Drahotuš Gord: A Medieval Castle Ruin in Czechia
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.6
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Czechia
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire, Kingdom of Bohemia
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page5 sections
History
Drahotuš Gord is the ruin of a medieval castle in Czechia, above the village of Podhoří. Founded in the 1260s by Bohuš of Drahotuš, it was a Gothic stronghold built to guard merchant routes through the Moravian Gate, a natural corridor across the northern Czech lands. Bohuš was the burgrave of Přerov, a senior official responsible for administering and defending a castle or fortified district, and also a marshal of Moravia. King Přemysl Otakar II granted him the land for the castle.
Foundation and the Lords of Drahotuš
Bohuš of Drahotuš was first recorded under the castle’s name in 1269. His family, the Lords of Drahotuš, retained the castle until 1371, when they sold it to Jan Jindřich, the Moravian margrave. A margrave was the ruler or governor of Moravia within the wider Bohemian crown lands.
Changes of ownership in the fifteenth century
In 1408, Margrave Jošt pledged Drahotuš to Ctibor of Cimburk. King Václav IV granted the castle to Lacko of Kravaře in 1416. At the end of the Hussite Wars, the religious and political conflicts that affected Bohemia and Moravia in the early fifteenth century, Boček Puklice of Pozořice took possession of Drahotuš. In 1446, Hynek of Valdštejn and Židlochovice, its legal holder, formally assigned the castle to him.
Vok of Sovinec held Drahotuš in the middle of the fifteenth century. The property later returned to the Lords of Cimburk, represented by Ctibor Tovačovský of Cimburk. In 1476, Ctibor sold the castle to Vilém of Pernštejn. After that sale, Drahotuš lost its residential function and ceased to operate as an active castle. The ruins have been protected as a cultural monument of the Czech Republic since 1963.
Remains
Castle site and surrounding features
Drahotuš survives as a thirteenth-century Gothic stone ruin on a spur of the Juřacka massif, at a place called Hradisko in the Oderské Hills above Podhoří. The site lies within the Slavkov part of the municipality of Kozlov, while Podhoří is a local part of Lipník nad Bečvou. A stone bridge stands near the castle above Podhoří. Former mines lie to the north, forming part of the surrounding historical landscape.
