A Herman Ottó Múzeum Évkönyve 6. (1966)

K. VÉGH Katalin: Boldogkő várának feltárása

THE DIGGING UP OF CASTLE BOLDOGKŐ (An extract) The Castle of Boldogkő standing in the boundary of Boldogkőváralja village, is one of the still existing and relatively most intact castels from the Middle Ages. It is also one of the smaller size castles built on hill in Northern Hungary. Its ground-plan is irregular stretching in North-South direction and is fitted with an inside turret. (Picture 1—3.) According to chartered data it existed around 1280. At this time it was owned by Bailiff Tyba, son of Jaak from the Tomaj-clan [16—18], and it seems possible that the castle was built by him. The Amade-family possessed it at the and of the XIII. century till 1312 [20]. After their defeat Boldogkő was given to the Drugeths by King Charles Robert [22], and probably remained in their possession till 1351. At the end of the XIV. century it was mortgaged by King Sigismund with the neighbouring villages: Vizsoly, Szerencs, Novaj, Abatelke, Újfalu, Árka [32—34]. Between 1427—53 it is mentioned among the properties of the Serbian despot, George Brankovics. King Mathias gave it to the Parlagi brothers Paul and Leslie in 1461 [42], but later mortgaged it to Kassa [45]. From the end of XV. century it belonged to the Szapolyai-family. During the fight between Szapolyai and King Ferdinand it frequently changed master between the who parties. At this period it was owned by the Tomory-family [50], by George Fra Martinuzzi [58], by Ferenc Patochy[60], and then by George Bebek from 1556 to 60 [62]. After Bebek it belonged to the Sarközy-family [69], the Serényi-family [69—70], and to the Palochay-f

amily till 1671 [76, 85]. Boldogkő was owned by George Szelepcsényi archbishop of Esztergom from 1671 till 1685[85]. In the meantime it was occupied by Thököly in 1678. From 1685 it was owned by the Chapter of Esztergom [99], and from 1715 the Jesuits of Lőcse [103]. Gabriel Péchujl'alusy Péchy, a royal counsellor purchased it in 1753 [106]. At about 1890 it came into the possession of the Zichy-f

amily on female line [111]. From the Middle Ages no sketch or note concerning the history of the building of the castle has remained. To clear up its history an archeological digging up was necessary, which was done in 1963—64. To point out the building-periods is rather difficult because most of the archeological material does not help dating and the material of find shows л strong mixing in the alluvium. Besides the chartered data the rich pottery of the Árpád-period proves (e. g. I. t. 1—8) that the Castle of Boldogkő was built in the Árpád-period after the Tartar invasion. The castle of the Árpád-period consisted of a fourcornered Oldtower standing on the top of the hill and possibly served as a dwelling place as well (pict. 5, 34, 36]. Its first significant enlargement took place