Istein Castle

Istein Castle was originally the "Dinghof" of the Basel Cathedral provost, from which his possessions in Istein and Huttingen were managed.
On April 14, 1139, Istein was mentioned for the first time in a document as Curtim de Hiesten, when Pope Innocent II confirmed the location as property of the Prince-Bishopric of Basel. It remains unclear whether only the Alemannic Dinghof initially existed or whether there was already a Celtic or Roman settlement beforehand. The lords of Rötteln are considered the first holders of the Dinghof. Since Istein does not appear among the confirmed possessions of the bishopric in a document from Emperor Heinrich III dated June 1, 1048, the transition from the Rötteln family to Basel must have occurred between 1048 and 1139. Since Dietrich von Rötteln was appointed by the Bishop of Basel, Burkhard von Fenis, as the steward of the right-bank possessions of the Bishopric of Basel in 1103, it is assumed that in return for the transfer of the Istein Dinghof to the cathedral chapter, the chapter granted the stewardship to the Rötteln family – thus the Dinghof came to the cathedral chapter in 1103. In the 13th century, there was generally a trend in the bishoprics leading to the separation of the properties of the bishops from those of the members of the cathedral chapters. Ultimately, individual office holders in the cathedral chapter were assigned their own properties for use. The Istein Dinghof was thus part of the provision for the respective cathedral provost. The oldest record of the Dinghof's properties from 1483 lists 11 "Hufen." The total area of all properties belonging to the Dinghof was estimated for the 15th century to be 155 Jucharten of arable land and 52 "Mannwerke" of vines.

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