Várda

Várda was the seat of the Várday family in the lowlands near the upper Tisza. In 1415 King Sigismund gave the family permission to build a castle, and in 1421 granted town rights to the settlement. Cardinal István Várday began rebuilding the castle in 1465, employing craftsmen alongside the estate's dependent labourers. In the sixteenth century a moat and bastions strengthened its defences against the dangers of the Ottoman frontier.