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117-518: It was the seat of the Nógrád comitatus . Balassagyarmat is the capital city of Palóc country as the prominent author of Hungarian epic, Kálmán Mikszáth said. Palóc people's origin is quite mysterious. Their distinctive dialect, culture, folklore, and traditions make them a unique ethnicity. Since 1998, the town's coat of arms has borne the Latin inscription "Civitas Fortissima" (the bravest city) because it

234-553: A conception of sustained maintainable activities with long-lasting effects on cultural life in Košice and its region. The main project venues are: The first and the oldest international festival of local TV broadcasters (founded in 1995) – The Golden Beggar , takes place every year in June in Košice. The oldest evening newspaper is the Košický večer . The daily paper in Košice is Korzár . Recently,

351-637: A consequence of the First and Second Vienna Awards , Košice was ceded to Hungary. Starting in 15 May 1944, during the German occupation of Hungary towards the end of World War II , approximately 10,000 Jews were deported by the Nazis, with the enthusiastic assistance of the Hungarian Interior Ministry and its gendarmerie (the csendőrség). The last transport to Auschwitz left the city in 2 June, three months before

468-666: A few Jews were living in the town, among them a widow who ran a small Kosher restaurant for the Jewish merchants passing through the town. Košice was ceded to Hungary, by the First Vienna Award , from 1938 until early 1945. The town was bombarded on June 26, 1941 , by a still unidentified aircraft, in what became a pretext for the Hungarian government to declare war on the Soviet Union a day later. The German occupation of Hungary led to

585-614: A military commander there. Giorgio Basta , commander of the Habsburg forces, failed in his attempt to recapture the city. At the Treaty of Vienna (1606) , in return for giving back territory that included Košice, the rebels won from the Habsburgs a concession of religious toleration for the Magyar nobility and brokered an Austrian-Turkish peace treaty. Stephen Bocskay died in Košice on December 29, 1606, and

702-419: A number of persons appointed ad hoc from among the present nobles. From the 15th century onwards, permanent jurors were elected from among the nobles of the county. The sedria served as the court of first instance for minor disputes of the nobles and as the appeal instance for village courts and patrimonial courts ( sedes dominialis ). From the beginning of their existence, the noble judges were

819-744: A provincial town known for its military base and mainly dependent on agriculture. In 1723, the Immaculata statue was erected on the site of a former gallows at Hlavná ulica ( Main Street ) to commemorate the plague of 1710–1711. The city also became one of the centers of the Hungarian linguistic revival, including the publication of the first Hungarian-language periodical, called the Magyar Museum, in Hungary in 1788. The city's walls were demolished step by step from

936-585: A public transit system in 1891 when the track was laid down for a horse-drawn tramway. The traction was electrified in 1914. In 1906, Francis II Rákóczi 's house of Rodostó was reproduced in Košice, and his remains were buried in the St. Elisabeth Cathedral . After World War I and during the gradual break-up of Austria-Hungary , the city at first became a part of the transient " Eastern Slovak Republic ", declared on December 11, 1918, in Košice and earlier in Prešov under

1053-496: A regional metropolitan area, became a major hub for administration, transfer and housing of refugees fleeing from Ukraine. Košice lies at an altitude of 206 metres (676 ft) above sea level and covers an area of 242.77 square kilometres (93.7 sq mi). It is located in eastern Slovakia, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) from the Hungarian, 80 kilometres (50 mi) from the Ukrainian , and 90 kilometres (56 mi) from

1170-427: A result, by royal decrees of 1267, 1290, and 1298, the king could only confirm that the royal counties had turned into noble ones. Nobles (mostly former royal servant families) became quasi-rulers in the counties. The change from a royal to a noble county, however, took place at different times in each county. In the 15th century, the borders of the counties stabilised and basically remained unchanged until 1920. Between

1287-612: A watchtower established after the Mongolian invasion. At this time, it was called just Gyarmat. We know that it was the king's property, and it used to belong to Hont castle in 1244. King Béla IV gave these estates to Miklós, son of Detre of the Kacsics Clan in 1246. Detre became the ancestor of the Balassa family. In the same document, the king ordered the construction of a castle in Gyarmat, which

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1404-590: Is January, with an average temperature of −2.6 °C (27.3 °F), and the hottest month is July, with an average temperature of 19.3 °C (66.7 °F). Košice has a population of 228,070 (mid year, 2021). According to the 2021 census, 84% of inhabitants are of Slovak nationality, 2% are each Hungarians and additional 2% Roma. There are also modestly sized Czech, Ruthenian, Ukrainian and Vietnamese communities. In terms of religion, 51% of inhabitants are Catholic and 28% had no religious affiliation, with smaller Protestant denominations also present. According to

1521-668: Is a chronology of the various names: [REDACTED] Kingdom of Hungary 1000 – 1526 [REDACTED] John Zápolya 's Eastern Hungarian Kingdom 1526 – 1551 ( Ottoman vassal) [REDACTED] Hajduk rebels of István Bocskai 1604 – 1606 ( Ottoman -backed) [REDACTED] Principality of Transylvania ( Ottoman vassal) 1619 – 1629, 1644 – 1648 [REDACTED] Kuruc rebellion 1672 – 1682 ( Ottoman -backed) [REDACTED] Imre Thököly 's Principality of Upper Hungary ( Ottoman vassal) 1682 – 1686 [REDACTED] Francis II Rákóczi 's insurrection 1703 – 1711 [REDACTED] Kingdom of Hungary (crownland of

