Schwarzenstein Castle

Geschichte

Schwarzenstein Castle is a ruined castle in the municipality of Obersaxen Mundaun of the Canton of Graubünden in Switzerland.HistoryThe Obersaxen plateau first appears in historic records in 765 when Bishop Tello gave his farms and meadows there to Disentis Abbey. In 806 it became an Imperial Estate, which it remained until 956 when Emperor Otto I donated the village and the village church back to the Bishop of Chur. To control this important village along the Rhine river, four castles were built at various points throughout the Middle Ages. The first was Heidenberg above Tavanasa which may have been built as early as 1000. Moregg and Saxenstein were both built on the eastern side of Obersaxen around 1200. The last and largest of the four, Schwarzenstein, was built in the mid 13th century.The castle was probably built for the Freiherr von Rhäzüns as they expanded their power into the Obersaxen Plateau. It was probably home to a number of vogts appointed by the Freiherr. It first appears in a historical record in 1289 when Hartwig von Löwenstein was ordered to return the castrum de Swarzenstain, which he had captured during fighting in the region, to Heinrich Brun von Rhäzüns. In the 14th century the Walser in the Upper Valais were granted the right to appoint their own amtmann or bailiff. Under this new system the office of vogt was superfluous and there was no longer a need to have a vogt at Schwarzenstein or any of the other three castles. In 1468 Schwarzenstein, Saxenstein and Moregg were mentioned but were abandoned and Heidenberg was not even mentioned.