Castle of Sátoraljaújhely

The Castle of Sátoraljaújhely stood in Zemplén, on the Várhegy of Sátoraljaújhely, southwest of the town, rising above the road leading to Sárospatak. Historical sources mention the castle as Patak, Nagypatak, Sátorhegy and Újhely castles. The castle's double name has a simple explanation: it was called Patak because it belonged to the Patak forest county and then to the Patak lordship, and Újhely because it was located in the outskirts of the town of Sátoraljaújhely. The construction of the castle is dated between 1242 and 1261, and it may have been destroyed around 1537.

Surroundings

The Castle of Sátoraljaújhely was situated on the ridge called Várhegy, 334 metres high, which provided natural protection with its steep sides. The hilltop is an elongated, narrow plateau whose edge is bounded by a natural rim. The plateau is about 95 metres long and 25 metres wide. Below its eastern and southeastern edge, at a level about 12 metres lower, a trench approximately 100 metres long runs, while such fortifications are not found on the rest of the hill slope. Near the north‑western end two short ditches reinforced the natural defence, complemented by a low trench formed with earth excavated from the ditches. Near the north‑eastern part there is now a radio transmitter. Not far from the plateau, about 45 metres away and 10 metres lower, under a smaller rock group, another ditch is found, beneath which the natural ridge gradually descends toward the lower‑lying saddle.

Research History

The research of the Castle of Sátoraljaújhely actually began with Mihály Détshy’s 1966 study, in which he proved that Patak Castle is identical with the fort later known as Újhely Castle. This castle was built in the area of the Patak forest county, although it did not play a central role in the administration of the county. In 1977 the data collections of Erik Fügedi and Pál Engel gathered the knowledge about the castle, and in 1986 Csaba Csorba dealt with the castle’s history in two publications. In the same year Gyula Nováki and György Sándorfi prepared a contour survey of the castle area, which Csorba also published. In 1994 Mihály Détshy dedicated an independent monograph to the castle, and in 1996 Pál Engel published the sources concerning the castle up to the middle of the 15th century. Research on the castle continued after the turn of the millennium. In 2007, at the initiative of the Sátoraljaújhely local government, a cooperation agreement was established between the local government and the Rákóczi Museum of the Hungarian National Museum, aimed at the systematic archaeological excavation of the castle remains. In the preparatory year, with the involvement of the Herman Ottó Museum in Miskolc and the University of Miskolc, a geodetic survey and partial geophysical examination of the Várhegy area were also carried out. In 2008 the archaeological excavation began.

During the 2007 survey led by István Ringer, the surface plane of the castle and the slopes of the sides were determined. By interpreting the removable terraced steps as remnants of collapsed stone sections, the direction of the castle walls and artificial structures was established. On the castle area, the external plane of smaller stone sections was found at eight locations, of which there were a total of two higher ascending stone planes. With the creation of a precise micro‑topographic map and the evaluation of geophysical measurements, the artificial structures of the castle became largely identifiable.

The western and southern walls of the presumed cellar room of about 500 square metres area in the central area were cleared, and the excavation of the interior plane of a north‑south oriented wall was begun. The wall about three metres thick stands at a height of 150–170 centimetres, but only the core of the wall can be observed: a continuous wall plane remains only in the middle part, in smaller fragments. In front of the interior plane of the wall the andesite surface forming the Castle Hill, smoothly carved, was cleared. South of this, at the western corner of a wall standing 80–150 centimetres high, a stair‑step detail was discovered under a layer of stone debris. In front of the lowest step a hard‑tamped, clayey, partly wooden‑beam ground‑level was found, from whose surface a considerable amount of 14th–15th century ceramic fragments and several iron finds were recovered. Three steps were cleared, and in the upper debris of the wall another step is possible. The middle step is a secondary, large stone carving, presumably an element of a gate jamb. On the eastern side of the stair‑step, its adjoining wall‑stub was also uncovered. After further clearing and removal of the huge amount of stone debris it turned out that the wall section belonging to the stair breaks off on the eastern side. Here a large‑scale destruction, possibly the mining of the stones, may have occurred.

At the highest point of the Castle Hill a fragment of a central building complex was uncovered, together with its two‑metre‑wide entrance opening to the north. At the north‑west corner of the room a rising masonry wall 100–150 centimetres high was cleared from the debris. In the eastern wall a lower part of a Gothic seat niche remained. Beneath the rubble layer, on the interior side of the northern wall of the room, directly at floor level, several large Gothic and Renaissance stone carvings, together with window and door frames, column bases were revealed.