Castles everywhere. From roughly 500 to 500 years later. Stone fortresses dominated the medieval landscape. They housed nobles, yes, but mostly they guarded borders in chaotic times.
Giant. Stone. Immobile.
Attacking them was hard work. Siege warfare wasn’t exactly fun for the people starving on the outside. Many fell. Some were bought. Bribes work wonders in war. But a handful never surrendered.
Here are six. Including one where a dead cow changed history.
Bohus Fortress
Southwestern Sweden.
Bohus Fortress survived at least 13 attacks. The Swedish National Property Board keeps score. Built on a hill in the 1280s by Norwegian order. Wood first, then stone as money and time allowed.
The layout was brutal for attackers. Interlocking walls. Towers connected to other towers. Lose one? No big deal. Retreat. Fight again elsewhere.
1566 tested this theory. Swedes took one tower. They thought they were winning. The defenders didn’t panic. They kept shooting. Then they blew up the captured tower’s gunpowder magazine. The attackers got a very bad surprise. Boom.
The border moved anyway. Peace treaty of Roskilde, 1658. Bohus went to Sweden without fighting the last round.
Hochosterwitz Castle
Southern Austria. Perched on a 500-foot rise.
This place has been defended since A.D. 860. Always changing. Always ready. The website claims it was never conquered.
Fear of the Turks in the 16th centuries triggered a renovation. The owner added 14 gates. Not one. Fourteen. Each with its own tricks. Traps. Dead ends.
But the real legend is from the 1300s. An army loyal to Countess Margaret surrounded them. Hunger set in. The defenders ran out of food. Almost.
They slaughtered the last cow.
FILLED it with grain. Then CATAPULTED the carcass over the wall.
Margaret’s army watched this happening. They reasoned that if these guys were tossing meat-and-grain bombs around, they must have plenty left. The army left. Smart cow move? Maybe. Fiction? Likely. But it’s the story people tell.
Burgdorf Castle
Near Bern, Switzerland.
1383 brought war between Bern and the counts of Neu-Kyburg. Burgdorf was Kyburg property. Bern attacked. 45 days of siege.
It failed. Bern got tired. The Kyburgs held on. But war is expensive. Peace is cheaper.
So Bern bought the castle.
37,800 guildERS. A massive sum. The deal was done. No surrender, just a transaction.
Burgdorf isn’t huge. Just a tower, a keep, a great hall. Connected by walls. It sits there. Still unconquered after 800 years. Because someone paid for it.
Mont-Saint-Michel
Tidal island. Northwestern France.
Part abbey. Part fortress. All stubborn.
During the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453), the English tried to take it. Multiple times. They couldn’t.
Why? Geography. The tide cuts it off from the sea, then isolates it from land. Ramparts are strong. Nature helps too. The Mont-Saint-Michel site calls it practically impregnable.
Legend says Archangel Michael told Bishop Aubert to build something there in 708. He said it three times. Aubert built it.
Whether divine instruction or strategic genius, it stands. Untouched.
Kost Castle
Northern Czech Republic. Bohemian paradise.
Gothic style. Built in the 1200s, expanded later. Walls, fortifications, the Great White Tower (named for the stone color, obviously). A chapel. A brewery added in the 1500s. Good priorities.
15th century storytime: General Jan Žižka tried to take it. Failed. He supposedly looked at the walls and called them as hard as bone.
“Kost” means bone in Czech. The name fits the insult. Whether he actually said it, no one knows. But the walls held. They still hold.
Château Pèlerin
Northern Israel coast.
Crusader architecture. Built 1218 by Knights Templar.
Location matters. By the sea meant supply ships could dock. Sieges rely on starvation. You can’t starve what you can resupply via ocean. They wanted control of the coast and Jerusalem (lost in 1187).
Inside? Housing. A chapel. Standard medieval stuff.
It was never taken by force. But in 1291 it didn’t matter. The Kingdom of Jerusalem collapsed. The Crusaders left. Abandoned it.
UNESCO notes this history. The castle stood empty. Victory through evacuation.
Which castle wins the toughest title? Hard to say. But they’re all still there. Waiting for someone else to try.
