The Concept of Town Castles in Selected Medieval Slovak Mining Towns.

ALBERTOVA, Henrieta. The Concept of Town Castles in Selected Medieval Slovak Mining Towns. Historicky casopis, 2012, 60, 3, pp. 485-499, Bratislava. The article aims to explore the concept of town castle in primary and secondary sources. It focuses on selected central Slovak mining towns (Banska Stiavnica, Banska Bystrica, Kremnica, Eubietova.). Among other towns, it notes the town castles of Krupina, Gelnica and Kezmarok. The medieval castle is a stone fortification building, which began to be constructed from the early 12th century in the Kingdom of Hungary. Castles were built by monarchs, secular and ecclesiastical feudal lords. They were built at river fords, crossroads of trade routes and toll houses. Castles or fortified sites are mentioned in the sources as castrum, fortalitium, castellum, arx or munitio, in German Burg. The first type of town castles were the tower houses in Banska Stiavnica 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 some noble families but finally disappeared in the 17th century. This type includes the town defensive fortifications built by the Hussite commander Jiskra of Brands in Krupina and the castle in Kezmarok. The second type was a fortified parish church type (dy Kirche) of Banska Stiavnica, Banska Bystrica, L'ubietova, Dobra Niva and Kremnica. The importance of the church is evident from the payment records. For the townspeople the church was the fundamental building within the fortification. The name for this kind of town castle is therefore fortified parish church. Mining towns. Medieval castle. Town castle. Residential towers. Fortification building.