The remains of the Castle can be visited
CastleSennwald
Hohensax Castle (Ruin) (Sennwald)
The ruin of Hohensax Castle, less commonly Sax, is located in the municipality of Sennwald in the Swiss canton of St. Gallen. It was built around 1200 by the Barons of Sax and has been a ruin since 1446.
The castle is situated on a rocky ridge above the hamlet of Sax between Gams SG and Sennwald, about 300 m above the Rhine Valley at 750 m above sea level.
Hohensax Castle was first mentioned in a document around 1210 as Sax Castle. It was built by the Chur-Rhaetian baronial family of Sax and named after them. The castle included the villages of Sax, Salez, and Gams. The name "Hohensax" first appeared in 1393. During the division of the lordship in 1248, the castle went to Ulrich von Sax, who founded the Sax-Hohensax sideline. In 1393, the castle was plundered during a family feud and sold by Ulrich Eberhard III von Sax-Hohensax, along with the villages of Sax and Gams, to the Dukes of Austria. They appointed Ulrich Eberhard IV as a vassal in the Lordship of Hohensax. His alliance with the Appenzellers saved the castle from destruction during the Appenzell Wars.
Through Elisabeth von Sax-Hohensax, the castles of Hohensax and Frischenberg, along with the villages of Gams and Sax, fell to Kaspar von Bonstetten. When the Appenzellers conquered the area in 1405, the Bonstettens only received Hohensax Castle and Gams back in 1411, which now formed the Lordship of Hohensax. In 1446, the Appenzellers conquered and destroyed the castle during the Old Zurich War. The keep was partially collapsed. The ruin came under the Lordship of Sax-Forstegg in 1640 and therefore politically belongs to the municipality of Sennwald today. However, the owner of the complex remains the local citizens' community of Gams. The ruin was secured in 2008 by the "Pro Hohensax und Frischenberg" Foundation.
Lordship of Hohensax+
The Lordship of Hohensax was named after the castle and encompassed the area of today's municipality of Gams as well as parts of the municipality of Sennwald south of the village of Sax. The lordship arose from an inheritance division from the possessions of the noble family Sax-Hohensax and was a fief of the Dukes of Austria since 1393. Through marriage and inheritance, it fell to the Bonstetten family, who were citizens of Zurich. For this reason, the Appenzellers occupied the lordship in the Old Zurich War in 1446 and only returned it to the Bonstettens in 1461. At the request of the subjects, Schwyz and Glarus acquired the manorial rights in 1497 and annexed them to the bailiwick of Gaster.
Complex+
The complex covers an area of approximately 90 × 50 meters. In the center of the complex, behind a moat and a shield wall, stood residential buildings, a cistern, and a 22 m high keep. It measures 9 × 9 m, and its walls are up to 2.5 m thick. On the south side was a high entrance. The palas, measuring 5 × 35 m, was probably supplemented by utility buildings in the walled castle courtyard.
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Source: Wikipedia · Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
This description draws on the facts documented in the linked Wikipedia article; Wikipedia content is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Wording and editing: Mobile History.
Location: 47.2305, 9.4438