1638-926: Is a derivation from Old Slovak kosa , "clearing", related to modern Slovak kosiť , "to reap". According to other sources the city name may derive from an old Hungarian first name which begins with "Ko". Historically, the city has been known as Kaschau in German , Kassa in Hungarian , Kaşa in Turkish , Cassovia in Latin , Cassovie in French, Cașovia in Romanian , Кошице ( Košice ) in Russian, Ukrainian and Rusyn, Koszyce in Polish and קאשוי Kashoy in Yiddish (see here for more names). Below

1755-552: Is derived from the word comes , which originally stood for companion or retinue member. In the Early and High Middle Ages , the title comes was a noble title used in various meanings, in the Kingdom of Hungary especially (but not exclusively) in the meaning "county head". The Hungarian word megye is likely derived from Southern Slavic medja ( međa , међа ) meaning approximately territorial border. The Slavic word in turn

1872-560: Is related to Latin medius (middle) through a common Indo-European root. The original word is still used in present-day Slavic languages, i.e. in Slovak (as medza ), in Slovenian (as meja ), in Serbo-Croatian (as međa , међа ), in a similar sense, and seems to have meant, initially, the border of a county in the Hungarian language. Hungarian has another word ( mezsgye ) of

1989-401: Is sometimes accused of being manipulated by the ruling Hungarian bureaucracy, 75.4% of the 44,211 inhabitants claimed Hungarian, 14.8% Slovak, 7.2% German and 1.8% Polish . The Jews were split among other groups by the 1910 census, as only the most frequently-used language, not ethnicity, was registered. The population around 1910 was multidenominational and multiethnic, and the differences in

2106-622: The Arrow Cross Party gained control over Hungary. The ethnic makeup of the town was dramatically changed by the persecution of the town's large Hungarian majority, population exchanges between Hungary and Slovakia and Slovakization and by mass migration of Slovaks into newly built communist-block-microdistricts , which increased the population of Košice four times by 1989 and made it the fastest growing city in Czechoslovakia . There are several theatres in Košice. The Košice State Theater

2223-567: The Austrian Habsburgs established a military dictatorship in the Kingdom of Hungary and the counties were turned into simple state administration entities and authorities. A provisional centralised administration started to be created by the Austrians in February 1849, Alexander Bach issued a decree on provisional organisation of the Kingdom of Hungary in early August 1849 and a regulation on

2340-528: The Austrian Empire ) 1804 – 1867 [REDACTED] Austro-Hungarian Empire 1867 – 1918 [REDACTED]   Czechoslovakia 1918–1938 [REDACTED] Kingdom of Hungary 1938 – 1945 [REDACTED]   Czechoslovakia 1945–1992 [REDACTED]   Slovakia 1993–present The first evidence of habitation can be traced back to the end of the Paleolithic era. The first written reference to

2457-577: The Carpathian Basin in 895. The first counties were probably the counties situated in present-day northern Pannonia (Transdanubia); they arose before or around 1000. The exact time of the creation of many other counties is disputed, many of them, however, arose not later than during the rule of King Stephen I (1000/01–1038). Initially there were also several small frontier counties (Latin: marchiae ), established for military purposes only (e. g. comitatus of Bolondus), which however ceased to exist in

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2574-637: The Cathedral of St. Elizabeth . The long main street, rimmed with aristocratic palaces, Catholic churches, and townsfolk's houses, is a thriving pedestrian zone with boutiques, cafés, and restaurants. The city is known as the first settlement in Europe to be granted its own coat-of-arms . The first written mention of the city was in 1230 as "Villa Cassa". The name probably comes from the Slavic personal name Koš , Koša → Košici (Koš'people) → Košice (1382–1383) with

2691-514: The Pentapolitana – the league of the five most important cities in Upper Hungary ( Bardejov , Levoča , Košice, Prešov , and Sabinov ). During the reign of King Matthias Corvinus the town reached its medieval population peak. With an estimated 10,000 inhabitants, it was among the largest medieval cities in Europe. The history of Košice was heavily influenced by the dynastic disputes over

2808-821: The State Philharmonic Košice ( Štátna filharmónia Košice ), established in 1968 as the second professional symphonic orchestra in Slovakia. It organizes festivals such as the Košice Music Spring Festival , the International Organ Music Festival, and the Festival of Contemporary art . Some of the museums and galleries based in the city include the East Slovak Museum ( Vychodoslovenské múzeum ), originally established in 1872 under

2925-413: The Treaty of Trianon in 1920. Jews had lived in Košice since the 16th century but were not allowed to settle permanently. There is a document identifying the local coiner in 1524 as a Jew and claiming that his predecessor was a Jew as well. Jews were allowed to enter the city during the town fair, but were forced to leave it by night, and lived mostly in nearby Rozunfaca. In 1840 the ban was removed, and,

3042-413: The noble judges (see below), and the courts of the servientes regis - the so-called sedes iudiciaria or sedria - developed into the county court (the Latin name remained sedria ). The sedria meetings were led by the county head, later de facto by his deputy (see below). Until the 15th century, the county head's co-judges were his deputy county head , the (usually four) noble judges , and

3159-577: The protection of Hungary. On December 29, 1918, the Czechoslovak Legions entered the city, making it part of the newly established Czechoslovakia . However, in June 1919, Košice was occupied again, as part of the Slovak Soviet Republic , a proletarian puppet state of Hungary. The Czechoslovak troops secured the city for Czechoslovakia in July 1919, which was later upheld under the terms of

3276-564: The 13th century around the long lens-shaped ring , of today's Main Street. The first known town privileges come from 1290. The town proliferated because of its strategic location on an international trade route from agriculturally rich central Hungary to central Poland, itself part of a longer route connecting the Balkans and the Adriatic and Aegean seas to the Baltic Sea . The privileges given by

