Strassberg Castle
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Strassberg Castle is a ruined
castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...
in the
municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...
of
Churwalden Churwalden is a municipality in the Plessur Region in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. It incorporates the former municipalities of Malix and Parpan. History Churwalden is first mentioned in 1149 as ''silva Augeria''. In 1191 it w ...
of the
Canton of Graubünden The Grisons (; ) or Graubünden (),Names include: * ; * Romansh: ** ** ** ** ** **; * ; * ; * . See also other names. more formally the Canton of the Grisons or the Canton of Graubünden, is one of the twenty-six cantons of Switzerland. I ...
in
Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
.


History

The castle was built in the 12th century to guard the road from
Chur '' Chur (locally) or ; ; ; ; ; ; or ; , and . is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, town of the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of the Grisons and lies in the Alpine Rhine, Grisonian Rhine Valley, where ...
over the alpine passes. The oldest part of the castle, the
ring wall A curtain wall is a defensive wall between fortified towers or bastions of a castle, fortress, or town. Ancient fortifications Evidence for curtain walls or a series of walls surrounding a town or fortress can be found in the historical source ...
, was built in the second half of the 12th century. The main tower was added in the early 13th century. The Lords of Strassberg first appear in the historical record in 1253. The ring wall around the main castle originally had a residential building along the north side and still shows signs of windows and privies. In the 13th century a large, square, four-story tower was added on the west side of the ring wall. East of the main ring wall was another, larger ring wall which may have included a gate house. Very little of this outer wall remains and it is unclear how it connected to the main castle. The castle is first mentioned in a record in 1275 as ''castrum dictum Strasceberch'' and at that time it was owned by the powerful
Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , ) and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and in ...
von Vaz. The Strassberg family appear to have been
ministerialis The ''ministeriales'' (singular: ''ministerialis'') were a legally unfree but socially elite class of knights, administrators, and officials in the High Middle Ages in the Holy Roman Empire, drawn from a mix of servile origins, free commoners, and ...
, unfree knights in service to a higher noble, or
vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain ...
s of the Vaz family. Strassberg castle allowed the Vaz to collect taxes from trade along the road. In addition, it protected nearby
Churwalden Abbey Churwalden Abbey is a former Premonstratensian abbey in the Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality of Churwalden, Canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It was founded around 1150, abandoned after the Protestant Reformation and was formally di ...
, which was the burial place of the family. After the extinction of the Vaz family, in 1339, the castle was inherited by the
Counts of Toggenburg The counts of Toggenburg (''Grafen von Toggenburg'') ruled the Toggenburg region of today's canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland, and adjacent areas during the 13th to 15th centuries. A baronial family of Toggenburg is mentioned in the 11th and 1 ...
. The Toggenburg counts received imperial permission to establish a
customs Customs is an authority or Government agency, agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling International trade, the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out ...
station at Strassberg in April 1348. However, the
Bishop of Chur The Bishop of Chur (German: ''Bischof von Chur'') is the ordinary of the Diocese of Chur in Grisons, Switzerland (Latin: ''Dioecesis Curiensis'').Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...
Sigismund Sigismund (variants: Sigmund, Siegmund) is a German proper name, meaning "protection through victory", from Old High German ''sigu'' "victory" + ''munt'' "hand, protection". Tacitus latinises it ''Segimundus''. There appears to be an older form of ...
, which when the bishop objected, ended up with
Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
having to arbitrate between the Toggenburgs and the bishop. In 1360 the last Strassberg died out and the castle passed fully to the Toggenburgs. For the next three quarters of a century several different Toggenburg vassals held Strassberg as a
fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...
. When the last Toggenberg count, Frederick VII, died the castle was inherited by the
Counts of Montfort Count of Montfort may refer to: * Counts of Montfort (Swabia) * Count of Montfort-l'Amaury, France {{dab ...
. Probably due to the power of the
League of the Ten Jurisdictions The League of the Ten Jurisdictions was the last of the Three Leagues founded during the Middle Ages in what is now Canton Graubünden of Switzerland. The League was created in the County of Toggenburg after the counts of Toggenburg died out ...
Monfort granted the town of Churwalden its freedom and a promise that the castle would always stand open to Churwalden and that the vogt would only live in the castle if the town granted its permission. In 1466 the Counts of Montfort sold the castle to Archduke
Sigismund of Austria Sigismund (26 October 1427 – 4 March 1496), a member of the House of Habsburg, was Duke of Austria from 1439 (elevated to Archduke in 1477) until his death. As a scion of the Habsburg Leopoldian line, he ruled over Further Austria and the ...
. A few years later, in 1471 Sigismund sold the castle to Ulrich von Matsch and then inherited it back in 1479. The castle began to fall into ruin and in 1491 Vogt Disch Ammann von Rhäzüns reported that the castle was somewhat damaged. On 5 March 1499, during the
Swabian War The Swabian War of 1499 ( (spelling depending on dialect), called or ("Swiss War") in Germany and ("War of the Engadin" in Austria) was the last major armed conflict between the Old Swiss Confederacy and the House of Habsburg. What had begun ...
, the castle was burned by retreating League troops to prevent it from falling into Austrian hands. By the 16th century it was already a ruin. The castle ruins were repaired and stabilized in 2008/9.


Gallery

Strassberg_Turmfuss.jpg, Foundation of the tower, near the old high entrance Strassberg_Palas.jpg,
Palas A ''palas'' () is a German term for the imposing or prestigious building of a medieval '' Pfalz'' or castle that contained the great hall. Such buildings appeared during the Romanesque period (11th to 13th century) and, according to Thompson ...
and tower Strassberg_innen.jpg, Interior of the tower Strassberg_Turm_innen.jpg, Interior of the tower, looking up Strassberg_Restaurierung.jpg, Repairs in the summer 2008


See also

*
List of castles in Switzerland This list includes castles and fortresses in Switzerland. Entries list the name and location of the castle, fortress or ruins in each Canton in Switzerland. Aargau Appenzell Ausserrhoden Appenzell Innerrhoden Basel-Landschaft, Bas ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strassberg Castle Castles in Graubünden Ruined castles in Switzerland