Sogn Parcazi Castle and Church ( Romansh: Crap Sogn Parcazi, also Hohentrins) is a ruined

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

and fortified church in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Trin Trin is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Imboden Region in the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Graubünden. Crestasee is located in Trin. History Trin is first mentioned in the 12th Century as ''Turunnio' ...

of the

Canton of Graubünden The Grisons () or Graubünden,Names include: *german: (Kanton) Graubünden ; * Romansh: ** rm, label= Sursilvan, (Cantun) Grischun ** rm, label=Vallader, (Chantun) Grischun ** rm, label= Puter, (Chantun) Grischun ** rm, label=Surmiran, (Cant ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

Castle name

The castle is known as Crap Sogn Parcazi (Romansh: The Rock of St. Pancras) after the hill that it stands on. It is also referred to individually as ''Hohentrins Castle'' or together with Canaschal Castle also as ''Hohentrins''. Additionally Hohentrin could refer to the region around Trin.

History

The early chronicles of the region list Pepin, the father of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...

, as the founder of the castle. While this is unlikely, it has not been conclusively disproven. Regardless of whether it is true, the first church on the site may date to the 8th century and may have been built on an even older pre-Christian cult site. It was originally built as a

fortified church A fortified church is a church that is built to serve a defensive role in times of war. Such churches were specially designed to incorporate military features, such as thick walls, battlements, and embrasures. Others, such as the Ávila Cathedra ...

and

refuge castle A refuge castleCreighton, Oliver (2015). ''Early European Castles''. Bloomsbury. or refuge fort (german: Fliehburg, also ''Fluchtburg'', ''Volksburg'', ''Bauernburg'' or ''Vryburg'') is a castle-like defensive location, usually surrounded by rampa ...

and may have been the first

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

Tamins Tamins ( rm, Tumein) is a village and a municipality in the Imboden Region in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. History Tamins is first mentioned in 1224 as ''Tuminne''. In 1225 it was mentioned as ''Tvminnis'' and in 1399 as ''Tumins''. Geogra ...

and Trin. In the 9th or 10th century the

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

combined the imperial estates of Trin,

and

Reichenau, Switzerland Reichenau ( rm, La Punt) is a village in the municipality of Tamins in the Canton of Graubünden, Switzerland, where the two Rhine tributaries ''Vorderrhein'' and '' Hinterrhein'' meet, forming the Alpine Rhine. It is a major traffic junctio ...

into the

Herrschaft The German term ''Herrschaft'' (plural: ''Herrschaften'') covers a broad semantic field and only the context will tell whether it means, "rule", "power", "dominion", "authority", "territory" or "lordship". In its most abstract sense, it refers ...

of Hohentrin and granted it to

Reichenau Abbey Reichenau Abbey was a Benedictine Order, Benedictine monastery on Reichenau Island (known in Latin as Augia Dives). It was founded in 724 by the itinerant Saint Pirmin, who is said to have fled Spain ahead of the Moorish invaders, with patronage ...

. Over the following centuries the complex was expanded and gradually converted into a

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...

castle. The first residential building on the site was built in the 11th or 12th century when a tower was added. The

palas A ''palas'' () is a German term for the imposing or prestigious building of a medieval ''Pfalz'' or castle that contained the great hall. Such buildings appeared during the Romanesque period (11th to 13th century) and, according to Thompson, ...

on the northern end was probably built around 1300. The castle first appears in historical records in the early 14th century. In 1314 the

of Hohentrins passed from Reichenau Abbey to the

Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire ...

von Frauenberg. By 1325 it was owned by Count Hugo III von Werdenberg-Heiligenberg. In 1360 there was a fight between the local minor nobility and the Werdenberg-Heiligenberg and Werdenberg-Sargans families, but nothing is recorded as happening to Sogn Parcazi. At some point in the next two decades the castle was given as

collateral Collateral may refer to: Business and finance * Collateral (finance), a borrower's pledge of specific property to a lender, to secure repayment of a loan * Marketing collateral, in marketing and sales Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Collate ...

to Ulrich Brun von

Rhäzüns Rhäzüns is a municipality in the Imboden Region in the Swiss canton of Grisons. History Rhäzüns is first mentioned about 840 as ''Raezunne''. It formed a single parish with Bonaduz until the Reformation. It was part of the Grey League from ...

