andreas von Marmels and Ulrich Manus von Castelmur are supposed to own the castle for themselves and their brothers-in-law, the heirs of Simon Straiff, Countess Kunigunde von Toggenburg have sold. In 1352, Simon Straiff's son Johannes confirmed that the Toggenburgers all cost and harm him, if we or our father sailig had verbuwen or hept han at the castle ze Kaphenstain . When the Toggenburg inheritance was divided in 1394, Kapfenstein fell to Count Friedrich VII of Toggenburg . The castle was probably abandoned in the 15th century.

1982-84 security work was carried out by the canton of Graubünden, and in 1998 by the castle association maintenance work and planning surveys.

Unter-Sansch

Approx. In 1952, excavations uncovered massive walls of a round tower 100 m west of the Küblis church . Nicolin Sererhard wrote in 1740: A small rifle shot under the church is still an old tower, which at Tach and at the top had its habitable room, before old under Sans or Sansch. This could be seen as an antique. Its walls are klafterdik. As a result, the tower must have been in good condition at the time. In the Davos Chronicle of Fluri Sprecher it says about the Landammann Ulrich Beeli von Davos : He was half blown from the landt khommen, finally died in Küblis in Thorm and is buried in Küblis. Exact evidence about the tower of Unter-Sansch is not available.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ mhd. Dictionary
2. ^ Heinrich Boxler: The naming of castles in northeastern Switzerland and in Graubünden ; P. 109
3. ^ Paul Eugen Grimm: Streif. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . June 29, 2012 , Retrieved June 6, 2019 .

literature

• Otto P. Clavadetscher, Werner Meyer : The castle book of Graubünden . Zurich 1984, ISBN 3-280-01319-4
• Castle map of Switzerland , Federal Office of Topography, 2007 edition
• Anton von Castelmur: The castles and palaces of the Canton of Graubünden , Volume I, Birkhäuser-Verlag, Basel 1940

Web links

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

• Burgenwelt: Kapfenstein Castle (Ober-Sansch)