Pfaffikon Castle

Pfaffikon Castle is a citadel in the municipality of Freienbach of the Canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. It is a Swiss history website of countrywide significance. Einsiedeln Abbey turned into granted farms at Pfaffikon along with surrounding land alongside Lake Zurich via Emperor Otto I in 965. Soon thereafter the abbot constructed a huge granary in Pfaffikon. Between 1233 and 1266 Abbot Anshelm von Schwanden changed the vintage granary with stone tower which turned into designed as an eye tower, granary and residence.

In 1299, the Prince-Abbot Johann von Schwanden brought partitions, ramparts and a moat to the tower at some point of the Marchenstreit war among the Schwyz and the Abbey over grazing rights. On the night time of Epiphany in 1314 a mob from Schwyz attacked the Abbey trying to spoil the land and tax records. They hoped to smash any records of the Abbey's counterclaims to the Schwyz grazing rights. However, the Abbot, possibly looking ahead to the assault, had already moved himself and the essential documents to Pfaffikon Castle.