BYTČA / Nagybiccse is a MARKET TOWN in Trenčín County on the right bank of the Váh. It is first mentioned in a charter of 1248, when King Béla IV of Hungary (1235-1270) granted it to ban Füle. (Hung. bán > Avar bajan or Slav. pan = lord, royally appointed governor.) It was later owned by the bishops of Nitra. In 1560 Bytča and its appurtenances were granted to Ferenc Thurzó, who had a splendid mansion built on the site of the old castle. In the Thurzó era the town became an important centre of the Protestants and for some time the seat of their superintendents. In the 17th century, the Thurzós founded a Lutheran secondary school in Bytča, which was closed down by the 19th century, when the majority of the burghers were already Catholics. The histories of Bytča and its castle have always been intricately intertwined. In the 1850s, the town had 3000 inhabitants, mostly Slovak potters and timber traders.

Bibliography: Kerekes, Krickel, Lovcsányi, Mednyánszky 1844, Mednyánszky 1981, Pechány