Hachberg

Hachberg Castle rises above the northern Breisgau near Emmendingen. Known later as the Hochburg, it gave its name to a branch of the margraves of Baden. Their lordship in the northern Breisgau was divided from the Sausenberg lands farther south in the early fourteenth century. The castle served both as a stronghold and as a centre from which the margraves' estates were administered.

In 1415 the indebted Margrave Otto II sold Hachberg to Bernhard I of Baden. Later rulers enlarged the castle into a fortress, adding bastions to meet changing methods of warfare. Imperial troops took it after a two-year siege in 1636 and destroyed its defences. Rebuilt after the Thirty Years' War, the fortress was occupied by the French in 1688 and blown up the following year. Its ruins remained above the surrounding countryside.