Hédervár Castle is located in western Hungary, near the Austrian border. You can find it on my Google Maps:
“After this, Wolfer came in with Hedrik, his brother, from Vildonia, bringing forty archer-knights; they gave him the mountain of Kiszén as a dwelling place, upon which he built a wooden castle, and later also a monastery of friars, in which he was buried after his death. From him, the Hedriks [Héders] trace their origin.” ( A passage from Kézai Simon’s Gesta Hungarorum.)
The pair of brothers mentioned in the above quotation arrived in the country during the reign of Géza II (1141–1162). Wolfer was the ancestor of the Németújvári / Kőszegi family, who founded a Benedictine abbey on the hill of Németújvár (Güssing). The Héderváry family descends from Héder. Settling in the Szigetköz region, they built the castle that bears their name—Hédervár—which became a strategic bulwark against foreign incursions.
Indeed, for over eight centuries, the story of the Hédervári family has been intricately woven into the fabric of Hungarian history. The medieval period saw the family rise to the highest echelons of power.
Between 1150 and 1162, Héder served as ispán (count) of Moson, as court steward, and later as palatine (nádor) of King István (Stephen) III. He most certainly must have possessed a castle on his ancestral estate. The first mention of Hédervár is found in a charter dated 1210, which was created during the demarcation of the boundaries of the settlement Novák, and it refers to Hédervár as the estate of Hederic comes, i.e., Count Héder. The settlement may have already existed as early as 1031, as this year is carved into a red marble baptismal font in the church.
In 1241, during the Mongol invasion, the troops of the Austrian Babenberg Frederick occupied Győr. The castle of Hédervár was most likely also burned down (if the castle was still standing at that time). In 1271, the troops of Ottokar II devastated the region. In 1273, Ottokar again invaded the country and occupied Győr. It was recorded that Ráró, which is adjacent to Hédervár, was almost destroyed.
The Árpád-era castle was not located on the site of the present-day manor castle, but approximately 300 meters away from it, on the so-called Zsidódomb (‘Jewish Hill’), which has a diameter of 40 meters. The first written record of it dates from 1314 (‘de Castro Hedrici’), but according to historical and archaeological evidence, it had already been standing by the second half of the 13th century at the latest.
The following summary can be read about the 1981 excavation:
‘The excavation was carried out on the property of Szemerédy István. At the highest point of the hill, we succeeded in locating the stone-laid foundations of the presumed inner castle building, where in one place a section of the standing brick wall also survived. Unfortunately, the greater part of the walls — in agreement with the documentary evidence — had been demolished down to their foundations and removed.
Nevertheless, it could be observed that within the building, there may have been a cellar extending to the depth of the foundation walls, as this was filled with brick and mortar rubble from the demolition. Apart from the wall remains of the inner castle building (residential tower?), farther away, the remains of a sunken rectangular house foundation and the remains of a brick-built, clay-bonded baking oven were also uncovered.
Among the finds, noteworthy are the glazed stove tiles depicting the coat of arms of the Hédervári family, tools carved from bone and made of bronze and iron, and fragments of Gothic stone carvings. The ceramic material dates mainly from the 14th–15th centuries.’ — Pusztai Rezső
The name Hédervár — more precisely that of Héderváry Dezső— appears as ‘de Heydreh’ in a charter issued by King Charles I on September 24, 1317, concerning the donation of Szil (Ruszt). Héderváry Dezső was the hero who died a heroic death in the Battle of Posada in 1330: during a disastrous campaign in Wallachia, the royal army was ambushed. In a moment of supreme self-sacrifice, a knight named Hédervári Dezső exchanged armor with King Charles I. While the disguised king escaped, Dezső was killed by the enemy, saving the life of the monarch. This act of loyalty is famously immortalized in the Illuminated Chronicle, setting the standard for Hungarian chivalry.
