. In 1257 Albrecht of Sax-Misox sold
Wartenstein Castle and the villages of
Pfäfers, Valens, Vättis and
Untervaz to Pfäfers Abbey for 300 silver marks. After the decline of the imperial Hohenstaufen family the Sax-Misox lost the Blenio Valley, Monte Dongo and Clanx Castle. Their lands were reduced to the Core of the Misox Valley with the
San Bernardino Pass and the
Walser settlements in the
Rheinwald Valley. The distant estate at
Arth was granted as a fief to Heinrich and Albrecht von Grünenfels in 1295. Caspar of Sax-Misox (1362–90) married Elizabeth of
Rhäzüns and after her grandfather died in 1380, inherited the land of the Barons of Belmont including
Flims with the
Belmont Castle, Graubünden, Fidaz, Gruob,
Ilanz,
Lugnez,
Vals and
Wartau. Wartau village was later sold to the
Count of Werdenberg. Caspar and Elizabeth's son, Johann von Sax-Misox (1390–1427) was initially in service to the
Visconti family who were the Dukes of
Milan. However, in 1402 he and his brother Albert (1390–1406) acquired the Milanese city of
Bellinzona. They built castles in
Gorduno,
Bogiano and
Roveredo to protect their conquests. A few years later, in 1406–7, they were forced to accept co-ownership of Bellinzona with
Uri and
Obwalden. In 1406 Albert of Sax was murdered by a distant cousin at the
Torre Fiorenzana near Grono, possibly to gain favor with the Dukes of Milan. In 1413 Johann and another brother, Donat (mentioned 1400–23), supported Emperor
Sigismund during his campaigns against the Venetians in Italy and were rewarded with the title of count and the right to mint coins. In 1419 they sold Bellinzona to Uri and Obwalden. When the Confederates attacked Milan in 1425, Johann remained neutral. On 14 February 1395, the three main nobles (the
abbot of
Disentis,
Johannes von Ilanz,
Baron Ulrich II von Rhäzüns and Baron Albrecht von Sax-Misox) of the
Vorderrhein together with delegates from the Court Municipalities in
Ilanz created an "eternal alliance". Since the alliance was predominantly located in the high country, it was also known as
Part Sura ( or High Alliance). Five days later, Count
Johann von Werdenberg-Sargans joined the League at
Flimserwald. On 16 March 1424, the leaders, including Johann of Sax-Misox, of the alliance met under a legendary
maple tree in
Trun to reaffirm and expand it into the
Grey League. Johann married Catherine of Werdenberg-Heiligenberg, the co-heiress with the last
Count of Toggenburg,
Frederick VII. After Frederick's death in 1436, the Sax-Misox family was one of the claimants to the Toggenburg lands, which led to the
Old Zürich War in 1440. Johann's son Count Heinrich of Sax-Misox (around 1418–last mention 1479) fought to receive the Toggenburg inheritance of his mother Catherine. However, in 1437 one of the castles he claimed,
Grinau Castle was given to
Schwyz and in 1439 he mortgaged his claim on the county of
Uznach to Schwyz and
Glarus. He was part of the
Confederate army which attacked the
Golden Ambrosian Republic in Milan and was decisively defeated at the
Battle of Castione on 6 July 1449. By the following year, he was reconciled again with the Duke of Milan. In 1458, when he was preparing to conclude an alliance with Milan, there was an uprising in the Grey League, which was settled amicably thanks to the mediation of the abbot of Disentis. In 1479 he was party to a peace treaty signed by the Swiss Confederation and the Duchy of Milan. In the same year he abdicated and gave his lands to his son Johann-Peter. Johann Peter (1462–1540) was the last Count of Sax-Misox. He fought numerous incursions into his lands by the Confederation, Milan and the
cadet line of Sax-Grono. As Milan the still occupied the Misox valley, he sold it in 1480 to the Milanese commander
Gian Giacomo Trivulzio. Three years later he sold the estates in the high valleys of Graubünden. Through his second marriage with the Countess Clementine from Montfort-Werdenberg, Johann Peter gained the county of Werdenberg and Wartau in 1483. Short of money he sold Werdenberg and Wartau and to the city of Lucerne in 1485. Impoverished, he entered the service of the Dukes of Austria and Milan. He died in
Castrisch and was buried in the local church. A number of cadet branches of the Sax-Misox line came into being in the 13th century including Sax-Grono, Sax-Palazio and Sax-Norantola. ==Hohensax==