Strassberg Castle

Strassberg Castle
	Strassberg Castle - tower from the north-west
Creation time :	around 1200
Castle type :	Hilltop castle
Conservation status:	ruin
Standing position :	Ministeriale
Construction:	Quarry stone, natural stone
Place:	Malix
Geographical location	46 ° 48 '23 " N , 9 ° 32' 1.5" E Coordinates: 46 ° 48 '23 " N , 9 ° 32' 1.5" E ; CH1903: 759 903 / 186049
Height:	1100 m above sea level M.

Tower from the east

Strassberg 1937

The ruins of Strassberg Castle are in Malix in the Swiss canton of Graubünden .

location

The ruin of the hilltop castle stands at an altitude of 1100 m above sea level. M. on a small hill a little below the road from Chur to Lenzerheide . It can be easily reached from the village. From 2008 to 2010 the walls were restored and secured.

Surname

The name appears in the 13th century in several spellings: so 1253 is about O. de Strazperc called 1259 de Straceberch and 1260 de Strasberch . The name of the castle appears as early as 1275: … castrum dictum Strasceberch . There can be no doubt that the name is related to the connecting road between Rome and Germany, which has been important since ancient times. The castle is also mentioned repeatedly in connection with road tolls , for example 1413 … ainen zol under dem huse ze Strasberch .

investment

On the terrace below the main castle was a spacious outer bailey with a surrounding wall , of which, however, hardly any remains are left. An external gate system can be assumed under today's path.

The main castle on the hill was built in two stages. The remains of an irregularly extending surrounding wall made of layered masonry made of rubble stones and boulders come from an older time . In the corner of the wall on the mountain side, notch windows with an inclined opening point towards the street. The window openings also belong to the original building stock. Benches in the wall and the remains of a toilet dungeon point to a residential wing that was probably added on to the inside.

In a later expansion phase, a square keep was placed in the wall corner on the mountain side , the outer walls of which were placed on the line of the circular wall . Four storeys as well as the attic and mezzanine can be recognized from the beam holes. The high entrance was on the south side on the second floor above the large breach that had subsequently broken out. The living rooms were on the third and fourth floors. In the north-west corner you can see an abortion with an outflow diagonally drawn through the wall. On the fourth floor an exit led to an arbor. The top was formed by a crenellated wreath with a tent roof attached .

In the course of these expansions, the circular wall adjoining to the east was raised by one storey, the walled battlements are clearly visible. Near the tower was a brick lavatory on wooden consoles.

There are hardly any traces of the remaining parts of the main castle. A narrow kennel complex was built around the mountain wall , which is probably due to a subsequent expansion. The structural connections between the main and outer bailey are unclear.

history

There are no reliable documents about the origins of the castle. The oldest components probably date from around 1200. The reconstruction and construction of the tower took place in the 13th century. Strassberg Castle was the seat of the Lords of Strassberg, first attested in 1253 with Otto.

In 1275 the castle belonged to the Barons of Vaz , because Walter V. von Vaz took it out of the possessions, which he transferred to the Churwalden Monastery in the event of death without heirs . He had given the castle to his wife Liutgard von Kirchberg as a morning gift. When and how the stronghold fell into the hands of the Vazer remains uncertain. It is conceivable that the castle was originally the center of a small independent rule and only later became Vazic. But it can also have been built by the Vazern and later transferred to a ministerial family that named itself after the fortress Strassberg. In any case, in 1295 the Lords of Strassberg appeared as Vazische Ministeriale. Because of its location on the pass routes and because of the nearby Churwalden monastery, where the Vazers were buried, Strassberg played an important role for them.

How long the Lords of Strassberg sat in the castle is uncertain. After the Vazers died out around 1339, the castle was inherited by Kunigunde von Vaz to her husband Friedrich V von Toggenburg . Below the castle was a customs post, which the Toggenburgers had built and which, against the will of the Chur bishop, was transferred by Emperor Charles IV on April 30, 1348. However, the revocation took place in the same year.

After the death of the last Toggenburg resident in 1436, Strassberg passed to Count Wilhelm IV of Montfort- Tettnang. Like the Toggenburgers, the Montforts had the castle administered by bailiffs from the rural upper class of the area. According to the Montfort freedom letter for the Churwalden court of 1441, Strassberg had to be open and valued to the country , as well as according to the freedom letter of Gaudenz von Matsch of 1471. In addition, the castle could only be occupied and guarded with the will and advice of the state. According to an income register from 1451, the buw ze Strassberg (castle and goods) earned 30 bushels of grain.

Later the castle came to the House of Austria due to financial difficulties until it was sold by Duke Sigismund to Vogt Ulrich von Matsch in 1471. Just six years later, he bought it back from him. In 1491 the Strassberg Castle was a bit pawuel and should be repaired by the Vogt. The last Austrian Vogt sat on Strassberg during the Swabian War. Because the Bündner wanted to prevent an Austrian military base on their territory, the fortress was stormed by them on March 5, 1499 and burned down.

In the 16th century the castle was already in ruins, the decay of which was accelerated by exploitation as a quarry. In 2008/2009 extensive restoration work was carried out on the ruins.

gallery
Base of the tower with high entrance
Palas, adjacent to the tower
in the tower
The inside of the tower
Summer 2008

literature

Fritz Hauswirth: Castles and Palaces in Switzerland, Volume 8, Neptun Verlag. Kreuzlingen 1972
Otto P. Clavedetscher, Werner Meyer : The castle book of Graubünden . Zurich / Schwäbisch Hall 1984
Werner Meyer: Castles of Switzerland . Volume 3. Silva Verlag. Zurich 1983
Anton von Castelmur: The castles and palaces of the Canton of Graubünden , Volume I, Birkhäuser-Verlag, Basel 1940

Individual evidence

^ Heinrich Boxler, The naming of castles in northeastern Switzerland and in Graubünden ; P. 175

Web links

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

Castle world: Strassberg Castle

[1] Heinrich Boxler, The naming of castles in northeastern Switzerland and in Graubünden ; P. 175