Sausenburg Castle

Sausenburg Castle  is a German castle ruin at the foot of the Black Forest, just north of the city of Kandern in Baden-Württemberg, between the villages of Sitzenkirch and Malsburg-Marzell. The castle was originally the stronghold of the lords von Sausenburg. It sits on a hill 665 metres high, known as the Sausenberg.

History
At the beginning of the 12th century, the area was given to the Benedictine monks of the Monastery of St Blaise. The counts von Hachberg acquired the property in 1232 from the monastery. They built the castle there in order to secure the area and inhabited it from 1246 on. In the year 1306, the counts founded the Sausenberger dynasty. From that point on, they called themselves the Markgrafen von Hachberg-Sausenberg.

In 1315, Liuthold II of Roetteln, the last male member of his dynasty, bestowed Roetteln to the counts of Hachberg-Sausenberg. He died in 1316. The counts of Hachberg-Sausenberg moved to the castle Roetteln and established Vogts on the Sausenberg. Johann, the last of the counts of Freiburg, bestowed his property Badenweiler to the Markgrafs of Hachberg-Sausenberg in 1444; the merger of Badenweiler, Rötteln, and Sausenberg marked the beginning of the Markgräflerland.

In 1503, through inheritance, the Sausenburg and the Markgräflerland became part of the Markgrafschaft Baden. The castle was destroyed in 1678 during the Franco-Dutch War by the army of French Marshall Creque. At this point, medieval fortifications could not have lasted long against the advances in artillery and siege warfare.

Today an old ring barrier, a tower and several wall segments remain of the former castle.