Bernstein Castle ( hu, Borostyánkő vára) is a historical building in

Bernstein im Burgenland Bernstein ( hu, Borostyánkő) is a municipality in Burgenland in the district Oberwart in Austria. Geography Parts of the municipality are Dreihütten, Redlschlag, Rettenbach, and Stuben. Population Politics Of the 23 positions on the munici ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, first mentioned in the 13th century.

History

In 860 the whole region was part of the

archbishopric of Salzburg The Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg (german: Fürsterzbistum Salzburg; Erzstift Salzburg; Erzbistum Salzburg) was an ecclesiastical principality and state of the Holy Roman Empire. It comprised the secular territory ruled by the archbishops of ...

. Erimbert, a liege of the archbishopric, handed over the

Pinka The Pinka () is a river in Central Europe with a length of approximately . Its basin area is . Its source is located in Styria, eastern Austria, next to the provincial border of Burgenland. It passes into Hungary between the villages of and Fels� ...

to one Jacobus. The village name Rettenbach was not mentioned yet, but the old Slavic name of the nearby hamlet Grodnau (meaning "the village belonging to the castle") is a sign of the existence of a nearby castle, identifiable with castle Bernstein. Bernstein Castle is above sea level. Since 1199 the castle was part of

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. It is not exactly known when the castle was handed over to

Frederick II, Duke of Austria Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 25 April 1211 – 15 June 1246), known as Frederick the Quarrelsome (''Friedrich der Streitbare''), was Duke of Austria and Styria from 1230 until his death. He was the fifth and last Austrian duke from the Ho ...

, and how long it was his property; but in 1236

Béla IV of Hungary Béla IV (1206 – 3 May 1270) was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1235 and 1270, and Duke of Styria from 1254 to 1258. As the oldest son of King Andrew II, he was crowned upon the initiative of a group of influential noblemen in his father ...

conquered the castle. Some years later (in 1260) he gave it to count

Henry I Kőszegi Henry (I) Kőszegi from the kindred Héder ( hu, Héder nembeli (I.) Kőszegi Henrik, hr, Henrik II. Gisingovac, german: Heinrich II. von Güns; died 26/29 September 1274), commonly known as Henry the Great, was a Hungarian influential lord in th ...

. In 1336 the counts of Güssing and Bernstein were defeated by the Hungarian King

Charles Robert of Anjou Charles I, also known as Charles Robert ( hu, Károly Róbert; hr, Karlo Robert; sk, Karol Róbert; 128816 July 1342) was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1308 to his death. He was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou and the only son of ...

, and the castle of Bernstein became part of the Hungarian Kingdom. In 1388 the castle was given to the Kanizsai family. In 1482 it became property of

Matthias Corvinus of Hungary Matthias Corvinus, also called Matthias I ( hu, Hunyadi Mátyás, ro, Matia/Matei Corvin, hr, Matija/Matijaš Korvin, sk, Matej Korvín, cz, Matyáš Korvín; ), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490. After conducting several mi ...

for a short time; in 1487 Hans von Königsberg received the castle from Emperor Frederick III. In 1529 the

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic o ...

besieged the castle, but they were not able to capture it. Another unsuccessful siege by the Turks followed in 1532. On that occasion the ring of bastions was erected in order to change the castle into a refuge. In 1604 castle Bernstein was unsuccessfully besieged for weeks by a combined army consisting of Hungarians, Turks, and

Tatars The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

under the leadership of

Stephen Bocskay Stephen Bocskai or Bocskay ( hu, Bocskai István; 1 January 155729 December 1606) was Prince of Transylvania and Hungary from 1605 to 1606. He was born to a Hungarian noble family. His father's estates were located in the eastern regions of th ...

. Due to an explosion of the gunpowder storeroom, in 1617 Ludwig Königsberg ordered the rebuilding of the

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

inner part of the castle in

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

style. The

keep A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...

and towers were eliminated. A short time later (1644) Ehrenreich Christoph Königsberg sold the sovereignty and the castle to Count Ádám

Batthyány The House of Batthyány () is the name of an ancient and distinguished Hungarian Magnate family. Members of this family bear the title Count/Countess ( Graf/Gräfin) Batthyány von Német-Ujvar respectively, while the title of Prince (Fürst) vo ...

. In 1864 Gustav Batthyány sold the castle to his

manciple A manciple is a person in charge of the purchase and storage of food at an institution such as a college, monastery, or court of law. Manciples were sometimes also in charge of catering more generally, including food preparation. The title sti ...

Edward O'Egan, whose heirs finally sold the castle to Eduard von Almásy. His family currently owns the castle. In 1953 a part of the castle was turned into a hotel and restaurant. Bernstein - Burg, Südansicht.JPG, South view of the Bernstein Castle Bernstein - Burg, inneres Tor.JPG, Inner gate of Bernstein Castle Bernstein - Burg, äußerer Burghof.JPG, Outer courtyard of Bernstein Castle

References

External links

Website of the Hotel Castle Bernstein with history and pictures of the interiorAerial photography gallery
{{Authority control Castles in Burgenland Hotels in Austria