Balassagyarmat

Balassagyarmat lies on the Ipoly, at the edge of the hills of Nógrád. Its castle and the Balassa family's estates made the town a centre of the surrounding county. Ottoman troops captured the fortress in 1552, and royal forces recovered it in the campaign of 1593. The castle was repaired and reinforced, but in 1663 Ottoman troops took and destroyed it again, carrying inhabitants away. The town was rebuilt after the frontier wars.