Today I've added more historical details and a missing gallery of pictures to my article on Esztergom castle, Hungary.
The ancient Hungarian castle of Esztergom, the old headquarter of Hungarian kings, is located in the Bend of the Danube in Hungary.
Esztergom used to be the capital of Hungary from the 10th till the mid-13th century when King Béla IV of Hungary moved the royal seat to Buda. It was among the very few castles that could resist successfully against the Mongols in 1241.
Traditionally, Esztergom is the seat of the “prímás” (see Primate) of the Roman Catholic Church in Hungary. The city has the Keresztény Múzeum (Christian Museum), the largest ecclesiastical collection in the country. Its cathedral, Esztergom Basilica is the largest church in Hungary.
Géza, the father of King Saint István, lived in Esztergom at the end of the 10th century. He built a hexagonal tower on the site of the current palace building.
Vajk, aka Saint István, was born here around 975 A.D. and was baptized by Saint Adalbert of Prague in the freshly built Christian church. Like his father, István ruled Hungary from Esztergom, and there he was ceremonially crowned in 1000 A.D.
Many important events took place in Esztergom over the years. It was the location where the Peace treaty was signed with the German (later Emperor) Henry III in 1031. Esztergom saw the receiving, by King Géza II, of Emperor Conrad III of Germany and King Louis VII, of France.
The castle and the cathedral were partly ruined by a fire in 1188, however, repairs were made within a year. In 1189, King Béla III received Emperor Frederick Barbarossa as a guest at the castle.
Then, the king had the tower enlarged. King Imre carried out more construction as well. Soon, stone walls surrounded the buildings on the plateau, but according to the document of King Imre in 1198, they were not finished just yet. At this time, the castellan’s name was Gurcu.
The first siege took place in 1241 when the Mongolian Tatars crossed the frozen Danube. The town was protected only by a wall, a moat, and a few towers that could not stop the invaders. However, the castle itself was defended by the Spanish Lord Simeon and his archers who were able to repel the attack.
Later, King Béla IV had the town rebuilt and gifted the southern slope of Castle Hill and the palace to the Archbishop of Esztergom. The Royal Seat was removed to the not distant, 29km/18 miles, Visegrád, and later to Buda a further 43km/27 miles away.
At the end of the Árpád-Age, Duke Németújvári Iván took Esztergom in 1301. The Bohemian King Václav took it from him in 1304. His troops caused lots of damage to the walls and the gates, not to mention that they pillaged the kingdom’s Treasury and the National Archives along with the palace.
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During the Dual Kingship, Esztergom was besieged six times. Finally, in 1530, King Habsburg Ferdinand I occupied the castle. He installed foreign mercenaries in it.
In 1543, Sultan Suleiman I attacked the castle and took it. During this siege, the tower built by King Béla III was heavily damaged, but the palace remained more or less intact.
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The Hungarians have attempted to take it back by siege many times. The greatest Hungarian warrior-poet of the period, Balassi Bálint, lost his life during the attack against the castle built on the top of formidable cliffs, in 1594.
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The most devastating siege of Esztergom took place in 1595 when the castle was reclaimed by the troops of Count Karl von Mansfeld and Count Cseszneky Mátyás. The combined troops of General Pálffy Miklós and Alfred Schwarzenberg, along with the army of Vincenzo Gonzaga, Prince of Mantova, laid a long siege against Esztergom.
There was the Italian Claudio Monteverdi next to the Prince, entertaining his lord: he was playing his music piece called „Vespro” in the camp.
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Though the Ottomans were mainly engaged in building and fortifying the castle, they also built significant new buildings including mosques, minarets, and baths. These structures, along with the contemporary buildings, were destroyed in the siege of 1683.
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You can read the very interesting history of Esztergom on my page, and can find tons of pictures as well:
https://www.hungarianottomanwars.com/ottoman-occupied-lands/esztergom/
