The Dzerbene Castle was built near the Latgale Castle Hill (Augstā kalnas) on the border of the Piebalga district. In the 13th and 14th centuries, a wooden castle stood on the High Hill. The name Serben of the Dzerbene region comes from the name of its first governor, Simans Serben (Zerben), a vassal of the Archbishop of Riga. In 1361, the Archbishop of Riga, Fromhold, pledged the Piebalga and Dzerbene city districts to his vassal Bartholomew of Tiesenhausen for 2800 Riga marks. On the other hand, in 1439, Archbishop Hennings Sharpenbergs transferred the Tauren estate in the Dzerbene city district to his vassal Ansis Renn. The Dzerbene region is also mentioned in historical documents in 1439 and 1457. The fate of Dzerbene was affected by the fact that on May 11, 1477, the Archbishop of Riga, Silvester Stodevesher, excommunicated the Master of the Livonian Order and his officers, the Riga council, aldermen of guilds, all Riga burghers and residents, and imposed an interdict on Riga. The Master and the Riga citizens complained about the interdict to the Pope, who ordered the interdict to be lifted, but the archbishop did not comply. The "Priests' War" (Pfaffen-Krieg) began. During the internecine struggle between Archbishop Silvester Stodevesher and the Order Master Berndt von der Borch in early 1479, the Order occupied 13 castles belonging to the archbishop, including Dzerbene, in 14 days “without a sword strike or a gunshot.” In 1485, Dzerbene Castle again belonged to the archbishop.
In 1530, Dzerbene Castle is mentioned as one of the seven manorial estates of Wilhelm of Brandenburg, coadjutor to Archbishop Thomas Schöning, under the direct management of the archbishop. In 1555, the archbishop gifted the Dzerbene estate to his chancellor Christoph Sturtz. When in 1556 Master Heinrich von Gallen arrested the archbishop and imprisoned him in Smiltene Fortress, the castle was occupied by the Livonian Order.
During the Livonian War in 1559, Dzerbene Castle was completely destroyed by the troops of the Russian Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible. In the subsequent events of the war, Dzerbene is no longer mentioned. Curiously, guidebooks cite 1577 as the year the castle was destroyed by the Muscovites, presumably by analogy with other Vidzeme castles, but this date is incorrect. In the Middle Ages, there was a settlement near the castle, which was destroyed along with the castle in the 16th century.
Already from 1569, from the moment of the formation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Jan Chodkiewicz began distributing estates in considerable numbers to Polish nobles. Such estates existed in the Cēsis region as well. One of the Polish commanders, Drobysh, received the Dzerbene-Drusti district in 1580. Thus, in the 16th century, Dzerbene came under Polish rule. Its owners changed. Among them is mentioned a certain Simanis Serbinš. Possibly, the new owner took the surname from the former name of the castle and estate – Serben. The Dzerbene citadel is mentioned in the Treaty of Jam Zapolski of 1582; after the treaty, its district was included in the Pardaugava principality of the Cēsis voivodeship, belonging to Poland-Lithuania. In the mid-16th century, the castle, destroyed by Ivan IV’s troops, was abandoned, and its owners settled in the buildings of the Dzerbene manor. During Swedish Vidzeme, from 1625, the Dzerbene estate (Serbenhof) belonged to Svante Banér.
In 1681, the following variant of the name appears in historical documents: Serbenhof. On the site of the castle ruins, the Dzerbene manor was later built. In the 17th century, two manor houses are mentioned on the estate – old and new. Both used fragments of the former castle walls. Around the houses were fences and defensive moats. Later, during the manor’s development, two zones were created, separated by the defensive moats of the once fortified estate. The manor house and living quarters are located on the manor site, while the farm buildings are further along the road.
The manor palace was built in the Classicism style and was destroyed several times during its existence. At the end of the 19th century, an extension was added – an impressive quadrangular tower in the Neo-Gothic style. The manor is surrounded by a park with a cascade of seven ponds.
The current manor complex was built in 1577 on the site of the destroyed stone castle. The Dzerbene manor in its present form is only one and a half centuries old. At that time, the most popular method of modernizing mansions was the addition of towers of various sizes and shapes. The enthusiasm for building towers spread throughout Latvia like an epidemic and ended only at the beginning of the 20th century. By analogy, the architect of this modernization can be considered Paul Max Berči, since it is known that he designed the nearby Aule estate.
The manor’s history preserves interesting ghost legends. One of them says that in 1832, the last scion of the baronial family Gottlieb von Weissenstein arrived at a ball in Cēsis. The owner of Rauna, Alexander Wulf, joked about Weissenstein being a bachelor and thus dooming his line to extinction. Weissenstein got angry at Wulf and challenged him to a duel, which he lost. Wounded, he died on the way to the castle. Since dueling was forbidden at the time, the deceased was secretly brought into the bedroom, laid in bed, and a pistol was placed beside him. The maid Maria, who was also the baron’s lover, was found guilty. When the duel seconds’ conscience awakened and they told the truth, it was too late; Maria fell ill with consumption and died. It is said that Maria’s figure is sometimes seen late at night above the manor building. There is also a legend that the spirit of the baron himself lives in the Dzerbene manor, who was once buried by his own will in the yard but later reburied in the family crypt, where his soul finds no rest.
Sources:
https://www.entergauja.com/lv/ko-darit/enter-vesture/dzerbenes-muizas-pils-1
