Borotín

Borotín, also Old Castle


The ruins of castle stand about 11 km NW of Tábor (South Bohemia Region, Tábor District), on a slight hill east of the village of the same name. On its southern side there is a pond, which was a natural defence of the castle. The village of Borotín was originally the property of the Lords of Landštejn. In 1356 Mikuláš of Borotín is mentioned as the owner. The castle was probably founded by Vitek. His sons Jan and Heřman became followers of Huss' teachings. Heřman was even elected to the body of provincial administrators at the Prague Diet in 1423. His successor Mikuláš was also one of the governors of the Tabor party from 1426, but in 1434 he switched to the other side. For this act, the Tabor army besieged Borotin Castle, but was not successful. Before 1446 Mikuláš sold the castle and the adjacent property to Jan Malovec of Pacov, after his death in 1488 his daughter Katherine acquired the castle and half of the town and several villages. When Katherine died in 1556, her son Oldrich inherited part of the estate in 1557. After him, his son Pavel was the holder of the castle and the adjacent estate from 1602. He was also the last of the holders from the Malovec family. Sometime around 1613, Kryštof Vojkovský of Milhostice was already the owner. However, the castle and the adjacent manor did not remain in the Milhostic family's possession for long, as his three sons participated in the Estates Uprising from 1618 to 1620. For this, the imperial soldiers sacked and burned their castle and court. Of the three brothers, only Adam Št'astný was acquitted by the investigating commission (and thus kept his property) and he sold his share in 1623 to Polyxena of Lobkowitz, then left Bohemia. However, his two brothers, Prech and Adam Albrecht, were not so lucky, and their property (the castle and its yard, the brewery, half of the town of Borotín and the villages of Mezná, Bejšov and Michálkova Lhota) was confiscated. In 1623 this property was also sold to Polyxena of Lobkowice, who then added Borotín to her estate of Jystebnik. Nobody was interested in the castle any more. In 1829 Jan Nádherný from Prague bought the Borotín estate from Ferdinand of Lobkowitz. In 1840, part of the ruin was demolished and the material was used as building material.
The original castle core from the time when the castle was founded probably had a polygonal outline. It is a very interesting layout, one could say that a bergfrit type castle is being developed here. Above the moat, a circular bergfrit took its place, which almost entirely stood in front of the castle's front. Whoever wanted to visit the castle in those days had to enter the first tower-like gate into the parkán, go around the part of the castle including the second round tower, next to which there was a second gate that opened into the courtyard. This second tower also stood out in front of the walls, but not as prominently as the first tower. The core of the castle was built around its perimeter, on the eastern side it was at least a two-space palace, and the ribbed vaulted interior of the second tower was also attached to it. The remaining remains, especially on the opposite side, do not allow reconstruction of the layout of the rest of the castle. At a later, but undetermined time, a part of the parkán wall was probably destroyed and the parkán was subsequently closed with a cross wall ending with a massive buttress. Due to the advent of firearms, especially cannons, several fortification works were carried out from the second half of the 15th century, which changed the appearance of the castle. However, these modifications cannot be described as excellent, but rather only mediocre - it was basically impossible, for example, to conduct crossfire from cannons. Almost the entire core of the castle was surrounded by a massive circular moat, so only the fragment in front of the bergfrit and the former first gate with part of the moat remained from the old situation behind it. This fragment was undoubtedly used for artillery. This change also led to a change in the road leading into the castle. Since this reconstruction, the castle has been entered from the east, from the forecourt, about the form of which we have no information yet, as there is currently a Baroque courtyard. For this purpose, a new elongated, flat-roofed entrance gate was built, which was not without many loopholes, which also almost entirely protruded into the moat. The building development of Borotín probably ended at the beginning of the 16th century. A new palace was built at that time, which included the aforementioned new gate, which also gained a two-bay basement with vaulted arches and a central arched arcade. The palace filled the space up to the enclosing wall of the second phase, including the park area behind the gate. The moat cut into the rock surrounding the castle on three sides (except the south side where the pond is) is still preserved, but it is partly blocked. Today the ruins of the castle are called the Old Castle. The rest of the cylindrical tower with the adjacent Gothic palace still stands. Between 1980 and 1982 the masonry was conserved. In the process, however, much information about the castle that could have helped to shed light on its development and architectural structure was lost.
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Literature.
Castles, chateaux and fortresses in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia V : South Bohemia. Prague, 1986.
Durdík, Tomáš., Illustrated encyclopedia of Czech castles. Prague, 2000. ISBN 80-7277-003-9.

Historical depictions