 By 1618, ownership of the castle passed to the Bethlen family.Gabriel Bethlen Voivode of Transylvania consolidated and enlarged the castle, and gave it to his nephew Stephen Betlen who lived here with his wife Mary Széchy, famed for her beauty.The Reformed Church of Hungary was established in Hunedoara in 1634 and Imre Thököly, one the leaders of the Protestant anti-Habsburg uprising and later Prince of Transylvania owned the castle and spent much time living in it.