Starý Herštejn Castle

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Castle ruins

The Starý Herštejn castle ruins (German: Hirschstein ) are located in Plzeňský kraj in Okres Domažlice in the Czech Republic . The ruins of the hilltop castle are located just under two kilometers southwest of Vranov on the 878 m high mountain of the same name above the source of the Pivoňka .

history

The former royal castle was first mentioned in a document in 1272 as the property of the knight Protivec von Hirschstein ( Protivec z Herštejna ). In 1328 the castle passed to the Count Palatine near the Rhine , after which it became the property of the Bohemian King Johann von Luxemburg , who sold it to the Prague Bishop Jan IV von Draschitz in 1331 . On May 17, 1421, the Hussites conquered Hirschstein Castle. After 1437 Dobrohost von Ronsperg acquired the castle, and in 1459 also the Ronsperg castle . His son Zdeniek Dobrohost von Ronsperg ( Zdeněk Dobrohost z Ronšperka ) was a well-known robber baron and used the castles for looting. Troops of King Vladislav II on behalf of the provincial administrator Zdeniek Lev von Rosental ( Zdeněk Lev z Rožmitálu ) conquered the castles and destroyed them. The robber baron Zdeniek Dobrohost was able to escape to the Bavarian castle Flossenbürg , but never returned.

According to mythological tradition, Hirschstein Castle was founded in 797 by the Friesland knight Ratibold von Egmont: While searching for his wife Elsa, who had disappeared in the woods, Ratibold met a white doe, from which Elsa had been nourished. The knight founded the Hirschstein Castle near this point, and the actual place of reunion was called Elsenberg, from which the name of the Liesa or Lissaberges is said to have been derived (Lysá hora).

The remains of the protective wall, the moat and the keep can be visited .

Web links

Commons : Starý Herštejn castle  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ František Palacký : The History of Bohemia , Volume 5, Part 2, p.204
  2. ↑ Karl Reitmeier: The foundation of Hirschstein Castle. In: Franz Liebl, Heimatkreis Bischofteinitz (Hrsg.): Our Heimatkreis Bischofteinitz. Brönner & Daentler, Eichstätt 1967, p. 118

Coordinates: 49 ° 28 '  N , 12 ° 43'  E