Sargans

Sargans is a municipality in the Wahlkreis (constituency) of Sarganserland in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Sargans is known for its castle, which dates from before the founding of the Swiss Confederation in 1291. Sargans was also a County of the Holy Roman Empire; see County of Sargans. There are traces of Neolithic settlement in the area. A significant Roman-era estate was destroyed by an Alamannic incursion in 270. Sargans remained part of Lower Raetia in the early medieval period, with gradual displacement of Rumantsch by Alemannic speakers during the high medieval period. A church dedicated to Saint Cassian is mentioned in the 9th century. Sargans was part of the territory of the county of Werdenberg from the 12th century, with a separate line of Werdenberg-Sargans established in the later 13th century. The castle was presumably first built in the 12th century and is first mentioned in 1282. The town of Sargans grew around the castle in the 13th century. Sargans is mentioned as Senegaunis in the 11th century. An earlier mention as de Senegaune, ostensibly dated to 765, survives in a 16th-century copy. In 1248 it was mentioned as Sanegans, in 1264 as Sangans and in 1332 as Santgans. The modern spelling dates to the 16th century. The etymology of the name is unknown; San- seems to have changed to Sar- under the influence of the hydronym Saar. A popular etymology connecting the name Sargans to "goose" (German Gans) may date to as early as the 15th century. From 1406, a combined fortification of the town and the castle was built. In 1445, the town, but not the castle, was captured and burned by the Swiss Confederacy. The town was given limited rights of self-government in 1456 when the count agreed to select a Schultheiss out of a list of three candidates to be submitted by the burghers. In 1483, count Jürg of Werdenberg-Sargans was forced to sell the county to the Swiss Confederacy for 15,000 Rhenish guilder. From this time until 1798, the castle was the seat of the Swiss reeves. The town burned down again in 1490.