#semine

LOCATIONS — 254/262 — Semine

Semín (Semine) is a small village lying to the west of Troskowitz. In earlier times, it included a fortress that no longer exists today, which, according to surviving records, belonged to Jan and Oldřich of Semín in the year 1365. These two brothers, and later their children, owned the fortress until 1416, but did not reside there much because they chose other places for their seats. In 1375, Oldřich's son Jan therefore assumed administration of Semín, and after him it passed to his sons Petr and Přibík. Whether these Semín men were ancestors or relatives of the Semín of Semín line – an old Bohemian minor noble family – unfortunately can no longer be definitively proven or disproven. So far, the only discovery is that the first to bear that name was Jakub the Younger Semín of Semín, as late as 1422. Even so, we decided to present the owner of the Semín fortress in our game as a representative example of impoverished nobility dwelling in pleasant countryside. As for the place where the fortress is situated, the terrain bordered by steep rocky slopes, lakes, marshes and fishponds became an ideal settlement area as early as the middle of the first century BC. Remains of massive ramparts can be found here, the most prominent part being a ten-metre-high frontal rampart with a moat, which archaeological research indicates was built by the Celts. In Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, one also finds the Semín mill, which belonged to the lords of Semín for centuries, and it remains an important part of the picturesque landscape to this day.

TRIVIA

— Besides the medieval fortress mentioned in surviving records, Semín was once part of a larger estate that included a manor farm, a mill and the neighbouring village of Želejov. In 1558, the property was sold by the lords of Semín to Jindřich Smiřický of Smiřice and incorporated into the larger Hrubá Skála estate. After the property confiscations that followed after the Bohemian Revolt, references to the fortress gradually disappeared from historical records. It was likely abandoned or destroyed during the Thirty Years' War, and no visible remains survive today. Its exact location is no longer known.

The area is also home to Hradiště Semín, the largest documented Celtic hillfort in Bohemia, covering almost 180 hectares beneath Trosky Castle. The purpose of the site remains uncertain, according to archaeologists. Only the remains of the rampart at the entrance to Semín have survived. It may have served as a refuge during periods of conflict, but some researchers believe it could also have held religious or ceremonial significance.

Wedding Crashers