Hlavačov Castle
| Hlavačov Castle | ||
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.jpg) Remains of the castle |
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| Alternative name (s): | Starý hrádek, Červený zámek, Hlawaczow, castellum Vetus | |
| Castle type : | Höhenburg, spur location | |
| Conservation status: | Burgstall, moats and ramparts | |
| Place: | Lužná | |
| Geographical location | 50 ° 7 '33.5 " N , 13 ° 44' 5" E | |
| Height: | 390 m nm | |
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The Hlavačov Castle , also Starý hrádek or Červený zámek (German Hlawaczow , Latin castellum Vetus ) was located west of the village of Lužná in the Rakonitzer hill country in the Czech Republic . The original name of the important Bohemian royal castle is not known, it may be the Rokytno Castle or the old Křivoklát Castle. After the construction of the new Křivoklát royal castle , it was called castellum Vetus or Starý hrádek . The names Červený zámek and Hlavačov came into being after their demise. The remains of the castle are protected as a cultural monument.
geography
The remains of the abandoned spur castle are located on the southwestern foothills of the Hlavačov hill (405 m) on a spur made of tertiary sand above the valley of the Lišanský creek, which was formerly called Červený potok. The Lužná u Rakovníka – Rakovník railway runs at the foot of the castle hill . Surrounding villages are Hlavačov, Podhůrka and Lišany in the north, Lužná II in the northeast, Lužná in the east, Na Cikánce and Zákův Mlýn in the southeast, Rakovník in the south, Olešná in the west and Rozvodna in the northwest.
history
Nothing is known about the origins of the castle. It is believed that it was built in the 12th or, according to Tomáš Durdík , in the early 13th century. It is possible that it was built on the site of an older fortification.
It may be the Rokytno Castle, which was the center of the Rokytná area , which has been documented since the 12th century and named after the Rokytná brook . However, the location of the Rokytno Castle is also assumed to be on Na Hradišti near Senomaty at the confluence of the Petrovický creek and the Rakovnický creek . Excavations there on the approximately 150 hectare area revealed that there was an early Slavic, possibly fortified settlement site at the site, which, however, was already desolate in the first half of the 13th century. At least since then, the castellum vetus has been the center of the Rokytná area.
Likewise, it cannot be ruled out that the original Křivoklát castle, mentioned at the beginning of the 12th century by Cosmas of Prague in the Chronica Boemorum , was located on the hill Hlavačov , the location of which is not known. It can be assumed that the royal castle Starý hrádek or Castellum vetus was subordinated to the new castle Křivoklát at the beginning of the 13th century.
The first written mention of the royal hunting castle Castellum vetus came in 1245, when King Wenceslaus I issued a certificate of ownership for the Benedictine monastery Litomyšl at the castle . In the following years Wenceslas I stayed at the castle several times. In 1250 he made the deed about the transfer of Chýnov to the diocese of Prague and in 1251 the deed of transfer about the patronage rights in Planá to the Waldsassen monastery . In the following year he confirmed in a document made out in Lišany the Vyšehrad chapter the rights to the Laurentiuskapelle on Petřín ; Since there was never a royal palace in the village of Lišany, two kilometers away, it can be assumed that Wenceslas I and his entourage resided on Castellum vetus . In March 1253 Wenzel I entertained the Archbishop of Salzburg Philipp von Spanheim , the Bamberg Bishop Heinrich von Bilversheim , the Regensburg Bishop Albert von Pietengau , the Passau Bishop Berthold von Pietengau , the Meißner Bishop Konrad von Wallhausen and the Olomouc for several days Bishop Bruno von Schauenburg . The last stay of Wenceslas I took place in August 1253 a month before his death in Počaply . In 1255, Ottokar II Přemysl on Starý hrádek confirmed the talent of the St. Margaret's Chapel in Machov and in 1260 he granted the Waldsassen Abbey immunity.
Since the Starý hrádek castle was never mentioned again, Durdík assumes that it burned down in the 1260s. Other researchers suspect that the castle was destroyed by Otto von Brandenburg during the power struggles after the death of Ottokar II during the administration of Bohemia .
After the fall of Starý Hrádek Castle , its tasks as the administrative center of the Rokytná region were transferred to Křivoklát Castle. Reconstruction did not take place because the sandy slope on Hlavačov did not offer a suitable location for a modern castle complex, the royal town of Rakovník now exercised its own jurisdiction and the royal castle Křivoklát was a powerful and well-fortified castle complex not too far away.
In the year 1354 the spur, which has meanwhile grown over with forest, with the desert castle and the hill rising behind it were first called Hlawaczow . The ruins have been called Hlawaczy by the inhabitants of the town since the 15th century, from which the name of an old Rakonitz patrician family is derived, which received the title of Hlawaczow in their coat of arms . From 1515 the desert castle of the town of Rakovník was used to extract building material for the town fortifications. Up until the 19th century, the castle walls were almost completely removed.
Because of its location above the Red Mill (Červený mlýn) , the desert castle was marked as Červený zámek on several maps from the 18th century . In the 19th century, the castle researcher Franz Alexander Heber spread the opinion that Hlawaczow Castle would not have been extinguished until the transition from the 18th to the 19th century.
Structural system
The castle complex on the steeply sloping spur to the west offered a wide view of the surroundings and was 80 meters wide and 120 meters long. At the narrowest point of the connection between the spur and the Hlavačov plateau, from which the castle was accessed via a wooden bridge, it was protected by two moats with a width of 20 meters, behind which there were two bailey . The inner castle, surrounded by a mighty wall and a deep moat behind it, was divided into two parts. The main part was 50 × 25 meters, the smaller part 25 × 21 meters. The only low residential and utility buildings were mostly wooden, partly also built in half-timbered with clay, plans and brick walls and their height did not extend beyond the mighty fortifications.
As a result of excavations carried out in 1974, which prove the destruction of the castle by fire, the castle researcher Tomáš Durdík came to the conclusion that the castle consisted of a curtain wall in timber construction and half-timbered buildings with little use of stone. The unusually powerful fortifications and ramparts were built from the local sand, which was laid in layers and poured over with mortar; the outer end was a wall of plans. The excavations could not prove that the castle had a Romanesque chapel or a low tower.
Due to the centuries-long demolition of building materials and quarry work on the rocky spur of the inner castle and further damage from amateur excavations at the beginning of the 20th century, during which the remains of decorated ceramics, knife blades and horseshoes were found, the original shape is difficult to reconstruct today. Durdík assigned the castle to a transitional type similar to the Angerbach castle , with the Hlavačov castle being one of the largest of this type. Today only ramparts and moats within a forest are visible of the castle.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Document: Archive kolegiátní kapituly vyšehradské (1130-1523) 42 in the European document archive Monasterium.net .