Friedrich of Linava

Friedrich of Linava has remained a controversial personality. Historians assumed that he not only unlawfully seized a part of the land, but also abused the strategic location of Helfštýn on an important route through the Moravian Gate for robbing.

Some authors even believed that King Wenceslas II, during his campaign to Moravia, took military action against Friedrich and his castle in 1287. They make reference to the Bohemian Chronicle of Wenceslas Hájek of Libočany (1541), according to which the king took the castle and had the robbers executed, but this is in fact dubious. We have no reliable accounts about Friedrich of Linava; we do not know when and under what circumstances he lost Helfštýn Castle. Around 1320, Helfštýn passed into the possession of Vok of Kravaře, a member of a significant Moravian noble family. By then, the castle had become the centre of a relatively large domain, which included the town of Lipník, established before Helfštýn. The castle remained in ownership of the House of Kravaře for more than a century and underwent extensive structural changes during that era.