3393-418: The 13th-14th century onwards, the deputy county heads , and not the county head himself, were the real administrators of the county. This development was emphasised by the fact that the county heads were also higher dignitaries of the state or of the court at the same time ( palatine , treasurer , etc.), so that they did not have much time for the management of the county. The deputy county head ' s role

3510-436: The 14th century when royal counties were transformed into noble ones. Initially, there were also some small special castle districts, which ceased to exist in the 13th century. Each county was the responsibility of a county head , whose seat was a castle – a quasi-capital of the county. The county head was the representative of the king , the judge, and the chief law enforcement officer in his respective territory. He collected

3627-402: The 1840s (with an exception in 1785-1790), the official language of county administration was Latin . In 1840, the deputy county head ( alispán , Ger. Vicegespann or Vizegespan ) was described as "the personage of the most importance in the county", having duties similar to an English sheriff but also presiding over the county court of justice. (The Obergespann , theoretically his superior,

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3744-526: The 1870 Act, and other types of territorial municipalities (3 in Hungary proper and 18 in Transylvania), including privileged districts, the so-called seats of the Székely Land and Transylvanian Saxons and others. Thus, the total number of municipal entities was 175 under direct control of the central Hungarian government, of which about a third was a county. The main effect of the 1870 Municipalities Act

3861-559: The Balassagyarmat region. In 1241, the Mongols invaded the country, destroying the settlement completely. After the Mongols withdrew the following year, stone castles were built all over the country at the urging of King Bela IV. He was anticipating a second Mongol invasion, and he expected to stop them with the help of stone castles. The first medieval castle of Balassagyarmat developed from

3978-469: The Bronze Age. When the Magyar tribes entered the Carpathian Basin , Grand Chief Árpád sent his two generals, Zoárd and Kadosa to take the northern parts of Hungary. After the occupation of Nógrád Castle, Zoárd and Kadosa took control over the Balassagyarmat region. The name of the town derives from the name of Gyarmat, which was one of the seven Magyar tribes who came with Árpád . The Gyarmat tribe settled in

4095-494: The Great so the town remained the property of the family. The only change was that the castle was in the hands of the king, who usually appointed the members of the Balassa family as his castellans. The settlement developed into a market town by the 15th century, but despite its closely integrated castle, it had no military significance. Officially speaking, Balassagyarmat became a market town in 1437. The situation changed radically after

4212-661: The Habsburgs recognized George's rule over the seven counties of the Partium . He died in 1648, and Košice was returned to the Habsburgs once more. Subsequently, Košice became a centre of the Counter-Reformation . In 1657, a printing house and university were founded by the Jesuits , funded by Emperor Leopold I . The 1664 Peace of Vasvár at the end of the Austro-Turkish War (1663-1664) awarded Szabolcs and Szatmár counties to

4329-436: The Habsburgs restored the religious toleration agreement of 1606 and recognized Transylvanian rule over the seven Partium counties: Ugocsa County , Bereg County , Zemplén County , Borsod County , Szabolcs County , Szatmár County and Abaúj County (including Košice). Bethlen married Catherine von Hohenzollern , of Johann Sigismund Kurfürst von Brandenburg , in Košice in 1626. After Bethlen's death in 1629, Košice and

4446-492: The Habsburgs, which put once more positioned Košice further inside the borders of Royal Hungary . In the 1670s the Habsburgs built a modern pentagonal fortress ( citadel ) south of the city. Also in the 1670s, the city was besieged by Kuruc armies several times, and it again rebelled against the Habsburgs. The rebel leaders were massacred by the Emperor's soldiers on November 26, 1677. Another rebel leader, Imre Thököly captured

4563-728: The Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I . John Zápolya captured the town in 1536, but Ferdinand I reconquered it in 1551. In 1554, the settlement became the seat of the Captaincy of Upper Hungary . In 1604, Catholics seized the Lutheran church in Košice. The Calvinist Stephen Bocskay then occupied Košice during his Protestant insurrection against the Habsburg dynasty , with the backing of the Ottomans. The future George I Rákóczi joined him as

4680-401: The Hungarian throne which, together with the decline of the continental trade, brought the city into stagnation. Vladislaus III of Varna failed to capture the city in 1441. John Jiskra 's mercenaries from Bohemia defeated Tamás Székely's Hungarian army in 1449. John I Albert , Prince of Poland, failed to capture the city during a six-month-long siege in 1491. In 1526, the city paid homage to

4797-466: The Hungarian town of Košice (as the royal village of Villa Cassa ) comes from 1230. After the Mongol invasion in 1241, King Béla IV of Hungary invited German colonists (see Zipser Germans , Germans of Hungary ) to fill the gaps in population. The city was in the historic Abauj County of the Kingdom of Hungary. There were two independent settlements, Lower Kassa and Upper Kassa, which were amalgamated in

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4914-497: The Kingdom of Hungary proper, and the town and district of Rijeka declared autonomous. In 1869, the counties lost the jurisdiction powers (the courts) as royal courts were organized. Modernization of the counties was then realized in two steps. First, an 1870 act of parliament unified the legal status and internal administrative structures of the various municipal (self-governing) administrative units, abolishing almost all historical privileges. However, this Municipalities Act retained

