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Castrum Thopozka on the borders of christianity : an example of a fortified cistercian monastery

Cistercian monasteries were sometimes strongly fortified for their own protection and for the protection of their estates. These structures were occasionally used to defend larger territories in which the abbey was located, for instance territorial ecclesiastical units. An example of this type of Cistercian abbey is the Abbey of the Blessed Virgin Mary in medieval Toplica (modern- day Topusko, in central Croatia). Its geographical location at the borders of the Bishopric of Zagreb enabled the abbey to become a leading religious institution in the area. The defensive role of Topusko Abbey came to prominence at the very end of the Middle Ages, in the 1520s, when the central abbey fort (castrum Thopozka) was constructed as part of the organized defence of the Croatian kingdom against Ottoman Turks. Yet some of the defensive buildings of the abbey were erected in the thirteenth century, much predating the Turkish invasions. This chapter uses published and unpublished sources and secondary literature to reconstruct and examine the abbey’s defence system and its significance for the larger territories of the bishopric of Zagreb and the Kingdom of Hungary-Croatia. Yet, this essay discusses the cultural role of Cistercian monks and their interactions with ecclesiastical and lay institutions of the ‘frontier’ and beyond during the medieval period.

Abbey ; fortress ; Cistercians ; defence ; monastery ; medieval

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