In a charter from 1322, the inhabitants of the neighboring Leupold (Lipót) declared themselves to be descendants of the island of Héder’s castle. In 1336, mention is made of comeses from Heydrihvara, and in 1350, the family members’ name is written as Hedruhwar.
In 1393, King Zsigmond (Sigismund) had Héderváry Kont István, who had rebelled against him, beheaded in Buda along with thirty of his companions. ‘Some claim that Kont István, when he had to undergo the punishment of beheading, wished to receive the executioner’s blow while turning to face him, eye to eye, and said that he had often and without flinching faced threatening death before, and that he was not afraid of it now either.’ (The Chronicle of Thuróczy)
Throughout the 14th and 15th centuries, the Hédervári family held the highest offices in the land, including the Palatinate (Nádor)—the highest judicial and administrative role after the king. Hédervári Lőrinc served as the last Palatine of King Sigismund, helping to stabilize the kingdom during a turbulent era.
In 1440, during the civil war, Héderváry Lőrinc supported King Ulászló I (Władysław). According to a charter issued on January 25, 1443, Palatine Héderváry Lőrinc and his son Imre, together with Tamási Vajdafi Henrik, unified their estates because they descended from a common ancestor. The document also mentions the castle of Hedrehwara [Hédervár].
In that same year, the settlement of Hédervár was granted the rank of market town (mezőváros). According to a record, the captains of Győr who supported the party of the widowed Queen Elisabeth plundered the estates of the Héderváry family. In 1444, during the ill-fated Varna campaign, the king entrusted him with the defense of Hungary. When Hunyadi János, fleeing from the battlefield, was captured by Vlad, Voivode of Wallachia, Lőrinc threatened Vlad with war if he did not release Hunyadi.
According to archaeological research, the castellum that was the predecessor of the present-day manor castle may have been built toward the end of the 1400s. During this period, both the terms castrum and castellum were used.
In 1428, Ethrefalvi Balázs, castellan of Hédervár, together with his men, broke into the estate of Bösi Mihály and László called Újhíd and destroyed it. In 1448, Setétkúthi László served as castellan of Hédervár (‘Ladislaus de Sethetkwth castellanus castri Hedrehwara’).
On May 5, 1471, before the chapter of Székesfehérvár, Héderváry Pál pledged half of his family estates to his son-in-law, Marczaly László, for 3,000 gold florins. The Latin-language charter also mentions Hédervár in Győr County (‘Hederwara in Jauriensi’). Against this, in 1478, Héderváry Ozsvát and his sons, as well as the sons of Héderváry Lőrinc, protested. In 1482, Héderváry Pál revoked the transfer of the estates.
On August 26, 1491, King Ulászló II (Władysław II) had Héderváry Miklós and his sons, Lőrinc and Ferenc, formally installed into their estates located in the counties of Tolna, Fehér, Veszprém, Somogy, Pozsega, Győr, Komárom, Moson, Vas, Pozsony, and Pest by way of a new grant.
Héderváry Ferenc, the last male member of the palatinal branch, was sentenced to forfeiture of his estates due to the loss of Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) in 1521. Even before the Turkish siege, he had borrowed 4,000 florins from his relative, Héderváry István, for the needs of the fortress of Nándorfehérvár. In exchange, he pledged his estates in the Szigetköz region. Nevertheless, these estates were granted by King Lajos (Louis) II in the summer of 1526 to Bakics Pál.
After the Battle of Mohács, in the struggle between the two rival kings, Bakics Pál supported Ferdinand I, while Héderváry Ferenc and Istvány sided with Szapolyai János. After the unsuccessful siege of Vienna in 1529, the troops of Ferdinand I cautiously followed the retreating Ottoman forces, with Bakics Pál among their ranks. Bakics occupied the Szigetköz estates of Héderváry István and captured him together with his son György.
