Burg Raabs an der Thaya is a castle in municipality
Raabs an der Thaya
Raabs an der Thaya is a municipality with 3,114 inhabitants in Waidhofen an der Thaya (district) in the Waldviertel of Lower Austria, near the Austrian border with the Czech Republic. About 27.6 percent of the municipality is forested.
The German ...
,
Lower Austria
Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...
,
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
, built in the second half of the 11th century, it is above sea level.
Burg Raabs an der Thaya Altitude and Location
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History
The medieval history of this area begins with the old Moravia
Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia.
The medieval and early ...
n fortification in the ''Sand'' location, near Burg Raabs. This fortified settlement was discovered in 1992 by Kurt Bors. According to the results of dendrochronological dating, the Northern Wall was built between 926 and 929. However, the settlement was abandoned after several decades, probably destroyed by catastrophic fire by the Hungarian raid. Prior to being overthrown by the Hungarians, the Great Moravia
Great Moravia (; , ''Meghálī Moravía''; ; ; , ), or simply Moravia, was the first major state that was predominantly West Slavic to emerge in the area of Central Europe, possibly including territories which are today part of the Czech Repub ...
n Empire ruled today's Lower Austria
Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...
, up to Enns river
The Enns () is a southern tributary of the river Danube in Austria, joining northward at the city of Enns. It forms much of the border between the states of Lower Austria and Upper Austria. The Enns spans , in a flat-J-shape. It flows from its sou ...
.
The first written records related to the lord of the castle "Gotfridi in castrum Racouz" is in Bohemian Cosmas
Cosmas or Kosmas is a Greek language, Greek name (), from Ancient Greek Κοσμᾶς (Kosmâs), associated with the noun κόσμος (kósmos), meaning "Cosmos, universe", and the verb κοσμέω (to order, govern, adorn) linked to propr ...
Chronicle from 1100. From the years 1074 and 1076 are named forest areas "silva Rogacz" ("Rogacz forest" - territory around the later town Horn
Horn may refer to:
Common uses
* Horn (acoustic), a tapered sound guide
** Horn antenna
** Horn loudspeaker
** Vehicle horn
** Train horn
*Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various animals
* Horn (instrument), a family ...
), they are named in two royal gifts for the margraves of the Babenberg
The House of Babenberg was a noble dynasty of Austrian Dukes and Margraves. Descending from the Popponids and originally from Bamberg in the Duchy of Franconia (present-day Bavaria), the Babenbergs ruled the imperial Margraviate of Austria fr ...
family.
The castle has been called Rakous (formerly Rakús) by neighbouring Czechs
The Czechs (, ; singular Czech, masculine: ''Čech'' , singular feminine: ''Češka'' ), or the Czech people (), are a West Slavs, West Slavic ethnic group and a nation native to the Czech Republic in Central Europe, who share a common Bohemia ...
, which is the origin of the Czech and Slovak name for Austria as a whole, Rakousko/Rakúsko.
Instability in South Moravian space in the first half of the 11th century led to repeated conflicts. For example, in the Altahensis annales it is recorded that in 1082 the son of Margrave Adalbert took one of the towns at the present northern provincial border after it was forcibly taken from his father by the Přemyslids. After the extinction of the Raab Counts in the male line (around 1192) the western territory with the castle passed to Count Hirschberg-Tollenstein.
In 1252, Bohemian King Přemysl Otakar II
Ottokar II (; , in Městec Králové, Bohemia – 26 August 1278, in Dürnkrut, Lower Austria), the Iron and Golden King, was a member of the Přemyslid dynasty who reigned as King of Bohemia from 1253 until his death in 1278. He also held the ...
acquired the whole county. Owner of the castle became Vok I. of Rožmberk Vok or Vök may refer to:
* Vök, an Icelandic indie electro band.
*Vok, a race of fictional aliens from the Transformers universe, see List of Beast Wars and Beast Machines characters#Non-aligned characters
* Vok Beverages, Australian drinks manu ...
from Bohemian noble clan Vítkovci
The Vítkovci () were a Czech noble clan from southern Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czech ...
. In 1282, the Castle passed to Habsburgs
The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...
, because after 1278 a large part of the county was confiscated by King Rudolf.
See also
*List of castles in Austria
This page is a list of castles and castle ruins in Austria, arranged by States of Austria, state. A ''Burgruine'' is a ruined castle, a “castle ruin”.
Burgenland
* Bernstein Castle, Burg Bernstein
* Forchtenstein Castle, Burg Forchtenstein ...
References
Castles in Lower Austria
{{Austria-castle-stub