Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of maps
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Map 1 Slovak Republic
- 1 Slovakia, the Slovaks and their history
- 2 The Duchy of Nitra
- 3 The beginnings of the nobility in Slovakia
- 4 Medieval towns
- 5 Renaissance and humanist tendencies in Slovakia
- 6 The period of religious disturbances in Slovakia
- 7 The Enlightenment and the beginnings of the modern Slovak nation
- 8 Slovak Slavism and Panslavism
- 9 The Slovak political programme: from Hungarian patriotism to the Czecho-Slovak state
- 10 Slovakia in Czechoslovakia, 1918–1938
- 11 Slovakia from the Munich Conference to the declaration of independence
- 12 The Slovak state, 1939–1945
- 13 The Slovak question and the resistance movement during the Second World War
- 14 The Slovak National Uprising: the most dramatic moment in the nation's history
- 15 The Slovak question, 1945–1948
- 16 Czechoslovakism in Slovak history
- 17 The Magyar minority in Slovakia before and after the Second World War
- 18 The establishment of totalitarianism in Slovakia after the February coup of 1948 and the culmination of mass persecution, 1948–1953
- 19 Slovakia and the attempt to reform socialism in Czechoslovakia, 1963–1969
- 20 Slovakia's position within the Czecho-Slovak federation, 1968–1970
- 21 Slovakia under communism, 1948–1989: controversial developments in the economy, society and culture
- 22 The fall of communism and the establishment of an independent Slovakia
- 23 Afterword: Slovakia in history
- Index
4 - Medieval towns
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 October 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of maps
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Map 1 Slovak Republic
- 1 Slovakia, the Slovaks and their history
- 2 The Duchy of Nitra
- 3 The beginnings of the nobility in Slovakia
- 4 Medieval towns
- 5 Renaissance and humanist tendencies in Slovakia
- 6 The period of religious disturbances in Slovakia
- 7 The Enlightenment and the beginnings of the modern Slovak nation
- 8 Slovak Slavism and Panslavism
- 9 The Slovak political programme: from Hungarian patriotism to the Czecho-Slovak state
- 10 Slovakia in Czechoslovakia, 1918–1938
- 11 Slovakia from the Munich Conference to the declaration of independence
- 12 The Slovak state, 1939–1945
- 13 The Slovak question and the resistance movement during the Second World War
- 14 The Slovak National Uprising: the most dramatic moment in the nation's history
- 15 The Slovak question, 1945–1948
- 16 Czechoslovakism in Slovak history
- 17 The Magyar minority in Slovakia before and after the Second World War
- 18 The establishment of totalitarianism in Slovakia after the February coup of 1948 and the culmination of mass persecution, 1948–1953
- 19 Slovakia and the attempt to reform socialism in Czechoslovakia, 1963–1969
- 20 Slovakia's position within the Czecho-Slovak federation, 1968–1970
- 21 Slovakia under communism, 1948–1989: controversial developments in the economy, society and culture
- 22 The fall of communism and the establishment of an independent Slovakia
- 23 Afterword: Slovakia in history
- Index
Summary
The oldest surviving map of the Kingdom of Hungary, and therefore also the oldest map of Slovakia, dates from the period when the Middle Ages was on the cusp of turning into the early modern age. This diagram, known as Lazar's Map, after the author who was secretary to the archbishop of Esztergom, was printed in 1528 in Ingolstadt in Bavaria under the title Tabula Hungariae. Lazar's Map also provides evidence that the territory that today corresponds to contemporary Slovakia was one of the most urbanised regions of the Kingdom of Hungary, and that it was an important economic and cultural base.
Lazar's Map identified sixteen free royal towns, twelve larger towns and eighty-three small towns, according to their political and economic importance, legal status and function. A total of 289 settlements form the residential network of Slovakia shown on the map, but this constitutes only about 8 per cent of the total number of settlements in Slovakia at the end of the Middle Ages.
The origin and development of towns
By establishing a network of towns, the kings of Hungary were pursuing two main aims: an economic goal and a defensive one. The first was part of the overall European developmental trend; the second resulted from the painful experience of the devastating Tatar (Mongol) invasion of 1241–1242. As a result of this incursion, it is estimated that at least a third of the population died directly from famine and indirectly from epidemics.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Slovakia in History , pp. 38 - 53Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011