5031-846: The Kingdom of Hungary was Latin. The Latin word for the English and Hungarian county, comitatus , is sometimes used in English. Latin: processus / reambulatio , Hungarian: (szolgabírói) járás , Slovak: slúžnovský obvod/slúžnovský okres , German: Stuhlbezirk A Typical county in Hungary are made up of several districts. The headquarters of the districts were usually located in small towns. Latin: comes (supremus) , Hungarian: főispán , Slovak: hlavný župan , German: Obergespan Latin: congregatio generali , Hungarian: közgyűlés , Slovak: generálna kongregácia / stoličné zhromaždenie , German: Komitatsgeneralversammlung Its decrees and decisions are binding on all county officials. The county regulations were enacted by

5148-630: The Polish borders. It is about 400 kilometres (249 mi) east of Slovakia's capital Bratislava and a chain of villages connects it to Prešov which is about 36 kilometres (22 mi) to the north. Košice is on the Hornád River in the Košice Basin  [ sk ] , at the easternmost reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains . More precisely, it is a subdivision of the Čierna hora mountains in

5265-415: The Russian troops drove them back on June 24, 1849. In 1828, there were three manufacturers and 460 workshops. The first factories were established in the 1840s (sugar and nail factories). The first telegram message arrived in 1856, and the railway connected the city to Miskolc in 1860. In 1873, there were already connections to Prešov , Žilina , and Chop, Ukraine (in today's Ukraine). The city gained

5382-470: The Slovaks gained a plurality of 46.5%, with Hungarians reduced to 28.5% and Germans at 15.6%. The linguistic makeup of the town's population underwent historical changes that alternated between the growth of the ratio of those who claimed Hungarian and those who claimed Slovak as their language. With a population of 28,884 in 1891, just under half (49.9%) of the inhabitants of Košice declared Hungarian, then

5499-499: The administrative system of the Kingdom of Hungary followed on October 24. Under this regulation: Under a regulation on provisional political administration of the Kingdom of Hungary issued on September 13, 1850, the territory was divided into the above 5 districts (called civil districts now), which in turn consisted of counties and the counties of districts. The territories of some counties changed, some counties were newly created. The districts were led by main district county heads ,

5616-421: The area and the city became depopulated. After the end of the war, the settlement started to develop again, and it was rebuilt in 1690. Due to its favourable geographical location, the town was rapidly populated. In 1701, the fortifications of the town were blown up, according to the decree of Emperor Leopold. Later, the stones of the fortress were used for construction, so today there is hardly any trace of it above

5733-628: The area was expelled and sent on foot to Germany or to the Soviet border. After the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia seized power in Czechoslovakia in February 1948, the city became part of the Eastern Bloc . Several cultural institutions that still exist were founded, and large residential areas around the city were built. The construction and expansion of the East Slovak Ironworks caused

5850-518: The battle of Mohács in 1526. The importance of the castles of Nógrád County , including Gyarmat castle, had been increased. The northern part of the fortification was defended by the Ipoly River, but the other defences were hastily fortified, and the city was surrounded by a wooden palisade. The Ottoman Turks were expanding their rule unstoppably to the north, and in 1541 they took Buda as well. In 1544, 500 soldiers were guarding Gyarmat castle, under

5967-558: The border with Hungary. With a population of approximately 230,000, Košice is the second-largest city in Slovakia, after the capital Bratislava . Being the economic and cultural centre of eastern Slovakia, Košice is the seat of the Košice Region and Košice Self-governing Region , and is home to the Slovak Constitutional Court , three universities, various dioceses, and many museums, galleries, and theatres. In 2013 Košice

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6084-420: The chief captains of the castle. However, Imre demanded a bigger share from the leadership and the estate, causing a quarrel between them. The Turks were able to benefit from their debate, though. The Ottoman Empire seemed to be declining but an iron-handed Grand Vizier called Köprülü Ahmed wanted to prevent this process. He launched a huge army against Hungary in 1663, his troops occupied, burned, and destroyed

6201-604: The city in 1682, making Kaşa once again a vassal territory of the Ottoman Empire under the Principality of Upper Hungary until 1686. The Austrian field marshal Aeneas de Caprara took Košice back from the Ottomans in late 1685. In 1704–1711 Prince of Transylvania Francis II Rákóczi made Košice the main base in his War for Independence . By 1713 the fortress had been demolished. When not under Ottoman suzerainty, Košice

6318-420: The command of Horváth Bertalan. (Please note that I use the Oriental name order for Hungarians, where family names come first.) The enemy took the nearby Szanda castle and destroyed it in 1551. Captain Horváth heard of the approaching Turks in 1552 and fled from the castle, leaving it empty. It was how Pasha Hadim Ali of Buda castle took it without a fight. He set it on fire and demolished it at once. The castle

6435-608: The competition among Slovak cities to hold the prestigious title European Capital of Culture 2013. Project Interface aims at the transformation of Košice from a centre of heavy industry to a postindustrial city with creative potential and new cultural infrastructure. Project authors bring Košice a concept of the creative economy – merging of economy and industry with arts, where transformed urban space encourages development of certain fields of creative industry (design, media, architecture, music and film production, IT technologies, creative tourism). The artistic and cultural program stems from

6552-529: The counties by a chairman (German: Vorstand ) and the districts by noble judges (German: Stuhlrichter ). Only slight changes were made to the previous arrangement. Each district was formally turned to an administrative territory of a governorship department (since July 1, 1860: administrative territory of the branche-offices of the governorship ). Some county territories were slightly modified and they were led by commissioners . The only responsibilities of these state counties were political administration and

6669-425: The counties corresponded to the traditional one, but in 1786 many of them were merged and the counties became pure units of state administration – the main county heads were abolished, the county clerks became employees of the state, the courts became the responsibility of the state etc. The capitals of the districts were chosen so as to be situated right in the middle of the district. The number of processus districts

