Rüdberg Castle Ruin

En un regard

Le château en bref

Rüdberg is a castle ruin of the ministerial type, built on a spur protected on three sides by steep slopes, east of the Thur, near Dietfurt and Oberhelfenschwil, in the Toggenburg (St. Gallen). The former Toggenburg Imperial Road once ran nearby. A knight, Johannes de Ruotberch, appears in 1267, and the castle itself is first mentioned in 1270; in 1275 it served as a reference point for the division of property between the counts Friedrich and Diethelm of Toggenburg. Its name probably refers to the hunting hound (Rüde) that the counts of Toggenburg have borne in their coat of arms since 1228. The castle later passed to the Werdenberg-Heiligenberg family; in 1386, Katharina von Werdenberg-Heiligenberg renounced her rights in favour of Count Friedrich VII of Toggenburg. The counts' estates passed to the Abbey of St. Gall in 1468, and the castle fell into ruin. As a simple ministerial castle, it comprised an enclosure, a residential building and a square tower facing east, the only side open to attack. The ruins can be reached on foot in about fifteen minutes from Dietfurt railway station.