Munchenstein ruins

Munchenstein ruins
	Münchenstein ruins above the village
Creation time :	probably 1260 to 1275
Castle type :	Hilltop castle
Conservation status:	ruin
Standing position :	Ministeriale
Place:	Munchenstein
Geographical location	47 ° 30 '45.2 " N , 7 ° 37' 17.1" E Coordinates: 47 ° 30 '45.2 " N , 7 ° 37' 17.1" E ; CH1903: six hundred thirteen thousand seven hundred and seventy / 262440

The ruin Münchenstein is the ruin of a high medieval hill castle above Münchenstein in the Swiss canton of Basel-Landschaft .

location

The ruin of the castle complex lies on an elongated, narrow rock ridge. Only small remains of the wall are visible today, which rise above the old village center of Münchenstein.

Because of the danger of falling - the ruin is in the middle of the village - access is blocked with a small gate.

history

Until the castle was founded and built, the village, an agricultural clan settlement that probably had a few houses, was later called Kekingen Geckingen. Around 1260, the growing knight family of the Münch acquired the village of Geckingen in the Birstal, which was part of the Basel cathedral chapter . The time when the castle was built cannot be precisely determined. Most likely, construction began between 1260 and 1275.

The founder of the castle was probably Hugo III. Münch, who is mentioned in various documents around 1270 (there is hardly any real history at this time and important business transactions were only partially recorded in writing). It should be noted that the Münch developed a great deal of power during this time and tried to counteract the strengthening of the city of Basel by founding numerous castles such as Münchsberg , Hilsenstein and Angenstein as well as Sternenfels near Büren . The Münch and its castle quickly gave the village its name. From the year 1279 the former Geckingen appeared under the name Münchenstein.

The castle and village were only owned by the Münch for a very short time , because around 1270 they handed it over to the Counts of Pfirt and received it back as a fief . At the time - without a uniform legal system in the current sense - this was a common process to secure the legal and military protection of a stronger power. In this case it is likely to be about the dispute between the Habsburgs and the Bishop of Basel , in which the Münch were on the episcopal side. The Münch were at times in an open feud with the city of Basel , for example in 1409, when Münchenstein's subjects moved to Basel.

With the death of the last Count of Pfirt, Ulrich III., In March 1324 in Basel, the feudal power fell to the House of Habsburg-Austria by heredity. Hereditary Countess Johanna von Pfirt was by marriage to Duke Albrecht II of Habsburg , Duchess of Austria.

The castle was completed in 1334 and was at its greatest extent. In 1356, the great Basel earthquake also damaged Münchenstein Castle, but it was quickly repaired. 1371 Konrad Münch came by marriage to Catherine of Lowenberg in the possession of the rule of Muttenz , including the castles on the Wartenberg .

During the third phase of the Old Zurich War ( Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs , August 26, 1444) aristocratic Austrian partisans gathered in the village of Münchenstein to await the outcome of the battle, but Hans Thüring Münch did not open the Münchenstein Castle to them, but tried to get rid of it as quickly as possible, which turned out to be a smart move.

In 1468, Solothurn attacked Münchenstein Castle as part of its northward expansion policy and conquered it by hand , but had to return it to the Münchs in 1469.

After Hans Thüring Münch's death in 1449, his two sons Hans and Konrad engaged in a long-standing legal battle over the inheritance, which led to the family's economic ruin. Disputes, mismanagement and raids (for example Solothurn) drove the Münch into debt, so that after the death of Hans Münch in 1470 they had to pledge the village and castle to the city of Basel. The pledge agreement was concluded on July 18, 1470, and so rule over Münchenstein, initially only on loan, passed into municipal hands for the first time. Konrad Münch von Münchenstein was allowed to continue to live in the castle as Vogt from 1477 until the pledge contract expired in 1482. With the expiry of the contract and due to his poor administration and accounting, Konrad had to leave the castle.

In 1487 the people of Solothurn tried again to take control of the castle by attacking them - the angry Konrad had already illegally sold them the rule of Münchenstein. The attack failed the Solothurners because the new Basler Vogt was sufficiently attentive. In August 1487, the Federal Arbitration Court confirmed Basel's legal claim to Münchenstein based on the Pfandbrief of 1470.

