Helfenburk Castle (Northern Bohemia)
The Helfenburk Castle (German Helfenburg ) is a ruin east of the town of Úštěk in the Okres Litoměřice . It lies on a sandstone rock above the Hradeker Grund near the Ostré district and is partially carved into the rock. The rock castle , hidden in a forest area 3 km east of Úštěk, was probably built in the 13th century by the Berken von Dubá . A branch of this family named itself after the castle; 1374 is first documented detectable by their sale of Hans von Helfenburg to the Prague archbishop jan očko of vlašim , thus giving episcopal Central Bohemian possessions, but especially the by the combined rule Raudnitz -added -Helfenburg cities Gastorf and lead Wedel including the villages Großhubina (Velký Hubenov), Strachel (Strachaly), Moschnitz (Mošnice), Robitsch (Robeč), Kalwitz (Kalovice), Naschowitz (Náčkovice), Sebitsch (Dřevčice) , Tuhan and Pablitschka (Pavličky).
For the time before, there is a tradition in old writings that the Italian tribune Cola di Rienzo was arrested at the Helfenburg in 1350 .
During the Hussite Wars , Johann Smiřický von Smiřice conquered the Helfenburg in 1429. When he was executed in 1453, Zdenko von Sternberg , who later became the leader of the Catholics and declared opponent of King George of Podebrady , acquired the fortress. The king also won the Helfenburg when, on April 28, 1467, he went over to attack five different Sternberger castles at the same time. In 1457 the Helfenburg went to the bailiff of Upper Lusatia, Wilhelm von Ilburg . After his death in 1538, his possessions went to his daughter Anna, married to Heinrich I von Kurzbach . Under Wilhelm, then Heinrich II. Von Kurzbach, the dominions of Helfenburg and Ronburg were united until 1591. In 1591 Sezima von Auscha bought the castle. After his property was confiscated in 1623 after the Battle of the White Mountains , the Helfenburg went to the Jesuits in Liebeschitz and was integrated into the local manor.
At that time it was probably no longer inhabited, the last mention of it as a castle comes from 1591. On November 1, 1620, the imperial troops under Karl Bonaventura von Buquoy looted the abandoned Helfenburg and set it on fire.
The ruin fell into disrepair and even its name was forgotten. In 1679 Bohuslav Balbín described it as a desolate Hradek castle . In the oral tradition, the term Affenburg had become common for a long time . In 1887 the landowner Josef Edler von Schroll had extensive security work carried out on the ruins.
The crenellated wall and the keep have been preserved. In the Zwinger there is a well, which is still 30 m deep. Two large heraldic shields are inserted in the castle gate, which are heavily weathered today. One depicts the coat of arms of the Lords of Wlašim with two vulture heads. The other, with a crossbar, is that of the Archdiocese of Prague .
The castle researcher Friedrich Bernau clearly identified it as the Helfenburg on the basis of this coat of arms. Because of these coats of arms and the large number of castle ruins, other attempts to find out the historical castle name had failed because they had assumed that the ruin could not be the Helfenburg, as it did not bear the Helfenburg coat of arms, an elephant.
literature
- Friedrich Bernau: The Helfenburg. In: Communications from the Association for the History of Germans in Bohemia. 16. Jg., 1878, ZDB -ID 516634-2 , pp. 227-234.
See also
Web links
- Historical information (CZ)
- Castle website (CZ)
Coordinates: 50 ° 34 ′ 46 ″ N , 14 ° 23 ′ 2 ″ E