Bernartice Fortress

Bernartice is a small market town in the Písek District of South Bohemia, first documented in 1248. Its history is closely tied to three successive fortified manor houses (tvrz) that stood on or near the settlement over the centuries.

Where did the first fortress stand?

Local historical tradition places the founding of the first tvrz at Bernartice around the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries, crediting Bernard (Bernart) of Bernartice and his wife Dobroněha of Kamberk. It stood close to the parish church and served for generations as the seat of the minor nobility who held the surrounding villages.

How did ownership shift during the Middle Ages?

In 1383, Dobeš of Bernartice sold the estate to Kuneš of Chvojno. After the Hussite wars, the property was administered by Mikuláš Krchlebec of Krchleby. Around the same time, a branch of the family took a different path: following the death of Kunrát of Bernartice around 1399, his sons Buzek and Petr inherited the neighboring settlement of Borovany and began building their own residence there, adopting the name "of Borovany."

What happened to the second fortress?

A second tvrz was later built on a hill above the Zámecký rybník (Castle Pond), on the very spot where the town's school stands today. Its owners over time included the Bechyně family and Rynárt of Dub.

When did the Jesuits take over the estate?

The estate's last lay owner, Anna Puchfelderová, sold it in 1606 to the Jesuit College of St. Clement (the Klementinum) in Prague. The Jesuits built a third tvrz as the seat of their newly established manorial court and, in 1623, added the neighboring Borovany estate to their holdings. Under Jesuit administration, Bernartice was granted market-town privileges in 1636.

Why did the fortress eventually disappear?

In 1669, the Jesuits administratively merged the Bernartice estate with the neighboring Opařany estate. Stripped of its administrative role, the tvrz quickly fell into disrepair and soon vanished altogether. The union became permanent in 1727, when the order built a new residence at Opařany and, later, the Church of St. Francis Xavier there, designed by Kilián Ignác Dientzenhofer and modeled on the Church of St. Clement at the Klementinum. When the Jesuit order was suppressed in 1773, Bernartice passed into the royal Opařany estate.

Are there any other traces of the manorial past?

In 1781, water was piped from the Zámecký rybník to a stone well on the town square — a small but tangible remnant of the old estate infrastructure.

What is left to see on site today?

None of the three successive tvrz buildings survive above ground in a form open to visitors, and the grounds of the former Jesuit manor are not accessible to the public today. What remains is largely documentary: written records and place names such as Zámecký rybník that still hint at the town's older layout.

Frequently asked questions

Is there still a fortress standing in Bernartice? No. None of the three historical tvrz buildings survived intact; the last, Jesuit-era one disappeared after the estate merged with Opařany in the 17th century.

Who founded the first tvrz in Bernartice? Tradition credits Bernard of Bernartice and his wife Dobroněha of Kamberk, around the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries.

What is the connection between Bernartice and the Jesuits? The Jesuits of Prague's Klementinum bought the estate in 1606 and administered it until their order was dissolved in 1773.

Where did the second fortress stand? On a hill above the Zámecký rybník, at the site of today's school.