The Earth Castle of Biharia
The sometime castle of Biharia became the name-giving seat of the county Bihor . This huge sized earth castle is the most imposing among the similar monuments in our country. The inhabitants of the village knew the importance of this place still from the Bronze Age; this irregular-shaped (oval) bank, set up on the balcony of the Cosmo creek has been built with protecting intentions with quite a lot of work.
The inhabitants know this place as "the Castle of Girls " ("Leányvár"). The sagas say about it either that the inhabitants took here the young girls to rescue them from the Turks, or that the Turks kept here the women taken as prisoners. The Earth Castle has been built west from the " Castle of Girls " intercepting it with its exterior wall, and its size is remarkable even in our days. It lays on a 4,7 ha rectangle shaped 115 x 150 m area, surrounded by a 15 – 20 meter wide ditch and a 5 – 7 meter high bank.
The names of the builders are covered by mystery. It differs from the similar building by its rectangular plan, which means that the builders were not the Avars. The huge size of the castle leads us to the conclusion that it was a richly inhabited area and that before the Settlement of the Magyars it must have been by all means the seat of a leader, who wielded over a larger region.
According to the historians it was built by the Bulgarian Slavs in the 9 th century. It was capable to host 2 – 3 thousand people in wartime. It is said that the castle has been the property of Menumorut. After the Hungarian State Formation it has become the centre of the county Bihor founded by King Stephen.
The commandant of the troops was invested with judicial tethers, controlled the fairs and on occasions like these he released the new banknotes; he also gathered the taxes for the king. He had as direct dependants the villeins of the castle, whom he gave military tasks. They were attended by inhabitants of the castle belonging to the semi-free category (these people supplied them with food, clothes and armour); in our case the people living outside the castle: the inhabitants of the parish church owner Biharia, respectively Cetariu and Cauaceu.
The castle has also been the centre of the episcopate (in 1061) soon after the replacement of county ‘s centre to Oradea . The castle has also been the seat of the duchy founded for Prince Imre. This role has been kept in the following century too.
The destructions of some migrating people from the 11 th century proved that despite the high planking set up on the higher areas of the walls, it could not provide the required protection. Though there has been built a stonewall to the top of the bank in the 12 th century, but the castle has lost its military role for ever. In 1514 and in 1704, by the time of the revolution lead by Rákóczi Ferenc II. it still had some military role, but these imposing banks have never provided protection to those who tried to find refuge behind them. In 1709 the castle has been abandoned for ever.
In 1896 there has been set up a ridge in the center area of the castle with a Turul bird on the top of it made of bronze, in remembrance of the millenary of the Hungarian Settlement. This monument has vanished after 1919, there was only the pedestal left until our days. Nowadays the major part of the castle is used as football-ground, in the 1970's it hosted youth meetings, respectively after 1989 it is the scene of the "Meeting of the Youth at the Earth Castle of Biharia" (FIT = " Földvári Ifjúsági Találkozó ").
The Gáspár András monument
Gáspár András (1803 - 1884), the commandant of the soldiers defending Hungary, has found here his refuge and peace of mind after the failure of the war of independence. He has been the captain of a regiment, part of the troops of the "Kaiser und König" wearing the name of tsar Nicholas IX. At the outburst of the war of independence he renounced to his rank and joined the national army, where he has been advanced to general. After coming to know the "declaration of independence", as Klapka said: "he retired somewhat and did not serve anymore".
He has been sentenced to death, which has been reduced to ten years of prison in the castle. After one and a half years he was left out of prison and ha settled in Biharia. Ha has been the major of the settlement until 1868, and between 1868 and 1875 he was the territorial deputy of Bihor region.
He has been reburied in the year 1999, and on the 27 th November of the same year Habsburg Ottó, his son György and his wife Eilika laid a wreath on his grave.
Csokonai Vitéz Mihály
On the second day of Christmas of the year 1792 the illustrious Hungarian poet, Csokonai Vitéz Mihály was the guest of the community of Cauaceu. It is very likely that he spend here only the second day of Christmas. According to the results of Péter I. Zoltán, he came from the direction of Debrecen, approaching the village from the castle of Biharia, and as the church did not have its tower ready on that time, only a small belfry made of wood, and because of the big snow and the unfamiliar place, he felt uncertain about the right way.
As he walked so insecure about the right way, he met an old man, whom he asked: "Old man, is it far Cauaceu?" (in Hungarian it has a certain rhyming "Bácsi, messze van Kovácsi?"), and the unknown man showed the right way to the student of Debrecen. The rhyming question of Csokonai survived and it is still in usage nowadays, as a heritage from Csokonai.
His sometime visit nowadays is only indicated by the marble-tablet set up in the church and the anecdote spreads going the round by the children and the youth of Cauaceu.
