Burg Hochhosterwitz
There are few areas of central Europe that have escaped the ravages of war over the centuries and as a result of war many castles were built to safeguard the rights of the local lord and the king or emperor to whom he owed allegiance. Many of these medieval structures are in ruins of course, but there are some notable exceptions and one of these is here in Carinthia. It is one of the most imposing of the Austrian castles and a ‘must see’ location to which we take our first time visitors.
It is known as Burg (Castle) Hochosterwitz and as you can see from the photograph it looks just like one of the fairytale castles that childhood nursery stories are woven around.
The first documentary evidence of the castle’s existence was recorded in 870AD.
It is a castle that has never been captured by an enemy during war and this is due not only to its position on the top of an almost un-scalable pinnacle of rock, but also because of the access to the castle that was constructed between 1570 and 1586 AD by the then owner Georg Khevenhüller. This work was intended to protect the castle from the invading Turkish army and consisted of a steeply inclined pathway that spirals up the cliff face from the valley with a total of fourteen fortified gatehouses dispersed along its length. The defensive challenge the invaders had to face was not the same at each gate house. For example there was a portcullis at one, a lift bridge at another and a wooden lift out section of roadway in front of one of the other gatehouses. Someone described it as follows ‘it’s almost like a medieval forerunner of the multiple levels of defence in a computer adventure game’.
As the castle proved to be impregnable to direct assault, invading armies resorted to siege tactics. There was one famous siege led by a lady known by the uncomplimentary name of Margarete Maultasch (satchel mouth) and they camped outside the castle gates for so long that the inhabitants of the castle were brought to the point of starvation. When the castle’s store of food had been reduced to one bag of flour and one bullock the future looked so bleak that the Count decided to try bluff. The bullock was driven about within the castle walls and bellowed so angrily that it sounded like a herd of cattle to the listeners camped below. The last bag of flour was tossed over the wall and landed in the besiegers’ camp. Margarete Maultasch concluded that if they could throw away flour and if they had so many cattle left then there was no point in continuing the siege. So they gave up and marched away; much to the relief of the castle inhabitants.
As I know from personal experience it is quite a strenuous climb up to the castle so it must have been exhausting to fight one’s way up the slope from gatehouse to gatehouse with a sword or spear whilst wearing armour. Not to mention dodging arrows, buckets of boiling oil and the other missiles hurled down on the invaders heads by the defending army.
The only foreign leader to occupy Burg Hochosterwitz was the Emperor Napoleon and he was invited to enter the castle by the Count in order to prevent an unnecessary battle.
Burg Hochhosterwitz is still in the hands of the Khevenhüller family although they no longer reside there. It is well worth the climb to see the castle courtyard and visit the small museum to look at the armour and other antiquities displayed there.
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John Langdon
Klagenfurt
September 2006