Palanok Castle

About

The Palanok Castle or Mukachevo Castle (Ukrainian: Замок "Паланок", romanized: Zamok "Palanok"; Hungarian: Munkács vára or Munkácsi vár; German: Plankenburg) is a historic castle in the city of Mukachevo in the western Ukrainian oblast (province) of Zakarpattia. The Palanok Castle is delicately preserved, and is located on a 68-metre-high (223 ft) former volcanic hill. The castle complex consists of three parts: the high, middle, and low castle.

There is no accurate data on the circumstances of the construction of the castle. Archaeological research shows that the area was already inhabited in the Neolithic era, and that in the Bronze and Iron Ages there was a fortress on the site of today's castle. At the time of the conquest, a fortress built likely from wood piles and/or stilts, stood at the top of today's castle hill.

- St. Stephen attributed special importance to the castle, strengthened his walls, and King Ladislaus continued his work and built a stone wall.

- Anonymus, Béla III of Hungary 's clerk, author of the Gesta Hungarorum (The Deeds of the Hungarians) mentions that when the seven leaders and their tribes were crossing the Verecke Pass and the mountains below it, they became very tired and determined to rest at this place. As the countryside was at great cost (work), [ clarification needed ] the settlement was called Munkács. According to another legend, the name of the castle and the city stems from the Slavic word for "suffering", because the construction of the castle and the application of the stones to it [ clarification needed ] required much work and suffering.

- In 1086 Munkács was attacked by the Pechenegs ; they besieged the castle for five days, but were unable to capture it.

- The rapid development of the city concluded during the reign of Béla III of Hungary. In 1190, for example, the Tatars scattered the villages of the county of Bereg and Ung.

- In 1241, the 60,000 strong army of Batu Khan entered Hungary through the Verecke Pass. The city was demolished, but the castle was not occupied.

- After the retreat of the Tatars, in 1242 Béla IV of Hungary gave instructions to build new castles, to reinforce existing ones. During the 13th century, Munkács Castle became one of the largest and best protected fortresses in Hungary.

- Charles Robert appreciated his [ clarification needed ] significance to the ever-stronger Poland and Ruthenia, and therefore he took possession of Italian masters [ clarification needed ] to reconstruct and strengthen. Louis I of Hungary (1342-1382) continued his construction.

- In 1352 another Tatar army arrived under the castle, but his garrison not only resisted his attack, but broke out from behind the walls, wrecking the enemy, captivating and executing Atlamos Khan.

- Tódor Korjatovics, Prince of Podolsky, played a significant role in the history of the castle, and he was associated with relatives in the royal court of Hungary. In 1396, King Sigismund donated the castle and the associated domination [ clarification needed ] to him. Together with his courtyard he moved to the Munkács region, and with his activities he greatly promoted the economic and cultural development of Transcarpathia. He set up his court [ clarification needed ] in the castle of Munkács, extending it considerably. At his feet, [ clarification needed ] a wide ditch was dug and filled with water; The other name of the castle is "Palánk". After the deaths of Tatjana Korjatovics and his wife, [ clarification needed ] Munkács often changed ownership. The strategically important fortress has played a prominent role in the region between 15th and 17th century.

From 1423, the castle was owned by György Brankovics. From 1439 László Palóczy, and in 1445 the governor of Hungary János Hunyadi became the owner of the castle. After his death, in 1456, his widow, Erzsébet Szilágyi became the mistress of the castle. Later it was owned by King Matthias and then by János Corvin. The people of Munkács actively participated in the peasant rebellion of György Dózsa in 1514. The rebels seized the castles of Munkács, Huszt and Királyháza. In 1514, Munkács Castle and its domination became the property of the Hungarian crown and became the owner of the king. The castle suffered severe damage during the peasant war. King Louis II (1516–1526) started to rebuild it. In 1527 the castle was still in King Louis II's widow Queen Mary 's ownership, when János Szapolyai occupied it in 1528. After a year he exchanged it with other castles in Palatine István Báthori 's property. István Báthory built the ring-shaped bastion of the upper castle and a 14-metre-high (46 ft) observation tower. In 1537 King Ferdinand I besieged and then occupied the castle.

