The Château du Hugstein 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 ...

on the borders of the ''

communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, ...

'' of Buhl and

Guebwiller Guebwiller (french: Guebwiller, ; Alsatian: ''Gàwiller'' ; ) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est currently in north-eastern France. It was a sub-prefecture of the department until 2015. It is situated northwest of Mulhous ...

in the

Haut-Rhin Haut-Rhin (, ; Alsatian: ''Owerelsàss'' or '; german: Oberelsass, ) is a department in the Grand Est region of France, bordering both Germany and Switzerland. It is named after the river Rhine. Its name means ''Upper Rhine''. Haut-Rhin is th ...

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety- ...

'' of France.

History

The castle was built in 1227 by Hugo (Hugues) de Rothenbourg, abbot prince of

Murbach Murbach is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Murbach Abbey is located near Murbach. See also * Communes of the Haut-Rhin département The following is a list of the 366 communes of the French de ...

from 1216 to 1236. It was constructed between the communes of Buhl and Guebwiller, to defend both the

Murbach Abbey Murbach Abbey (french: Abbaye de Murbach) was a famous Benedictine monastery in Murbach, southern Alsace, in a valley at the foot of the Grand Ballon in the Vosges. The monastery was founded in 727 by Eberhard, Count of Alsace, and established a ...

and the entrance to the Florival valley. In 1313, the abbot Conrad Wiedergrun de Stauffenberg consecrated the castle chapel to the Holy Cross and Saint Benoît. Abbot Barthélémy d'Andlau modernised the castle during the 15th century, notably adding a gate tower decorated with a frieze and equipped with a

drawbridge A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of moveable bridge typically at the entrance to a castle or tower surrounded by a moat. In some forms of English, including American English, the word ''drawbridge'' commonly refers to all types of moveable ...

(visible in the photo). Two new towers were also added to the defensive system of the castle even though its principal role had become residential. Georges de Masevaux continued with the restoration but died in 1542. The castle then became the subject of a quarrel about succession between Henri de Jestetten and his cousin Rodolphe Stoer de Stoerenbourg, abbot of Honcourt and

Capitulary A capitulary (Medieval Latin ) was a series of legislative or administrative acts emanating from the Frankish court of the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties, especially that of Charlemagne, the first emperor of the Romans in the west since ...

of Murbach. The latter finally won, but the fortress suffered from the affair. In 1598, the castle was struck by lightning. At the start of the 17th century, it was used as a prison, particularly for

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

s and

witches Witchcraft traditionally means the use of Magic (supernatural), magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In Middle Ages, medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually ...

, of whom it is said that some were burned in front of the castle. Abandoned, it provided shelter for the poor before finally being used as a stone quarry. The stone which built the castle was extracted from the

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

which surrounded it. The cylindrical

keep A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in ...

, 10 m in diameter, is comparatively rare in

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it ha ...

. The higher part of the keep was removed when the site served as a quarry. The main ''

corps de logis In architecture, a ''corps de logis'' () is the principal block of a large, (usually classical), mansion or palace. It contains the principal rooms, state apartments and an entry.Curl, James Stevens (2006). ''Oxford Dictionary of Architecture ...

'' had two or, indeed, three floors giving the building a certain magnificence. The Gothic

keystone Keystone or key-stone or ''variation'', may refer to: * Keystone (architecture), a central stone or other piece at the apex of an arch or vault * Keystone (cask), a fitting used in ale casks Business * Keystone Law, a full-service law firm * D ...

to the chapel vault, decorated with an Easter lamb, is displayed at the Florival Museum ( Musée Théodore Deck) in Guebwiller The defences consisted of

rampart Rampart may refer to: * Rampart (fortification), a defensive wall or bank around a castle, fort or settlement Rampart may also refer to: * "O'er the Ramparts We Watched" is a key line from "The Star-Spangled Banner", the national anthem of the ...

s rounded at the corners, designed to create an illusion to attackers that the castle was equipped with cylindrical towers. The Château du Hugstein has been listed since 1898 as a '' monument historique'' by the

French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture (french: Ministère de la Culture) is the ministry of the Government of France in charge of national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and protection of the arts (visual ...

(though the Ministry database refers to it as ''de Hugstein'').

References

External links

*
Kastel Elsass

Bibliography

* Nick, Jean Marie: "Le Hugstein, cet inconnu", ''Les Vosges'' n°2, 2006, p. 10-11 {{DEFAULTSORT:Hugstein, Chateau du Ruined castles in Haut-Rhin Monuments historiques of Haut-Rhin