A History of Central Eastern Europe

SPIŠSKÝ hrad
SPIŠSKÝ HRAD (SPIŠ CASTLE) is one of very few outstanding Gothic castles in all of
Europe; the castle dominates the region and served the feudal lords and knights that ruled the
larger region of SPIŠ COMITATE. It has a long written history: in 1249 KING BELA IV has the local
lord build the castrum SCYPUS consisting of a “Roman palace” and castle tower on the site; and
an even longer actual history – it was to be built on the site of an 11 th c fortified round-tower that
did not survive the Tartar onslaught of 1241. Portions of these early structures are still to be
found in the “upper castle.” The dowager KUN ERZSÉBET MAGYAR KIRÁLYNÉ (ELISABETH
KUMÁN, QUEEN OF HUNGARY, c1230 – c1292) mother of LÁSZLÓ IV (1262 – 1290) owned the
castle ~1272 and she took refuge there while acting as regent for the child-king. By the end of
LÁSZLÓ’s reign the anarchy in the kingdom became complete. LÁSZLÓ was the last male of the
main ÁRPÁD line. His successor, ANDRÁS III, was the last ÁRPÁD male of any Hungarian line.
The transition of KÁROLY RÓBERT I from being a crowned king to being a real king had
triple-troubles. He is the only 1 of the 3 to be crowned KING OF HUNGARY after the 1301 death of
ANDRÁS III ÁRPÁD that is formally accepted as being
KING. WENCESLAUS III PREMYSLID was crowned
LÁSZLÓ V in 1301 and OTTO III WITTELSBACH was
crowned BÉLA V in 1305; 5 years later KÁROLY had
gathered the support needed to be crowned. In that
decade he was thwarted by 3 great land-holding
nobles: MATÚŠ ČÁK III TRENČIANSKY, the most
powerful noble at that time who ruled 14 counties in
the north & west virtually as his own province; AMADE
ABA who controlled 11 counties in the north & east in
a similar manner; and LÁSZLÓ KÁN, VOIVODE
(GOVERNOR) OF TRANSYLVANIA. All 3 ruled
independently of the KING and MATÚŠ & AMADE went
so far as to organize their own courts, similar to the
king's court, they usurped royal prerogatives within
their domains, they made alliances independently of
the king, appeals against their decisions to the king
were refused and they stopped those possessing royal
land grants falling within their ‘provinces’ from taking
possession. KÁROLY besieged SÁROS HRAD, an ABA
stronghold, but had to flee when MATÚŠ army arrived
40