TERMÍN „MESTSKÝ HRAD“ VO VYBRANÝCH STREDOVEKÝCH MESTÁCH NA ÚZEMÍ SLOVENSKA

• Authors: Henrieta Albertová

Title variants

Concept of the town castle in selected medieval Slovak mining towns

• Languages of publication: SK

Abstracts

EN

The article aims to explore the concept of the town castle in primary and secondary sources. It focuses on selected central Slovak mining towns (Banská Štiavnica, Banská Bystrica, Kremnica, Ľubietová). Among other towns, it notes the town castles of Krupina, Gelnica and Kežmarok. The medieval castle is a stone fortification building, which began to be constructed from the early 12th century in the Kingdom of Hungary. The castles were built by monarchs, secular and ecclesiastical feudal lords. They were built at river fords, crossroads of the trade routes and toll houses. The castles or fortified sites are mentioned in the sources as a castrum, fortalitium, castellum, arx or munitio, in German as a Burg. The first type of town castles were the tower houses in Banská Štiavnica Old Town (also known as Glanzenberg) at Gelnica dated to 12th and 13th century. Originally they both served as royal residences. In Glanzenberg the tower house was rebuilt as a town castle by the townspeople during the Turkish threat. The tower house in Gelnica (later a royal castle as well) became an estate of the some noble families but finally disappeared in the 17th century. This type includes the town defensive fortifications built by the Hussite commander Jiskra of Brandýs in Krupina and the castle in Kežmarok. The second type was a fortified parish church type (dy Kirche) of Banská Štiavnica, Banská Bystrica, Ľubietová, Dobrá Niva and Kremnica. The importance of the church is evident from the payment records. The church was the fundamental building within the fortification for the townspeople. The name for this kind of town castle is therefore fortified parish church.

Keywords

EN

MINING TOWNS; MEDIEVAL CASTLE; TOWN CASTLE; RESIDENTIAL TOWERS; FORTIFICATION BUILDING; SLOVAKIA

• Publisher: Institute of Historical Studies of the Slovak Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Historický časopis (Historical Journal)
• Year: 2012
• Volume: 60
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 485 – 499

Contributors

author

Henrieta Albertová

• Katedra histórie Filozofickej fakulty UPJŠ v Košiciach, Šrobárova č. 2, 040 01 Košice, Slovak Republic