Uznaberg ruins

Uznaberg ruins
	Ruins of the Uznaburg
Creation time :	around 1200
Castle type :	Hilltop castle
Conservation status:	Ruin, rubble
Construction:	Rubble stones
Place:	Uznach
Geographical location	47 ° 14 '0.8 " N , 8 ° 57' 46" E Coordinates: 47 ° 14 '0.8 " N , 8 ° 57' 46" E ; CH1903: 715 410 / 232524
Height:	480 m above sea level M.

The Uznaberg ruin is the ruin of a hilltop castle on the rocky Uznaberg (alternative spelling : Utznaberg ) at an altitude of 491 m above sea level. M., northwest of Uznach in the canton of St. Gallen . The ruin is located directly on the road to Neuhaus approx. 60 meters above the village. Only a few remains of the wall remain from the former site.

Uznach - Neolithic to 13th century

Settlement finds on Lake Zurich can be traced back to the Neolithic Age (approx. 3500 BC) and even point to an early bridge connection ( wooden bridge Rapperswil – Hurden ) between the settlements near Hurden and Rapperswil . In the vicinity of Uznach, near Benken- Kastlet, finds of a Bronze Age settlement have been documented, between Schmerikon and Eschenbach carefully laid out burial mounds from roughly the same period were discovered.

At the turn of the ages the area of the Lin Plain belonged to the Roman province of Rätia and was inhabited by Celts . The Roman settlers contributed to the probably dense settlement of the region, and so various buildings and sites between Kempraten (Rapperswil) and Uznach were secured. a. Walls of Roman watchtowers, which suggest an early fortification of the area around Uznach. Roman coins from the imperial era have been found in Uznach, but no concrete traces of settlement have yet been found despite the Roman road that passes here - Bünder Passes, Chur, Zurich.

Old oral traditions reported a Roman watchtower on today's Burgplatz at the upper end of the town, but no systematic excavation has taken place so far .

Around 650 an early ( Alemannic ) farmers' settlement should still have been located on the shores of what was then Lake Tuggen . Over the centuries the banks silted up, meadows and farmland were reclaimed and the marshland used as scattering land. Until the Glarus forests were cleared, the Lint Plain was largely spared from major floods. Uznach ( Uzinaa ) is said to be mentioned by name for the first time as early as November 19, 741 , in a deed of donation from Ms. Beata to the Benken Monastery of St. Gallen Abbey . In later documents the name Uznach is spelled differently, for example Uzinaha and Uzzinriuda . A document from 856 mentions a Gallus church on the site of today's Kreuzkirche. The Counts of Toggenburg succeeded the St. Gallen Monastery as owners of Uznach.

Diethelm VI. is said to have married Guta von Rapperswil between 1180 and 1195 and received the county of Uznach. Around 1200 , the Rapperswil residents moved their headquarters to Neu-Rapperswil , to today's Rapperswil Castle , and through marriage, the Toggenburgers secured the area around Uznach and the Counts of Rapperswil as allies from 1195 onwards. Like them were the Toggenburg castvögte , which means that they may have expanded part of their land holdings.

Purpose and presumed destruction of the medieval castle complex

The barons of Toggenburg built the town of Uznach around 1200 (or 1209 when they obtained the title of count ) to secure their possessions in the Linth area, and probably also against the equally expanding Counts of Rapperswil . The town of Uznach is documented in a document from 1228 in which citizens of Uznach are named as witnesses and is likely to have been built on the site of the existing settlement: on the Uznaberg, actually on a small rock spur above the town, there was a residential tower and a chapel was built on Hauptgasse as the center of the new Uznach county , which the Toggenburgs ruled until they died out in 1436.

With the strategically cleverly placed facility, the Counts of Toggenburg also hindered trade in the city of Zurich, which they feuded with (also with a desire to expand) over the Graubünden passes. They were involved in a presumably ongoing feud with other up-and-coming aristocratic families and the monastery of St. Gallen and Count Rudolf von Habsburg , who tried to constantly expand his sphere of influence.

