Lordship of Hummel

The Lordship of Homole (Polish: Homole, German: Hummel) is a historic landscape zone in the western part of Kłodzko Land in Poland, formerly part of the County of Kladsko, Bohemia.

The focus of the Lordship of Homole was (the no-longer existing) Homole Castle, located on a mountain above the valley of the Bystrzyca Dusznicka river, approximately 3 km west of Duszniki Zdrój (Czech: Dušníky, German: Bad Reinerz). Due to its geographical location, it secured the important road from Prague via the Homole Pass to Kłodzko (Kladsko, Glatz) and Wrocław (Vratislav, Breslau), the so-called Poland Route. Homole Castle was called in German: Landfried until the 15th century. In 1427, it was conquered by the Hussites, who used it as a base for their attacks on Kłodzko Land and neighbouring Silesia. During this period, the German name Landfried was replaced by the Czech name Homole.

After 1560 the castle was uninhabited and dilapidated. Elector Palatine Otto Henry, Elector Palatine had sketches of the castle made during his journey from Neuburg an der Donau to Kraków in 1536. These sketches are the only surviving pictures of the castle before its destruction.

In the 10th century, Homole was part of the territory of the Slavník dynasty. In 995, it was acquired by the Přemyslid dynasty. Back then, the Lordship of Homole consisted only of the eastern part of the later Homole district, that is, the watershed of the Bystrzyca Dusznicka river, with the town of Duszniki Zdrój and a number of villages (present-day Słoszów, Ocieszów, Bystra, Łężyce, Szczytna, Kulin Kłodzki and Dolina).

In the 14th century, the Lordship was held by the Lords of Pannwitz. After the transfer to Dětřich of Janovice (1392–1411), Homole was united with the neighbouring Lordship of Náchod. In 1412, the lordships came into the possession of Henry of Lažany, who traded Homole and Náchod in 1414 with Boček II of Poděbrady (d. 1417) for the city and lordship of Bechyně in southern Bohemia. Boček's son Victor, who was a staunch supporter of the Utraquists, died in 1427. The Taborites then conquered Homole Castle, and used it as a base for their incursions into Kladsko and Silesia. The Lordship of Homole was ruled jointly by the Taborite captains Jan Holý and Mikuláš Trčka z Lípy. In 1440, the castle came into the hands of the Taborite robber baron Jan Kolda of Žampach.

Text adapted from “Lordship of Homole” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lordship of Hummel ranks #4,813 of 8,133 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #177 of the 374 mapped in Poland. 11 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Wałbrzych, 41 km away. It is one of the 72 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of Lower Silesia. See how Poland compares in the castle statistics.

View on the interactive castle map →

Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