Castle Branzoll (, ) is on the southern slope of Mount Säben, below the Säben Abbey, and somewhat above the city of Klausen in

South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous province , image_skyline = , image_alt ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Blackmoor Blackmore is a village in Essex, England. Blackmore or Blackmoor may also refer to: * Blackmore (name), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * Blackmoor, Hampshire, a village in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England ...

, the first fantasy roleplaying game campaign setting, used a kit model of the castle to represent the titular Castle Blackmoor. By 1155, the Lords of Säben from the Volser family had been named the

burgraves Burgrave, also rendered as burggrave (from german: Burggraf, la, burgravius, burggravius, burcgravius, burgicomes, also praefectus), was since the medieval period in Europe (mainly Germany) the official title for the ruler of a castle, especiall ...

Hochstift In the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic Church, the German language, German term (plural: ) referred to the territory ruled by a bishop as a prince (i.e. prince-bishop), as opposed to his diocese, generally much larger and over which he exer ...

Brixen on Mount Säben. Tensions arose in 1255 between Bishop Bruno von Kirchberg and some of his ministeriales, including Heinrich and Buchard von Säben. In the course of this dispute, the Lords of Säben built Branzoll castle at the entrance to the hilltop episcopal castle. Presently, the

hilltop castle A hilltop castle is a type of hill castle that was built on the summit of a hill or mountain. In the latter case it may be termed a mountaintop castle. The term is derived from the German, ''Gipfelburg'', which is one of a number of terms used ...

consists of a small inner bailey, protected by a

zwinger "" () is a German word for outer ward or bailey (castle), outer bailey. It represents an open kill zone area between two defensive walls that is used for defensive purposes. s were built in the Post-classical history, post-classical and early ...

and an

outer bailey An outer bailey or outer ward is the defended outer enclosure of a castle.Friar, Stephen (2003). ''The Sutton Companion to Castles'', Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2003, p. 22. It protects the inner bailey and usually contains those ancillary bui ...

. The belfry is over 20 meters high. The zwinger has been partially reconstructed, and the outer bailey is now a garden. Restoration work was completed in 1912, which included the addition of a new residential structure. A semicircular tower with a stone staircase connecting the floors was installed between the

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 ...

and the residential building. The curtain wall was also restored and partially crowned with battlements.

References

Castles in South Tyrol

External links

Branzoll
on South Tirol Provincial Government's Monument Browser
Schloss Branzoll
Kulturgüterverein Klausen (in German: Cultural Goods Society of Klausen)

on dickemauern.de

on burgenarchiv.de {{Italy-castle-stub