Milengrad

Milengrad (Hungarian: Milen vára) is a mediaeval castle situated 2 km northwest from Zajezda village, in Budinščina municipality, Krapina-Zagorje county, Croatia.

Name
Milengrad is a compound name: Milen being a proper noun and grad meaning castle or fortress in Croatian, thus Milengrad is Milen’s castle. In mediaeval documents it was called Mel(l)en, Milen and Miluan. Its Hungarian equivalents, Milen vára or Mileni vár, derive from the Croatian form and have the same meaning.

History
Milengrad Castle was built during the reign of Hungarian-Croatian King Béla IV after the Mongol invasion of 1241-1242. Around 1303, King Charles Robert donated the fortress to the Cseszneky family in compensation for their loss of Ipolyvisk Castle. The Counts Cseszneky sold it soon to Ban Mikcs, who, in 1309 ceded the lordship to the Herkffy family. In 1536 by the marriage between Katalin Herkffy and Miklós Patachich Milengrad became the two families' shared property till the 17th century when the Herkffys and the 19th century when the Patachich family became extinct. Due to the constant warfare with the Ottomans, and probably as well to an earthquake, by the late 17th century several walls of Milengrad fell down, and in 1683 it was already mentioned as arx diruta, a castle in ruins.