Schattenburg castle was mentioned in the chronicle by the monks Ortlieb and Berthold in 1138. Muntifurt Castle, mentioned in the first half of the 12th century, may have housed vassals of the Earl of Bregenz, who ruled over the area at the time. At his coming to power (1182) the Earl Hugo I, the grandson of the last Earl of Bregenz Rudolf (1150), repositioned his residence to Feldkirch Castle, important for reasons of power politics and the control of traffic.
For 200 years, the Castle remained the property of the Earls of Montfort. Upon the death of the last of the Montforts, Rudolf IV (1390), the castle and the power that came with it passed to the Habsburgs. The Habsburgs ruled the estate through governors who lived in the Castle until 1773.
Only from 1416 until 1436 was their rule briefly interrupted, when it came into the hands of the Earls of Toggenburg. Duke Friedrich of Austria’s help in the flight of the antipope Johannes XIII turned out to be fatal for him. Not only was he outlawed in the name of the Emperor and excommunicated, he also lost all is possessions, among which Feldkirch. In 1825 the City bought the partially ruined Castle from the state for 833 Guilders. Today Schattenburg is a museum.
References:The Château du Lude is one of the many great châteaux of the Loire Valley in France. Le Lude is the most northerly château of the Loire Valley and one of the last important historic castles in France, still inhabited by the same family for the last 260 years. The château is testimony to four centuries of French architecture, as a stronghold transformed into an elegant house during the Renaissance and the 18th century. The monument is located in the valley of Le Loir. Its gardens have evolved throughout the centuries.