Siege of Uznaberg Castle by Rudolf von Habsburg in 1268. Engraving from the New Year's Gazette 1718 of the Zurich Burger Library. Headline: "Uznaberg, the evil robbery of the Count of Toggenburg, wonderfully captured and destroyed by the people of Zurich Ao1268"

In the course of the Regensberg feud (1267/68), the Counts of Toggenburg were probably allies of the Barons of Regensberg , as far as the vague sources, which are not conclusively proven, indicate. Uznaberg Castle is said to have been besieged and destroyed in spring 1267 or 1268 by Zurich troops under the command of Count Rudolf von Habsburg:

« Uznaberg Castle belonged to the Counts of Toggenburg, who took the liberty of seizing and plundering Zurich merchants. The people of Zurich set out under their field captain Rudolf von Habsburg to break the predatory nest. A heavy siege lasting several months did not lead to the goal. The besiegers were about to leave; then the besieged threw them live fish with excessive mischief in order to convince them that there was no shortage of food. But Rudolf thought it was a sign that the castle had a secret entrance. A swineherd told him the same thing. So Uznaberg was taken and destroyed. »

Castle complex and current knowledge

The castle Uznaberg u. a. in the Regensberg feud, even if its destruction in the course of the war is not clearly documented historically. Most of the existing engravings were not made until centuries after their presumed destruction: They glorify the capture of the 'impregnable' fortress Uznaberg by the Zurich troops and clearly exaggerate the topographical features. Only a few reliable findings are available about the appearance and scope of the castle complex or the individual stages of construction and settlement.

The building of a palace around 1200 by the Toggenburgers is considered to be relatively secure ; Uznaberg Castle was first mentioned in a document in 1234. Remains of the curtain wall have been preserved; the first archaeological research was carried out in 1939.

The castle is said not to have been rebuilt after its destruction in the spring of 1267 or 1268 - which has not yet been archaeologically proven beyond doubt.

Game at the Hexenturm, 1818, washed pen drawing by Karl Urban Keller (1772–1844). The drawing shows the castle hill at the upper end of the town from the north.

The stones were used to build the Kreuzkirche in Uznach, the parish church in Eschenbach , and the remnants for the pillars of the pressurized water pipes to the Uznaberg spinning mill, built around 1833. With the construction of Uznabergstrasse, the last remains of the castle were destroyed, which could have provided more detailed information about the complex.

In the Uznach local history museum of the Uznach community , some excavated items such as horseshoes, arrowheads and mug tiles from an oven in the castle are on display, and individual coin finds were also made.

It needs to be clarified whether parts of the castle complex or the aforementioned residential tower are identical to the Witches Tower, which was largely preserved around 1818 . On a pen drawing from that year, the masonry made of large, layered ashlar stones can be seen, nothing can be said about the division of floors and other structural features. When it was finally demolished in 1865, a spiral staircase and a chimney could still be seen.

North view
to the northwest
Southwest corner
Looking west

literature

Eusèbe Henri A. Gaullieur: Switzerland, its history, geography and statistics , Charles Schaub, 1857
Jakob Kuoni: Legends of the Canton of St. Gallen , St. Gallen 1903, No. 401, p. 230

Web links

Commons : Ruine Uznaberg - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ The «pile dwelling fever» is drawing closer. In: Zürichsee-Zeitung. Linth-Zeitung, April 7, 2004, archived from the original on September 29, 2007 ; Retrieved April 23, 2014 .

↑ Website 600 years Rogenmoser (1401-2001), database entry on Uznach SG ( Memento of the original from April 27, 2001 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2
↑ Alt Uznach: found objects and original engraving of Uznaberg Castle
↑ Uznach - The little one rose town
↑ Inventory of coin finds in Switzerland, IFS Bulletin 12/2005: Uznach (See district), near Uznaberg Castle, before 1892. Individual finds, watchtower, type of finding undetermined.
↑ For the last time “100 years of the Rickenbahn” suedostschweiz.ch on December 2, 2011

[ZSZ_20040407-1] The «pile dwelling fever» is drawing closer. In: Zürichsee-Zeitung. Linth-Zeitung, April 7, 2004, archived from the original on September 29, 2007 ; Retrieved April 23, 2014 .