Brunegg Castle

The castle's origins date back to the 13th century, when the Habsburgs had a castle built to protect the Eigenamt, their heartland, to the south. The fief was initially granted to the Schenken von Brunegg, with Wernher von Brunegg dying in 1270 as the first known owner. Ownership later passed to the Knights of Hedingen, the Lords of Trostburg, and the Gessler von Meienberg. In 1415, during Bern's conquest of western Aargau, Brunegg resisted. Bern confiscated the fief in 1470 and granted it to the Segesser family in 1472/73. After the Reformation was introduced in Bernese Aargau in 1528, the Catholic Segesser family sold the castle back to Bern. The structure suffered damage from natural events in 1626 and 1664.