The Castle of Csesznek lies in the

Bakony Bakony () is a mountainous region in Transdanubia, Hungary. It forms the largest part of the Transdanubian Mountains. It is located north of Lake Balaton and lies almost entirely in Veszprém county. The Bakony is divided into the Northern and ...

between

Győr Győr ( , ; ; names of European cities in different languages: E-H#G, names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia, Western Transdanubia region, and – halfwa ...

and

Zirc Zirc () is a town in Veszprém county, Hungary. It is the administrative seat of Zirc District. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, Jews lived in Zirc. In 1910, 92 Jews lived in Zirc, Some of them were murdered i ...

in the village of

Csesznek Csesznek (; , , ) is a village in Zirc District, Veszprém county, Hungary. The village is known for its medieval castle. Etymology The name comes from Slavic ''čestnik'' – a privileged person, an office bearer, nowadays also an elder fa ...

. The castle was constructed after the

Mongol invasion of Europe From the 1220s to the 1240s, the Mongol Empire, Mongols conquered the Turkic peoples, Turkic states of Volga Bulgaria, Cumania and Iranian peoples, Iranian state of Alania, and various principalities in Eastern Europe. Following this, they began ...

around 1263 in a period where many castles were built. The first castle was built by

Jakab Cseszneky Jakab Cseszneky de Csesznek et Visk was a Hungarian aristocrat and first Lord of Csesznek in the 13th century. Jakab was the son of ''Mihály'', member of the clan Bána, and equerry of Andrew II of Hungary. He became the swordbearer of the Ki ...

of the Bána clan. The first written mention of the castle is in a document from 1281 that gives Jakab Cseszneky's sons joint ownership of the castle. In 1315 the Csák clan conquered the castle. In 1392

Sigismund Sigismund (variants: Sigmund, Siegmund) is a German proper name, meaning "protection through victory", from Old High German ''sigu'' "victory" + ''munt'' "hand, protection". Tacitus latinises it ''Segimundus''. There appears to be an older form of ...

gave the castle and 31 surrounding villages to the

Garai family The House of Garay or Garai () was a Hungarian-Croatian noble family, a branch of the Dorozsma (Durusma) clan, with notable members in the 14th and 15th centuries. They were lords of Csesznek. Origin The family was descended from the Dorozsma ...

. The castle was owned by the Garai family until 1482. Then

Matthias Corvinus Matthias Corvinus (; ; ; ; ; ) was King of Hungary and King of Croatia, Croatia from 1458 to 1490, as Matthias I. He is often given the epithet "the Just". After conducting several military campaigns, he was elected King of Bohemia in 1469 and ...

donated the castle to

Stephen Zápolya Stephen Zápolya (; died on 23 December 1499), was Palatine of the Kingdom of Hungary between 1492 and 1499. He married Polish princess Hedwig of Cieszyn on 11 August 1483 (his second marriage), by whom he had four children: * János Zápolya ...

References

Official website

2014 Summer in Csesznek
– Cultural events
Civertan Areal photos from the castle

Civertan photo collection

Csesznek
– Model of the castle
Areal photos from year 2017-2018
{{Castles in Hungary Castles in Hungary