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Rhäzüns Castle
Rhäzüns Castle () is a castle near Rhäzüns, Graubünden, Switzerland. History Rhäzüns Castle may be one of the oldest castles in Switzerland. In 960 Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I traded a church ''in castello Beneduces et Ruzunnes'' (in the castle of Bonaduz and Rhäzüns) to the Bishop of Chur and a 976 document by Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto II confirms the trade the existence of the castle. Over the following centuries the fortified church became a feudal castle and in 1139 Arnoldus de Ruzunne appears in the records as a Romansh people, Romansh noble, though the castle is first mentioned in 1282. During the 12th and 13th centuries the Rhäzüns family grew to become one of the most powerful noble families in the region, with Rhäzüns Castle remaining the center of their power. In 1343 they were powerful enough that a peace treaty between Disentis Abbey and Glarus was signed in the courtyard of Rhäzüns. By the 1380s they had ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hill Castle
A hill castle or mountain castle is a castle built on a natural feature that stands above the surrounding terrain. It is a term derived from the German ''Höhenburg'' used in categorising castle sites by their topographical location. Hill castles are thus distinguished from lowland castles (''Niederungsburgen''). Hill castles may be further subdivided depending on their situation into the following: * Hilltop castle (''Gipfelburg''), that stands on the summit of a hill with steep drops on all sides. A special type is the rock castle or ''Felsenburg''. * Ridge castle (''Kammburg''), that is built on the crest of a ridge. * Hillside castle (''Hangburg''), that is built on the side of a hill and thus is dominated by rising ground on one side. * Spur castle (''Spornburg''), that is built on a hill spur surrounded by steep terrain on three sides and thus only needs to be defended on the one remaining side. When in the 10th and 11th centuries castles lost their pure fortress charact ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baron
Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knight, but lower than a viscount or count. Often, barons hold their fief – their lands and income – directly from the monarch. Barons are less often the vassals of other nobles. In many kingdoms, they were entitled to wear a smaller form of a crown called a ''coronet''. The term originates from the Latin term , via Old French. The use of the title ''baron'' came to England via the Norman Conquest of 1066, then the Normans brought the title to Scotland and Italy. It later spread to Scandinavia and Slavic lands. Etymology The word '' baron'' comes from the Old French , from a Late Latin "man; servant, soldier, mercenary" (so used in Salic law; Alemannic law has in the same sense). The scholar Isidore of Seville in the 7th century t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gatehouse
A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the most heavily armed section of a fortification, to compensate for being structurally the weakest and the most probable attack point by an enemy. There are numerous surviving examples in France, Austria, Germany, England and Japan. History Gatehouses made their first appearance in the early antiquity when it became necessary to protect the main entrance to a castle or town. Over time, they evolved into very complicated structures with many lines of defence. Strongly fortified gatehouses would normally include a drawbridge, one or more portcullises, machicolations, arrow loops and possibly even murder-holes where stones would be dropped on attackers. In some castles, the gatehouse was so strongly fortified it took on the function of a keep, som ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vogt
During the Middle Ages, an (sometimes given as modern English: advocate; German: ; French: ) was an office-holder who was legally delegated to perform some of the secular responsibilities of a major feudal lord, or for an institution such as an abbey. Many such positions developed, especially in the Holy Roman Empire. Typically, these evolved to include responsibility for aspects of the daily management of agricultural lands, villages and cities. In some regions, advocates were governors of large provinces, sometimes distinguished by terms such as (in German). While the term was eventually used to refer to many types of governorship and advocacy, one of the earliest and most important types of was the church advocate (). These were originally lay lords, who not only helped defend religious institutions in the secular world, but were also responsible for exercising lordly responsibilities within the church's lands, such as the handling of legal cases which might require the u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protestant Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in particular to papal authority, arising from what were perceived to be errors, abuses, and discrepancies by the Catholic Church. The Reformation was the start of Protestantism and the split of the Western Church into Protestantism and what is now the Roman Catholic Church. It is also considered to be one of the events that signified the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the early modern period in Europe.Davies ''Europe'' pp. 291–293 Prior to Martin Luther, there were many earlier reform movements. Although the Reformation is usually considered to have started with the publication of the '' Ninety-five Theses'' by Martin Luther in 1517, he was not excommunicated by Pope Leo X until January 1521. The Diet of Worms of May 1521 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hinterrhein (river)
The Hinterrhein (German; Italian: ''Reno Posteriore''; Sutsilvan: ''Ragn Posteriur''; Sursilvan: ''Rein Posteriur''; Rumantsch Grischun, Vallader, and Puter: ''Rain Posteriur''; Surmiran: ''Ragn posteriour''; en, Posterior Rhine) is one of the two initial tributaries of the Rhine (shorter in length but bigger by volume) rising in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. Course Flowing from the village Hinterrhein near the San Bernardino Pass through the Rheinwald valley, the river flows into a gorge called Roflaschlucht. In this gorge an equally sized tributary, the Avers Rhine, adds waters from the deep Val Ferrera and the very remote alp Avers and its side valley Valle di Lei on Italian territory. After the Rofla Gorge, the valley widens into a section called Schams. The Hinterrhein then reaches Andeer, before passing through another gorge, Viamala just before Thusis. Now another tributary of slightly bigger volume reaches the Hinterrhein as the Landwasser, draining a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bergfried
