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History Of Hunedoara Castle
Hunedoara Castle is an old 14th century Gothic castle located in Hunedoara County of Romania. |
The castle was built on ancient Roman fortification, and is strategically located on a rocky mountain just where the Zlasti River exits from a small hill that is part of the Poiana Rusca Mountain range.
The entrance to the castle is over a suspended bridge that crosses the Zlasti River. From 1452 onwards, the castle was restored quite a bit by Iancu de Hunedoara, the Prince of Transylvania.
The history of Hunedoara Castle is indeed very fascinating. It was built in 1320 by the Anjou family. Then in 1409, the castle was given to a Voicu nobleman and his family, the Corvins. Iancu's son, Matei Corvin, would go on to become the King of Trasylvania and Hungary in 1458. However, it was Iancu Corvin who was responsible to extending the precincts of the castle in 14th century in two stages.
Matei Corvin also added to the castle after his father, but made the castle into a nobleman's residence with the addition of Matei Wing.
Iancu de Hunedoara fought against the invading Ottoman Empire and Vlad Dracula as his ally. Vlad went on to become the King of Wallachia in 1456 with the help of Iancu Honedoara. However, the Turks still kept on attacking Walachia, and Vlad was forced to flee to the Transylvanian Alps. From there he asked King Matei Corvin for help to fight the invading Turks. Instead the King imprisoned him in Hunedoara Castle in 1462.
It took 7 years for the court to believe that Vlad was indeed an honest ally. After which he was married off to Matei's cousin sister, and Transylvanian army was given to him. With help of Matei's army, Vlad reconquered Walachia from the Turk collaborators.
The legend of Vlad Dracula lives on in Hunedoara as during his imprisonment there, he was known to behead mice and impale them. In addition, he loved and protected the bats that lived in the castle. He would even talk to them. The guards were always horrified when he asked for fresh blood during dinner time.
The Corvins owned Hunedoara Castle until 1508 after which it saw 22 other owners. However, by the 18th century Hunedoara Castle became part of Habsburg Empire (Austro-Hungarian Empire).
In 1974, the Romanian authorities converted the castle into a museum.
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