In 1532, Ferdinand I granted the Héderváry estates in the Szigetköz to Bakics, who then interrogated Héderváry György in prison, asking him where his father had hidden their treasures (‘where in Hedervar he had put the gold florins into the wall’). Because the young man did not reveal the hiding place of the money, Bakics, in early December 1534, demolished the castle of Hédervár and the manor house on the island, transported its stones to the neighboring Ráró, and there built a tower for himself from them.
In 1537, Bakics Pál fell in the ill-fated Eszék (Osijek) campaign, and the Héderváry sons, having been freed from captivity, switched to the side of Ferdinand I. They recovered Hédervár from the king, although the lawsuits continued for decades. The old Árpád-era castle was not rebuilt; instead, 300 meters away from it, they began constructing their manor castle on the site of the demolished island castellum. According to a worn carved stone bearing a coat of arms next to the castle gate, it was completed by 1578. The island castellum demolished by Bakics was a building complex with a closed inner courtyard and no cellar.
‘The former floor level was on average one meter lower than the present one. On the inner, northern side of the wall surrounding the nearly square courtyard stood the palace, which contained a great hall and two smaller rooms. Access to the northern wing was via an external staircase in front of the room located west of the former and present gateway, then through the hall on the eastern side. The brick walls were pierced by openings with stone frames, and the rooms were heated by stoves with granular or glazed tiles. In the absence of historical sources, we cannot determine the construction period of the palace; we can only assume that the builder was either Miklós, the son of Palatine Héderváry Lőrinc, or his son, Ban Ferenc.’ (Csaba László)
The northern palace wing of the new Renaissance manor castle had a cellar and an upper floor. Its outer wall was decorated with a rusticated (quoin) pattern, which can still be seen today. On the wall surrounding the courtyard, there were loopholes at the upper floor level as well as on the ground floor. A pentagonal tower was built at the southeastern corner. The gateway featured an inner wolf trap (murder hole) arrangement. Ten meters from the walls, a palisade and a moat reinforced the defenses. Shortly afterward, the manor castle was expanded: a two-story palace wing without a cellar was built along the inner side of the eastern wall.
In 1594, after the fall of Győr, the inhabitants fled from the Héderváry estates. In 1600, a tax exemption for five years was promised to the serfs on the estate. In 1634, Héderváry István took away the churches of the Lutheran serfs in the Szigetköz region at Hédervár, Remete, Lipót, Ásvány, Szentpál, and Öttevény.
In 1643, Héderváry István, grandson of János, ‘renewed the castle with the buildings above the small gate’: during the restoration of the collapsed and damaged masonry, the fallen wall section was bricked back up, but without crow-step gables (párta).
In 1658, at the age of 16, Héderváry Lőrinc died without an heir. Leopold I consented to the ‘fiúsítás’ (legal transformation allowing a daughter to inherit male estates) of his sister, Katalin, thus she inherited the estates of the ancient family. Katalin was at that time the wife of Viczay János. Viczay, who descended from the Osl clan, adopted the name Viczay-Héderváry and united the coats of arms of the two families. The formal installation into the estate was carried out in the spring of 1659 by a representative of the Esztergom chapter.
A description of the manor castle from 1659 is known: ‘This castle is separated from Pozsony County by an outer ditch towards Győr County. This castle is fortified with a water-filled moat, a palisade enclosure, and, within that, all around with strong, thick stone walls. Inside the castle, it is properly built with three rows of fine palaces and manor houses, with various cellars, and there is a pleasant well of water. There are also various implements for the castle’s needs in the storeroom, including one iron and one copper tarack (a type of cannon), two bronze mortars together with sixteen sacks (or possibly measures of powder). About all these, an inventory can tell more in the future. This Hédervár castle was renewed by Héderváry István in the year 1643 with the buildings above the small gate.’
In the 1760s, Viczay Mihály transformed the manor castle in the spirit of the Baroque style. A new wing was built on the outer side of the western castle wall, with square towers at its corners. The castle moat was filled in, and the outer palisade was also demolished. Slightly later, a two-story palace was also built on the southern side. Around 1790, an English-style park was established, partly on the site of the earlier Baroque castle park.
