Among the fields stretching beyond Bolesławiec toward Wartowice, amid enormous trees, stood a castle built in the 13th century, whose construction is attributed to the Knights Templar. The later history of Sternburg Castle is associated with robber knights and the legendary Lower Silesian Robin Hood, Czarny Krzysztof. There is also a tale of a stone knight who, like a witcher, guards the spirit of the old stronghold
The picturesquely situated site lies on the yellow municipal tourist trail. Today, only ruins remain of the castle, but even in this state the site is beautifully located, and its history continues to intrigue.
Unfortunately, Mirosław Haniszewski, who as wójt should also care about the municipality’s tourism development, does not care about this unique place. The funding money has been allocated (we asked the wójt for details of the project and are awaiting a response – ed.), but it seems that this is where the official’s initiative ended.
Proper care of the area around the historic monument exceeded the wójt’s abilities or imagination. That is why the site is unfortunately not only visited by tourists admiring Lower Silesia and attracted by the trail’s interesting description on the municipality’s website. It is also, unfortunately, a popular spot for litterers who organize bonfires there and leave rubbish behind. In addition, the same litterers dump old tires in the wetlands around the historic monument.
Correction by Mirosław Haniszewski
The Mysteries of Star Castle
In the past, a deep, water-filled moat supplied by a stream led to the castle surrounded by ramparts. Today, only a neglected, barely visible ditch remains, with water present only in places. The castle itself was hidden among old trees. According to 19th-century chronicles, it was supposedly built by the Knights Templar at the turn of the 11th and 13th centuries.
The Knights Templar, the armed arm of the Church, are the world’s most mysterious order. In Silesia, thanks to the efforts of Henry the Bearded, the first Templars settled in 1226; around Bolesławiec, they may have guarded pilgrims traveling along the Way of St. James.
Templars and Robber Knights
It was a pilgrimage route known since the Middle Ages, leading to the tomb of Saint James in Santiago de Compostela. The route crossed almost all of Europe, linking places of worship important to pilgrims. A distinctive large shell, worn around the neck or pinned to a hat, identified travelers on this route. The Lower Silesian section of the Camino de Santiago runs from Głogów through Chocianów, Kruszyn, Bolesławiec, Ocice, Nowogrodziec and Lubań to Zgorzelec.
According to legend, Star Castle was connected by an underground passage to the stronghold at Grodziec. This story may have resulted from tales about robber knights who supposedly settled in Sternburg.
On the one hand, folk tales warned of the ruthless robbers from Star Castle, who mercilessly plundered the surrounding area; on the other, they praised the Silesian Robin Hood, Czarny Krzysztof, whose story we described in the article: Lower Silesian Robin Hood operated near Bolesławiec. Did he hide treasure in Skała?
The Stone Witcher from Warta
The stronghold’s walls were supposedly crowned by a stone statue of a knight. Romantic poets wrote about the stone knight, praising the beauty of Star Castle’s ruins; unfortunately, the statue itself disappeared under unknown circumstances.
A local craftsman made another sculpture of a knight, which supposedly stood in the corner of the castle garden until 1939. The knight guarded the peace of the old ruins and the spirits that roamed them. When the church bells were about to strike midnight, the stone knight came alive and murdered intruders.
Hugo Rosner and Ryszard Flogel described the pedestal as follows (translated from German by Z. Abramowicz):
Within the dark woodland’s frame
the castle’s ancient walls remain
drenched by springtime rain
and by blood once spilled in vainThe melancholy ruins now stand bare
No song, no birdcall in the air,
while over the rubble keeps watch
a figure carved from stone on guardA knight hewn from rock, unmoved
with a grim face carved and grooved
stands high above the moat
by day bathed in sunlight’s glowYet when the little church nearby
strikes the hour of midnight nigh
he descends from the remnants high
and joins the earth as a dreadful shadowThree times he slowly circles round
the mossy ramparts he patrols
and no one who breaks in at night
escapes the stone ghost’s sightAnd never yet has it been so
that one could return to his home
once the knight has seen the intruder
who sends all strangers to the afterworld
The poem may have been written after the author read a 19th-century chronicle containing a description of a knight-monk statue. The chronicler’s note would indicate that such a sculpture really adorned the castle walls. This is also confirmed by oral accounts from village residents. K.A. Müller also mentioned the ruins of the old castle in his 1844 work on Silesian castles.
He described Star Castle as a knightly residential tower and also mentioned a knight’s statue. He additionally listed the castle’s owners: Wawrzyniec von Stibitz in 1237 and Burgold von Stibitz in 1406. Everything therefore indicates that it was a border watchtower guarding the passage separating the Lwówek area from the Bolesławiec area. The name Star Castle also appeared in documents from 1426, 1465, 1472 and 1580. In 1456, Georg von Ziedlitz auf Sternau is recorded as its sole owner. The Bolesławiec chronicler E. Wernicke also wrote about the castle, or rather its ruins, in a work published in 1884.
It is a shame that accounts of the mysterious Knights Templar and the sinister knight-monk statue, which comes alive at night and abducts intruders, are only legends and tales. Someone to defend this charming spot from the litterers who pollute it would be useful, since wójt Haniszewski does not care for it.
(Text on the history of Star Castle based on: The History of the Bóbr Riverside Municipality of Bolesławiec, Joanna Sawicka, Zdzisław Abramowicz. Bolesławiec 2011)