The Pazin Castle was first mentioned as
Castrum Pisinum on 7 June 983 in a document issued by
Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor, confirming the possession of the castle to the
bishop of Poreč. In the 12th century the bishops of Poreč ceded it to Meinhard of Schwarzenburg, owner of Črnigrad Castle (German:
Schwarzenburg), then to
Meinhard I, Count of Gorizia, and finally to
Meinhard, Margrave of Istria (d. 1193) and his successors. In 1374 Albert IV, Margrave of Gorizia, died without successors and the castle was inherited by the members of the
House of Habsburg. They rented or mortgaged it many times during the next few centuries to various noblemen closely related to them, among which were members of families
Auersperg, Barbo,
Della Torre, Devinski, Durr (Dürrer),
Eggenberg, Flangini,
Fugger,
Khevenhüller, Mosconi, Swetkowitz, Turinetti de Prie and
Walsee. The castle was finally sold to Antonio Laderchi de
Montecuccoli in 1766 for 240
florins and remained the property of his family until 1945. In the meantime, various countries around the castle changed many times over the last more than 200 years: after the end of the
Venetian Republic in 1797, Pazin belonged to the
Habsburg monarchy, then to
Napoleon's
French Empire, again to the Habsburg Monarchy, in 1918 to
Italy, in 1945 to
Yugoslavia, and in 1991 to
Croatia. For many centuries the castle was the administrative seat of the County of Pazin (Croatian: Pazinska grofovija/Pazinska knežija; Italian: Contado di Pisino; German: Grafschaft Mitterburg) or County of Istria (Croatian: Istarska grofovija/Istarska knežija; Italian: Contea d' Istria; German: Grafschaft Isterreich), governed either by a castle captain
castellan, or the count himself. ==See also==