Dear reader:
As this is written in English language,
the Czech names of towns and villages will here be given as known.
Personal names will however be given in the original.
German family names will not be written in "Czech" version. CM

Preamble
The history of Trebusin Castle is closely related
to Trebusin Village.
In the old days, the owner of the village did often
own the castle, too,
which was used purely as a domicile.
If you like to know more about the village, please look up



Copper etching dating back to 1750
with Mount Kalich, Church St. Nicolas/Hlg. Nikolaus
(still with old wooden tower)
and the Castle with Park to the right

Trebusin Castle

East-wing of the manor/castle.
Oldest parts: the cellars, dating back to 1057

A document (facsimile) dating back to 1384 states the following:
"Mentioned as a parish with church St. Nicolas.
Residence of German Knights as of 1257;
within the village their manor including
cloister and cloister chapel"

Archeologically proven beyond doubt is the fact,
that a chapel did exist in the manor gardens.
Much later, when the north wing of the building was added,
the foundation walls of said chapel were carefully protected
by building a vaulted cellar over them.
One could still find them cellar of the castle up until 1950!

However, when the castle was turned into a school building
(alterations 1950-52),
the rear cellar-ceiling was made to collapse
- they thought they dug into soil!
Into the hollow below, waste building material was thrown,
as this was the easiest way to get rid of it ...
By doing this, the chapel foundation walls were covered by
more then two meters of rubble ...

Still found are the following interesting features:
* The rear entrance to the building's cellars,
(today the wine-cellar and in part modern rest-rooms)
However, great care was taken not to "modernize" too much
and the ceilings and walls were given only a rough plaster.
* 1 medieval window and an alcove-window (cellar-stairs)
* The very ancient vaulted cellar-ceilings build of mountain rocks
* The vaulted ceilings (whole ground floor area)

The Owners

The village of Trebusin did exist already in 1057, when the
"Bleh of Trebusen"
received it as a gift by the famous Czech noble Hroznata of Tepl.

1257
The document of 1384 names the village
and states under the year 1257:
"Trebusin, village with church St. Nikolas,
Within the village a manor belonging to the
Order of German Knights
with cloister and cloister chapel.
Fortresses of the Order on Mount Panna and Kalich ..."

Owners came and went in the next centuries
until 1540 in rapid succession.
The change from one owner to the next
happened sometimes so quickly, that in one case
a knight, who had been given
the castle into his possession,
was beheaded as a traitor
by order of the same king
who gave it to him in the first place!

So let's shorten it a little and start from here:

1421: Hussite Wars - Jan Zizka burns the Castle!
Zizka (pronounced "Shishka") was a Hussite general
which came to our area "to liberate the serfs and
bring them the protestant church-laws of Magister Jan Hus".
Jan Hus was declared a heretic by the catholic church.
While visiting the congregated bishops and cardinals at
Constance/Germany (Council of Constance),
he was apprehended and burned at the stake, although he had a
letter of safe conduct given by the Bohemian King and by the Pope!
As the castle was owned by the German Knights (Catholics)
Zizka set out to destroy it totally ...

Trebusin with baroque church, Mount Kalich
and plague-monument below Linde-trees

1540
The village of Trebusin was owned by the noble family of
Sigmund von Wartberg.
The castle was rebuild. Documents mention a "fortified manor".

* In May 1999 during garden works,
some enormous large hand-hewn rocks were found
in about 1,5 m depth. These were part of the
fortified wall safeguarding the manor
and maybe the whole village(?). The find was documented.
Each of those stone measures about 2 x 2,5 ft.
and weights more than a ton!
They were part of the fortification walls around the caste.



Found during garden work by Mrs. Corinna Meraldi

Karl Duban von Dubansky,
owner of Libecice Manor, was the next in line.
He was followed by his son, who later bought Ploskovice village.
The next village owner - and certainly also owner of the castle, was
in 1578 Oldrich Hostakovsky Arklebice
who was succeeded by his son Tristan.
Tristan again enlarged the building.
Documents speak of a "renaissance fortress".
Other documents of these days describe
"a manor with farm and fields"

1600
After Tristan's death the manor/castle/village
became the property of
Jaroslav Ostersky, Kaplir of Sulejovice,
who however lived at Mount Kalich Castle most of the time.
After him, his son Smil inherited Trebusin Castle.
The castle was "confiscated" by the crown
as he turned out to be involved in the uprising
against the Habsburg Monarchy.

1623:
The village is sold to Paul Vencelius von Bochus.

The Swedish Wars, 1630
The Castle is totally destroyed by Swedish Troops
The Swedes, just as Jan Zizka's troops centeries before them,
destroyed Trebusin Castle because it's owners were Catholics.

