Hohensax Castle
castle ruins in Sax in the canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland
Hohensax (German: Ruine Hohensax or German: Burg Hohensax) is a ruined castle in the Sennwald municipality in the Swiss canton St. Gallen.
The castle was built around 1200 by the barons of Sax, and was destroyed in 1446.
In 1248, the castle passed to Ulrich von Sax, founder of the Sax-Hohensax line of the noble family.
The castle was plundered in a feud of 1393, and sold together with the villages of Sax and Gams to the dukes of Austria.
In the Old Zürich War, the people of Appenzell captured and slighted the castle in 1446.
After this, the barons of Hohensax resided in the nearby Forstegg castle at Salez.
In 1640, the ruin passed to the barony of Sax-Forstegg, one of the constituent parts of the canton of Linth of the Helvetic Republic in 1798, and later the canton of St. Gallen.
It included the villages of Sax, Salez and Gams.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Hohensax Castle” as castle ruins in Sax in the canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as castle ruins in Sax in the canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1012438. Authority coordinates are 47.230, 9.444. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1200, 1446, 1248 and 1393.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Hohensax Castle”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Hohensax Castle primary sources, Hohensax Castle archive and Hohensax research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Hohensax Castle”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Hohensax Castle” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.