Mentioned in written documents for the first time in 1312, the castle (or hrad) of Boskovice is located on a strategic position between the Českomoravská and Drahanská highlands in Moravia. The castle belonged to the noble family of the Lords of Boskovice, although there is some dispute over its original location, with some scholars placing the original building on a nearby hill.
Legend has it that the forefather of this noble family was a humble forester by the name of Velen. It was his hospitality to a stranger that would elevate the family to the nobility as Velen fed, clothed, bathed and housed a stranger who turned out to be a margrave from Brno. This legend explains the family’s coat of arms with birch branches and a seven toothed comb.
The castle has been conquered twice in its long history. The first occasion was in 1312, when the King of Bohemia John of Luxembourg captured the castle to end a revolt by Moravian lords against the Bohemian crown. The second time was in 1395, during the struggle between the Moravian margraves Jošt and Prokop. Jošt’s forces partially destroyed the castle, leading to a 15th century reconstruction.
There is no historical data to indicate that the castle played a major role in the Hussite wars, although it was owned for a period by Jiří of Podébrad, the Husstie King of Bohemia and the last native Czech ruler. The king ceded the castle back to the Lords of Boskovice, but the financial troubles of this family led to the purchase of the castle and its lands to the Eder family of Stíavnice.
Ownership of the castle would change several times over the next several decades until it came into the hands of the Dietrichstein family, when the elderly widow Zuzana Kateřina of Zástřiyl married the 24 year old František Walter, a count of the powerful Dietrichstein family. Zuzana was the last owner to reside in the castle, and she died here in 1691. After this time, the systematic destruction of the castle began in 1733 to provide building materials for other buildings in the town, leaving only the dramatic ruins that can be toured today.
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