A History of Central Eastern Europe

found in the lower right field of blue with a fleur-de-lis, in gold or silver; and the BERZEVICZY
family coat-of-arms is in the lower left field of red in which a green hill with a golden crown is
topped by a mountain goat with golden horns. The 5 th section is a smaller shield centered on the
arms. It has a silver field, 3 green hills, and a red bear, looking to the left, holding three golden
ears of wheat and, in the right corner, next to the bear's head, a golden 6 pointed star. The
BERZEVICZY family was the noble family in the STARÁ VES region where Nana’s family lived.
SPIŠ (Slovak; SZEPES, Magyar;
ZIPSER, German) is in the High Tatra
Mountains of northern Slovakia. Before
1100 it was part of the Kingdom of
Poland. KÁLMÁN I (1070 - 1116) King
of Hungary conquers all territory south
of the Tatras by 1100 and names the
conquered lands “Upper Hungary”; in
1108 the loss becomes official when
BOLESLAW KRZYWOUSTY (1086 – 1138)
King of Poland, “presents” SPIŠ to the
Hungarian king. The area was sparsely
settled by the pastoral Slovaks, styled
“lowland,” until the 1100s when many
German-speaking people from Saxony,
the Rhineland, Flanders, Bavaria and
Austria moved there by the end of the
12 th c at the invitation of several
Hungarian rulers. References to a
Slovak nation or people were suppressed
during this foreign occupation. These
Germans, known for their craft skills
and mining and farming abilities, settled
in more densely populated towns than
the Slovaks. KING EMERIC I (1174 –
1204) of Hungary set up the original administrative Comitatus (counties) beginning in 1200 with
the seat of government located where the largest and best-fortified castle was; they lasted until
the late 1800s. The original Comitate center for this area of the Tatras is the 800-year-old SPIŠ
CASTLE. Poland then follows up with its own unique program of Germanization-by-proxy in the
1300s; CASIMIR III THE GREAT (1310
– 1370) the last PIAST King of Poland
answers his countries need for the
skills of the German-speaking
population not by going to Saxony,
Flanders, Bavaria or Austria, but by
luring many of the relocated SPIŠ
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Germans north of the Dunajec River.
KAKAŠ BERZEVICZY owned
almost all of the land in the northwest
SPIŠ region as the 13 th century began.
The Slovak highlanders (those who
fled to the mountains to avoid the
Huns) were joined by the westward-
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