After 1541, the castle became the property of the son of János Szapolyai, János Zsigmond, but in reality he was ruled [ clarification needed ] by his mother, Queen Isabella. The castle became the property of the 19 year old János Zsigmond only after the death of Isabella, who owned it until 1567. In 1560 Emperor Ferdinand I donated the castle to István Dobó, but since it was in the hands of the enemy, Dobó could not take over the donation. In 1567 imperial troops occupied the castle. In 1573 Maximilian II pledged it to Gábor Mágócsi. At that time Zsigmond Rákóczi was married into the Magócsi family, and the castle was later acquired by the Rákóczi family. In 1611 it became the property of Miklós Eszterházy.

In 1625 Gábor Bethlen, the Prince of Transylvania, bought the castle and its domination [ clarification needed ] for 300,000 forints. At this time, the castle captain, János Balling, repaired the castle and erected a new building in the middle yard. In 1857, when the castle was converted into a prison.

The castle then had 14 bastions and a new building in the middle courtyard. In the upper part was the castle palace, which was led by a stone staircase.

After the death of Gábor Bethlen in 1629, the castle was owned by his wife, Katalin of Brandenburg, who was forced to hand it over to György Rákóczi I, Prince of Transylvania, a few months later. According to the law of inheritance, after Katalin's death the castle should have become the property of the royal House of Habsburg, but György Rákóczi I did everything he could to obtain this strategically important fortress. János Balling, the captain of the castle, was very helpful in this, and he did not let the royal ambassadors enter the castle. So the castle of Munkács came into the possession of the Rákóczi family, and this was the beginning of the most glorious period of its history. Thus in 1635 the castle and its estates became the property of György Rákóczi I. The prince arranged [ clarification needed ] his court here and welcomed the French, Polish and Swedish ambassadors he had successfully invited to negotiate with them. After his death, his wife Zsuzsanna Lorántffy obtained possession of the castle, and continued to expand and strengthen it, using the expertise of French architects. A floor was built on the southern building of the central courtyard, to which Rákóczi square was added.

After the death of Zsuzsanna, her son György Rákóczi II became the lord of the castle. Between 1649 and 1656, he welcomed, among others, the delegations of Bohdan Khmelnytsky of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, with whom he negotiated joint action against Poland. In 1657, despite the protest of the Turkish Sultan, he entered war against Poland, which ended with the defeat of his troops. The Poles, led by Prince Lubomirsky, sacked the counties of Bereg, Ung and Zemplén in revenge, destroyed the cities, including Munkács and Beregszász, but could not occupy the castle. After the death of György Rákóczi II, his wife Zsófia Báthory and his son Ferenc I Rákóczi moved into the castle. Ferenc Rákóczi I married Ilona Zrínyi, daughter of the Croatian -born Péter Zrínyi Ban of Croatia. Their son was Ferenc II Rákóczi, one of the most outstanding figures in Hungarian history. After the death of Ferenc I Rákóczi, Ilona Zrínyi remained widowed with her two children, Ferenc and Julianna. Imre Thököly and Ilona Zrínyi were married in 1682 in the Castle of Munkács. Imre Thököly had the castle repaired, strengthened its walls and shrines, and held a rich courtyard. [ clarification needed ] After Thököly was captured by the Turks, Ilona Zrínyi remained with her two children in the castle. The advancing imperial troops easily captured the Castle of Ungvár and arrived at Munkács in the middle of November 1685.

On March 10, 1686, Imperial General Aeneas de Caprara (1631–1701) called for surrender, but Ilona Zrínyi stood firm. For seven months she defended the castle with his [ clarification needed ] Hungarian, Ruthenian, Slovak and German soldiers. Showing her personal heroism, she often appeared on the bastions with her ten-year-old son Francis, defying the strong gunfire. Her daughter Julianna took care of the wounded.

In April 1686, General Caprara was forced to abandon the siege. His soldiers robbed the town of Munkács in revenge and retreated to Kassa. During the siege, 24 defenders of the castle died, but the losses of the Austrians were many times higher.

In 1687, General Caprara besieged the castle again, with more than 3,000 troops. On November 2, 1687, Ilona Zrínyi again refused to surrender. For one year the Austrian besieged the castle, but without success. At the end of 1687, however, the position of the defenders became critical. This castle was the only one in Hungary that the Austrians could not capture. However, the enemy did not give up the hope of acquiring a strategically very important fortress and bringing together new forces under [ clarification needed ] the castle.