6786-484: The country as a whole. The town lies on the left bank of the Ipoly river, which marks the state border with Slovakia . In 2001 Balassagyarmat had 18,474 inhabitants. The population were Hungarian 98%, Romani 2%. 100% of the total population speak Hungarian as their mother tongue . As of 2022, its population recorded was 14,185. Balassagyarmat is twinned with: Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary) A county ( Hungarian : vármegye or megye ;

6903-687: The county assembly constituted the county's local legislation. The county legislation was subordinate only to the laws of the parliament. Latin: iudices nobilium / iudlium , Hungarian (pl) szolgabírák , Slovak (pl) slúžni , German Schöffen / Stuhlrichter (later Stuhlrichter only) iurati assessores / iurassores , Hungarian: esküdtek , Slovak: súdni prísažní , German Geschworene Latin: viceiudex , Hungarian: alszolgabírák , Slovak: podslúžni , German: Unterstuhlrichter(?) . Hungarian: törvényhatósági jogú város , Slovak: municipálne mesto , German: Munizipalstadt/ Munizipium The Hungarians settled in

7020-419: The county could not influence the appointment of the deputy county head, but in the early 15th century, they managed to put through a rule that only a noble from the same county can become the deputy county head (see below). Initially, in the 13th century, influence of nobles made itself felt only in the judicial sphere . The judges of the servientes regis - the so-called iudices servientium - developed into

7137-404: The county head. Originally, this body was created and served only as a judicial body, which comprised the judge, the sedria members and 8 elected noble jurors , and which was usually convened once a year. At the same time, the inquisitio communis (hearing of a witness) enabled the nobles to influence the proceedings conducted at the royal curia . Gradually, judicial affairs were excluded from

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7254-419: The county, except for inhabitants of free royal towns ( liberae regiae civitate ), mining towns, free districts, and at the time of the Anjou kings also of royal castle domains. Until 1486, some members of the supreme nobility were exempt from the jurisdiction of the county, too. The most important body of self-government of the county was the congregatio generalis , i. e. the county assembly convened and led by

7371-493: The course of the Revolution of 1848 by legal articles III–V and XVI/ 1848. In 1785, king Joseph II decided to abolish the counties as entities of noble autonomy (self-governance) and tried to introduce a new system of absolutist centralized state administration in the Kingdom of Hungary. The kingdom, including Croatia and Slavonia , was primarily divided into 10 newly created military/administrative districts, each of which consisted of four to seven counties. The territory of

7488-415: The crime, were sentenced to four years each in prison. None of the girls was injured physically except one, who broke her arm when she tried to escape by jumping out of the window of the dormitory on the second day. Afterwards, they were instructed not to publicly talk about the case. Csenge Hatala, a young writer, started collecting documents and conducting interviews with the victims forty years later. This

7605-473: The damaged walls. Let us also commemorate Balassi Bálint, the great Renaissance poet and warrior who lost his life at the siege of Esztergom in 1594. Below is a commemorative plaque to Bálint Balassi (1554–1594) Hungarian poet and warrior. It was affixed to the wall of the high school which bears his name. Quote: "The beautiful confines of your homeland are truncated everywhere." (Balassagyarmat, Deák Ferenc Street Nr 17) The Imperial guards of Gyarmat opened

7722-438: The deportation of Košice's entire Jewish population of 12,000 and an additional 2,000 from surrounding areas via cattle cars to the concentration camps . In 1946, after the war, Košice was the site of an orthodox festival, with a Mizrachi convention and a Bnei Akiva Yeshiva (school) for Jews, which, later that year, moved with its students to Israel. A memorial plaque in honor to the 12,000 deported Jews from Košice and

7839-455: The deputy county head's appointment had to be approved by the nobles (congregatio generalis -see below), so that the deputy county head definitively became the de facto leader of the county. The county head, appointed by the king from the oligarchs (supreme nobility), was only the formal representative of the county. The county authorities were very powerful and administered all spheres of public life. They were responsible for all inhabitants of

7956-446: The earlier refers to the counties of the Kingdom of Hungary ) is the name of a type of administrative unit in Hungary . This article deals with counties in the former Kingdom of Hungary from the 10th century until the Treaty of Trianon of 1920. For lists of individual counties, see: Administrative divisions of the Kingdom of Hungary . For counties of Hungary since 1950, see: Counties of Hungary . The Latin word comitatus

8073-431: The early 16th century and the late 17th century, however, most of the counties ceased to exist once they became part of the Ottoman Empire (the Turks ) or of the Principality of Transylvania . After the final defeat of the Turks in 1718, the three southern counties Temesiensis , Torontaliensis and Krassoviensis created the special administrative district Banatus Temesiensis (Temeswar Banate ). This district

8190-440: The early 19th century to 1856; only the Executioner's Bastion remained among limited parts of the wall. The city became the seat of its own bishopric in 1802. The city's surroundings became a theater of war again during the Revolutions of 1848 , when the Imperial cavalry general Franz Schlik defeated the Hungarian army on December 8, 1848, and January 4, 1849. The city was captured by the Hungarian army on February 15, 1849, but

8307-405: The end of the 14th century were mirrored by the decision to build an entirely new church on the grounds of the previously destroyed smaller St. Elisabeth Church. The construction of St. Elisabeth Cathedral , the biggest cathedral in the Kingdom of Hungary, was supported by Emperor Sigismund , and by the apostolic see itself. From the beginning of the 15th century, the city played a leading role in

