Köpcsény (German: Kittsee, Slovak: Kopčany, Croatian: Gijeca) is a village in the Nezsider district of Burgenland, Austria, although part of its territory was annexed to Czechoslovakia (later Bratislava) after World War II. Before 1918, it was part of Hungary. In this article, we are talking about two sites: the castle of Köpcsény and the fortified manor next to it. Location: https://tinyurl.com/25tspztd
Köpcsény Castle
It is situated 32 km northeast of Nezsider, near the Slovak border, opposite to Pozsony (Presporok, Pressburg, Bratislava).
The settlement of Köpcsény was originally a border guard settlement of the Pecheneg tribes, who served the Hungarian king. It was called Koeche. The wider branch of the Danube once flowed near the settlement, as the terrain and documents (e.g., King Zsigmond, 1430) attest. The builder and date of construction of Köpcsény Castle are unknown, but a 17th-century engraving shows a Norman-style keep or tower.
Historians usually consider it as part of the post-Tatar castle programme of King Béla IV, but Dénes József suggests that the then obsolete tower type may have been built during the reign of King Béla III, who married Margaret of Capet in 1186. Margaret’s first husband was the heir to the English throne, Prince Henry. It may have been for her sake that Béla III built a replica of the Tower of London on the border just before 1186. In any case, the importance of the site is shown by the fact that later royal weddings and negotiations were held at Köpcsény.
In 1198, the crusading army of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa was camped at Köpcsény, waiting for permission to pass through Hungary. In 1264, in the Feierfeld field near Köpcsény, the son of King Béla IV, the young Prince Béla, married Kunigunda of Brandenburg, the niece of King Ottokar Przemysl II.
According to Austrian authors, the castle was captured and destroyed by Ottokar in 1271. However, there is no documentary record of this event. In 1291, in Köpcsény, King András III and Prince Albert of Austria met before the Treaty of Hainburg was concluded.
In 1344, Jakab, the judge of Pozsony, was the royal castellan of the castle of Köpcsény. This is the first authentic source about the castle. The castle was a royal castle until 1363, when it was pledged by King Lajos I, together with its revenues, to the Wolfarts, Rudolf and Eglolf (Castrum Kuchhe), who also owned the castle of Vöröskő. After 1390, King Zsigmond pledged it to Frederick of Scharfenecki and Herman. In 1416, Köpcsény was again a royal castle. Then, the king pledged it to the Wolfarts. In 1418, it was owned by Ulrik Wolfart’s widow, and in 1422 by the former Comes of Pozsony, Kapler Péter.
On February 5, 1426, King Zsigmond ordered that the widow of the deceased Kapler Péter, the warden of Pozsony, Waltpurga, her sons János and Péter, and her daughters Margareta, Borbála, and Orsolya be given the whole of the Pammern estate and the oppidum of Köpcsény of the county of Moson. In addition to the 2,000 gold guldens for which they mortgaged the castle and the manor of Köpcsény in the Moson district, the whole of the Pammern manor and half of the Redendorff manor, they gave her, at her request, another 4,500 gold guldens and committed themselves to spending 2,000 gold guldens on the restoration of the said castle.
Therefore, of his own free will, and with the consent of his wife Queen Borbála and the advice of the chief priests and lords, he pledged the said estates with all their belongings and income to Waltpurga, her sons and daughters and their heirs, undertaking that neither he nor his descendants could redeem them during her lifetime, but that after her death he and his descendants would have the right to do so by paying the total pledge of 8500 forints. He also stipulated that of the 2,000 forints pledged for the renovation of the castle, at least 300 forints per year should be paid either by him or by his appointed official. According to the contract, Waltpurga fortified the castle and surrounded it with an outer wall.
