Münchsberg ruins

This article describes the Münchsberg castle ruins in Switzerland. For the place in the Czech Republic, see Vojnův Městec .

Münchsberg ruins
Remnants of the wall of the former Münchsberg Castle
Creation time :	after 1286
Castle type :	Hilltop castle
Conservation status:	ruin
Standing position :	Ministeriale
Place:	Pfeffingen
Geographical location	47 ° 27 '43.8 "  N , 7 ° 34' 20.3"  O Coordinates: 47 ° 27 '43.8 "  N , 7 ° 34' 20.3"  E ; CH1903:  610080  /  256830
Height:	477  m above sea level M.

The Münchsberg is the ruins of a hilltop castle from the 13th century near the towns of Aesch and Pfeffingen , in the area of ​​the municipality of Pfeffingen in the Swiss canton of Basel-Landschaft .

location

Münchsberg ruins

The ruin lies on a ridge divided by several rock heads above the Klusertal at an altitude of 477 meters on the access road to the Plattenpass , an important medieval traffic connection between the Birseck and the Laufental. The Schalberg castle ruins are 390 meters to the north-west, with the Engenstein ruins next to them . The Münchsberg ruin is heavily overgrown by forest and therefore hardly recognizable from the road in the Aescher Klusertal in summer. The ruins can be reached on foot on the “Burgengratweg”.

investment

View of the Klus and Basel

The north-eastern long side of the complex was protected by the steep cliffs, while the approach to the south-western long side and south-eastern narrow side was made more difficult by a natural, artificially deepened trench : the excavation was also used to extract building material. Only the remains of tower-like buildings and a large curtain wall are left of the once extensive castle complex . The main castle is divided into two parts by the structure of the rock heads:

• On the south-eastern rock head there was a residential building measuring 19 × 14 meters and a wall thickness of up to 3 meters. This included further ancillary buildings , probably built onto the residential tower , of which hardly any remains are left. Accordingly, neither the construction nor the intended purpose can be identified;
• The north-western rock head supported at least three other buildings, some of which were considerable (up to 16 × 16 meters). Here, too, no statements can be made about the purpose and construction due to the scant remains.

To the south-east of this main castle - separated by a neck ditch  - a preliminary work can be assumed: An apparently artificially formed hill more than 15 × 15 meters in size is surrounded by a rather shallow ditch. The lack of wall remnants on this hill could indicate that this outbuilding or outbuilding was never completed.

history

Münchsberg ruins

Münchsberg ruins

The castle was built in the second half of the 13th century, but after 1286, by Konrad III. Münch, a member of the Basel aristocratic and patrician family Münch on Allod . The aim of the foundation was probably less to interest in the pass road over the Plattenpass than to limit the power development of the nearby Schaler ( ruin Engenstein , ruin Schalberg , ruin Frohberg ).

The Münchs were originally a ministerial family of the Bishop of Basel . In 1227 the bishop's servants were granted the right to receive fiefs . In 1232 the first member of the Münch family received the rank of knight . The Münchs became one of the leading families of knighthood in the diocese of Basel in the 13th century . The then of Konrad III. Münchsberg Castle was one of the largest castles in what was then the bishopric of Basel. That of Konrad III. The family branch founded by Münch was henceforth called "Münch von Münchsberg" after Münchsberg. In 1318 Conrad IV. Münch, the son of Conrad III., Handed over the castle and the property belonging to it to the Bishop of Basel and received them back as a fief: In the legal system of the time, this was a common process with which a noble family secured the protection of a higher-ranking, more powerful one Gentlemen ensured for their sphere of influence.

In the earthquake in Basel in 1356, the last member of this branch of the family, the clergyman Peter Münch, perished and the castle was damaged and abandoned as a castle. At that time, the “castles dying” was already in full swing in this area, political events were shifting to the cities, and so the Münchs no longer wanted to invest in reconstruction. With the death of Peter Münch, the fief fell to the line of «Münch von Landskron». In 1459, with the death of Hans Münch, the Münch von Landskron branch also ended, and the ruins were taken over by the von Rotbergs .

As part of the aggressive expansion policy from Solothurn to the north, the Rotbergers wanted to sell Münchsberg to Solothurn in 1515 as an addition to their own ancestral rule. Although the Münchsberg was already in ruins, Solothurn was interested in the goods (e.g. Dinghof Aesch) and rights (e.g. tax collection, jurisdiction) linked to the castle . The bishop, as liege lord and goal of the Solothurnian expansion policy, stopped this sale for the time being. It wasn't until around 40 years later that he agreed. The fact that Münchsberg is now in the canton of Basel-Landschaft can be explained by the boundary adjustment between Solothurn and Baselland in the 19th century.

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. 106-107.
• Carl Roth: The castles and palaces of the cantons of Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft . Birkhäuser, Basel 1932.

See also

• List of castles and palaces in Switzerland

Web links

• Burgenwelt: Münchsberg Castle