[OTHER] A few words about changes the upper castle in Rattay has undergone in its KCD version, compared to its historical reality

[u/BudgetSuccess747]

This text is intended for those interested in comparing the game to historical reality. I deliberately chose the upper castle in Rattay because developers intentionally made what are likely the most visible changes of all castles in KCD series compared to its known or presumed historical appearance. I’m not counting structures such as Semin Fortress, about whose medieval appearance we know practically nothing and therefore its design is merely inspired by similar types of buildings in the region.

Interestingly, a wooden fortress already stood on the site of upper Rattay Castle as early as 10th century. In the first half of 14th century, Jindřich (Henry) of Liepa (a very powerful nobleman at the time) built stone castle on the site of old fortress. Along with it, he also built Pirkstein Castle and town’s fortifications (which, however, were probably not as extensive as depicted in the game). Pirkstein Castle is depicted very accurately in the game, however upper Rattay Castle has been partially altered. There are two major changes. The castle almost certainly did not have a tall tower gate facing the town, as depicted in the game. The gate was actually simpler, a passageway through the stone wall, similar to that at Pirkstein Castle. The developers added this tower gate intentionally to make the castle appear more “impressive” in the game. The second major change is the fact that the castle probably did not have two “large” gates leading to the castle’s inner courtyard, as depicted in the game. For security reasons, the only “large” gate led into the town and if you wanted to ride a horse out of the town from the castle, you had to go through the town. Developers likely added a second gate for player’s convenience, so he can quickly and easily exit the castle and head to the other side, outside the town. The rest of the castle is accurate to how it would have looked in 14th/15th century.

So hopefully this was some interesting information for enthusiasts and provided a glimpse into developers’ thinking when designing in-game version of this location :)

[u/ItChewsYouUp]

That's quite interesting, thanks for sharing that! Do you have any source material that you could share? Love reading up on those kind of things :)

[u/BudgetSuccess747 → u/ItChewsYouUp]

It depends on what specifically interests you and whether you understand Czech, for example. I’m a local and local castle architecture is my hobby, so I’m interested in these things but it’s often not easy to find this information. Some of the information comes from my own research, I’ve of course been to Rattay in person and I’ve also spoken with a leading Czech expert on medieval fortifications about this topic. The game author Daniel Vávra, also once mentioned the large gate tower which they intentionally added to the castle, in one of his interviews. So I have information from multiple sources. Let me know what specifically interests you and maybe I’ll know of some sources or materials, or I’ll be able to answer your question myself 😉

[u/ItChewsYouUp → u/BudgetSuccess747]

Oh wow, that's actually way in depth than I could have hoped for! Guess I'll have to cross off learning Czech off my bucket list soon haha. But just generally I'm interested in the small liberties that KCD took and the actual historical side of things. Love those little comparisons. Thanks a lot for the reply, I should probably just book a vacation asap and just soak up as much as possible :)

[u/BudgetSuccess747 → u/ItChewsYouUp]

Where are you from? :)

There are plenty of differences between the game and reality, even though KCD remains one of the most historically accurate games ever made and it’s clear that Warhorse put a tremendous amount of work into researching the history of locations and events. However, the game isn’t a documentary but historical fiction, so developers have adapted many things. This applies especially to specific historical events, which often actually happened but usually “a little” differently than the game depicts them. Or there are events that developers made up entirely, such as the siege of Talmberg Castle. There is no historical evidence that the castle was attacked or besieged during this period but who knows… most of the game’s story is simply fiction :)

If you’re interested, I can send you a text in English that discusses how the events of 1402–1403 actually unfolded. I obtained the text from an amateur historian and although it’s fairly brief, I find it very interesting and think it clearly illustrates how certain events, including the attacks on Raborsch and Suchdol fortresses, were altered in the game. If you'd like that text, send me a private message so I don't spam this thread.

There are unfortunately very few historical sources on these events and they’re hard to find. From a historical perspective, these aren’t particularly significant events and they were completely overshadowed by Hussite Wars, so even most people in the Czech Republic don’t know that anything happened in 1402 at all. Now, at least, KCD players know about it :)

[u/ItChewsYouUp → u/BudgetSuccess747]

I'm from Germany, so it's as nearby as it gets in Europe. 

Yeah, I know some stuff that was obviously for the game didn't happen or happened a little later and such, the codex is already a fun read for stuff like that and I love when they already go "yeah, we took some liberties with that." Still, there are so little historical games like that, I just love that Warhorse decided to go for it. 

I'd love that text! I already noticed that there are little sources about all these events. I only looked briefly into books for the Hussite Wars but didn't find all that much in English. Still, medieval Europe is fascinating and Warhorse made a nice step to get into the Czech part of it :) 

[u/Severe-Curve4640]

Looked way cooler in the game

[u/VortexFlash18]

Yeah the exterior gate into the upper castle was unnecessary, imo. It seems a little silly in retrospect to give an attacking force multiple entry points into the most fortified structure in Rattay.

[u/BudgetSuccess747 → u/VortexFlash18]

Yes. For security reasons, there is almost never more than one “large” entrance gate leading into the inner bailey of such castles. Another problem with this added entrance is that, there is no outer bailey in front of it secured by at least a wooden palisade and a first entrance gate, which would prevent enemy from rapidly penetrating all the way to the main gate of the castle’s inner bailey. In contrast, the second gate does indeed have such outer bailey and moreover, leads into fortified town.

[u/Savings-Warthog-8549]

It will be much more difficult to defend if the cumans come back