Fröhlichsburg: Medieval Aristocratic Castle Ruin in Italy
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.7
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Italy
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page7 sections
History
Fröhlichsburg is a medieval aristocratic castle ruin at Mals in South Tyrol, Italy, probably established by the Lords of Mals, a collateral branch of the medieval Lords of Matsch. Its original keep dates from the twelfth or thirteenth century, and the castle may have served as the ancestral seat of the Lords of Mals.
Medieval Court and Administrative Center
The castle was later enlarged with a residential palace and an outer defensive enclosure. From the fourteenth century, it functioned as a judicial and administrative center. It subsequently passed to the Bishop of Chur, the head of the historic Roman Catholic diocese centered on Chur, who made the castle the seat of the court.
In 1499, during the Battle of Calven, forces from the Engadin set fire to the castle and the settlement. The court was then transferred to Glurns, leaving Fröhlichsburg effectively abandoned.
The Fröhlich Family and Later History
During the second half of the sixteenth century, the property passed to the Fröhlich family. They repaired the castle and gave it the name Fröhlichsburg. The family also owned the nearby Droßturm. In 1563, Emperor Ferdinand I, a Habsburg ruler and Holy Roman Emperor from 1556 to 1564, enfeoffed the brothers Balthasar, Carl, Hans, and Pankraz Fröhlich with the property. Balthasar Fröhlich, an administrative official of Mals and Glurns, later used the title “von Fröhlichsburg.”
The male line of the Fröhlich family died out around 1603. Another Tyrolean family then adopted the Fröhlich name and coat of arms. Eighteenth-century descriptions show that the complex had again largely fallen into ruin. Local tradition holds that stones from the castle were used to enlarge the parish church of Mals in 1838.
The ruins received legal protection in 1951 and were entered on the list of the South Tyrolean State Monument Office in 1981. The property is privately owned by the Counts of Khuen-Belasi. The Friends of Fröhlichsburg association was founded to support restoration of the tower, and work on the keep and its viewing platform took place in 2004.
Remains
Fröhlichsburg is a lowland castle whose surviving remains lie northwest of the center of Mals, on Fröhlichgasse. The visible complex is organized around the cylindrical keep and the adjacent residential palace, with the former outer defensive enclosure representing an additional stage in the castle’s expansion.
Surviving Castle Buildings
Cylindrical Keep
The principal early structure is the keep, a main medieval castle tower used chiefly for defense and representation rather than ordinary residence. Dating from the twelfth or thirteenth century, the surviving tower is cylindrical and is also described as a bergfried. Its restored viewing platform forms part of the preserved tower.
Residential Palace and Outer Enclosure
The keep was expanded by a palas, the castle’s principal residential and ceremonial building, and by a zwinger, an enclosed defensive area outside the main wall. The palace and cylindrical tower form the remains of the complex that can be visited.
Nearby sites
