Devín Castle (
SlovakThe Slovak language , is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages ....
:
hrad Devín or
Devínsky hrad,
HungarianHungarian is a Uralic language unrelated to most other languages in Europe. It is mainly spoken in Hungary and by the Hungarian minorities in the seven neighbouring countries...
:
dévényi vár,
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
:
Burg Theben) is a castle in
DevínDevín originally a separate town at the confluence of the Danube and Morava rivers, is now a borough of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. It is an important archaeological site, famous for the ruins of Devín Castle...
, which is a part of
BratislavaBratislava is the capital of the Slovak Republic and, with a population of about 429,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River...
, the capital of
SlovakiaThe Slovak Republic is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe with a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia borders the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is its capital, Bratislava...
.
Owing to its strategic position, the cliff (altitude of 212 meters) at the confluence of the
DanubeThe Danube is the longest river in the European Union and Europe's second longest river after the Volga.The river originates in the Black Forest in Germany as the much smaller Brigach and Breg rivers which join at the German town Donaueschingen, after which it is known as the Danube and flows...
and Morava rivers was an ideal place for a fort. Its owner could control the important trade route along the Danube as well as one branch of the
Amber RoadThe Amber Road was an ancient trade route for the transfer of amber. As one of the waterways and ancient highways, for centuries the road led from Europe to Asia and back, and from northern Europe to the Mediterranean Sea....
.
Devín Castle (
SlovakThe Slovak language , is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages ....
:
hrad Devín or
Devínsky hrad,
HungarianHungarian is a Uralic language unrelated to most other languages in Europe. It is mainly spoken in Hungary and by the Hungarian minorities in the seven neighbouring countries...
:
dévényi vár,
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
:
Burg Theben) is a castle in
DevínDevín originally a separate town at the confluence of the Danube and Morava rivers, is now a borough of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. It is an important archaeological site, famous for the ruins of Devín Castle...
, which is a part of
BratislavaBratislava is the capital of the Slovak Republic and, with a population of about 429,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River...
, the capital of
SlovakiaThe Slovak Republic is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe with a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia borders the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is its capital, Bratislava...
.
Owing to its strategic position, the cliff (altitude of 212 meters) at the confluence of the
DanubeThe Danube is the longest river in the European Union and Europe's second longest river after the Volga.The river originates in the Black Forest in Germany as the much smaller Brigach and Breg rivers which join at the German town Donaueschingen, after which it is known as the Danube and flows...
and Morava rivers was an ideal place for a fort. Its owner could control the important trade route along the Danube as well as one branch of the
Amber RoadThe Amber Road was an ancient trade route for the transfer of amber. As one of the waterways and ancient highways, for centuries the road led from Europe to Asia and back, and from northern Europe to the Mediterranean Sea....
. That is why the site has been settled since the
NeolithicThe Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BCE in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age...
and fortified since the
BronzeThe Bronze Age of a culture is the period when the most advanced metalworking in that culture utilised bronze. This could either have been based on the local smelting of copper and tin from ores, or trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere...
and
Iron AgeIn archaeology, the Iron Age is the prehistoric period in any area during which cutting tools and weapons were mainly made of iron or steel. The adoption of this material coincided with other changes in society, including differing agricultural practices, religious beliefs and artistic styles.The...
. Later, both the Celts and the
RomansThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
built strong fortresses there. In the Roman ruins, the first Christian church located North of Danube has been identified.
A
SlavicThe Slavic Peoples are an ethnic and linguistic branch of Indo-European peoples, living mainly in eastern and central Europe. From the early 6th century they spread from their original homeland to inhabit most of eastern Central Europe, Eastern Europe and the Balkans...
castle, founded in the 8th century, played a crucial role during frequent wars between
Great MoraviaGreat Moravia was a Slavic state that existed in Central Europe from the 9th century to the early 10th century. There is some controversy as to the actual location of its core territory...
and the
FranksThe Franks or Frankish people were a West Germanic tribal confederation first attested in the 3rd century as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul...
. The claims that Devín or neighboring Pressburg was the center of
SamoSamo was a Frankish merchant from the "Senonian country" , probably modern Sens, France. He was the first ruler of the Slavs whose name is known, and established one of the earliest Slav states, a supra-tribal union usually called Samo's empire, realm, kingdom, or tribal union.-Primary...
's Empire cannot be proven. The ancient name of the castle (
Dowina - from the Slavic/Slovak word
deva for girl) was mentioned for the first time in written resources in
864-Europe:* July 25 – Edict of Pistres: Charles the Bald orders defensive measures against the Vikings.* Louis II marches against Rome but, getting ill, decides to make peace with the Pope.* Orso I Participazio becomes Doge of Venice....
, when
Louis the GermanLouis the German , was a grandson of Charlemagne and the third son of the succeeding Holy Roman Emperor Louis the Pious and his first wife, Ermengarde of Hesbaye.Louis II was made the King of Bavaria from 817 following the Emperor Charlemagne's practice of...
besieged Prince
RastislavSaint Rastic or Rastiz was the second ruler of Great Moravia between 846 and 870. He was canonized in October 1994 by the Czech and Slovak Orthodox Church.-Life:...
in the "castle of Dowina". During the Great Moravian period, a Christian church had been built in the complex. Its distinct style was probably inspired by similar churches in
ByzantineThe Byzantine Empire or Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on the capital of Constantinople, and ruled by Emperors in direct and de jure succession to the ancient Roman Emperors...