Köpcsény was a key crossing point on the Austrian-Hungarian border. In 1430, King Zsigmond ordered the use of the Hainburg-Köpcsény-Oroszvár trade route to be compulsory. In the “Golden Bull” of Pozsony, Pozsony decided in favour of the town of Köpcsény in the dispute over the ferry between Köpcsény and Pozsony:
“We hereby decree and order that the citizens and inhabitants of the said town of Pozsony, and all the strangers residing therein, who may take the said road from here to Oroszvár or Hainburg on the Danube between the town and Köpcsény, with all their goods, provisions and other equipment, in whatever quantity they may be, with all their goods, provisions and other equipment, whatever they may be, in any quantity, now and at any time without payment of duty, whatever provision has been made by Köpcsény or may be ordered in the future, shall be allowed to pass freely and in full security of their rights when crossing, returning or continuing their journey. “
Cillei Ulrik invited Hunyadi János to Köpcsény on behalf of King László V, where he intended to have him arrested or killed (“He decided – trying his luck for the second time – to travel to the market town of Coche [Köpcsény] on the border of Hungary with his entourage and to summon the governor for a trial; he decided that if he came, he would either be taken to Vienna or killed in the market town.”). Hunyadi was able to perceive through the screen and arrived at the meeting with 2,000 armed men, according to Bonfini. He would have preferred to meet the king only in the field, but Cillei insisted on a meeting in the city, so it was cancelled.
In 1463 Kapler Miklós sued for the Köpcsény estate. In 1469, it was mentioned in documents as Kewpche. In 1469, it belonged to the counts of Szentgyörgyi and Bazin. On 30 January 1493, Szentgyörgyi Péter sued his brothers Kristóf and György before the Pannonhalma Convent for the estates of Óvár, Köpcsény (“Kewpche in Mosoniensi”), Dévény, Vereskő, Detrekő, Bazin, Szentgyörgyi, Eberhard, and Borostyán.
In July 1515, King Ulászló II received the envoys of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian in Köpcsény. From there, he went to the Trautmansdorf field for the triple meeting of the King and the Emperor. In 1527, the Habsburgs received King Ferdinand I here. Köpcsény was then a ruined, ‘half-ruined tower. ‘
In 1529, the castle was taken and burnt by the Turkish troops besieging Vienna. In 1543, the Szentgyörgyi family became extinct, and Köpcsény was acquired by Wolfgang Pucheim by the hand of Szentgyörgyi Margaret. The ruined castle was rebuilt in 1555. This is indicated by a stone with a coat of arms and the date (* Könyöki gave this date as 1555, later descriptions gave it as 1552). It may have taken its present form at this time, but it was still four storeys high.
In 1576, King Maximilian gave it to Liszty János, then the Bishop of Győr, who was also the royal chancellor-general. After he died in 1578, his estates were inherited by his sons. In 1619, the armies of Bethlen Gábor camped here for an extended period. The castle was deserted in 1623 (probably because of the Bethlen Wars). In the 1660s, Liszthy Kristóf restored the castle and lived there with his family, but the other branch of the family was not allowed to enter. So Liszty János started building the manor house, which was completed by 1668.
Liszty László was executed in Vienna on 16 February 1662 for minting counterfeit money. In 1676, Liszty János sold the Köpcsény estate to Esterházy Pál with the permission of Emperor Leopold I. Matthias Greischer’s engraving of 1680 shows the tower, which resembles the Tower of London, still intact. On 8 May 1683, Emperor Leopold I visited Charles of Lotharingia and his troops camped at Köpcsény. The Turkish troops marching on Vienna burnt both the manor and the castle. Esterházy Pál had it partially repaired, but it no longer functioned as a castle.
In 1712, an unknown traveller made a sketch of Köpcsény, in which the castle building looks ruined. The 1720 census mentioned Köpcsény as a market town. In the 1730s, Bél Mátyás described the castle as ruined: ‘The other building, however, opposite to Pozsony and in the town, is still in a ruined state and has not been rebuilt since the Turkish invasion.’
The castle was repaired again sometime in the 1730s-40s. The monogram on the bricks found in the rubble indicates Prince Eszterházy Pál as the builder. It was then demolished to a two-storey building. Around 1737, 7 Jewish families lived in the castle. The prison was probably still in use, located on the ground floor, in the corner to the right of the castle entrance.
