Trosky Castle

History

The castle was established by Čeněk of Wartenberg in the second half of the 14th century. Two towers were built, one on each rock, with residential buildings and outhouses between them, and three rings of fortified walls protected the complex. Archaeological research indicates the castle was founded significantly earlier than its first written mention in 1396, by which time Čeněk was already deceased and referred to with the epithet 'of Trosky.' At his death, Čeněk no longer owned the castle; financial troubles in the early 1390s forced him to transfer it to King Wenceslaus IV, from whom Otto III of Bergau acquired it. Otto IV of Bergau, though posing as a zealous Catholic, raided the monastery in Opatovice and stole its treasure, which he is said to have hidden in an underground cellar blocked by a huge boulder. The boulder could not be moved and was eventually covered by scree, permanently cutting off access. During the Hussite Wars, Trosky was a pro-Catholic stronghold alongside castles like Kost, Kumburk, Frýdštejn, Bezděz, and Ralsko, providing connections between Bohemia and the Lusatian League, and was never completely conquered by the Hussites. In 1428, shortly after the castle burned down, it was besieged by Jan Královec, captain of the Taborites Army. From 1438, the robber knight Kryštof Šov of Helfenburg and his companion Švejkar settled there to tyrannize the countryside, until the people of Görlitz and Zittau of the Lusatian League captured them in 1444. The castle returned to Otto, who died soon after, passing the property to his son, Jan of Bergov.