First mentioning of lords of Svibno dates back to 1169 when Konrad of Svibno is mentioned.
Next mentioning of Konrad (himself or his son) is from 1175 and in the years 1182 and 1191
knight Henrik is mentioned. In the first half of the 13th century his son, who
carries the same name as his father, is mentioned. It is not until 1372 that the castle is
explicitly referred to (vest, haws Sherffenberch). Valvasor, on the other hand,
mentions that Svibno castle was built by Arnulf of Svibno already in 928 but this information
is not very reliable because fortified constructed castles did not yet exist in that era
and also there is no information of lords of Svibno.
For a certain period of time lords of Svibno had in posession or in lease many castles:
Žebnik, Gamberk near Zagorje, Planina near Sevnica, Podsreda, Smlednik and others and they
also had in posession feudal estates from Salzburg, Freising and Krško. Most famous among
knight of Svibno is Viljem. In 1270 he commanded the nobles who alongside Filip, brother
of Carinthian duke Ulrik III., fought against Bohemian king Otokar II. Otokar, who wanted
to acquire Carinthian, Carniolan and Slovenian mark soon suppressed the revolt. He returned
the estate ti Viljem, but in a year he revolted again. Viljem bravely died on a battlefield
in 1293 in the battle at Grebinje.
The power of the lords of Svibno began to blunt in the 14th century. They were
losing one estate after another, some by pawning, some by selling, and a good part gradually
went into the hands of skilful and ambicious lords of Celje. In 1349 they pawned their castle
Svibno to lords of Celje even if the castle was accounted as ducal feud. The castle was
dispossessed from the last of the lords of Svibno by Leopold III. of Habsburg and assigned
a new residence for them in Maribor. Pavel Ramung, who got the castle from Henrik of Rogatec
as pawn property was murdered by lords of Svibno who unexpectedly returned to the castle.
To Viljem of Svibno and his wife was in 1396 allowed lifelong living on the castle, which
remained in posession of provincial prince after the death of Viljem. The castle was at the
time managed by castellans in the name of lords of Svibno.
In the second half of 15th century many pieces of firing weaponry were handed to
castle's caretaker Peter Obračan and hence it can be concluded that there were tumults
in the Svibno area. Auerspergs were the biggest problem for Obračan, because they unrighteously
took cattle from his people and burden them with various taxes.
In the begining of the 16th century the owner of the casle was Jurij Turn, a man
known for his cruelty and ruthlessness. When he was murdered in 1515 in peasant revolt his
daughter Ana took over as a caretaker. From the year 1529 on regional leader of Styria, vicedom
of Celje and landlord Ivan Ugnad is testified. In the meantime the castle was dilapidating
which was also established by committee in 1575 and was used only as a depository at the time.
In 1579 when the castle was re-examined by a committee, the Svidno dominion was leased for
20 years by provincial councillor of Carniola Krištof Gustičič but because of that had to assure
15.000 goldinars of loan to Felicita Lamberg. After Krištof's death the dominion was succeeded
by his sons Andrej and Jurij. Jože Koropec who studied matter documents of Inner-Austrian
court chamber and Vicedom archive of Carniola reports of unsuccesful attempt to renovate the
castle in 1597. The family died-out by male line in the 19th century.
The original castle had a character of regulat castle with palatium and bailey. This medieval
core was later extended towards south on the slope of Ostri vrh. At the time the castle was
additionaly fortified and protected by a new aouter defence wall and embedded renaissance towers.
Nowadays the original form of the castle is barely recognizable from the ruins. Some of the
damage on cultural monument was caused by the locals who leveled the top of stack with the
castle remains an in the proces destroyed a big part of old walls. Together with three sketches
Valvasor prepared unusualy extensive description of castle building along with some other
details.
Some words about Svibno mansion. Lords of Svibno established a borough with the same name
at the side of hill below their castle and according to dominions land register from around
1400 only 32 subjective families lived there; among professions of boroughers are scribe,
guard, tollman and hunter. Subjective families had to perform varoius tasks like driving
cereals to Ljubljana, gathering woods, fixong the fence and a few among them had to mow,
drive woods and fodder but all of them had to do a special serfdom when requested.
The mansion, of which no trace can be found nowadays, was located close to cart track
which leads to a nearby church of St.Cross and pass the church to the castle ruins.
Valvasor depicted it as a typical renaissance 3x7 axial, on square ground plan constructed
single-storey building with balconies in the front, covered with steep roof with four
watershoots.
Knight of Svibno also found their way into Slovenian literature. They entered it with
Ostrovrhar, Rozamundino snubičenje ("Rozamunda's proposal") by Prešeren, story of
Viljem Of Svibno was also subject of tragedy in verses Viljem Ostrovrhar by Anton Medved.
Resident of Svibno is very well known among admirers of medieval era, blacksmith Oblak.
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