8424-478: The gates of the castle before General Rhédey Ferenc, the commander of Prince Bocskai István of Transylvania in 1605. Nevertheless, the castle was returned to King Rudolf in 1606, according to the Treaty of Vienna in 1606. The Diets held in 1608, 1613, and 1618 ordered to reinforce the castle which was carried out. Despite these fortifications, the castle was occupied by Prince Bethlen Gábor's army in 1619, but according to

8541-527: The historical names and officials of the municipalities and did not touch their territories in general, so the territory and names of the counties still largely corresponded to those of the pre-1848 period. However, in addition to the 65 counties (49 in Hungary proper, 8 in Transylvania, and 8 in Croatia), there were 89 cities with municipal rights, including historical royal privileged towns and others, authorised by

8658-424: The king were helpful in developing crafts, business, increasing importance (seat of the royal chamber for Upper Hungary ), and for building its strong fortifications. In 1307, the first guild regulations were registered here; they were the oldest in the Kingdom of Hungary. As a Hungarian free royal town , Košice reinforced the king's troops at the crucial moment of the bloody Battle of Rozgony in 1312 against

8775-579: The king, but a number of prelates (from the 15th century also seculars ) received the "eternal county leadership" of their diocese . Note that the formal title comes was also borne by some dignitaries of the Court (e. g. comes curiae ) and other nobles in the Early Middle Ages , and then by other members of middle nobility in the Late Middle Ages , and it did not mean count in these cases. From

8892-446: The kings Charles Robert and Louis I . From 1385 onwards, the counties were sending representatives to meetings of the Diet of the Kingdom of Hungary and they played a role in the collection and setting of taxes. But only in the early 15th century, the nobles managed to put through a rule that only a noble from the same county can become the deputy county head and a co-judge. From 1504 onwards

9009-501: The level of education mirror the stratification of society. The town's linguistic balance began to shift towards Slovak after World War I by Slovakization in the newly established Czechoslovakia . According to the 1930 census, the city had 70,111, with 230 Gypsies (today Roma ), 42 245 Czechoslovaks (today Czechs and Slovaks ), 11 504 Hungarians , 3 354 Germans , 44 Poles , 14 Romanians , 801 Ruthenians , 27 Serbocroatians (today Serbs and Croatians ) and 5 733 Jews . As

9126-406: The link between the king and the nobility. As a rule, the county heads (from the 15th /16th century onwards called main county head ) were the supreme feudal lords of the county. From the beginning of the 14th century, the county head was at the same time the castellan of the respective county castle in 13 counties. People became county heads for a limited period of time and could be recalled by

9243-533: The management of taxes. The courts were the responsibility of other entities. The situation prevailing before 1848 was restored in October 1860, both in terms of borders and in terms of noble autonomy. In 1863, however, the noble autonomy was replaced by an absolutist system of state administration again. After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 , in 1868 Transylvania was definitively reunited with

9360-399: The meetings of the congregatio generalis, which thus turned from a judicial body into an administrative body. All nobles of the county participated in person in the meetings of the congregatio and the congregatio decided on all important political, military and economic affairs. As from the beginning of the 15th century, the territory of each county was divided into processus each of which

9477-543: The name of the Upper Hungarian Museum. The Slovak Technical Museum ( Slovenské technické múzeum ) with a planetarium , established in 1947, is the only museum in the technical category in Slovakia that specializes in the history and traditions of science and technology. The East Slovak Gallery ( Východoslovenská galéria ) was established in 1951 as the first regional gallery with the aim to document artistic life in present-day eastern Slovakia. In 2008 Košice won

9594-542: The northwest and Volovské vrchy mountains in the southwest. The basin is met on the east by the Slanské vrchy mountains. Košice has a humid continental climate ( Köppen : Dfb ), as the city lies in the north temperate zone . The city has four distinct seasons with long, warm summers with cool nights and long, cold, and snowy winters. Precipitation varies little throughout the year with abundance precipitation that falls during summer and only few during winter. The coldest month

9711-545: The number of municipalities significantly and made counties the only territorial units by abolishing privileged districts, seats and other forms. 73 counties were organized in place of the 65 counties and 21 other units. However, historical identities were highly considered; in Hungary proper only minor corrections were made. Bigger changes came to Transylvania where the Székely Land and the Saxons' Land were completely "countified". At

9828-451: The official language, as their main means of communication, 33.6% Slovak, and 13.5% German; 72.2% were Roman Catholics, 11.4% Jews, 7.3% Lutherans, 6.7% Greek Catholics, and 4.3% Calvinists . The results of that census are questioned by some historians by claims that they were manipulated, to increase the percentage of the Magyars during a period of Magyarization . By the 1910 census, which

9945-477: The patronymic Slavic suffix "-ice" through a natural development in Slovak (similar place names are also known from other Slavic countries). In Hungarian Koša → Kasa , Kassa with a vowel mutation typical for the borrowing of old Slavic names in the region ( Vojkovce → Vajkócz, Sokoľ → Szakalya, Szakál, Hodkovce → Hatkóc, etc.). The Latinized form Cassovia became common in the 15th century. Another theory

10062-575: The peace of Nikolsburg in 1622, it was given back to the Habsburg king. Balassagyarmat was besieged by the Turks in 1648 with an army of 4,000 men, but the cavalry of Count Ádám Forgách, the Chief Captain of Érsekújvár (Nové Zámky) castle came to the aid of the defenders, and he chased the attackers away. In 1652, Count Esterházy Ferenc was the captain of the castle, the one who fell in the battle of Vezekény. After 1652, Balassa Ferenc and his brother Imre became

