Khust Fortress - Castles on Waymarking.com

Khust Fortress

Hungarian King Ladislaus I first built Khust Fortress in 1090. Since 1038 he had struggled on the side of his two brothers against their cousins who were ruling over Hungary. With his cousins deposed, and peace and stability finally restored, Ladislaus turned his attention to expanding his empire.

Ladislaus I built Khust Fortress to the north to check the advances of the warring nomadic Cumans, a Turkic people living north of the Black Sea on the Volga River. But the castle was unable to stop the destruction of Hungary by the marauding Mongolian warriors of Batu Khan, son of Genghis Khan, who stormed and destroyed the castle in 1243. Ironically, the Cumans were driven out of their land by the Mongols and sought refuge in Hungary where they were assimilated into the Hungarian culture.

Weakened by the Mongol assault, the 450-year old Arpad Dynasty came to an end in 1301. The first Angevin king, Charles I, came to the throne in 1308 and began to restore Hungary. He rebuilt the Khust Fortress in 1318. In 1458 the 15-year-old Matthias Corvinus became the first elected King of Hungary. His own uncle and guardian, Mihaly Szilagyi, schemed with the noble Hungarian families to force Matthias to marry the daughter of the palatine (prime minister) Laszlo Garai. Matthias refused the marriage because Garai was involved in the murder of Matthias’ younger brother Laszlo. Matthias deposed Garai and had his uncle imprisoned in the Khust Fortress.

In 1514 Pope Leo X authorized the Hungarian Crown to lead a crusade against the Ottoman Turks. Gyorgy Dozsa was chosen to lead the crusade. Dozsa gathered a rag-tag army of 100,000 peasants and began to train them. The nobility provided no food and clothing and then demanded they return home to reap the nobles’ fields. When they refused, the landlords began to mistreat their wives and children. The peasant army rebelled and began a war of vengeance against the landlords. Khust Fortress was one stronghold they had captured. The rebellion came to an end when Dozsa was captured and condemned to sit on a smoldering iron throne with a heated iron crown on his head and a heated scepter in his hand. Six of his fellow rebels were starved nearly to death and then released to eat his remains. This treatment of the peasants would divide the kingdom making it easy for the Ottomans to invade Hungary in 1526.

The Hungarian Kingdom came to an end and Hungary was split between the Ottoman Turks and the Austrian Habsburg Empire. Transylvania, which had been conquered by Hungary in 1003, was again free and formed an independent principality ruled by Calvinist Hungarian princes. The Khust Fortress became a part of Transylvania and would begin a 175-year period of bloodshed. Austrian Emperor Ferdinand I in 1546 took Khust Fortress. In 1594 the Tartars, allies of the Ottoman Turks, would take Khust but were unable to take the castle. George Rakoczi I would besiege the castle in 1644 during his failed attempt to free Hungary from Austria. Polish forces would come in 1657, and the Ottoman Turks again in 1661.

The Hungarian lords would mount one more attempt to win their freedom against the Austrians from 1703-1711. The Khust Fortress was taken first in 1703 and independence was proclaimed from within its walls. The Khust Fortress would also be the last retaken by the Habsburg when they finally suppressed the rebellion in 1711. The Khust Fortress, badly damaged, limped on until lightning struck its powder tower in 1766 and burnt the castle down. The Empress Maria Teresa had the castle inspected in 1773 and it was determined no longer of use. Its one remaining tower collapsed into itself during a heavy thunderstorm in 1798. The Khust Fortress was finally at rest.

Accessibility: Full access Condition: Completely ruined Admission Charge?: no Website: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   06/24/2015 NiHa58 visited it