u/BudgetSuccess747

Just 2 km from Maleshov Fortress lies the site where, in 1424, already blind Jan Žižka fought a battle against numerically superior coalition forces of Catholics and moderate Prague Hussites. Žižka emerged victorious from the battle and the following day, took military control of Kuttenberg. The Battle of Maleshov was one of the bloodiest battles of Hussite Wars. Between 1,200 and 1,400 coalition soldiers died in the battle, while losses in Jan Žižka’s army were several times lower. Three hundred Prague townspeople also died in the battle. The site is easily accessible on foot from Maleshov.

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 :)