Hasištejn is a ruined medieval castle

Castle

A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...

 in Bohemia

Bohemia

Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

, the Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

. It is situated near Kadaň

Kadan

Kadaň , is a city in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic.The city lies on the banks of the river Ohře. Although it is situated in an industrial part of the Czech Republic there is no major industry within the city and people usually work in offices or have to commute. There are two...

, Klášterec nad Ohří

Klášterec nad Ohrí

Klášterec nad Ohří is a town in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. The River Ohře runs through the town.The town has around 15,700 inhabitants...

 and Chomutov

Chomutov

Chomutov is a city in the Czech Republic, in the Ústí nad Labem Region.Chomutov has been a statutory town since 1 July 2006. It occupies an area of 29,26 km² and has 50 782 inhabitants , thereby making it the 20th largest town in the Czech Republic, the 4th largest in the Ústí nad Labem...

.

The castle, first mentioned in Maiestas Carolina

Maiestas Carolina

The Maiestas Carolina was a legal code proposed by Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor in 1350 to govern Bohemia. It received its name not before 1617.Based on previous legal customs and the Liber Augustalis of 1231, the aim of the code was to increase royal power...

, was probably founded by Friedrich of Schönburg

Schönburg

Schönburg is a municipality in the Burgenlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated 5 km east of Naumburg, on the river Saale. It is part of the Verbandsgemeinde Wethautal....

 to guard the way from Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

 to Saxony

Saxony

The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....

. The castle was seized by Václav IV

Wenceslaus, King of the Romans

Wenceslaus ) was, by election, German King from 1376 and, by inheritance, King of Bohemia from 1378. He was the third Bohemian and second German monarch of the Luxembourg dynasty...

 of Luxembourg

House of Luxembourg

The House of Luxembourg was a late medieval German dynasty, which between 1308 and 1437 ruled the Holy Roman Empire, twice interrupted by the rivaling House of Wittelsbach.-History:...

 and it was given to the house of Lobkovic.

The most renowned inhabitant was Bohuslav Hasištejnský z Lobkovic

Bohuslav Hasištejnský z Lobkovic

Bohuslav Hasištejnský z Lobkovic was a nobleman, writer and humanist of old Bohemian family of Lobkovic.He was born at Hasištejn Castle near Kadaň, Bohemia. He studied in Bologna and Ferrara and converted from Utraquism to Catholicism there...

, a poet and traveller who was born in Hassenstein and lived there permanently from 1503 to his death in 1510. He gathered a huge library in the castle and a lot of humanists Like Martin Luther

Martin Luther

Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...

 and Melanchthon came to visit Bohuslav. After his death the castle started to become desolate and caught fire in 1560. It still has a well-kept tower and walls.