Paul V. von Bochus did not live much in Trebusin,
as during these days the castle was destroyed ...
His daughter married
Franz Karl Kressl von Qualtenberg,
who along with his brother was
raised to knighthood by the king in 1693

1720
we hear of his name-sake and heir:
Franz Karl Kressl Baron von Qualtenberg.
He was a most unusually talented and intelligent man,
founder of the Faculty of Law, Prague University,
whose first rector he became.
He received the Baron title by the Bohemian King
and was a truly outstanding historical person!
For our little village he is remembered for the following achievements:
* Together with Ferdinand Kindermann he build a new
"model village school", which thereafter became the
standard village school* in whole Bohemia by law.
*Remark: Trebusin had already a small school as of 1660!
It was a small two-roomed thatched building.
* He introduced new fruit-trees and wines from Tyrol to our area
* started a brick-laying manufacture (near today's gas-station)
* Started a "spinning school" for the village women and - best of all
* opened a brewery to brew "12 barrels of beer a day" in Trebusin!
There were 5 guesthouses and pubs in Trebusin!

1726: Erection of the Plague Monument with Stone Cross on a
4 m (12 feet) high column by Baron von Qualtenberg.

Records say:
"... and he build a new castle in Trebusin"
After the Swedes left the castle in ruins,
he rebuild it on the original foundation walls.

As far as castles go, Trebusin Castle is a smallish one,
even if each wing has a length of 35 m (105 ft.)
and a wall height of 9 - 11 m (28 - 33 ft., without roof!)
If climbing Mount Kalich, one realizes however
that it's not that small, either! It's quite big!
And to the common people of the village,
the castle seemed "enormous" - mainly because
their own houses were so very small.
This changed in later centuries, when people began
to set up their own business and build bigger private homes.

The noble family Kressl von Qualtenberg
under its heir
Franz Karl Baron Kressl von Qualtenberg (died 1801) owned
Triebsch (Trebusin) and the Kalich Village
as well as Mount Kalich, its Hilltop castle
and all surrounding forests until 1802.

His widow Josefina owned and managed
Castle and Village Trebusin until her death in 1802,
(including the castle-ruin on Mount Kalich,
Ploskovice village and other lands in our area)
and left all her possessions in her last will to her nephew
Franz Karl Count von Puteani,
who married
 Antonie (Antonia), Countess von Putteani née de Morzini
( connections to Castle Ploskovice)

Franz Karl started to renovate Trebusin Castle, to give the rooms baroque looks.
These alterations were done by Octavio Broggio,
the famous Litomerice architect of Italian origin.
The so-called "Northern Wing" was added (ground floor-rooms only).

Carl, Count von Putteani.
After his death, his widow Antonia, Countess von Putteani
carried on to administrate the vast properties.
After her death,
their daughter
Adele, Countess von Putteani
inherited Castle Triebsch (Trebusin) and all lands.



Adele as a 6-year old child
By courtesy Michael Skal, her great-grandson (USA, 2002)

Adele was a devoted catholic - always showing a free hand
in supporting the needs of our local church
and much liked by all in the Village of Triebsch (Trebusin)



Adele ( Adelheid) Maria von Puteani
By courtesy Michael Skal, her great-grandson (USA, 2002)

Adele, Countess von Puteani
(November 16, 1853 - April 1937)
married Karl, Count von Skal and Gross Ellguth
(December 16 - August 2, 1914)
on November 29, 1873 in Prague - she was 23 years old.

Count Karl von Skal and Gross-Ellguth
(the Gross-Ellguth properties were in Schlesian lands, today Poland).
His parents:
Ferdinand, Carl Wilhelm Baron von Skal u. G. E.
born.: Aug. 3, 1809; died: Jan 12, 1879
Married Aug. 27, 1838 to
Maria Franziska, Romana Countess von Riese-Stallburg
born: July 4, 1814; died: 1.Juli 1895



Adele + Karl, wedding photo
By courtesy Michael Skal, her great-grandson (USA, 2002)

Count Karl however liked to play at cards ...
Bit by bit he lost most of the lands to the Dom-Kapellmeister Hameschke,
the Bishops' musical director from Litomerice.
The family wanted him to leave Trebusin in order to avoid a family scandal
and posted him back to Jungferndorf (until 1912: Austria-Schlesia,
after 1945: Kobyla, Czech Republic),
were the family owned vast lands and a large castle ...
Castle Triebsch was sold during 1913.
Carl died in Jungferndorf 1914, Adele 1937.
Both are buried there in their family tomb.

  

The "von Skal" family tomb *  Castle Kobyla (Jungferndorf),
- today an old-age home -
modernised to "suite the purpose"
By courtesy Michael Skal, her great-grandson (USA, 2003)

The next in line of the Skal family were expelled after WWII from Jungferndorf.
All their lands were confiscated by the Polish State and Czech State
under communist rule.
Their destiny was very similar as that of the writer ...

The Skal family immigrated to the United States.
Adele's great-grandson Michael however
contacted the present owner and writer of this chronic
and sent her above Skal family photos ...
Thank you, Michael!

Read on in PART 2  (1912 - 1992)