Schenkenberg castle ruin

Schenkenberg Castle (German: Ruine Schenkenberg) is a castle ruin above the municipality of Thalheim in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. It was built in the 13th Century by the Habsburg dynasty, was the administrative seat for 260 years of a bailiwick of the city of Bern and fell into ruin in the 18th century.

The castle is located on the 631 m (2,070 ft) high hill of the same name. This hill, located in the Jura Mountains is about 200 m (660 ft) above the 5 km (3.1 mi) long Schenkenberg valley (German: Schenkenbergertal).

The castle was probably built in the early 13th Century for the Habsburgs dynasty, both as a headquarters and to protect core areas around Brugg. The first written mention of the castle took place in 1243 when the Lords of Schenkenberg, a Habsburg vassal, were granted land around the castle. The ownership changed multiple times as the Habsburgs granted it to other vassals.

After the Habsburg defeat at the Battle of Sempach, they fell into financial difficulties and had to mortgage the castle. In 1415 the Habsburgs fell into disfavor with King Sigismund, after the Swiss Confederates conquered the Aargau. The area on the left side of the Aare, including the Schenkenberger valley remained unchanged for the time being. However, in 1417, King Sigismund put the castle under his direct protection. The holder of the castle, Margaret of Fridlingen, sold the castle and the related rights in 1431 to Baron Thüring of Aarburg.

The bailiwick of Schenkenberg was at that time a fairly sovereign state. It extended over a large part of today's Brugg District. In 1451 Thüring ran into financial problems and sold the title and rights to his son-in-law Hans von Baldegg and Hans' brother Markwart. The Baldegger, who had fought on the side of the Habsburgs in 1386, allied themselves with Austria and pointedly drew the ire of the Confederates on himself. Increasingly, there were disputes with the citizens of the town of Brugg, who were subjects of Bern. In 1460 Bern finally had enough of the permanent provocations and occupied the castle driving out the Baldeggers.

The damage to the castle following the fight was immediately repaired. The castle became the seat of the Bernese bailiff and the center of the Herrschaft of Schenkenberg in the Bernese Aargau.

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

Schenkenberg castle ruin ranks #5,507 of 8,133 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #74 of the 201 mapped in Switzerland. Founded 1243, it is older than 73% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 860 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. 20 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Basel, 41 km away. See how Switzerland compares in the castle statistics.

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