Vogtei of Rheintal

Bailiwick of the Rhine Valley
Vogtei Rheintal
State of the Holy Roman Empire, Condominium of the Old Swiss Confederacy
1464–1798
Coat of arms
Eastern Switzerland in 1798, showing the Bailiwick of the Rhine Valley in grey to the right, south of Lake Constance and labelled Vogtei Rheintal
Capital		Altstätten, Kriessern
Government		Principality
Historical era		Middle Ages
•	Rheintal united under    county of Werdenberg	←  1348
•	Acquired by Habsburgs	← 1363–95 1464
•	by the    canton of Appenzell	←   1405–08
•	by the    county of Toggenburg	←   1424
•	by Swiss    and Imp. Abbey St Gall	→   1464
•	Declared independence	March 26, 1798
•	Annexed to the Helvetic    canton of Säntis	→   May 1798 1798
•	Joined canton of St. Gallen	→ February 19, 1803
Preceded by Succeeded by County of Toggenburg Canton of Säntis

Coat of arms

Vogtei Rheintal was a condominium of the Old Swiss Confederacy from the 15th century until 1798. Its territory corresponded to the left banks of the Alpine Rhine between Hoher Kasten and Lake Constance, including the towns of Altstätten and Rheineck.

Vogtei Rheintal is presently part of the canton of St. Gallen, specifically and primarily in the constituency of Rheintal.

During the Appenzell Wars, the defeat by Appenzell in the Battle of Stoss Pass, 17 June 1405 put an end to the Habsburg expansion (and won Appenzeller independence from the Imperial Abbey of St Gall). Marbach, Berneck and Altstätten allied with Appenzell in the , in the first union of the Rhine Valley from Rheineck to Kriessern. Appenzeller defeat in the Battle of Bregenz three years later brought an end to this new-found liberty and restored the Habsburgs. By 1424, however, the Rhine Valley was largely in the hands of the counts of Toggenburg. After their extinction, Appenzell reconquered the Rheintal with Rheineck in the Old Zürich War in 1445.