Castle and village of Münchenstein drawn by Emanuel Büchel in 1738

As a result of the further decline of the Münch, they could no longer pay the deposit sums and certainly not release the deposit. Therefore, in 1515, the Münchs were forced to sell their entire rule of Münchenstein to the city of Basel. At the same time, Emperor Maximilian's fief status was also deleted. The castle has now become a bailiff's seat in Basel .

In 1798 - in the context of the revolutionary events - the last Obervogt left the castle. In contrast to other Basel bailiff's castles such as the Farnsburg , Homburg or Waldenburg, Münchenstein Castle was not set on fire. The Basel bailiffs had distinguished themselves here by their more moderate behavior towards the population. In March 1798 the already quite dilapidated castle was sold to the community of Münchenstein. The goods were also divided up and sold and the castle was used as a quarry.

For the sake of completeness, the Birsbrücke near the Bruckgut that belongs to the rulership should be mentioned. This brought the Münch regular income through bridge tariffs, because at that time there were only a few suitable Birs crossings due to the strongly meandering Birs river.

investment

Remnants of the wall on the SW side of the upper castle

Zwinger to the upper castle

Since the rock ridge on which the castle was built is very narrow and sloping, the main castle of the complex was divided into an upper and lower castle and built with rather narrow but tall buildings. In addition there is the outer bailey , which mainly consisted of the completely walled village of Münchenstein. Since the complex was used extensively as a quarry, only a small part of its appearance can be reconstructed from the remains, and images have to be used, which, however, only really start in the 17th century.

At the highest point in the upper castle was a massive round tower , the dungeon , by a small courtyard from the multi-storey Palas was separated. To the south-east there was another residential building (smoke ventilation, toilet block ), which was leaned against the Bering . The construction of the bridge in the Zwinger to the upper castle is extraordinary. Because of the narrowness and the steepness of the stairway to the upper castle, it could not be designed as a drawbridge (too acute-angled application of the forces). Instead, it was designed as a tipping bridge that rested on a transverse beam in the middle of the bridge: if the lock was released, the bridge would tilt around this beam in a vertical position in the middle between the two bridge ends and thus prevent access to the gate of the upper castle.

The lower castle was on a narrow rock terrace north-west of the upper castle. It was also surrounded by a crenellated wall, on the inside of which a building with a pent roof was leaned, the purpose of which cannot be precisely determined.

The northern part of the surrounding wall of the village - or the outer bailey - begins at the wall of the lower castle, continues to the northern Baslertor and from there led west and south around the whole village. The southern wall, however, already branched off from the southeast corner of the upper castle, led to the southern upper gate and then to the west and north around the village of Münchenstein, where it joined the northern wall.

The country road ran through the village from Basel to Dornach , so that the wall surrounding the village had two gates - the Baslertor in the north and the Obertor in the south. The roofing of the gate towers is reproduced on an engraving by Matthäus Merian with a crenellated wreath or with roofs. There were ditches in front of these gates, which were originally crossed by drawbridges and, from the 17th century, by stone bridges. In the west, a steep slope sloping down towards the Birs lowland offered protection, and in the east there was the castle rock.

literature

Werner Meyer : Castles from A to Z - Burgenlexikon der Regio . Published by the Castle Friends of both Basels on the occasion of their 50th anniversary. Klingental printing works, Basel 1981, pp. 104–106.
Walter Ramseier, Samuel Huggel, Beatrix Kolb, René Salathé, Werner Meyer: Münchenstein local history . Verlag des Kantons Basellandschaft, 1995, p. 127 ff.
Carl Roth: The castles and palaces of the cantons of Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft . Volume 4b. Birkhäuser, Basel 1932, p. 36 ff.

Web links

Castle world: Münchenstein Castle
Münchenstein ruins on burgseiten.ch
Münchenstein Castle picture gallery and history
Art guide Münchenstein
Illustration by Daniel Meisner from 1625: Münchenstein; Before toes play poor, as one rich ( digitized )