The Viczay family died out with Viczay Héder in December 1873. His heir in the female line was Khuen Károly. He, too, adopted the name Héderváry. Count Khuen-Héderváry Károly was a politician of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy era, serving as Ban of Croatia for twenty years, and later as Prime Minister on two occasions.
Pacifier of Croatia (1883–1903): As the Ban (Viceroy) of Croatia for twenty years, Khuen-Héderváry inherited a politically fractured region. He is credited with bringing stability and economic modernization to the kingdom. By establishing the Croatian National Party, he integrated Croatian political life into the Hungarian state structure, ensuring the functioning of the Compromise of 1867.
His personality is controversial: according to the Croats, he was pro-Hungarian; according to the Hungarians, he was too lenient toward Croatian aspirations. Between 1906 and 1907, he had the castle rebuilt according to the plans of István Möller. The Romantic-style castle was soon restored to its earlier Baroque form.
As we said, Khuen-Héderváry served as Prime Minister of Hungary twice (1903 and 1910–1912). His second term was instrumental in breaking the parliamentary obstructionism that had paralyzed the country. He founded the National Party of Work, passing crucial defense and economic reforms that modernized the Hungarian military and economy on the eve of World War I.
Stewards of Heritage
Beyond politics, the family left a tangible cultural legacy. The Héderváry and Viczay families were patrons of the arts. The Viczay collection, housed at the Hédervár castle, became a famous numismatic (coin) collection known throughout Europe in the 18th century. Furthermore, the family funded significant religious architecture, including the Héderváry Chapel next to the Győr Basilica, a stunning example of Gothic architectural heritage.
From the battlefields of the Middle Ages to the parliamentary chambers of the 20th century, the Hédervári family consistently played a role as pillars of the state. Whether sacrificing their lives on the battlefield or stabilizing the government during a constitutional crisis, their positive impact on Hungary was that of steadfast guardianship and national development.
In 1945, the advancing Soviet troops looted it. In 1946, Dobi István, Minister of Agriculture, designated ‘the castle and its outbuildings, as well as the adjacent park of approximately 26 cadastral holds [about 15 hectares / 37 acres], […] to the extent and with the land registry description to be precisely determined later by the Land Redistribution Council of Győr-Moson County, for an elementary school and boarding facility, as well as a people’s college, to the Ministry of Religion and Public Education.’
Szőke Béla wrote a report about the castle in 1948:
‘On the 10th of this month, I visited Hédervár. The former count’s castle is intact and in good condition. Its walls, flooring, and roof are in good repair. The surrounding park is of medium size, shaded by ancient trees; a small stream flows through the park, which is periodically cleaned by the Rába Regulation Association. The currently somewhat neglected paths of the park can be restored at no great expense. … In the attic of the castle, there were five body armours (partially damaged) dating from the early 19th century, as well as two older chainmail shirts. I gathered these together in one place. … In the dining room and in one of the halls — in the countess’s bedroom, they say — there is a large white Empire majolica stove in good condition. The ornaments of the stove in the bedroom are being used as coat hangers by the pioneer girls camping there. … In the dining room, two large paintings depicting hunting scenes are still there. These are partially damaged. … A district elementary school operates in the castle, whose director is Iván Neupor. This summer, seventy boy and girl pioneers from Győr camped within the castle’s walls.’
From 1983, the school was replaced by a creative house (alkotóház). Between 2002 and 2004, the castle was renovated. In the spring of 2004, the Hédervár Castle Hotel opened its gates, but it closed in 2012, and since then, the interior of the castle has not been accessible to visitors.
Further Reading & Sources:
- Magyar életrajzi lexikon (Hungarian Biographical Lexicon)
- A Pallas nagy lexikona (The Great Pallas Lexicon)
- National Archives of Hungary, Győr-Moson-Sopron County
- Szöllösi Gábor http://www.varlexikon.hu