10179-613: The population to grow from 60,700 in 1950 to 235,000 in 1991. Before the breakup of Czechoslovakia (1993), it was the fifth-largest city in the federation. Following the Velvet Divorce and creation of the Slovak Republic, Košice became the second-largest city in the country and became a seat of a constitutional court . Since 1995, it has been the seat of the Archdiocese of Košice . After 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine , Košice, as

10296-433: The property as the previous owner did not cede it. We came to know about this incident as it was mentioned in a document in 1290, according to which Demeter had to take the residential tower of Gyarmat by force. As it was, Demeter was also related to the Balassa family, so the property remained in their hands. They did not let it slip from their hands. In 1374, the Balassa family received a new letter of donation from King Lajos

10413-435: The real representatives of county autonomy. They were elected by the congregatio generalis (see below) and were not only judges, but also political administrators of their respective processus districts (see below). They formed the core of the newly arising class of squires . Later, the counties even turned to political entities representing the noble autonomy (noble self-government). This evolution started especially under

10530-432: The researchers the town had a German majority until the mid-16th century, and by 1650, 72.5% of the population may have been Hungarians, 13.2% was German, 14.3% was Slovak or of uncertain origin. The Ottoman Turkish traveller Evliya Çelebi mentioned that the city was inhabited by "Hungarians, Germans, Upper Hungarians" in 1661 when the city was under the suzerainty of Ottoman Empire and under Turkish control. But by 1850,

10647-560: The rest of the Partium was returned to the Habsburgs. On January 18, 1644, the Diet in Košice elected George I Rákóczi the prince of Hungary. He took the whole of Upper Hungary and joined the Swedish army besieging Brno for a projected march against Vienna . However, his nominal overlord, the Ottoman Sultan, ordered him to end the campaign, though he did so with gains. In the Treaty of Linz (1645), Košice returned to Transylvania again as

10764-578: The same origin meaning borderland. The Hungarian word ispán (county head) is derived from the Southern Slavic word župan ( жупан ), which was used by the Slavs living in the Carpathian Basin before the arrival of the Hungarians and stood for the head of various territorial units. Title župan was also used as a ruling title in medieval Serbia. For centuries, the official written language of

10881-637: The same time the total number of municipal towns was reduced from 89 to 30. After 1876 only minor changes were made to the system until 1918. The number of processus districts steadily increased over the next decades, growing from around 400 up to some 450 by 1918. The powers and responsibilities of the counties were constantly decreased and were transferred to ministries in different fields of special administration, like responsibilities in terms of construction, veterinary medicine and (overall) financial management. The ministries controlled these through their own regional and local agencies. The main county body

10998-428: The self-governments of the counties was reinstated in 1790. Only the duty to support the king militarily, the territorial unit and formally also the title of county head remained from the former royal counties. The new county was a self-governing (autonomous) entity of lower gentry. It was led by the county head ( comes ), appointed by the king, and by his deputy, appointed by the county head. These two persons were

11115-562: The smaller border castles that lay in their path. Taking advantage of the quarrel between the Balassi brothers, the Turkish army led by Köprülü – joined by the army of Prince Apafi Mihály of Transylvania – occupied Balassagyarmat. They burned and thoroughly destroyed the castle in 1663 or 1665. As it had lost its military significance, the ruined walls were not rebuilt again. During the Ottoman Wars ,

11232-513: The sons of the local secretary of the state-party, broke into the city's girls' dormitory and took hostage 20 girls. They demanded a bus to cross the border into Austria . They stayed there for five days without any food or drink before being taken down. The older brother was shot by three snipers with special bullets on the fifth day from outside the building. The younger brother was captured and sentenced to 15 years in prison, and his four friends, who had heard about their plans before they committed

11349-410: The strong aristocratic Palatine Amadé Aba (family) . In 1347, it became the second-placed city in the hierarchy of the Hungarian free royal towns, with the same rights as the capital Buda . In 1369, it was granted its own coat of arms by Louis I of Hungary . The Diet convened by Louis I in Košice decided that women could inherit the Hungarian throne. The significance and wealth of the city at

11466-462: The surface. During World War II , May 9, 1944, Germans kept 3,000 Jews from the town and the surrounding villages imprisoned in a ghetto . They were all sent to Auschwitz concentration camp on June 11 and 14, 1944. Balassagyarmat was captured on 9 December 1944 by Soviet troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front in the course of the Budapest Offensive . In 1973, two young men (17 and 19),

11583-578: The surrounding areas in Slovakia was unveiled at the pre-war Košice Orthodox synagogue in 1992. The Soviet Union captured the town in January 1945, and for a short time, it became a temporary capital of the restored Czechoslovak Republic until the Red Army had reached Prague . Among other acts, the Košice Government Programme was declared on April 5, 1945. A large population of ethnic Germans in

11700-487: The taxes and payments in kind made by the subjects to the king, gave two thirds of them to the king and kept the rest. His castle had special fortifications and was able to withstand even long-term sieges. The sources mention deputy county heads in the 12th century for the first time. The royal county consisted of castle districts . In the late 13th century, the royal counties gradually turned into highly autonomous noble counties. The reasons for this development were: As

11817-415: Was administered by one of the noble judges (there were therefore usually four in each county). The aim was to simplify the administration. The number of processus was increasing from the 18th century onwards, because the functions of the counties were increasing too. The processus, in turn, consisted of 2 to 6 circuits (Latin: circuli ), each of which was the responsibility of a deputy noble judge . Until

11934-421: Was also an important function. The entire article was created based on one source: Ko%C5%A1ice Košice ( UK : / ˈ k ɒ ʃ ɪ t s ə / KOSH -it-sə , Slovak: [ˈkɔʂitse] ; Hungarian : Kassa [ˈkɒʃʃɒ] ) is the largest city in eastern Slovakia . It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains , near