A drawing from 1780 shows the rebuilt castle. It also shows what researchers believe to be the later granary (gallery). This building is also shown on a map from 1810 but is not on Könyöki’s 1884 survey. The date of construction of the granary would require further research. The castle was already used only as a storehouse.
The Esterházys sold Köpcsény to the Batthyány counts around 1870. They also used the former castle as a granary and for housing servants. The walls, neglected for decades, needed repair, but the vaulted cellars were in perfect condition.
In 1884, Könyöki briefly described what he saw: ‘…This small castle was surrounded by a rampart and a wide ditch, which drew water from the branches of the Danube. The building is one storey high and has very strong walls. In the courtyard, you can see the well and the staircase. There are also spiral staircases leading to the upper floor. Above the door of this staircase, you can see the COA of the Szentgyörgyi counts with the date 1555. I can tell you nothing else of significance about this building.”
After 1914, the market town of Köpcsény used the building as a granary and converted the wing facing the town into tenements. The high buttresses and vaulted ceilings of the halls, decorated with stucco ornaments and frescoes, were lost during the reconstruction. In 1933, the old castle’s canal and moat were drained. In April 1945, the castle was bombed, destroying the granary and parts of the main building.
Today, the castle is privately owned and is being renovated in parts. After a long period of disuse, the building has been reoccupied. The area has been cleaned up, and most of the trees have been removed (aerial photographs from 2007 show it still in a state of disrepair and neglect). The interior of the castle is not open to visitors (2022).
The fortified manor of Köpcsény
Köpcsény was donated to Liszty János (Liszthy, Listhi, Listius), bishop of Győr, in 1576, and parts of it were bought by him. After he died in 1578, his estates were inherited by his sons, from whom the two branches of the family descended. In the first third of the 17th century, both branches had a manor house in the market town. The castle was already uninhabited in 1623 (probably because of the Bethlen Wars).
In the 1660s, Liszthy Kristóf restored the castle and lived in it with his family, but the other branch was not allowed in. So Liszty János started to build his Renaissance manor house on the site of the older manor house (Marienhof). Its construction was completed in 1668 and is commemorated by a multi-line Latin inscription carved into the cornice of the drawbridge’s outer gate, which was later demolished and erected in the park of the present manor house.
In 1676, Count Liszty János, with the permission of Emperor Leopold I, sold the estate and the “new castle” to Esterházy Pál. The manor house was painted around 1680 by Matthias Greischer. This is a U-shaped, two-storey Baroque palace surrounded by a defensive wall with Italian bastions at the corners. In front of the walls was a moat with a drawbridge over it. It was probably the earliest Baroque castle in Hungary to have a French-style layout with a cour d’honneur plan and massing.
On May 8, 1683, Emperor Leopold I visited Charles of Lotharingia and his troops camped at Köpcsény. The Turkish troops marching on Vienna burnt down the castle and the fortress. Nypoort’s engraving from 1686 shows this state of affairs. The missing roof is visible. In 1698, the castle was visited by the Russian Tsar Peter I, who was travelling incognito.
In 1722, the guardian of the minor Prince Esterházy Pál, Chancellor Erdődy György, ordered the restoration of all the Esterházy castles and palaces. In 1726, the repair of the castle garden and the castle roof began. A blueprint by Martinelli, who was in charge of the Esterházy’s construction, has been preserved. The Baroque reconstruction of the castle between 1730 and 1737, which is still characteristic of the modern period, was based on this plan. At the same time, a new Baroque park was planted around it. The necessary 1500 forints for this were provided by the Esterházy dynasty as early as 1730.
In 1730s, Bél Mátyás wrote about the castle in his work describing Moson County: ‘The castle to the west is only poorly fortified; its residential building was completed only recently, but with such comfort and taste that even the most gracious Queen Maria Theresa did not consider it a bother to visit it when she travelled to Pozsony.’
The palace, which was finally completed in 1746, probably did not meet the expectations of Prince Estrházy II Antal Pál. In 1752, he ordered the extension of the palace wings based on Mödlhammer’s plans. As a first step, work was begun on the prince’s room on the upper floor, the room below, the staircase, the pastry chamber, the palace kitchen, and some rooms under the roof of the pavilion in the west wing.
