Ineu

Ineu stands on the Crișul Alb at the western approaches to Transylvania. Its castle, recorded in the thirteenth century, guarded the surrounding Zărand district. The fortress changed hands repeatedly as the Ottoman Empire, Transylvanian princes and Habsburg rulers competed for control of the frontier.

In 1599 Ineu came under Michael the Brave after his victory at Șelimbăr. The Ottomans recovered it in 1658 and strengthened its defences; known to them as Yanova, the town became an administrative centre and acquired mosques. The Ottoman traveller Evliya Çelebi described the town and its buildings in the 1660s. Habsburg forces took the fortress in 1693. In the early eighteenth century it housed a frontier garrison, before the estate was granted to the Duke of Modena in 1726.