Niederwindegg Castle

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Niederwindegg Castle
Shield wall

Shield wall

Alternative name (s): Unterwindegg Castle
Castle type : Rock castle
Conservation status: ruin
Place: Schänis
Geographical location 47 ° 8 '40 "  N , 9 ° 3' 11"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 8 '40 "  N , 9 ° 3' 11"  E ; CH1903:  722449  /  two hundred and twenty-two thousand seven hundred fifty-six
Height: 507  m above sea level M.
Niederwindegg Castle (Canton of St. Gallen)
Niederwindegg Castle

The ruins of Niederwindegg Castle , more rarely Unter-Windegg , are located between Schänis and Ziegelbrücke in the Swiss canton of St. Gallen .

location

The ruins of Niederwindegg Castle stand on a ridge of Nagelfluhr above the road. It can be reached in around a quarter of an hour via a steep, narrow path. The name Niederwindegg was used to distinguish it from Oberwindegg Castle on the other side of the plain, two kilometers further south. The exact construction date of both castles is not known.

history

North corner with beam holes
inside

Niederwindegg Castle was the official residence of the respective lords of the Gasterland . In 1220 and 1229 a Hartmann von Windegg and a Diethelm von Windegg are mentioned in a document, although it is unclear whether Niederwindegg, Oberwindegg or even Windegg Castle near Wald in the canton of Zurich is meant. In 1230, Count Hartmann the Elder of Kyburg donated his property in the Gaster area with customs and castle (c astrum Windegg et ibidem theloniun ) to his wife Margaretha of Savoy. Customs was below the castle between Berg and Linthlauf. In the year 1285 there was evidence that a Habsburg bailiff was sitting at the castle, who after around 1288 also had to administer the Glarus valley.

When Glarus became federal in 1352, this large administrative district fell apart and only the Gaster district was administered again. This tense situation between the Swiss Confederation and Austria led to the castle being fortified in 1359 and 1384 under Vogt Eglof von Ems. After the night of the Weesen murder in 1388, hostility broke out openly, although it should be noted that Vogt Arnold Burchi, as a citizen of Rapperswil, was personally involved in the night of the murder. In the subsequent punitive action by the Confederates, the town of Weesen was burned down. The castle turned out to be impregnable during the siege that followed.

In 1406 the Niederamt Niederwindegg (Amt Gaster) was given to Count Friedrich VII of Toggenburg as a pledge . In 1486, the Gaster came to the Swiss Confederation as the common rulers of Glarus and Schwyz and was henceforth known as the Windegg rulership. From this point on, the castle was no longer inhabited by the bailiff and was likely to have been abandoned as a result. It is believed that it served as a quarry for the tower of the Schänis collegiate church in 1486 . In the following years it was probably used as a stone supplier.

In 1955, Jakob Grüninger carried out exploratory bores. The assumption arose that a Roman sentry might have stood here. For a final answer, however, a careful, extensive archaeological investigation would be necessary.

investment

South corner

Today the ruin consists almost entirely of the eight meter high buffer wall on the east side of the mountain. Otherwise only a few remains of the wall are visible. The plant was built in a northeast-southwest direction. The defense district was in the north-eastern part of the mountain; the rock could only be climbed from this side. The rectangular Palas was from military district with an artificial moat separated.

literature

  • Bernhard Anderes: The art monuments of the canton of St. Gallen, Vol. 5: The district of Gaster . In: Die Kunstdenkmäler der Schweiz, Vol. 59. Birkhäuser: Basel 1970 ISBN pp. 267–268
  • Jakob Grüninger: "Unter-Windegg (Niederwindegg) SG". In: News of the Swiss Association for the Preservation of Castles and Ruins (Burgenverein) , XXX. Jhg./Nr. 1. Zurich 1957.
  • Gottlieb Felder: The castles of the cantons St. Gallen and Appenzell, 2nd part . New Year's paper of the Historical Association of the Canton of St. Gallen. St. Gallen 1911.
  • Thomas Bitterli: Swiss Castle Guide . Basel / Berlin 1995.

Web links

Commons : Niederwindegg Castle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rudolf Maag, Das Habsburgische Urbar, Volume 1 Sources on Swiss History 14 Basel 1896, Page 503, Note 4