Interesting facts

After the battle between Rudolf von Habsburg and Ottokar II Přemysl in the year 1278, the castle of Jedenspeigen in the vicinity of the battlefield became the centre of the knightly order of Idunspeuger for a period of 200 years. By the late Middle Ages, the heyday of the knights had already drawn to a close. With the arrival of new firearms, battles were no longer fought at close quarters but rather from a distance. Furthermore, money as a form of payment began to resolve feudal disputes, the prices for agricultural products sank, the salary of wage workers rose, and paid conscripts eventually replaced knights in the military. The Habsburg German king Albert II also made use of their services. A situation escalated when the guardianship of his son Ladislaus the Posthumous, who was born shortly after the king’s death, was bestowed on his uncle, the later emperor Frederick III. Payment of mercenaries for their wartime services under King Albert still had not been made. Moravian and Bohemian creditors tried to keep their estates afloat by going on raids, as did the three Idunspeuger brothers, Kaspar, Jörg, and Balthasar. Together with the head of the mercenaries, Pankraz von Holitschaus Mähren, they destroyed the surrounding area. The imperial troops consisting of 113 mounted mercenaries and 452 foot soldiers annexed the castle of Jedenspeigen in 1441. Kaspar was able to escape, but his property was confiscated. Beginning in the 16th century the castle assumed the form that it has today.