In the eleventh century, there was a fortification here, which later in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries was elevated to the status of the royal castle of Kankiv (the name of one of the owners of the castle in the thirteenth century). In 1399, the Hungarian king Zsigmund I granted the fortress to Baron P. Pereni, who had distinguished himself in the battle against the Turks in 1396. On the site of the wooden fortification, the new owner erected a stone fortress, which was supposed to "strengthen the power of the state, ensure peace and tranquility for the nobility, so that they could live without fear. In the fifteenth century, Baron Pereni transferred the fortress to Franciscan monks, who turned it into a monastery.
A century later, in 1556, during the Reformation, one of the Baron Pereni's descendants became a Protestant and expelled Catholic monks from his property. A detachment of royal troops of the Austrian Empire opposed Pereni and the castle was destroyed during the storming.