A History of Central Eastern Europe

as an ally of the ABA. KÁROLY fled to loyal SPIŠ hrad
where MATÚŠ was unsuccessful in his attempts to
dislodge KÁROLY from the castle early in 1312.
Many of SPIŠ’ inhabitants rose to defend their king.
While repulsing MATÚŠ attack, the castle was
damaged to the point of requiring massive
reconstruction. The enlarged castle took on a Gothic
look at that time.
JÁN JISKRA Z BRANDÝSA (from Brandeis,
northwest of Prague) gained castrum Kirchenberg in
1443 while fighting for UTÓSZÜLÖTT LÁSZLÓ
(LADISLAUS POSTHUMOUS, 1440 – 1457) against various factions of nobles. He built the smaller
fortress below the “upper” castle and the large courtyard giving it the appearance it now has.
Two important events occurred in 1464: first, the king granted the castle to the nobles
IMRE and ISTVÁN ZÁPOLYA and, second, in that record of that grant the castle is designated with
the name castrum SCEPESWARA, its current name, for the 1 st time. IMRE ZÁPOLYA had been
created GRAF VON SZEPES in 1462. His younger brother ISTVÁN then held that post from 1487
until 1499. It is interesting that of the more than 70 castles the ZÁPOLYA family owned, SPIŠSKÝ
HRAD was their chosen seat. They added a chapel, strengthened the fortifications by adding
height tot the tower as well as thickening its
walls and they brought the “Roman palace” in
line with the rest of the architecture by
rebuilding it in the Gothic style.
JÁN ZÁPOLYA, elected KING OF
HUNGARY in 1526, was born at the castle in
1487. The last Hungarian king to own the
castle; he was defeated in a 1528 battle by his
rival for the throne FERDINAND, ARCHDUKE O
AUSTRIA, who took possession of it.
In 1531 FERDINAND granted the castle
F
to ALEXIUS THURZÓ, the first of this family to
be ennobled as the SZEPESI ZUPAN. By the end of the 16th c they had started rebuilding the castle
in the Renaissance style. The (male) THURZÓ line died out in 1636.
After the extinction of the THURZÓ line, the castle was granted to ISTVÁN CSÁKY who
became the SZEPESI FÕISPÁNJA in 1639. (See page 38) By this point in history it was no longer
necessary for the nobility to live in fortified castles and many, including the CSÁKY, opted to live
in their manor-houses instead. By the of the 17 th c the CSÁKY were living in their manor-houses
at in Hodkovce, Bijacovce, Kluknava and
elsewhere which were built, in part, with
stone taken from their castles. The photo
at left shows SPIŠSKÝ HRAD before
reconstruction started and many stones
can be seen lying on the hillside. Just a
small military unit stayed at the castle.
They left in 1780 after it burned down.
While the title SZEPESI ZUPAN was
abolished in 1848 and the Empire
dismantled in 1920, the castle remained in
the CSÁKY family until 1945.
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