Schlossberg Castle: A Medieval Hilltop Toll and Border Fortification in Austria
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- Austria
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- Unclassified
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- Unclassified
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- Military
- Remains
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On this page8 sections
History
Schlossberg Castle was a medieval hilltop toll castle in Austria, above Seefeld in Tirol. Its construction dates to before 1248, when it was probably associated with the House of Andechs, a medieval German noble dynasty whose possessions included territories in the eastern Alps. The castle was recorded in 1263 as castrum Slozperch during an inheritance division between Meinhard I of Gorizia and Count Gebhard VI of Hirschberg. By the late thirteenth century, it had become a fortified point on the frontier and a control point on the route through the Scharenz.
Castle-guards and frontier administration
In 1281, Gorizian-Tyrolean ministeriales held the hereditary castle-guard, the responsibility for maintaining and defending the fortress. Albert and Rüdiger, sons of Eberlin of Schlossberg and grandsons of Konrad of Schlossberg, were entrusted with the office. Their family belonged to the lords of Eben near Inzing and continued to use the Schlossberg name after losing the castle-guard.
The castle was enlarged toward the end of the thirteenth century. In 1284 it passed from the Counts of Eschenlohe to the Counts of Tyrol and became a border fortification facing the County of Werdenfels. The frontier also divided two church territories, the Bishopric of Freising, which included Scharnitz, and the Bishopric of Brixen, which included Seefeld and Oberleutasch. Tyrol sought to move its frontier toward the strategically important Scharnitz Pass.
The castle-guard changed hands several times. Hildebrand Perchtinger held it in 1314, Johannes von Liebenberg in 1317, Heinrich Perchtinger in 1319–20, and Heinrich Stöckel in 1346. When the Tyrolean War of Succession began in 1335, the castle received additional fortifications. A new tax, the steura nova, helped finance the work.
War, recovery, and changing officials
Bavarian troops captured Schlossberg in 1365 and again in 1368. A Tyrolean force led by Petermann of Schenna, Burgrave of Tyrol, recaptured it soon afterward. The Treaty of Schärding in 1369 returned the castle to the joint Austrian rulers Albert and Leopold.
Gebhard von Weer was recorded as castle superintendent in 1376. A superintendent, or Pfleger, administered a territory and acted for its ruling authority. Oswald Milser held the office from 1384 to 1393 and became associated with the legend of the Seefeld Host miracle. The popular name “Milser Schlössl” derives from this period. Later superintendents included Hans Ramung, Hans Erber, Burghard von Windeck, Mathias Gelter, Pankraz Hahn von Hahnberg, Paul Stickl, Simon Pfab, Wolfgang von Windeck, and Ulrich Hammerspach.
In 1455 Duke Sigismund pledged Schlossberg to his nephew Ulrich, Count of Cilli. By 1460 Burghard von Hausen was superintendent and expanded the castle on Sigismund’s orders. An earthquake badly damaged the fortress in 1492, leading to complaints from Ulrich Hammerspach, who died in 1496.
Sixteenth-century repairs and decline
On 20 October 1500, Maximilian I and Prince-Bishop Philipp of Freising ratified an agreement that moved the Tyrolean border northward to within one kilometre of Scharnitz. Under Hans von Zwingenburg, the water-supply line was renewed and building damage repaired between 1510 and 1512, although later superintendents again reported serious defects.
Christian Schwärzel took over the castle-guard in 1547. Building work begun under him resumed in 1560 under his successor Alexander Gabelowitsch, also known as Sandri. During the invasion of Tyrol by Elector Maurice of Saxony, the castle remained in good defensive condition and was not captured, although its own troops caused extensive damage. Martin Fuchs, appointed superintendent in 1560, continued to report defects. Such complaints ended after Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol transferred the castle and its possessions to the parish of Seefeld in 1586.
The parish was incorporated into the Augustinian Hermits’ monastery in Seefeld in 1604. The Augustinian Hermits were members of a Catholic religious order following the Rule of Saint Augustine. After this transfer, only a watchman lived at Schlossberg. When Tyrol received permission in 1632 to build the Porta Claudia, a later fortified barrier in the Scharnitz valley, Schlossberg lost its strategic importance and rapidly decayed.
Destruction and archaeological investigation
Schlossberg was described as completely ruined and uninhabited in 1728. Several outer walls remained around 1800, but by 1846 only a low remnant survived, probably because local farmers removed stones for their buildings. The remaining structure was demolished in 1911–12, and its material was used to construct the Mittenwald Railway.
The former castle hill was completely removed in 1974 when the gradient of the road through the Scharenz was reduced. An emergency excavation during the work established the dimensions and arrangement of the thirteenth-century inner ward. The site’s history is therefore preserved chiefly through archaeological evidence and the records of its long military and administrative use.
Remains
Schlossberg Castle stood on a rounded projecting hill north of Seefeld, above the Drahnbach stream and at the foot of the Hochegg. The road through the Scharenz passed the castle and historically linked Mittenwald with the Inn Valley. The castle hill was removed in 1974, and the site is now classified as a Burgstall, an archaeological castle site without above-ground ruins.
Inner ward
The thirteenth-century inner ward measured 19.3 by 21.6 metres. Its outer walls were 1.25 metres thick, and two dividing walls separated the interior into three long areas. A small central courtyard measured 7 by 5 metres. The entrance lay on the south side, where a moat protected the approach. In 1549, a bridge known as the Schloßpruggen crossed this defensive ditch.
Outer defences and road barrier
Five-sided corner oriels created defensive levels around the main building. A medieval outer defensive enclosure surrounded the inner fortification, with walls between 1.2 and 3.6 metres thick. Its southwest corner was reinforced by a roundel, a rounded defensive projection.
A blocking wall extended from the eastern side of the castle to the road below, then continued up the opposite slope until it ended at the rock. This road barrier was known as a Klausenmauer. Together with the moat, the outer enclosure, and the strengthened corner, it formed part of the castle’s defensive arrangement along the route through the Scharenz.