, because in 1383 Hugo and Heinrich von Werdenberg-Heiligenberg had to repay Ulrich Brun. In 1398 they pawned the castle again, this time to Albrecht von Werdenberg-Bludenz who was a supporter of the

Habsburgs The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

. However, a few months later Rudolf and Heinrich von Werdenberg-Heiligenberg as the owners of the castle joined the anti-Habsburg

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 cl ...

. In 1428 the last male member of the Werdenberg-Heiligenberg family, Hugo, died and the castle and herrschaft passed to Peter von Hewen. The von Hewen family appointed

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 ...

s to administer the castle and lands for them. The last vogt at Sogn Parcazi was the Vogt Otto Capol. On 2 July 1470 he and his wife traveled to Reichnau for a celebration. While they were gone a fire broke out in the castle, destroying it and killing three of the vogt's children and their maid. One theory is that the fire was set by debtors who owed the vogt money in order to destroy the documents recording their loans. The castle was never rebuilt and Vogt Capol received a title in

Lugnez Lugnez is a former municipality in the district of Porrentruy in the canton of Jura in Switzerland. History Lugnez is first mentioned around 501-600 as ''Lugduniaco''. In 1225 it was mentioned as ''Lunigie''. On 1 January 2023, Damphreux and ...

. Later records continue to record that there were vogts over Hohentrins until 1524, but it is unknown whether they lived at Canaschal Castle or in the village. The herrschaft went to Johann von Planta in 1568, followed by Wolfgang von Löwenstein-Wertheim in 1583 and the Lords of Schauenstein in 1585. In 1616 the municipality of Trin bought their freedom from the Schauenstein family. The castle was partly excavated in 1931 but the conservation project ran out of money and some of the excavated walls collapsed. During World War II the

Swiss Army The Swiss Armed Forces (german: Schweizer Armee, french: Armée suisse, it, Esercito svizzero, rm, Armada svizra; ) operates on land and in the air, serving as the primary armed forces of Switzerland. Under the country's militia system, re ...

took over Sogn Parcazi and built two bunkers on the hill. After the war, the army remained responsible for the ruins and in 1964 they were re-excavated, repaired and reinforced. The ruins were turned over to the municipality in 2004 and from 2006 until 2010 they were again repaired and an archeological excavation revealed much of the castle's history.

Castle site

The ruins of the castle are located on a steep hill west of Trin village. The ruins of the Church of St. Pancras are located in the center of the flat top of the hill. The simple church building is oriented along an approximate east-west axis. It dates from about 1100 and may have replaced an earlier church. A rectangular

cistern A cistern (Middle English ', from Latin ', from ', "box", from Greek ', "basket") is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by t ...

baptistery In Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned structure surrounding the baptismal ...

was added in the 12th century. The 11th or 12th century tower south of the tower is with walls that are up to thick. The palas to the north was added in the 13th century and is long.

Gallery

Trinsermühle mit Wehrmauer Sankt Pankratius.jpg, View toward Trin from Sogn Parcazi Sogn Parcazi Apsis unten.jpg, Apse of the church Sogn Parcazi Kirche.jpg, Church at Crap Sogn Parcazi Sogn Parcazi Lage.jpg, Crap Sogn Parcazi above Trin Sogn Parcazi Zisterne.jpg, Cistern at the castle

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crap Sogn Parcazi Cultural property of national significance in Graubünden Castles in Graubünden Ruined castles in Switzerland Church ruins in Switzerland

Castle name

History

Castle site

Gallery

See also

References