12051-459: Was claimed that in January 1919 Czechoslovak troops crossed the demarcation line delineated in December 1918 in preparation for the Treaty of Trianon , illegally occupying towns south of the line, including Balassagyarmat. The occupation was the subject of a 2009 song by the nationalist rock-band Kárpátia , "Civitas Fortissima". Due to its favorable location, Balassagyarmat has been populated since

12168-468: Was completed around 1260. It was how Detre, the ancestor of the Balassa family, built the first fortified stone tower in Gyarmat along the Ipoly River. The construction was certainly ready in 1274, as it was mentioned in a contemporary charter. Later Péter (aka Furró), one of the members of the Balassa family was accused of infidelity, so King László IV took the castle from him. However, the new owner, Comes Demeter of Pozsony and Zólyom Counties could not take

12285-530: Was dissolved again in 1779, but its southernmost part remained part of the Military Frontier ( Confiniaria militaria ) till the late 19th century. The bodies of the new counties considerably helped to defend the interests of lower and middle nobility with respect to the oligarchs , who were often the de facto rulers of the kingdom, and with respect to the absolutistic efforts of the Habsburg kings. The counties as noble institutions were abolished only in

12402-593: Was founded in 1945 (then under the name of the East Slovak National Theater). It consists of three ensembles: drama, opera, and ballet. Other theatres include the Marionette Theatre and the Old Town Theatre ( Staromestské divadlo ). The presence of Hungarian and Roma minorities makes it also host the Hungarian "Thália" theatre and the professional Roma theatre "Romathan". Košice is the home of

12519-471: Was interred there. For some decades during the 17th century Košice was part of the Principality of Transylvania , and consequently a part of the Ottoman Empire and was referred to as Kaşa in Turkish . On September 5, 1619, the prince of Transylvania, Gabriel Bethlen captured Košice with the assistance of the future George I Rákóczi in another anti-Habsburg insurrection. By the Peace of Nikolsburg in 1621,

12636-586: Was recaptured by the royal troops only in the 1593 campaign of Chief Captain Kristóf Tiefenbach of Kassa (Košice, Kaschau) who was aided by the troops of Pálffy Miklós and Homonnay István. They could easily take the small castle as the Turk garrison set it on fire and fled when the Christian army was coming. Colonel Philip Morgentaller was appointed as captain of the castle, and immediately began repairing and restoring

12753-461: Was reduced. The official language became German rather than Latin. The districts were headed by a commissioner appointed by the Austrian emperor , who was simultaneously also the king of Hungary . After the death of Emperor Joseph II, however, facing strong resistance against any kind of absolutist centralization in Hungary, the new king Leopold II had to repeal all the reforms and the old system of

12870-400: Was that it was no longer only the nobles and other privileged groups who could lead the municipalities (see Functioning). The system of districts (historically, in Latin, processus ) as administrative sub-divisions was affirmed in counties and extended to other areas. The second step of modernization was realized in another act of parliament in 1876. This Municipal Territories Act reduced

12987-609: Was the European Capital of Culture , together with Marseille , France. Košice is an important industrial centre of Slovakia, and the U.S. Steel Košice steel mill is the largest employer in the city. The town has extensive railway connections and an international airport . The city has a preserved historical centre which is the largest among Slovak towns. There are heritage protected buildings in Gothic , Renaissance , Baroque , and Art Nouveau styles with Slovakia's largest church:

13104-468: Was the first hostage situation in the modern history of Hungary. The unqualified police and military force found themselves in a situation they had no experience of. In communist Hungary, serious crimes were not only awkward, but actually harmful to the Party and its leaders. The city authorities tried to hide the details and smother the case, but it triggered a huge wave of indignation in the city and throughout

13221-508: Was the municipal committee , comprising 50% virilists (persons paying the highest direct taxes), and 50% elected persons fulfilling the prescribed census and ex officio members ( deputy county head , main notary and others). The county was led by the main county head , who was a government official subordinated to the Ministry of the Interior of the Kingdom of Hungary. The deputy county head

13338-573: Was the seat of the Habsburg "Captaincy of Upper Hungary" and the seat of the Chamber of Szepes County (Spiš, Zips), which was a subsidiary of the supreme financial agency in Vienna responsible for Upper Hungary). Due to Ottoman occupation of Eger , Košice was the residence of Eger 's archbishop from 1596 to 1700. From 1657, it was the seat of the historic Royal University of Kassa (Universitas Cassoviensis), founded by Bishop Benedict Kishdy . The university

13455-407: Was to administer the county during the county head ' s absence. Originally, the deputy county head was a personal employee of the king and thus the main person through which the king exercised influence in the county. At the same time, the deputy was the castellan of the castle of the county head or an economic officer (Latin: provisor ) of the properties of the same. Initially, the nobles of

13572-479: Was transformed into a Royal Academy in 1777, then into a Law Academy in the 19th century. It was to cease to exist in the turbulent year 1921. After the end of the anti-Habsburg uprisings in 1711, the victorious Austrian armies drove the Ottoman Army back to the south, and this major territorial change created new trade routes which circumvented Košice. The city began to decline and from a rich medieval town became

13689-552: Was usually a nobleman, who would commonly be in Vienna or Pesth and thus have little time for local affairs.) Furthermore, the Vicegespann presided over the county assembly, which had as late as 1840 a long list of powers, ranging from police regulations to tax, to improvements on bridges and roads. In 1849, in the course of and after the defeat of the Magyars in the 1848-1849 Revolution ,

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