Jasenov Castle is a ruined Gothic and Renaissance era stone castle above the village of Jasenov in Humenne District, Presov Region, Slovakia. It is a hilltop castle located on a fairly steep, roughly cone-shaped hill with a limestone bedrock, in an altitude of approximately 392 m (1286.08 ft) above sea level. The eponymous village at the foot of its hill was founded as an adjoined castle settlement, similarly to several other villages in the region.
History
The beginnings of the stone castle date back to the second half of the 13th century. Jasenov is unique among the larger castles of the Upper Zemplin county (and region) due to being founded as a seat of a noble family from the beginning, rather than a castle founded by royal initiative. The original construction of the castle was begun by the Peteny (Peten, Pecen) noble family in the late 1200s and led to the erection of the castle's keep and the original, core defensive perimeter.
In the 1310s, the castle was donated, along with the town of Humenne, the nearby Brekov Castle and the surrounding manors to the Drugeth family by Charles I. of Hungary. The Drugeth family retained ownership of the castle until its demise in 1644, when it was destroyed by one of the armies of George I. Rakoczi, during one of the period's anti-Habsburg uprisings.
