A History of Central Eastern Europe

ZIPSER STÄDTEBUND
The ZIPSERBUND or more properly and correctly, the class of nobles of the ZIPSER STÄDTEBUND
paid to the king the sum of 300 Deutsche Marks (about 153 Euros, 150 ₤ or $225.00 US)
annually in pure silver and provided 50 soldiers to the royal army and paid for their food,
uniforms, weapons and lodging each year. Like all nobility, they were required to house and feed
the king and his court should they visit. These were the only monies paid to the king by the
nobility and inhabitants for obligations arising within the towns and towns-lands. The inhabitants
paid no rent to the nobles which prevented the enriching of the nobility at the expense of the
monarchy. The bund held close to half of the land in SPIŠ . The governor of the autonomous area
was the ZIPSER GRAF is a title often translated as the COUNT OF SZEPES. However this appears to
be a mistranslation. The title of COUNT or COMES is somewhat close to that of the German GRAF
but that designation came along late in the life of the empire. Titles used earlier include ZUPAN
ALISPÁN and FÕISPÁN and are stated incorrectly to be the equivalent of COMES. The former are
the titles for the administrative heads of the counties while the latter may do the same or
designate a large land holder. Several counties had a COUNT or COMES but the word GRAF is only
found in conjunction with the German ZIPSER GRAF. It would seem that title was reserved to the
elected leader of the German ZIPSER STÄDTEBUND. The ZIPSER GRAF was elected for life by an
assembly of county notables, city mayors and priests. This significantly differs from the creation
of a COMES; a person was appointed to that title by the king and, as far as SPIŠ is concerned, a
king’s edict in 1465 made the office of the SZEPESI ZUPAN a hereditary one.
1412 Treaty of Lublin: of the 16 towns “loaned” to Poland, 13 were members of the ZIPSER
STÄDTEBUND (who numbered 24 at that time) and 3 were royal cities of Alt-Lublau estate (Alt-
Lublau, Pudlein and Kniesen). The ZIPSER STÄDTEBUND after 1412 was effectively reduced to
just 11 towns, a number small enough to severely reduce their influence. Of the 16 mortgaged
towns: they remained Hungarian legally but their administration (tax collection, courts) was
through Polish officials headquartered in the castle of Alt-Lublau. By the time the 16 towns were
redeemed in 1772, the 13 could not be recombined with the 11 to reinvigorate the flailing ZIPSER
STÄDTEBUND as their differences made that impossible. These differences arose because the
mortgaged towns’ legal and economic operations had been frozen in the 1412 model while the
non-mortgaged ones proceeded through the 350 years and changed as time passed. As a result,
all of the 16 towns that had been mortgaged formed a new league: the BUND DER 16 ZIPSER
STÄDTE. Both BUNDS would lose their independent governmental unit status by the end of the
19 th c.
Two other Germanic leagues of 7 mining towns each were formed: one in southeast SPIŠ where
today’s KOŠICKÝ kraj is located which contained 7 Protestant towns (hence the 16 th c birth) which
was named the SIEBEN OBERUNGARISCHE BERGSTÄDTE (7 Upper Hungarian Towns' League). A
2 nd league formed in the south central part of SPIŠ, the SIEBEN NIEDERUNGARISCHE BERGSTÄDTE
(7 Lower Hungarian Towns' League) that was centered in the western part today’s
BANSKOBYSTRICKÝ kraj though 2 of the 7 towns are just across the border in Hungary. The usual
translation of their names includes the word mining however, as neither title has the word
BANÍCKY in it, a correct translation does not either.
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