On the site of the present-day castle, there was originally a wooden fortress, which King Otakar II Přemysl had converted into a stone castle. It became the seat of the eponymous estate, which was pledged to Hynek of Lichtenburg in 1345 under King John of Bohemia. Through his daughter Elisabeth (Eliška z Lichtemburka), who married Boček of Poděbrady and Kunštát (died 1373) in 1350, the castle and estate passed to the Kunštát family. After Emperor Charles IV granted Poděbrady to Boček as a hereditary estate, he was the first to call himself Boček of Poděbrady, thus establishing the Kunštát branch of the Poděbrady family.
The castle, where, according to tradition, the future King George of Poděbrady, a grandson of Boček, was born, was rebuilt several times. After George's death in 1471, the castle and estate passed to his son, Henry the Younger, in 1472, whose heirs were forced to cede both to King Vladislav II in 1495. After several pledgings, King Ferdinand I redeemed the castle and estate. Both remained in the possession of the royal chamber until 1839.
From 1548 to around 1580, the castle was rebuilt into a Renaissance palace according to plans by Giovanni and Ulrico Aostalli and Hans Tirol. After the Thirty Years' War, the palace initially declined in importance. In 1723–1724, it was rebuilt in the Baroque style under the direction of the architect Franz Maximilian Kaňka. Further renovations took place after 1750. Maria Theresa, in her capacity as Queen of Bohemia, stayed at the palace several times. Under her son, Joseph II, the palace served as the residence of retired officers of the imperial army.
In 1839, the castle and estate were acquired by the Viennese banker Georg Simon Sina (1783–1856). Through marriage, the castle passed to the Princes of Ypsilanti in 1884 and, before the First World War, to Philipp Ernst zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst. His brother and heir, Moritz zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, was forced to sell the estate after the First World War.