Zähringen castle

The ruins of Zähringen castle is what remains of the ancestral seat of the Zähringer. It is one of several castles and towns that the Zähringens built in South Germany and Switzerland (including: Freiburg i. Breisgau, Villingen, Neuenburg, Fribourg-Freiburg i. Üechtland, Bern, Thun, Rheinfelden, Murten)HistoryIn the fourth century, during the migration period, the upper part of the northwestern spur of the Roßkopf was flattened so that it was suited for a settlement. Alemannic chiefs dwelt there with their folk until it was abandoned at the end of the fifth century.The name Zähringen was actually mentioned for the first time in records dating back to the time shortly after the turn of the first millennium. However, it is not clear without ambiguity whether they refer already to a fortification on the hilltop or to the village, the present day suburb of Freiburg.The first definite mention of the castle was in 1128 in the "Rotulus Sanpetrinus", a parchment roll issued in the nearby abbey of St, Peter. That document was written in Latin and contains the passage "apud castrum Zaringen" (castrum is the Latin word for castle).