Castle of Ronow: A Medieval Fortress in Poland
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 3.8
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Poland
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire, Kingdom of Bohemia
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page13 sections
History
Castle of Ronow is a medieval noble residence in Poland, near Trzciniec within Bogatynia, probably built in the early thirteenth century, possibly around 1250, as a Gothic stone fortress. Also known as Rohnau and Zamek Trzciniec, it stood on the right bank of the Lusatian Neisse and became the hereditary seat of the early Ronov family.
Origins and lordship
The castle was probably established by the Zittau branch of the Hronovice, or Ronov, family, a medieval noble lineage associated with castles and lordships in the Bohemian and Upper Lusatian borderlands. Its name is probably derived from their ancestor Hron. From its position near routes between Görlitz, Zittau, and Friedland, including the road through Hirschfelde, Ronow could oversee movement across this borderland.
Ronow formed part of the Ronow lordship and land bailiwick, an administrative district of the lordship of Zittau. A land bailiff was a crown official responsible for administering a territory. Below the castle stood the associated Meierhof, or estate farm, at Unterronow. The earliest written reference securely connected with the site dates to 1262, when Conrad of Ronow was recorded as a burgrave, an official linked with the administration and defense of a castle or town. Earlier references may concern Smil of Ronow in 1253 and 1261 and Častolov of Ronow in 1261.
Medieval documents sometimes called Ronow a Burgstall, meaning a castle site. That term did not necessarily indicate that the fortress had already been abandoned. In 1268, Zdislaw of Leipa and his wife Agnes of Zoyna were recorded as owners of Zittau and Ronow. Around 1270, the Leipa family transferred both lordships to the Bohemian Crown, the royal authority governing the Bohemian kingdom and its associated territories.
Bohemian and Leipa control
After the death of Přemysl Ottokar II, the lordships were pledged to Otto IV of Brandenburg. Rudolf I annulled that pledge in 1283 and returned Ronow and Zittau to the Bohemian Crown. In 1310, the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII returned them to Henry of Leipa as inherited family possessions.
Henry of Leipa later pledged Zittau and the castles of Ronow, Oybin, and Schönbuch to Henry I of Jawor in 1319 as marriage property. Jaroslais of Schlieben became captain of Ronow in 1332. When Henry of Jawor died without a male heir, the pledge reverted to the Bohemian Crown in 1346.
Ronow returned to the Leipa family in 1389, when Wenceslaus IV, king of Bohemia, granted it to his Zittau and Görlitz land bailiff, Anselm of Ronow of Sandau. This ended Ronow’s earlier shared political history with the lordship of Zittau. After Anselm lost his offices, he sold the castle to Jobst, Margrave of Moravia, who transferred it to Hinko Berka of Dubá.
Raids and destruction
Under Jobst and Hinko Berka of Dubá, Ronow became a base for attacks on merchant convoys at Rosenthaler Berg and on the possessions of Zittau and other members of the Upper Lusatian Six Cities League. This alliance of major towns acted jointly to protect trade and suppress noble raiding in Upper Lusatia.
On 11 November 1396, Wenceslaus IV ordered Hincze Pflugk of Rabenstein to storm Ronow with the support of the Six Cities League. Jobst secured cancellation of the order before the attack began. The raids continued, however, and in 1398 the Moravian governor, Margrave Prokop, ordered the castle’s demolition on Wenceslaus’s behalf.
The first assault failed. Reinforcements from the other Six Cities then joined a second siege, and Ronow was captured in January 1399 after about a week. The attacking force included around 160 mounted men, approximately the same number of infantry, five special wagons carrying firearms, and two supply wagons. The castle was demolished to its foundations and was never rebuilt.
Excavation and later interpretation
A forester’s house was erected among the ruins in 1794, when the first excavations also took place. The building was later converted into an excursion inn that operated until the Second World War. It closed after the war and burned completely around 1980.
After Poland joined the European Union in 2004, the ruin gained renewed heritage and interpretive importance through a route connecting early Slavic hillforts and medieval castles. Supported by Zgorzelec County and the European Union, the work included partial repairs, a bilingual Polish-German information panel installed in 2006, and the sealing of the previously open well shaft. The surrounding area later became overgrown, and visible vandalism has been reported.
Remains
The ruins occupy a rocky hilltop or projecting spur about 200 metres north of Trzciniec, at approximately 285 metres above sea level and near the right bank of the Lusatian Neisse. The fortress was built in stone and consisted of a main castle with an adjoining southern outer bailey, an external fortified enclosure. The courtyard measured about 125 by 55 metres and was enclosed by a ditch, rampart, and additional defensive walls.
Fortified complex
Main castle
The main castle occupied the northern and southern parts of the complex, separated by a defensive wall. Two buildings have been identified in the northern section. Foundations, fragments of the enclosing walls, and the filled-in ditch before the southern main gate survive among the ruins. The gate faced the village, while the broader enclosure used the hilltop position and surrounding earthworks as elements of its defense.
Southern outer bailey
A southern outer bailey adjoined the main castle. Its position formed part of the fortified complex below and beside the principal castle area. The surviving earthworks and wall fragments help define the relationship between the outer enclosure, the courtyard, and the main sections divided by the internal defensive wall.
Cellar and well
Vaulted cellar
Excavations in 1794 exposed a vaulted cellar about 7 metres by 6 metres and 3.5 metres high. It is thought to have been the castle dungeon, although that identification remains uncertain. The surviving cellar is a remnant of the fortress’s internal buildings and forms part of the fragmentary masonry preserved at the site.
Bedrock well
A well cut into the bedrock lies within the ruins. It reaches approximately 45 metres below the surface, with the water level about 18 metres down. The city of Zittau cleared the well and later covered it with a concrete slab. Work around the shaft brought weapons, bone remains, and sandstone cornices to light, linking the interior feature with evidence of the castle’s military, domestic, and architectural use.
Reused masonry and later structures
Stone from the demolished fortress was reused in houses in the adjacent settlement of Ronow, now called Trzciniec. The name Trzciniec was later applied to the castle ruin as well. The courtyard also contained the forester’s house and excursion inn established after the medieval castle’s destruction, while the well was associated with a separate well house during the site’s later history.
