The Royal Castle in Chęciny stands on a rocky hilltop 367 m above sea level. It was built at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries and for over a hundred years was one of the most powerful fortresses of the Polish Kingdom.
History of the castle
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1306
First written record
The castle is first mentioned in a document of Władysław the Short, confirming that he entrusted it, together with eleven villages, to Jan Muskata, Bishop of Kraków. It was a temporary settlement between the two, made for purely political reasons. The document calls it explicitly a ducal castle (castrum nostrum ducale).
There is evidence that by 1308 the fortress was back in Władysław’s hands. At that time it was a centre of knightly administration, and later it became the seat of the district court.
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1310–1331
A centre of political life
Assemblies of magnates and knights were held at the castle in 1310, 1318 and 1331. In 1318, fearing the Teutonic Knights, Archbishop Janisław deposited the treasury of the Gniezno Archdiocese here. The royal treasury was also kept at times in the chapel that Władysław the Short added to the castle.
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1331
The first convention of the Polish Lands
The fortress was one of the gathering points for Polish forces fighting the Teutonic Knights. On 14 June, before setting off for the Battle of Płowce, Władysław the Short convened in Chęciny the first “Convention of the Polish Lands”, attended by the highest dignitaries and officials of the state. The event is often regarded as the forerunner of later parliaments.
In the mid-14th century the castle was expanded by Casimir the Great and counted among the strongest fortresses in Poland. In its glory days it was never conquered.
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Late 14th century
A state prison
The castle also served as a prison. Andrzej the Hunchback, the eldest of Olgierd’s sons, was held here for ten years. He was the half-brother of Władysław Jagiełło and a fierce enemy of both the king and Hincza of Rogów.
Imprisoned in a sordid tower in Chęciny, he almost yielded up his spirit because of the stench of the prison. Jan Długosz (Johannes Longinus), Chronicles
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1410
Prisoners of Grunwald
After the victory at Grunwald, high-ranking Teutonic prisoners of war were held in the castle. Among them was Michael Küchmeister, taken prisoner at the Battle of Koronowo, who later served as Grand Master of the Teutonic Order in 1414–1422.
The castle garrison
In wartime the 150-strong garrison blocked enemy movement on the roads that crossed at Chęciny. In peacetime it maintained those roads and kept travellers safe.
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14th–16th century
A royal residence
The castle was home to royal family members, queens and widowed queens. Adelaide, the second wife of Casimir the Great, lived here, as did his sister Elizabeth, who ruled on behalf of her son Louis I of Hungary. Queen Bona lived here too, together with her enormous treasury. When she left Chęciny, it took 24 wagons and 140 horses to carry it away.
During the plague of 1425, Jagiełło’s son Władysław found shelter within the castle walls.
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1569
The royal inspection
An inspection report from 1569 notes that the castle needed repairs and that this was made difficult by a shortage of water. The report also describes the construction of the well, whose remains can still be seen in the lower courtyard.
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1588
The beginning of the end
The Sejm allowed the land records of the Chęciny district to be moved from the castle to the church. This marked the start of the fortress’s decline.
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1607
The Zebrzydowski Rebellion
Rebel troops took the castle by trickery. They set the buildings on fire, looted the armoury and badly damaged the fortifications.
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1610
Reconstruction
Stanisław Branicki, starost of Chęciny and Crown Sword-Bearer, restored and expanded the castle.
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1657
The Swedish Deluge
The fortress was destroyed by the troops of George II Rákóczi, and then rebuilt once more.
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1707
Burned by the Swedes
Swedish troops set the castle on fire. From then on it was no longer the residence of the starosts.
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1787
The last salute
On 11 July the castle cannons fired for the last time, in honour of King Stanisław August Poniatowski, who passed through Chęciny on his way from Kraków to Warsaw.
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After 1795
Into ruin
After the Third Partition of Poland the castle fell into ruin, and even the residential building with the starost’s chambers was abandoned. Local people took stone from the walls for building material, and further damage came during the First World War.
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1880s
First conservation work
The first maintenance work on the ruins was carried out in the 1880s. Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz had good reason to praise them:
The finest Polish antiquity heritage site. Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz
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1947–1949
Protected monument
In 1947 the Provincial Conservator entered the castle in the register of historic monuments, in the highest class in the country. Work carried out in 1948–1949 restored the towers. Conservation continues to this day, and the castle is now maintained as a permanent ruin.
Layout of the castle
The castle consists of two parts. The older, upper castle stretches between two round towers. The younger, lower castle, with its pointed-arch gate and square tower, was added in the 15th century.
The entrance was on the eastern side. It led across a drawbridge and through a gate closed at night with a portcullis in front of the tower.
The gate adjoined the tower, which made it easier to defend. On the other side of the tower there is a vaulted room where, according to legend, the castle chapel and royal treasury were located. Along the northern walls stand the ruins of the residential building, with its window openings and vaulted cellars still in place. The second round tower was the last line of defence during a siege: its thick walls and food stores allowed the defenders to hold out until relief arrived.
The lower castle served as the service area. In the middle of the courtyard is the mouth of a well cut 100 metres into the rock. During a siege it may have given access to an underground passage leading to the church in Chęciny, and a legend says the castle is connected with the Karczówka church.
Legends
Other legends say that Queen Bona, leaving in a hurry, left her treasure behind in the underground dungeons, and that in the evenings a galloping knight can be seen on the nearby hills.
The castle today
The castle in Chęciny is now one of the most visited heritage sites of its kind in Poland. Its great towers dominate the landscape and can be seen from the road to Kraków. The ring of outer defensive walls, the two round towers, the square tower and the foundations of the residential buildings have survived to this day.
The eastern tower has a viewing platform, and on a clear day you can see the peaks of the Tatra Mountains.
