Castle Brandis: A Medieval Hilltop Fortress in Italy
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Italy
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page10 sections
History
Castle Brandis is a medieval hilltop castle in Italy, above Niederlana, now part of Lana in South Tyrol. Its existence is securely recorded from the thirteenth century, when the site formed part of the history of the Brandis noble family.
Medieval origins and the Brandis family
In 1236, Pranthoch von Brandis received exclusive use of the castrum de Brandicio from his brothers after they divided their ancestral Leonburg estate. He was also permitted to rebuild the castle, and constructed a new defensive tower there. From that time, he used the name Brandis.
The Brandis family later received control of the lower jurisdiction and the bailiff’s office over Oberlana and Niederlana. Niederlana was especially important as the parish and administrative center. Castle Brandis remained with the Brandis counts for more than 800 years, an exceptional local example of continuous ownership by one family. The Brandis family also owned Leonburg.
Tyrolean authority and later alterations
In 1292, Hildebrand von Brandis submitted to Mainardo II, the medieval Count of Tyrol, whose authority extended across the Tyrolean territories where the castle stood. Hildebrand surrendered Castle Brandis, but Mainardo later returned it to him as an act of favor. The castle was spared while other castles in the area were treated less leniently.
Alterations and extensions took place during the sixteenth century. Work on the castle chapel began around 1500 and continued into the early seventeenth century. The Bishop of Chur consecrated it on 5 November 1617. The chapel had two endowments: one supported two Masses each week, while the other supported twelve monthly Masses honoring Saint John Nepomuk, a Bohemian Christian saint associated with confession, bridges, and waterways, together with a litany, a prayer formed from repeated invocations and responses.
Collapse, abandonment, and preservation
During one night in 1807, parts of the dilapidated keep collapsed onto the residential building. Anna von Rutter, the estate manager’s wife, and a twelve-year-old child were killed. A valuable weapons collection was also buried in the collapse.
After the disaster, Johann, Count of Brandis, abandoned the unsafe castle and built Schloss Neubrandis on a nearby hill below the old complex. The earlier castle, thereafter also called Altbrandis to distinguish it from the new residence, was left to decay and was no longer inhabited. Investigations in the 1980s recovered remains of armor from the ruins. Since 1950, Castle Brandis has been included on the list of state-protected historic buildings.
Remains
Fortress layout
Castle Brandis survives as a ruined hilltop fortress on a small rise on the right side of the valley above Niederlana. The complex is arranged in three principal parts: a stable and agricultural building, a palas, the main residential and representative building of a medieval castle, with the entrance, and a free-standing keep on the highest part of the site. A curtain wall surrounds the keep and the remains of the lower buildings.
Stable and agricultural building
The stable and agricultural building forms one of the three principal parts of the castle complex. Its surviving fabric stands within the enclosing curtain wall and contributes to the preserved remains of the former fortress.
Palas and entrance
The palas contained the castle’s principal residential and representative spaces and also incorporated the castle entrance. Its ruins remain within the walled complex, alongside the keep, agricultural building, chapel, and enclosing wall.
Keep
The keep is the most prominent surviving feature of Castle Brandis. It originally had six storeys, with habitation in the lower levels, as shown by Romanesque three-light windows, which are windows divided into three openings in the Romanesque architectural style. The partly collapsed tower retains clear damage from the 1807 fall, together with a round-arched window and a spiral staircase built into the thickness of a corner wall.
Chapel and enclosing wall
The castle chapel dates from around 1500 and was altered several times through the seventeenth century. It survives as part of the ruin, enclosed with the remains of the keep, palas, agricultural buildings, and curtain wall. Together, these elements preserve the principal physical divisions of the former hilltop fortress.
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