Frischenberg is a ruined castle in

Sennwald Sennwald is a municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of Werdenberg in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Geography Sennwald has an area, , of . Of this area, 49.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 31.5% is forested. ...

canton of St. Gallen The canton of St. Gallen, also canton of St Gall (german: link=no, Kanton St. Gallen ; rm, Chantun Son Gagl; french: Canton de Saint-Gall; it, Canton San Gallo), is a canton of Switzerland. The capital is St. Gallen. Located in northeaster ...

, Switzerland. It was built in the early 14th century by the lords of

Hohensax The noble family von Sax (originally ''de Sacco'') were a medieval noble family in eastern Switzerland. They owned estates and castles on both sides of the Alps in the modern cantons of St. Gallen, Graubünden and Ticino. The origin of the fami ...

, probably by Ulrich III von Hohensax some time after 1313. It was destroyed and rebuilt in 1446, and abandoned in 1551. It is located on a rocky ridge at elevation, overlooking the

Alpine Rhine Valley The Alpine Rhine Valley (german: Alpenrheintal) is a glacial alpine valley, formed by the part of the Alpine Rhine (german: Alpenrhein ) between the confluence of the Anterior Rhine and Posterior Rhine at Reichenau and the Alpine Rhine's mouth ...

. The ruins of the older

Hohensax Castle Hohensax (german: Ruine Hohensax or german: Burg Hohensax) is a ruined castle in the Sennwald municipality in the Swiss canton St. Gallen. The castle was built around 1200 by the barons of Sax, and was destroyed in 1446. In 1248, the castle pass ...

is nearby on the same ridge, at a distance of about The castle was sold to duke Leopold IV of Austria in 1393 along with the Hohensax lordship, but returned to Ulrich Eberhard IV of Hohensax as a fief. In the

Appenzell War The Appenzell Wars (german: Appenzeller Kriege) were a series of conflicts that lasted from 1401 until 1429 in the Appenzell region of modern-day Switzerland. The wars consisted of uprisings of cooperative groups, such as the farmers of Appenzell ...

of 1405, the castle was occupied by

Appenzell Appenzell is a historic canton in the northeast of Switzerland, and entirely surrounded by the canton of St. Gallen. Appenzell became independent of the Abbey of Saint Gall in 1403 and entered a league with the Old Swiss Confederacy in 1411, ...

and became detached from the lordship of Hohensax. It was bought by Ulrich von Hohensax in 1440, but in 1446, the castle was again attacked by Appenzell, in the context of the

Old Zürich War The Old Zurich War (german: Alter Zürichkrieg), 1440–46, was a conflict between the canton of Zurich and the other seven cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy over the succession to the Count of Toggenburg. In 1436, Count Friedrich VII of T ...

, and was destroyed. Frischenberg was bought to Albrecht V of Hohensax in 1454. After the St. Gallerkrieg of 1489/90 it passed to the

Swiss Confederacy The Old Swiss Confederacy or Swiss Confederacy (German language, Modern German: ; historically , after the Swiss Reformation, Reformation also , "Confederation of the Swiss") was a loose confederation of independent small states (, German or ...

, who gave it to Ulrich IX of Hohensax. Ulrich incorporated the lordship of Frischenberg into

Sax-Forstegg The Lordship of Sax-Forstegg was a territory in the Alpine Rhine Valley, including the settlements of Sennwald and Altstätten, now part of the canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland. It was named for the baronial family of Sax and their castle For ...

in 1517. The castle was abandoned by Ulrich Philipp von Hohensax, who built his new residence in Sax (now part of

municipality).

References

*Gustav Benjamin Schwab, Johann Jacob Hottinger: Die Schweiz in ihren Ritterburgen und Bergschlössern, Band 1. Chur 1828, S. 125f. * H. Rudoph Inhelder: «Burg und Herrschaft Frischenberg». In: ''Werdenberger Jahrbuch'', 5. Jhg. / 1992. Salez 1992. {{Castles of St. Gallen Buildings and structures completed in the 14th century Buildings and structures demolished in the 16th century History of the canton of St. Gallen Castles in Switzerland Castles in the canton of St. Gallen Ruined castles in Switzerland

See also

References