Beckov Castle - Legend of Becko, The Jester

Legend of Becko, The Jester

Citation from Radio Slovakia International:

Becko is a Slovak Yorick. Everybody knows him and his wit is renowned. Thanks to his skills he’s achieved eternal fame with one of the most famous castle ruins bearing his name. Who was he? What is his story?

Beckov Castle is featured in an historically counterfactual legend suggests that the castle was built in the time of Stibor of Stiboricz of the Clan of Ostoja. Stibor was accompanied by his jester, Becko, on a hunting trip. As he entertained the men very well, Stibor offered him a deal. He could ask for anything he wanted. Becko asked his master to build a castle on the hill by the end of the year. Everybody who passed the hill had to help build the fortress for 8 days, and so Stibor managed to keep his promise. Becko became the master of this place for a year. As the castle was in a strategic position, Stibor asked Becko to leave it. Again, the jester was told to ask for anything he wanted. "Give me as much gold as I weigh." said Becko. He asked for yet one more thing, that the castle be named after him. At the farewell party, Becko took a bag full of gold coins and left to seek his happiness elsewhere.

Later, when the castle was completed, the noblemen had taken their dogs hunting. After returning to the castle and satisfying their appetite, the hunters threw the leftovers to the animals. A boy, a servant's son, had come to see his father, and because he was hungry, tried to steal a piece of meat from a dog, which became aggressive. The boy's father killed the dog while defending his child, whereupon Stibor became angry with the man and threw him from the top of the castle hill. As the servant was falling, he shouted out, "In a year and a day!" Stibor forgot about the curse. However, a year later, Stibor's son got married. Stibor got drunk and took a nap on a castle terrace. A snake suddenly appeared and bit Stibor in the eye. The wounded master jumped up in shock and ran to the end of the terrace. He fell to his death from the same spot as the servant had done.

The whole story was invented. For example, Stibor of Stiboricz entered into his service to Hungarian kings in the second half of the 14th century, when Beckov Castle had already been built. Similarly, linguistic analysis suggests that the name of the castle didn't originate in the name of the jester, which is an old Hungarian word meaning fool. Quoting the opinion of Slovak historians, the name Beckov is closely related with the word "bludinec", which once described a labyrinthine place. The labyrinth could have been formed when the river Vah flooded the area.

According to the legend, Stibor was very cruel and showed no mercy towards his servants. The stories about his cruelty have also been made up. On the contrary, according to historical sources, Duke Stibor seems to have been a very kind hearted and open minded person who founded hospitals and monasteries. He often pleaded on behalf of criminals and begged for their mercy.

How is it then possible that such a cruel legend was created? It seems people mixed up the characters of the nobleman and his son, who was, according to medieval documents, a really vicious person. The stories about Stibor's character and the foundation of the castle might not correspond to real events, however there are some elements in the legend that make one wonder how things looked in the courts of the Hungarian nobility.

The first element - feasts. It was important to impress the guests with the number and variety of dishes served, since this indicated the status of the host. The noblemen took great care in organizing feasts. A popular decoration on the festive table was a swan and many different kinds of meat. It is well known that many kings and noblemen suffered from gout, a typical royal disease. It was caused by the over consumption of meat. At that time, a lot of meat was eaten. Whether it was pork, venison, pheasant or beef, it was all eaten up. The etiquette of the time permitted eating with hands. Most of the time a piece of bread was dipped into gravy or it was used as a table mat under a piece of meat. When they finished eating, the greasy bread was thrown to the dogs. Do you remember the little boy who stole a piece of meat from a dog?

The second element - dogs. Dogs were mainly used for hunting since this was the main sport and entertainment of the noble men. It trained people to fight in battles. Boys and girls alike were trained in this way. Dogs were bred at the courts just for hunting. They were very valuable and were imported to medieval Hungary from abroad. These animals were an integrated part of castle social life.

The third element - alcohol. The brutal violent acts of the legend were caused by alcohol. The nobility mostly drank wine. However, wine drunk during feasts was not as strong as what we drink today as it was watered down. But it is a common fact that lots of alcohol was consumed. Even a century later when Beatrix of Aragon came to Upper Hungary she was shocked by the amount of alcohol consumption and by the horrible way in which the festivities were held. She had arrived from civilized Italy so she experienced a culture shock when she took part in the feasts at a Hungarian court for the first time.

Duke Stibor definitely had jesters at his court. However, we do not know whether one of them was named Becko. Nonetheless, despite being historically untrue, the legend depicts the founding of Beckov castle so vividly that almost everyone in Slovakia is familiar with it. "The Slovak Yorick is eternal, despite deviating from reality".