906-1241 1526-1683






Slovakia 1241-1526



During the Tatar invasion of 1241-1242, the lowland regions of southwestern Slovakia suffered severe damage. In the course of the 13th and 14th century, German miners werre called into the country and settled at newly founded mining cities. The immigrant communities - for instance in the Zips (Spis) area - formed enclaves of German culture and identity within a Slovakian environment. The status of cities in Slovakia, such as Bratislava and Kosice, was elevated by the King granting them city privileges according to south German model (Bratislava 1291); these privileges provided for a higher degree of autonomy. Upper Hungary, as Slovakia was referred to, in the late 13th century, consisted of 12 comitates (counties) : Bratislava, Gemer, Hont, Liptov, Nitra, Orava, Spis, Saris, Tekov, Trencin, Turcin and Zvolen.
The conflict over the Hungarian crown between Charles of Anjou and Vladislav of Bohemia in the early years of the 14th century had an impact on Slovakia, as local Magnate Matus Cak (in Hungarian Matyas Csak) established his control over the major part of modern Slovakia; the political center of this state within a state was Trencin. Matus Cak was a supporter of King Charles of Anjou. His territory is featured on a map posted by Euratlas.
The German residents of the cities of Slovakia attempted to monopolize political power; complaints by Slovakian citizens resulted in the Privilegium pro Slavis granted to the Slav residents of Bratislava by King Louis of Hungary in 1384.
After the death of King Louis, Hungary again experienced a struggle over succession. Sigismund of Luxemburg, in a struggle lasting two decades, achieved recognition as King, but to cover the costs for the campaign, he had to pawn cities and castles. That way, the Spis (Zips) mining region was pawned to the King of Poland, never to be regained. Sigismund also acquired the titles King of Bohemia, Margrave of Moravia and Holy Roman Emperor. During his rule, the Bohemian Hussites were declared heretics by the Council of Constance, and a series of crisades was launched into Bohemia; the Hussites not only repelled every single crusade, but launched invasions of neighbouring terrirories; Slovakia suffered such raids in 1428-1432.
Between 1471 and 1490, Matyas Corvinus was both King of Hungary and Margrave of Moravia. Repeated PERSONAL UNION of both territories had strenthened ties between (Hungarian) Slovakia and Moravia, temporarily also with Bohemia. Moravian nobles had acquired fiefs in Slovakia; Czech language literature spread in Slovakia; the University of Prague attracted Slovak students.






EXTERNAL
LINKS 		Slovakian History, from Slovakia.org
History of Bratislava, from Bratislava Region
History of Kosice, from Kosice Region; from Kosice.sk
DOCUMENTS
REFERENCE Peter A. Toma, Dusan Kovac, Slovakia - from Samo to Dzurinda, Stanford : Hoover Institution Press 2001


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on September 7th 2003, last revied on November 11th 2004

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