The masonry work was mostly completed by mid-July 1754. In 1754, the palace was described as a “well-built and furnished residence” and was opened with splendid lighting and fireworks to Prince Antal II Pál and Princess Esterházy Anna Lujza. The completed palace served the Esterházy family primarily as a guest house and representative residence. Emperor Francis I also visited the palace.
Between 1755 and 1763, the interior of the castle underwent minor alterations. Toilets were built at the end of the west wing, and the ground floor of the east wing was divided into several rooms. A new kitchen and pastry room were built, and the roof was covered with tiles. In 1760, a clock was placed on the façade above the entrance to the castle (only its location is visible today). In 1762-63, the upstairs banqueting hall, the entrance façade, and the moat building were restored.
They upgraded the stables, built a carriage track, and repaired the outer wall of the bastions. In 1795, the ramparts, the wide moat, and the four corner bastions were still standing. The annual maintenance costs of the castle consumed considerable sums of money. The buildings belonging to the manor were mostly empty.
On the occasion of the Diet of 1802, Prince Esterházy II Miklós had the palace’s banquet hall, several rooms, the pavilion of the chief guard, the horse stables, and the carriage arches renovated. The moat bridge was rebuilt. The description of the castle at the time is known: on the ground floor, there were seventeen rooms, two kitchens with small pantries (including two wine cellars), a laundry room, a silver room, and three small wood storage rooms. On the first floor, there were sixteen rooms and six cabinets, five of which were divided and accessible from adjoining rooms, as well as a large hall, a private chapel, and a dining room. In the attic were nineteen attic rooms.
The two buildings next to the moat had two sections: a large manor kitchen and two large and one small room with a kitchen for the servants. The residential building was used as a tobacco refinery. At the main entrance near the gate was a cottage with one room and a very small kitchen. Next to the mansion were two pavilions. The first had five rooms, a kitchen, and a cellar. The second had a room with a Tinder room, a cow shed for two animals, two stables for twelve horses each, a partition for six horses, and two carriage stables.
On 17 May 1809, Napoleon’s troops invaded Köpcsény and fortified the castle by filling the bastions with earth and placing four batteries on each of them. The moat was also partially filled in around the bridge. When they left, they destroyed the interior of the castle, the buildings of the moat, three stables, and the coach house.
In 1810, the prince ordered repairs to the palace and its outbuildings. On 25 March 1830, a fire destroyed the town of Köpcsény, which also affected the area of the manor. The stables, the coachhouse, and the guardhouse were destroyed. In 1831, the guardhouse was repaired, and the four main walls were raised. Fényes Elek mentioned the manor house in 1851 at Köpcsény: “… a manor castle surrounded by fortifications…” In the 1860s, the manor had already faded, and only a few rooms were furnished.
The Batthyánys acquired it from the Esterházys around 1868. Between 1872 and 1876, the manor was gradually improved. In 1876, the family moved to the manor house in Köpcsény to escape the Danube floods. The moat provided access to the manor via a brick bridge. In the dry moat, on both sides of the bridge, were ground-floor houses of solid masonry with shingle roofs. In 1895, the manor was modernised with electric lighting, plumbing, and flush toilets.
Between 1890 and 1909, Prince Batthyány-Strattmann László rebuilt the castle in the historicist style: the demolished Atlas statues of the Primate’s Palace of Pozsony with the balcony were placed in front of the central courtyard balustrade. The old carriage gate was converted into a chapel, and a library was added in the east wing of the building. Two banqueting halls were also created. After the Treaty of Trianon in 1921, the Batthyány family left the annexed Köpcsény and moved to Körmend.
The manor house was damaged in World War II and looted by Soviet troops. In 1961, it was bought by a private investor who sold the statues of the ornamental fountain. The building, which was in a state of total disrepair, was bought by the municipality in 1965. The restoration was completed in 1974, after which it was used as an ethnographic exhibition. It was closed again for renovation in the summer of 2022.
Source: Várlexikon https://varlexikon.hu/kopcseny-varkastely
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Here are the pictures of the castle and the manor:
