Toggenburg

The counts of Toggenburg ruled Toggenburg in canton St. Gallen and neighbouring lands from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century. An older baronial line was named after Alt-Toggenburg Castle, destroyed in 1085 in a feud with the abbot of St. Gallen and given to the abbey by Count Diethelm in 1226. The comital house is attested under Diethelm I, who inherited local lordships around 1200 and took the title of count in 1209.

The early counts contended with St. Gallen Abbey, the bishops of Constance and the counts of Kyburg; family strife saw one Diethelm kill his brother Rudolf in 1226.

The last count, Frederick VII, died in 1436 without male heirs, and the disputed inheritance triggered the Old Zurich War. Fourteen family members rested in the Toggenburg vault at Ruti Abbey until confederate troops desecrated the monastery in 1443.