Corvin's Castle - Romania 🇷🇴

We're feeling excited as we head East to Romania and into Transylvania only for our excitement to turn to concern as we arrive to our hotel.  Our host suggest we park next to the graffiti by the abandoned building that looks like it could be haunted and the sound of dogs howling as car horns are aggressively and incessantly honking.  But our fears were relieved when the graffiti turned out to be a painted mural and the car horns were actually in happy celebration of a Romanian wedding party on their way.   

Our first sightseeing stop is the striking Corvin's Castle, the largest medieval castle in Romania. The castle was built in the 15th century on a cliff over the Zlaşti River by John Hunyadi as a fortress and is steeped in legend and deceit.

 

During this time the Ottoman Empire was on a conquest to expand further North into Europe beginning in the Hungarian region. Hunyadi became the highest ranking official in Transylvania within the Kingdom of Hungary (the country of Romania was not established for another 400 years). He supported multiple campaigns against the Ottoman Empire who were backed by Vlad II, Prince of Wallachia and father of Vlad the Impaler. During an invasion of Wallachia, Hunyadi forced Vlad II to flee to a nearby village where he was tortured and killed under Hunyadi's orders by his own noblemen. In turn, the Ottomans invaded Wallachia and the Sultan placed Vlad the Impaler on the throne as a puppet ruler. However, his rule was brief (only 30 days) as Hunyadi invaded Wallachia and exiled Vlad. As time went on Hunyadi forged an alliance with Vlad due to his knowledge on the Ottoman Empire and Vlad's hatred for the new Sultan with promise that Vlad could take back his title in Wallachia.  Hunyadi was triumphant against the Ottomans in Belgrade however his victory was short as he succumbed to the Plague. 

The crest of the Hunyadi family depicts a raven holding a golden ring in it's beak and legend has it that John Hunyadi was the illegitimate son of Sigismnd of Luxembourg (King of Hungary) and a beautiful women from Hateg. To protect her honour the King married her to one of his brave men and hands her a golden ring to give the child so that he might recognise him when he presents at royal court. However, the ring is left behind on a family trip and a raven swoops down and steals the shiny object. Young John Hunyadi shoots an arrow at the raven and retrieves the ring. Once he is grown and attends court he tells the King of the story. Impressed, the King decrees the act as the family emblem.

A darker legend surrounding the castle involves the 30m deep well dug by three Turkish prisoners. They were promised their freedom once they reached water and after 15 years finally completed the well. Unfortunately Hunyadi refused to honor the promise and the prisoners were killed but not before leaving an inscription on the walls of the well that say "you have water, but not soul."