Macedonia, from where
Saints Cyril and MethodiusSaints Cyril and Methodius were Greek brothers born in Thessaloniki in the 9th century, who became missionaries of Christianity among the Slavic peoples of Great Moravia and Pannonia. Through their work they influenced the cultural development of all Slavs, for which they received the title...
came to Great Moravia. Chemical composition of frescoes indicates that the church was decorated by Italian painters. On the other hand, the identification of
Dowina with Devín Castle has been under debate based both on linguistic arguments and the absence of convincing archaeologic evidence.
In the 13th century, a stone castle was built to protect the western frontier of the
Hungarian KingdomThe Kingdom of Hungary , emerged in 1000, when the Principality of Hungary, founded in 896, was recognized as a Kingdom. The form of government was changed from Monarchy to Republic briefly in 1918 and again in 1946, ending the Kingdom and creating the Republic of Hungary...
whose existence was documented in 1271 and a reference to a
castelanus de Devin appeared in 1326. Between 1301 and 1323, the castle (together with Pozsony county) was held by the Dukes of Austria who granted it to Otto von Tellesbrunn. In 1323, the dukes transferred Pozsony county back to King
Charles I of HungaryCharles I , reigned as King of Hungary...
and Devín Castle became the possession of the heads
(ispánŽupa, zhupa, żupa is a Slavic term, notably among the Southern and Western branches of the Slavs, originally denoting various territorial and other sub-units, usually a small administrative division, especially a gathering of several villages.-Early Middle Ages:Originally, since nomadic times,...
) of the
countyA comitatus is the name of an administrative unit in the Kingdom of Hungary and in the Republic of Hungary from the 10th century until 1949 when it was abolished by the new constitution.The area of the Kingdom of Hungary also included present-day...
. In 1385, the castle was occupied by Margrave
Jobst of MoraviaJobst of Moravia, Jobst von Mähren was born in 1351 as the eldest son of John Henry of Luxembourg, margrave of Moravia, the brother of Emperor Charles IV....
who held it until 1390 when King
Sigismund of HungarySigismund was one of the longest ruling Kings of Hungary, reigning for fifty years from 1387 to 1437, and was also Holy Roman Emperor for four years from 1433 until 1437, and the last Emperor of the House of Luxemburg. He was also King of Bohemia from 1419, of Lombardia from 1431, and of Germany...
redeemed it. Later, the king mortgaged Devín Castle to an
AustrianAustrians are a nation and an ethnic group originating from the Republic of Austria and its historical predecessor states who share a common Austrian culture and Austrian descent...
knight, Lessel Hering who transferred the castle to
Nicholas II GarayNicholas II Garay was the ban of Mačva, Usora, Soli , Slavonia, Croatia, and Dalmatia. He also ruled Braničevo, Syrmia, Bačka, Banat and Baranya regions. Nicholas II was married to Jelena Lazarević, daughter of Serbian Prince Lazar...
(the
Palatine of the kingdomThe palatine was the highest dignitary in the Kingdom of Hungary after the king from the kingdom's rise up to 1848/1918....
) in 1414. Around 1444, King
Frederick IV of GermanyFrederick or Friedrich of Habsburg was Duke of Austria as Frederick V since 1424, successor of Albert II as German King as Frederick IV since 1440, and Holy Roman Emperor as Frederick III since 1452...
occupied the castle but he granted it to Ladislaus II Garay already in 1450.
A palace was added in the 15th century. Fortification was reinforced during wars against the
Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
. The Castle was never taken, but after the Hungarian Kingdom joined the
Habsburg MonarchyThe Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The capital was mainly Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when the capital was Prague...
and the Ottomans were finally defeated, it ceased to be an important border fortress and was no longer used by the military. The last owners of the Devin Castle were the Counts of the Pálffy family. Only in 1809, after the Siege of Pressburg, was the castle (still considered a threat) destroyed by the retreating forces of
Napoleon I of FranceNapoleon Bonaparte later known as Napoleon I, and previously Napoleone di Buonaparte, was a military and political leader of France whose actions shaped European politics in the early 19th century.Born in Corsica and trained as an artillery officer in mainland France, Bonaparte rose to prominence...
.
Since the 19th century, Devín has become an important national symbol for the
SlovaksThe Slovaks are a western Slavic people that primarily inhabit Slovakia and speak the Slovak language, which is closely related to the Czech language....
. It featured on the 50 Halierov coin of the
SlovakThe Slovak koruna or Slovak crown was the currency of Slovakia between 8 February 1993 and 31 December 2008. The ISO 4217 code was SKK and the local abbreviation was Sk. The Slovak crown was also the currency of the WWII Slovak Republic between 1939 and 1945...
currency. Its history even inspired several
RomanticRomanticism is a complex artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the Industrial Revolution...
poets, followers of
Ľudovít ŠtúrĽudovít Štúr , known in his era as Ludevít Velislav Štúr, was the leader of the Slovak national revival in the 19th century, the author of the Slovak language standard eventually leading to the contemporary Slovak literary language...
.
The Hungarians regarded it as the western gateway of the
Kingdom of HungaryThe Kingdom of Hungary , emerged in 1000, when the Principality of Hungary, founded in 896, was recognized as a Kingdom. The form of government was changed from Monarchy to Republic briefly in 1918 and again in 1946, ending the Kingdom and creating the Republic of Hungary...
. The Hungarian poet
Endre AdyEndre Ady was a Hungarian poet. He was one of the most important poets not only in the corpus of Hungarian literature but also in world literature.-Biography:...
used it as a symbol of modernism and Westernization in his poem
I am the Son of Gog and Magog:
Some parts of the castle have been reconstructed in the 20th century and the castle hosts an interesting museum.
External links
Sources
- Engel, Pál: Magyarország világi archontológiája (1301-1457) (The Temporal Archontology of Hungary (1301-1457)); História - MTA Történettudományi Intézete, 1996, Budapest; ISBN 963 8312 43 2.