Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.17234/RadoviZHP.57.07
Where was Castrum Nicola situated? (Summary)
Danko Dujmović
; Odsjek za povijest umjetnosti Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Rijeci
Abstract
The castrum Nikola is mentioned in a written source from the beginning of the thirteenth century in a description of the boundaries of the estate of a certain Kajan. It represents the earliest explicit reference to a castrum in the territory of medieval Slavonia, but the exact location of castrum Nikola has remained unresolved in the scholarly literature. This paper reviews previous hypotheses concerning its placement, including proposals situating it in the area of Donja Zelina or near Resnička Trnava, and critically re-evaluates them in light of written sources and reconstructed patterns of landownership. By analysing boundary descriptions, references to neighbouring estates, the mention of servi regis along the border, and the Zagorje road, the paper proposes a new location for Kajan’s estate and castrum Nikola on Mount Medvednica, north of the medieval estate of Čučerje. The suggested position lies along the Medvednica ridge, near communication routes leading towards Zagorje. The paper concludes that castrum Nikola should not be sought in the wider area of Donja Zelina, as the absence of Zagreb Chapter estates there makes such an identification unlikely.
Keywords
kastrum Nikola; kulturni krajolik; Medvednica; Zagreb; Čučerje
Hrčak ID:
352369
URI
Publication date:
21.12.2025.
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