Schalberg ruins

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Schalberg ruins
Remains of Schalberg Castle

Remains of Schalberg Castle

Creation time : around 1250 to 1300
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: ruin
Standing position : Free nobles
Place: Pfeffingen -Tschöpperli
Geographical location 47 ° 27 '52.6 "  N , 7 ° 34' 4.8"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 27 '52.6 "  N , 7 ° 34' 4.8"  E ; CH1903:  609755  /  257101
Height: 444  m above sea level M.
Schalberg ruins (Canton of Basel-Country)
Schalberg ruins
Tower ruin

The Schalberg castle ruins are the ruins of a hilltop castle about three kilometers west of Aesch and just under three kilometers west of Pfeffingen in the area of ​​today's municipality of Pfeffingen in the canton of Basel-Landschaft .

location

The Schalberg ruin is an important remnant of a city aristocratic castle, placed on an elongated rock ridge above the narrowest point of the Aescher Klusertal. It is 444 meters high, in autumn (without leaves) it is clearly visible from the country road in the west to the hamlet of Tschöpperli. On the way from the Klusertal up to the Schalberg ruins, the visitor also passes the Schalberg Cave, which was inhabited from the Stone Age, and shortly afterwards reaches two artificially sunk neck ditches . The limestone from the excavation of these neck ditches was used in the construction of Schalberg Castle.

The ruin is on the access road to the Plattenpass , an important medieval traffic connection between the Birseck and the Laufental. The close proximity of many other castles along this route suggests that the motivation for the construction was probably not the collection of tolls, but the rivalry with the Münch family.

Only 390 meters to the south-east as the crow flies are the Münchsberg castle ruins , which, like Schalberg, are located on a hilltop. Between the two lies the Engenstein ruin , which forms the forerunner of the Schalberg and is only 100 meters south-east. All three ruins are now somewhat hidden in the dense forest, but can be easily reached via the Aescher Burgengratweg. In the north-west of the Schalberg ruins, the Frohberg ruins - also known as Tschäpperli or Tschöpperli - can be visited after a short hike .

investment

Schalberg Castle consists of a two-part, 100-meter-long facility made up of an upper castle and a lower castle in the north-west of it. The dimensions of the upper castle can still easily be seen today from the up to 2 meter thick walls around the round tower (almost 7 meters outside diameter, but only about 3 meters clear width due to the walls), while the extent of the lower castle can be recognized from the terraced areas is. There were several buildings in the castle. Some of them can still be recognized by the remains of the walls: Their function cannot be determined without a precise excavation.

There are steep rocky slopes on the long sides of the elongated ridge on which the ruin stands. The approach from the south-east is made more difficult by a natural depression, in the north-west two neck ditches had been dug to prevent the approach. The original access to the castle was from the east, led south of the round tower outside the upper castle and over a small moat to the west outside the curtain wall (today bridged with beams).

In the south wall of the upper castle several window openings have been made, nothing can be said about their function and time of origin without a building archaeological investigation. A walled-up passage can also be seen, which presumably led to a battlements that rested on beams, the beam holes of which can still be seen.

history

Schalberg Castle was built in the late 13th century by the Basel noble family Schaler: This is a little later than the neighboring castles Engenstein and Frohberg (also Tschäpperli or Tschöpperli) , which were also built by the Schalern . Carl Roth suspects that either Peter Schaler or his son Rudolf built the castle. The Schaler branch living on Schalberg called itself "von Schalberg". They built the castle on their own property . At the beginning of the 14th century, however, they surrendered the castle to the Bishop of Basel and received it back as a fiefdom: this was a common - if not necessarily voluntary - process at the time to ensure the protection of a powerful ally in the medieval legal system. The complex was damaged in the earthquake of 1356 and then repaired again, but was probably abandoned shortly after 1400: At that time, power politics had shifted from the castles to the cities. When the Schaler dynasty died out in 1437, the castle passed into the possession of the Counts of Tierstein: Their interest was probably less in the building fabric, which at the time was probably already very dilapidated, than in the rights associated with the complex ( Tax collection, case law etc.). The last mention of it as a castle dates back to 1452.

In 1975 the remains of Schalberg Castle were partially preserved, but are still awaiting a detailed excavation. Today the ruin is the traditional home of the scout group Schalberg from Basel.

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 company, Basel 1981, pp. 126–127.
  • Carl Roth: The castles and palaces of the cantons of Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft . Birkhäuser, Basel 1932.

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