Slanec Castle

The history of the castle itself begins sometime after 1270, because the document from this year does not mention the castle in the description of the Slaný estate. The construction of the castle can therefore most likely be dated to the seventies of the 13th century. The initiators of the construction were probably members of the Slaba branch of the Aba family (the castle hill and its surroundings at that time were owned by Peter, the son of Čamov). The first written mention of the castle "sub castro Zalanch" ("under the castle Zalanch") comes from a document dated August 9, 1281 from the Hungarian King Ladislav IV, who at that time conquered the castle from the treacherous palatine Fint (son of David of the Aba family). The king succeeded in his plan and the palatine Finta was defeated, but the castle remained the property of the abalone branch of the Abovce family for about 50 years.

In 1330, the castle was acquired by Magister Villiam Drugeth, to whom the original owners exchanged the castle estate for four villages in Šarišská stolice. It is highly probable that they did not do so voluntarily, as after the battle of Rozhanovce in June 1312, the Abovci gradually lost their influence and property. Before leaving for the royal campaign in Poland, Viliam Drugeth left a will dated August 9, 1330 (although he did not die until 1342), in which he left Slanec Castle and other castles to his brother Mikuláš. The castle then remained the property of the Drugeth family for only a few years, before it became the property of the royal crown.

In 1385, after the death of King Louis I the Great, his relative invaded Hungary as part of the battles for the throne - King Charles of Drač of Naples, called Malý. With the generous support of the nobility from the southern capitals of Hungary, he was crowned King of Hungary on 31 December 1385. At the beginning of 1386, Karol Malý donated Slanec Castle and its surroundings to the aristocratic Lossonczy family ("lords of Lučenec"). After the successful assassination of Charlemagne in February 1386, Queen Mary (daughter of Louis I the Great and later wife of Sigismund of Luxembourg) took over the country. In 1387, Mary issued a deed of donation for the former Slavonian ban Ladislav Lossoncza, which confirmed the hereditary ownership of the castle estate (King Sigismund confirmed this with a new deed of donation for Ladislav's sons Sigismund and Dionysus in 1405). In the 15th and 16th centuries, the castle thus remained in the hereditary possession of the Lossonczy family. After the turbulent events of the second half of the 15th century connected with the activities of the fraternal groups in eastern Slovakia, the castle was severely damaged and in 1490 Ladislav Lossonczy had to invest considerably in its repair. In 1552, the main captain of the Lower Mountain troops and at the same time the last male member of the family - Štefan Lossonczy - died in the battles against the Turks. The owner of the castle became his daughter Anna at the request of her father that King Ferdinand I be granted hereditary rights.

Anna of the Lossonczy family then married Count Sigismund Forgách in 1590, after the death of her second husband, Baron Krištof Ungnad (he was a Hungarian palatine in 1618-1621). After Anna's death in 1595, her husband Sigismund ruled the estate and tried to get Slanec into hereditary possession for his family. This effort ended successfully when in 1601 Emperor Rudolf II. he donated the castle and surrounding property with a deed of donation.

During the 17th century, the castle often changed owners. After the outbreak of the first anti-Habsburg uprising under the leadership of Štefan Bocskai, the castle was seized by its bastards in 1605, and in later uprisings the castle fell into the hands of the rebels Gabriel Bethlen (1621), resp. insurgents Juraj I. Rákoczi (d. 1644). After Imrich Tököly's armed performance, his Kuruk divisions seized Slanca relatively quickly as early as 1678, but the castle remained in their power for only one year. As the imperial troops approached the castle, the Kurucs set fire to the castle and fled. Shortly afterwards, General Leslie was ordered by Emperor Leopold to completely destroy the castle, which he did. In the first half of the eighties of the 17th century, there was also a large decrease in population in the surrounding villages, as evidenced by the census of Slanice from 1686.

Slaný Castle fell into disrepair for more than 130 years after the demolition. Life returned to the castle hill in 1815, when the owner of the manor, Jozef Forgách, had the central castle tower (donjon) reconstructed and established a family museum there. In this museum there was period furniture, paintings of family coats of arms and objects of daily use. After the death of Štefan Forgách (1916), the last member of the family based in the village of Slanec, the museum still existed until 1937. During the Second World War, the castle tower gradually fell into disrepair until it completely burned down in 1945. The wooden roof was restored after the fire and protected the interior of the tower from the weather for many decades, but at the beginning of the 21st century it gradually disintegrated completely due to weather conditions. Since then, the entire ruin has been exposed to the elements, and destruction has gradually taken place, especially in the weakened, unprotected places of the castle.

At present, however, the positive news for this national cultural monument is the establishment of the civic association Let's Save Slanec Castle, which has taken on the task of clearing the castle hill, exploring the entire site, saving the castle from destruction and enlightening the public so as not to forget our rich history.