Burg Trautson: A Medieval Castle in Matrei am Brenner, Austria
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.7
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Austria
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Habsburg, Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page12 sections
History
Burg Trautson is a medieval castle in Matrei am Brenner, Austria, established under the Counts of Tyrol around 1221 and developed as the last of three fortresses that monitored the Wipptal. Also known as the rear Matrei fortress or Matrei Castle, it stood in a region whose ruling dynasty later came under Habsburg authority.
Foundation and the Lords of Matrei
Count Albert III of Tyrol established the first castle on the site after returning the front Matrei fortress, which he had seized in 1221, to Heinrich von Neiffen, a relative of Bertold von Neifen, the bishop of Brixen. The rear fortress was held in 1227 by Kuno von Matrei, a follower of the Counts of Tyrol. His son Otto used the designation “Otto de turre Matrai,” referring to the tower of Matrei.
Control then passed to Kuno II and to Auto von Matrei. Auto served as judge of Matrei and, from 1288, as judge of Innsbruck. After his death in 1318, the castle passed to Konrad, the last of the Lords of Matrei, who died in 1360.
War and the Trautson inheritance
Bavarian forces occupied Matrei Castle in 1368 during their final attempt to reverse Tirol’s incorporation into the Habsburg realm. Bishop Johann von Platzheim of Brixen and Duke Leopold III of Austria then besieged the fortress, which was held by Konrad Schonsteter. The Habsburg captain Randolf Flansch von Villanders failed to take it, and on 7 December 1368 Schonsteter sold the castle to Dukes Stephan and Friedrich of Bavaria. The Peace of Schärding in 1369 returned it to Duke Leopold III.
Also in 1369, Anastasia, the only daughter of Kuno von Matrei, transferred her fortress behind Matrei to her husband, Hans Trautson von Sprechenstein, with the consent of the Habsburg duke. Hans Trautson later acquired the front Matrei fortress and, in 1395, Raspenbühel. The three castles in the Matrei area consequently came into the possession of the Trautson family.
Habsburg fiefs and later ownership
Sixt Trautson sold the castle to the future Emperor Maximilian I in 1502, although members of the Trautson family continued to live there for another twelve years. In 1532, the castle was granted as a fief, property held from a superior lord in return for service and allegiance, to Albrecht von Stamp. The Stamp family retained it until the death of Troianus von Stamp.
In 1581, Archduke Ferdinand granted the castle to Cyriak Haidenreich von Pidenegg, president of the Upper Austrian Chamber, who carried out extensive alterations. The fief passed to his brother, Georg Rudolf Haidenreich von Pidenegg, in 1598. Anton Trautson bought the castle back in 1600, and Emperor Rudolf II, a Habsburg ruler and Holy Roman Emperor from 1576 to 1612, again enfeoffed him and his cousin Paul Sixt with it.
Johann Wilhelm, the last Trautson, died in 1775. Through his daughter Maria Josepha, the inheritance passed to her husband, Karl Josef, Prince of Auersperg. The ruins remain in the possession of the Auersperg-Trautson family.
Damage, destruction, and recovery
Construction of the Brenner railway caused the first damage to the previously well-preserved fortress in 1868. Iron ties and restoration work in 1915 and 1927 repaired the affected fabric. On 2 April 1945, two waves of an air raid largely destroyed Trautson Castle. The Brenner railway or the bridge below the castle was probably the target.
In 1947 and 1948, the castle yard was cleared, and a new residential building was erected with the remains of the chaplaincy. Collapsed sections revealed high-quality wall paintings, some of which were removed and saved. The castle is listed as a protected historic object in Austria.
Remains
Burg Trautson occupied an elongated complex approximately 90 metres long and 20 metres wide on a rock above the Sill. Its oldest core stood on the side most exposed to attack, while later residential buildings extended along the site. The approach came from the northwest and ran around the keep. A low wall enclosed the eastern side, and the former entrance was replaced by a round-arched gate during the second half of the sixteenth century.
Fortifications and residential buildings
Keep and palas
The keep, or principal fortified tower, was built around 1225 to 1230 as a residential tower. The palas, the castle’s main residential and representational building, stood 12 metres north of it. Together, these structures formed the early defensive and residential centre of the fortress.
Trautson Wing
The elongated Trautson Wing was added on the western side during the fifteenth century. Cyriak Haidenreich later built over the area that had previously remained open between the keep and the residential wing. By the seventeenth century, the enlarged complex served as the principal residence and contained a knights’ hall on the first floor.
Chapel and painted interiors
Castle chapel
A chapel is first recorded at the castle in 1394 and was probably located in the later Angel Room. A new chapel dedicated to Saint Euphemia was built on the western side and consecrated in 1682 by Wilhelm Vintler, the auxiliary bishop of Brixen. Its Baroque interior was most recently renovated in 1896 and 1897. Johann Wilhelm von Trautson founded a benefice, an endowed income supporting religious services, for the chapel, and the bishop of Brixen confirmed it in 1768.
Wall paintings
The bombing and collapse of parts of the castle exposed several painted works. Among the recovered paintings were a tournament scene in secco technique, meaning paint applied to dry plaster, from the period of Maximilian I; a Trautson coat of arms from the late fifteenth century; and scenes from the Little Neidhart Play, a medieval comic work associated with the poet-knight Neidhart von Reuenthal. Other surviving discoveries depicted a bear hunt from the third quarter of the fifteenth century and a chamois hunt.
