Marschlins Castle

Marschlins Castle is a castle in the village of Igis of the municipality of Landquart of the Canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

Marschlins Castle was the childhood home of feminist Meta von Salis.

The castle was built in the 13th century, though there may have been 11th- or 12th-century castles on the site and local legend claims it dates back to the Carolingian era. However, the 13th-century castle was probably built for the bishop of Chur. The castle is built in the Savoyard style, a square castle with corner towers, one of which is enlarged to serve as the donjon. This style of castle is unique in Graubünden, and how the design was imported is unknown. One theory for a Savoy connection is that between 1233 and 1237 the bishop of Chur was Ulrich IV of Kyburg, whose brother Hartmann IV was married to Margarethe of Savoy.

The castle was first mentioned on 12 May 1324 as the death place of the knight Jacob von Marmels. In 1336 the Bishop and Count Ulrich von Montfort were quarreling over the castle, which was decided by the courts in the Bishop's favor. However, in the following year he granted the castle as a fief to Duke Albert II of Austria. The Austrian duke granted it to several of his knights, until on 3 October 1354 it was granted to the Counts of Toggenburg in exchange for their support against Zürich and the Old Swiss Confederation. After the death of the last Count of Toggenburg, Frederick VII, in 1436 the fief passed back to the Austrians who granted it to the Brandis family to hold for the Bishop of Chur. In 1442 they used the castle as collateral for a loan from Heinrich von Sigberg. In 1460 the castle was partly destroyed in a fire. Because of the complex ownership (owned by the Bishop of Chur, granted as a fief to the Brandis family, collateral to the Sigberg family), a quarrel broke out between the Brandis and Sigberg families over the cost of repairs. A mediator from the Three Leagues determined that the Brandis family needed to repay the loan and that the repair costs would be shared equally.

In 1462 the Duke of Austria acquired the castle and estates from the Bishop of Chur and sold it to Ulrich von Brandis, who began rebuilding. In 1467 the duke expanded the estates attached to Marschlins by adding Malans, Untervaz and Valzeina.

Text adapted from “Marschlins Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Marschlins Castle ranks #4,179 of 8,133 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #44 of the 201 mapped in Switzerland. Founded 1324, it is older than 61% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 604 atlas entries founded in the 14th century. 14 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Winterthur, 89 km away. It is one of the 24 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of Graubünden. See how Switzerland compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