''Bergfried'' (plural: ''bergfriede''; English: ''belfry''; French: ''tour-beffroi''; Spanish: ''torre del homenaje'') is a tall tower that is typically found in castles of the Middle Ages in German-speaking countries and in countries under German influence. Friar describes it as a "free-standing, fighting-tower".Friar (2003), p 36. Its defensive function is to some extent similar to that of a keep (also known as a ''donjon'') in English or French castles. However, the characteristic difference between a bergfried and a keep is that a bergfried was typically not designed for permanent habitation. Overview The living quarters of a castle with a bergfried are separate, often in a lower tower or an adjacent building called a ''palas'' (an English-style keep combines both functions of habitation and defence.) Consequently, a bergfried could be built as a tall slender tower with little internal room, few vaults and few if any windows. The bergfried served as a watchtower and as a ref ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fief
A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an Lord, overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal allegiance, services and/or payments. The fees were often lands, land revenue or revenue, revenue-producing real property like a watermill, held in feudal land tenure: these are typically known as fiefs or fiefdoms. However, not only land but anything of value could be held in fee, including governmental office, rights of exploitation such as hunting, fishing or felling trees, monopolies in trade, money rents and tax farms. There never did exist one feudal system, nor did there exist one type of fief. Over the ages, depending on the region, there was a broad variety of customs using the same basic legal principles in many variations. Terminology In ancient Rome, a "benefice" (from the Latin noun , meaning "benefit") was a gif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Three Leagues
The Three Leagues, sometimes referred to as Raetia, was the alliance of 1471 of the League of God's House, the League of the Ten Jurisdictions, and the Grey League, leading eventually to the formation of the Swiss canton of Graubünden (Grisons). The territory corresponds to the core territory of Raetia Curiensis (ruled by the bishops of Chur as Prince-Bishopric of Chur), the early medieval remnant of the Roman province of Raetia prima. League of God's House On 29 January 1367, the League of God's House (german: Gotteshausbund, it, Lega Caddea, rm, ), was founded to resist the rising power of the Bishopric of Chur and the House of Habsburg. Bishop Peter Gelyto reacted by transferring the bishopric to the Habsburgs in exchange for a pension from the ducal house. The instrument of union was signed by envoys of the cathedral chapter, the episcopal Ministerialis, the city of Chur and the districts of Domleschg, Schams, Oberhalbstein, Oberengadin, Unterengadin and Bergell. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swabian War
The Swabian War of 1499 ( gsw, Schwoobechrieg (spelling depending on dialect), called or ("Swiss War") in Germany and ("War of the Engadin") in Austria) was the last major armed conflict between the Old Swiss Confederacy and the House of Habsburg. What had begun as a local conflict over the control of the Val Müstair and the Umbrail Pass in the Grisons soon got out of hand when both parties called upon their allies for help; the Habsburgs demanding the support of the Swabian League, while the Federation of the Three Leagues of the Grisons turning to the Swiss ''Eidgenossenschaft''. Hostilities quickly spread from the Grisons through the Rhine valley to Lake Constance and even to the Sundgau in southern Alsace, the westernmost part of the Habsburg region of Further Austria.The main references used are Morard in general and Riezler for the detailed chronology in the section on the course of the war. Many battles were fought from January to July 1499, and in all but a few mino ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Counts Of Werdenberg
Werdenberg was a county of the Holy Roman Empire, within the Duchy of Swabia, situated on either side of the Alpine Rhine, including parts of what is now St. Gallen (Switzerland), Liechtenstein, and Vorarlberg (Austria). It was partitioned from Montfort in 1230. In 1260, it was divided into Werdenberg and Sargans. History It is named for Werdenberg Castle, today located in the municipality of Grabs in the Swiss canton of St. Gallen, seat of the counts of Werdenberg (''Werdenberger''), The family was descended from count Hugo II of Tübingen (d. 1180), who married Elisabeth, daughter of the last count of Bregenz, thus inheriting substantial territory along the Alpine Rhine. His son was Hugo I of Montfort (d. 1228), whose son Rudolf I is considered the founder of the Werdenberg line. Rudolf's sons Hugo I of Werdenberg-Heiligenberg and Hartmann I of Werdenberg divided the southern territory of the Montfort inheritance, establishing the two lines of ''Werdenberg-Heiligenberg' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grey League
The Grey League (german: Grauer Bund, it, Lega Grigia, rm, Ligia Grischa or ), sometimes called ''Oberbund'', formed in 1395 in the ''Vorderrhein'' and '' Hinterrhein'' valleys, Raetia. The name Grey League is derived from the homespun grey clothes worn by the people. The league became part of the canton of Graubünden. The Grey League allied itself to the two other powers of Raetia in 1471, forming the Three Leagues. It was also an associate and ally of the Swiss Confederation and played a role in the buildup to the Thirty Years' War. Foundation In the late twelfth century, the communities in the valleys in Raetia were generally small and independent. There were very few large landholders and no central authority. For years blood feuds and battles had raged between the Lords of Belmont, Werdenberg, Rhäzüns and the Bishop of Chur as well as minor nobles. The constant warfare had seriously damaged trade and transportation in the region. To reduce the violence and encoura ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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