Udbina Castle ( hr, Utvrda Udbina) is a ruined

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

fortified structure in the town of

Udbina Udbina is a village and a municipality in historical Krbava, in the Lika region of Croatia. It is administratively a part of the Lika-Senj County. Geography Udbina is located in the large karst field called Krbava. It is approximately 45 kilomet ...

Lika-Senj County Lika-Senj County (, hr, Ličko-senjska županija) is a Counties of Croatia, county in Croatia that includes most of the Lika region and some northern coastline of the Adriatic near the town of Senj, including the northern part of the Pag (island ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

. Built on the top of a hill at the northern end of the town, it overlooks a large part of the

Krbava Krbava (; ) is a historical region located in Mountainous Croatia and a former Catholic bishopric (1185–1460), precursor of the diocese of Modruš an present Latin titular see. It can be considered either located east of Lika, or indeed as th ...

field, just above the place where the fierce and bloody

Battle of Krbava The Battle of Krbava Field ( hr, Bitka na Krbavskom polju, Krbavska bitka; hu, Korbávmezei csata; tr, Krbava Muharebesi) was fought between the Ottoman Empire of Bayezid II and an army of the Kingdom of Croatia, at the time in personal unio ...

between the army of the

Kingdom of Croatia Kingdom of Croatia may refer to: * Kingdom of Croatia (925–1102), an independent medieval kingdom * Croatia in personal union with Hungary (1102–1526), a kingdom in personal union with the Kingdom of Hungary * Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg) (152 ...

and the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

was fought in 1493. Once property of the powerful Kurjaković noble family, the castle was captured by the

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

in 1527. It was recaptured in 1689 by Habsburg-Croatian army, but later, by the end of the 19th century, uncared-for, the castle slowly turned into a ruin.

History

Croatia in personal union with Hungary

The castle was first mentioned in 1364 in medieval documents as the name of a land district. Built from the

cut stone Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

, it was a firm

stronghold A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

of Croatian troops during the Ottoman expansion in the 15th century. At the time of the Battle of Krbava, it was owned by Croatian Kurjaković noble family, a.k.a.

dukes Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranked ...

(Corbavia). Before the battle itself, Karlo Kurjaković, a distinguished Croatian nobleman, who possessed a large part of

Lika Lika () is a traditional region of Croatia proper, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east by ...

, including Udbina, suddenly died, leaving his wife Dorotea Kurjaković née

Frankopan The House of Frankopan ( hr, Frankopani, Frankapani, it, Frangipani, hu, Frangepán, la, Frangepanus, Francopanus), was a Croatian noble family, whose members were among the great landowner magnates and high officers of the Kingdom of Croati ...

and his little son,

Ivan Ivan () is a Slavic languages, Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John (given name), John) from Hebrew language, Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. T ...

(* 1485; † 1531), future ban (Viceroy) of Croatia (who ruled 1521–1524 and 1527–1531) and the last male member of the Kurjaković family, in the castle. Both of them observed the course of the battle in the field below, without interfering. The castle wasn't involved in the battle at all, since the winning Ottoman akinjis left further for

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...

, taking

captives ''Captives'' is a 1994 British romantic crime drama film directed by Angela Pope and written by the Dublin screenwriter Frank Deasy. It stars Julia Ormond, Tim Roth and Keith Allen (actor), Keith Allen. The picture was selected as the opening fil ...

and loot along.

Ottoman Empire

Despite the Croatian defeat in 1493., it was only in 1527 that the castle fell into Ottoman hands and became their stronghold in the region. They expanded and enhanced the fortifications, making them harder to capture. However, Ottomans were routed from Udbina during the Great Turkish War in 1689, after Habsburg-Croatian army besieged the castle (following the lack of water in it, which led Turks to surrender).

Habsburg Monarchy

The Ottoman forces then withdrew back to Bosnia in 1689 and the whole area, including the Udbina Castle, became part of the

Croatian Military Frontier The Croatian Military Frontier ( hr, Vojna krajina or ') was a district of the Military Frontier, a territory in the Habsburg monarchy, first during the period of the Austrian Empire and then during Austria-Hungary. History Founded in the late 16 ...

from that point on. During the course of 19th century the castle was left for a slow and continuing ruination.

Architecture

Archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

research has shown that there were several phases in the

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...

or reconstruction of the castle. In the middle of it there was a ''

bergfried ''Bergfried'' (plural: ''bergfriede''; English: ''belfry''; French: ''tour-beffroi''; Spanish: ''torre del homenaje'') is a tall tower that is typically found in castles of the Middle Ages in German-speaking countries and in countries under German ...

'' or ''donjon'', a round and tall defensive tower. There is not much left of the walls of the ''bergfried'', built of roughly

carved stone Stone carving is an activity where pieces of rough natural stone are shaped by the controlled removal of stone. Owing to the permanence of the material, stone work has survived which was created during our prehistory or past time. Work carried ...

. Recent

excavations In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

have shown that it was a rather spacious tower, having inner

diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest chord of the circle. Both definitions are also valid for ...

close to about 7

metre The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pref ...

s, wall thickness ranging from 2–2,4 m and total diameter reaching approximately over 11 metres. The

ground plan In architecture and building engineering, a floor plan is a technical drawing to scale, showing a view from above, of the relationships between rooms, spaces, traffic patterns, and other physical features at one level of a structure. Dimensi ...

of the castle shows that in the middle of the castle, around the tower, the three thick walls were built, which seem to correspond to the

bastion A bastion or bulwark is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fi ...

ic way of building to resist the fiery weapons, certainly in combination with earthen embankments. The remaining walls were thin and obviously more a fence than a serious obstacle to artillery. At the bottom, the castle was more open, which may have been due to an inaccessible

slope In mathematics, the slope or gradient of a line is a number that describes both the ''direction'' and the ''steepness'' of the line. Slope is often denoted by the letter ''m''; there is no clear answer to the question why the letter ''m'' is use ...

and the impossibility of attacking from that side. During the excavations, larger quantities of

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

and

glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) of ...

objects and, burnt wooden beams as well as two stone

cannonball A round shot (also called solid shot or simply ball) is a solid spherical projectile without explosive charge, launched from a gun. Its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the barrel from which it is shot. A round shot fired from a lar ...

s were found. All that shows a continuity of life and the importance of Udbina, especially in the military-strategic sense, which lasted during the Ottoman rule, as well as later, during the Croatian Military Frontier period.

Gallery

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Udbina Castle Ruined castles in Croatia Buildings and structures in Lika-Senj County Medieval architecture Military history of the Kingdom of Croatia 1364 establishments in Europe