Rotzberg Castle

Rotzberg or Rotzburg is a ruined castle in the municipality of Ennetmoos in the canton of Nidwalden in Switzerland. Traditionally the destruction of the castle was an important event in the creation of the Swiss Confederation, though research over the last century indicates that the story is probably a later invention.

History
Nothing is known about the original name, construction date or owner of the castle. Prehistoric pottery shards have been discovered under the castle, as well as medieval artifacts from the 10th to 12th centuries. In 1150 the Freiherr von Rotenburg granted extensive lands around Stans and Ennetmoos to Murbach-Lucerne Monastery. It is possible that he may have built a castle on these lands to administer his lands. In a 1197 record the Rozziberg is listed as owing taxes to Engelberg Abbey, from which castles were normally exempt. This may indicate that the castle was built after this date. However, the generally accepted date of the ring wall is the 12th century. The wooden buildings inside the ring wall were probably replaced with stone between 1210 and 1230.

The castle probably passed through several owners and by the late 14th century may have been under Habsburg control. According to a legend around the creation of the Old Swiss Confederacy in 1308 the castle was the center of Habsburg power in Nidwalden.

The chronicle of Aegidius Tschudi (writing two centuries later) includes a story about a group of Swiss patriots who planned to destroy the castle and drive the Habsburgs out. One of the men had a relationship with a serving maid in the castle and convinced her to let down a rope so he could climb up into her bedroom one night. After he climbed up and distracted her, an additional 20 men used the rope to storm the castle and destroy it. This story is now considered a later invention as there is no evidence that the castle was violently destroyed. The exact date that the castle was destroyed is unknown, though dates as early as 1239 have been proposed.

After the castle was demolished the hill top was used as a look out station during the 1798 French invasion and the 1847 Sonderbund War. During the 17th and 18th centuries the hill was used as a hermitage. In 1872 a small pension was built in the center of the old castle courtyard. In 1910, a plan to demolish the ruins and build a hotel pushed the Federal Government to buy the site for CHF 18,000 and declare it a protected heritage site.

Most recently, in 2010 the Swiss Federal Government repaired and cleaned the ruins. In 2015 they announced that they are planning to transfer responsibility over the ruins to the Canton on Nidwalden.

Castle site
The castle was surrounded by a large five sided ring wall that enclosed about 1000 m2. The wall was up to 1.6 m thick on the west side and 1.1 m thick on the remaining sides. It was built of carefully fitted dressed stone. The western wall was also protected by a 6 m wide ditch while the other sides had steep slopes protecting them.