In the mid-13th century, there was a wooden castle of the Curonians called Asenputten. In old 13th-century documents, the names Asimputte and Asenputte appear, which later obviously transformed into the German Hasenpoth and the Latvian Aizpute. Wilhelm Stahfenhagen in his "Album Kurlaendischer Ansichten" in 1866 also notes that the word Asenputte or Asimputte definitely derives from the Latvian word aizputināšana (snowdrift), and even mentions a version that in a deep valley on the way to present-day Aizpute, a wild goat was snowed in and died, from which, apparently, the name originated: āzis putināts , Aizpute. The truthfulness of these aforementioned stories, of course, cannot be proven, as there is no historical documentary evidence. The roots of the old names of Aizpute seem to come from Finno-Ugric words Ase, Ason, meaning "actively inhabited place." In historical documents, the castle's name appears in various forms such as Asseboten, Assenputten, Assenpot, Assenboten, Hasepotten, Hasenputten, Hasenpothe, Hasenpud.
It is first mentioned in the 1253 chronicle in a treaty on the division of Curonian lands between the bishop and the order. The border ran along the Tebra River. The right bank went to the bishop, and the left bank to the order.
In the chronicle of Irgen Helm, it is stated that the Aizpute Order castle was built in 1249. However, it is believed that in 1249 the order's master Dietrich von Greningen ordered the construction of a stone castle to begin. Most likely, the order's troops at that time were stationed in the previously built wooden Curonian castle, since after the Battle of Durbe in 1260 the Germans urgently left the castle, but in 1261 they recaptured it almost without a fight. According to historians, the castle was built from 1276 to 1300, opposite the Curonian castle on the right bank of the Tebra.
Initially, the castle had only walls forming a square inner courtyard and two watchtowers located at different corners. The inner courtyard measured 41 by 38 meters. The northeast tower was 9 by 9 meters, and the wall thickness reached 2 to 2.8 meters. In the 14th–15th centuries, a three-story residential eastern wing was built. Its width was 9 meters. Around the beginning of the 16th century, the Livonian Order lost its power, and many castles transformed from military fortresses into farm warehouses and residences of landlords. This also happened to the Aizpute castle.
In 1562, Livonia as a state ceased to exist. In Courland, the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, subordinate to Poland, was formed. Duke Gotthard Kettler leased Aizpute to Gerhard Nolde.
The castle was occupied by the enemy only once. This happened during the Polish-Swedish war of 1655–1660. In 1659, the Swedes unexpectedly attacked the combined forces of Lithuanians, Poles, and Courland landlords' detachments led by Lithuanian hetman Komarowski. The Swedes killed about 200 people, and about 400 took refuge in the Aizpute castle – although they surrendered that same evening. There is no information about damage to the castle.
In 1665, the castle was renovated, and a garrison of Duke Jacob and an artillery team were stationed there. After Duke Jacob's death in 1682, the castle became the property of Michael Friedrich Nolde. The castle was completely rebuilt, lost its military significance, and new residential buildings were constructed in 1698.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the castle was only partially inhabited, as the baron built himself a new palace elsewhere. The condition of the castle worsened. The cultural layer grew, and the first floor of the eastern wing turned into a basement. The castle began to be used as a warehouse.
After the 1920 reform, the castle housed the State Agricultural Society, and in 1924 the castle became the property of the town of Aizpute. In 1939, the castle was adapted for school needs. It was used until the mid-1970s, after which it was abandoned. Restoration work began in 1990, and several surveys were conducted. In 1997, a project to reinforce the walls and build a roof was completed, partially implemented.
In 1999, a section of the castle wall in the right wing was conserved, and a tiled roof was installed.
The second, archiepiscopal castle was built on a small hill (now Bleyda Hill), where previously there was also a Curonian castle. The hill was on the right bank of the Tebra River (now dammed, forming a mill lake). The height of the bank above the river level was 10 meters. According to the Rhymed Chronicle, the Curonians lived in the Aizpute castle as early as 1261, when after a general Curonian uprising they voluntarily surrendered to the Germans and gave hostages from the sons of their nobility. Only after these events could the construction of the stone Aizpute castle of the Courland bishop begin on the Curonian hillfort. The castle was supposed to be completed by 1290 (according to other sources, in 1295), when the cathedral chapter of the Courland bishopric moved to Aizpute. The castle was built around 1290–1295, when the cathedral chapter of the Courland (Piltene) bishopric relocated to Aizpute. The Aizpute episcopal castle is first mentioned in a chronicle in 1338.
The castle occupied an area of 120 by 50 meters. It was surrounded by a fortress wall. In the southwest corner was the Church of St. John. No plans or drawings of the castle have survived, so it is difficult to imagine what the castle looked like. Until 1513, the residence of the cathedral chapter was located here. After the collapse of Livonia, the castle was abandoned, and by the end of the 17th century, nothing remained of it. The stones of the castle were used to expand the church and build houses for local residents. During excavations in 1922, only a small fragment of the fortress wall was found.
Sources:
http://offtop.ru/castles/v1_239775_1.php
https://fotomania.org/2011-10-01-2/
https://medievalheritage.eu/en/main-page/heritage/latvia/aizpute-castle-hasenpoth/
