SPISKÝ HRAD / Szepesvár / Zipser Burg stands on a 614 m high rock plateau. It was probably built in the 12th century and rebuilt by King Béla IV of Hungary after the Mongolian invasion of 1241-1242. After 1301, when King Andrew III, the last of the Árpád dynasty, died, it was held for some time by King Wenceslaus III of Bohemia, one of the claimants to the Hungarian throne, but was recovered for Hungary by King Charles Robert I of Anjou. János Zápolya, later King John I of Hungary, was born here in the castle in 1487. With its 135 rooms, 5 courtyards, numerous bastions and several towers, Spiský hrad was a well-built fortification, one of the largest in medieval Hungary. The tower of the upper castle reaches 19 m. The smaller, eastern, courtyard can be entered through a 15th-century Gothic gate. The Gothic castle chapel also dates from the 15th century. Some parts of the upper castle were built in the 17th century in Renaissance style.
Bibliography: Bal Jeromos, Dénes Ferenc, Kristó, Marosi, Szepesi, Szepesvár 1859, Szombathy 1979
SPISKÉ PODHRADIE / Szepesváralja / Kirchdorf. "A tiny but tidy" town in the 19th century, it is the oldest political centre of the Zips region. Its burghers, descendants of German immigrants settled down by King Géza II of Hungary (1141-1162), mostly dealt with the provision of the soldiers of Spiský hrad, though many of them were skilled artisans as well. Spiské Podhradie is one of the 13 Zips towns mortgaged by King Sigismund of Luxemburg to King Władysław Jagiellon II of Poland in 1412. The town's 13th-century parish church was restored in 1828. Its interior is fitted out in Gothic style. The Brothers of Mercy (O. Hospitalarius S. Joannis de Deo) had a church and a cloister (both date from 1650, i.e., from the Polish period) and also ran a hospital in Spiské Podhradie, which had 2400 German and Slovak inhabitants in the early 1850s.
Bibliography: Pitkó, Szepesi, Szepesváralja 1864, Szepesváralja 1868
THE ZIPS REGION / Spi / Szepesség belonged to the historical territory of Hungary. It lies in a basin in the foreground of the High Tatras in the southeast. Still a wood-covered uninhabited area in the 11th century, it was settled by Hungarians of Gömör and Torna Counties at the turn of the 11th and 12th century. They were followed by two waves of German immigrants. The first group came from inside, from Abaúj County, in the latter half of the 12th century. The second, larger and foreign, group came from German-speaking areas after the Mongol invasion of 1241-1242. That the majority of the newcomers were Saxons is confirmed by the fact that Saxon law was adopted in the region. Later the influx of various Slav groups contributed to the steady increase of the population.
Autonomous institutions of the Saxons date from the 12th century. Their privileges were detailed in a charter issued by King Stephen V of Hungary in 1271. In 1317, King Charles Robert I of Anjou added new privileges to the old ones. The Zips Saxons, or Zipser, formed a mighty organisation, which was headed by a Landgraf, later called Count of the 24 Zips Towns. The Zips law, or Zipser-Willkür, was also effective in the villages that belonged to these towns.
The mortgaging of 13 Zips towns by King Sigismund of Luxemburg to King Władysław Jagiellon II of Poland in 1412 was a turning point in the history of the Zips region. The 11 towns that remained under Hungarian rule lost much of their territorial significance. Although Levoča and Kemarok were granted the status of royal free towns, other urban settlements were bereaved of their privileges. The mortgaged towns were recovered for Hungary in 1772, after the first division of Poland. The recovered towns plus 3 other settlements were organised into an autonomous municipal authority, the Province of 16 Zips Towns, in 1778. The seat of the Province was Spiská Nová Ves. The autonomous local authorities of the region came to be united and integrated into Szepes County by the statute of 1876:XXXIII.