A History of Central Eastern Europe

Below is a partial list of th e Saintly, or rather, Sainted ÁRPÁ DS (and 1 almost‐ÁRPÁD)
SAINTS OF THE HUNGARIAN ÁRPÁDS: 10 TH – 13 TH C (AND 1 ÁRPÁD-IN-LAW)
NAME DAT E OF: BIRTH DEATH CANONIZATION RELATIONSHIP
Szent István I, King 1000‐38 c973 1038 20 Aug 1083
Szent Emmerich (Imre) 1007 1031 5 Nov 1083 s of István I
Szent Lászl, King 1077‐95 c1040 1095 1192 1 st cousin of István I
Szent Erzsébet 1207 1231 28 May 1235 d of András II
Szent Kunigunda 1224 1292 16 June 1999!! d of Béla IV, s of András II
Szent Margit ʺthe Youngerʺ c1242 1270 1943 d of Béla IV, s of András II
Szent Hedwig von Andechs c1174 1243 1267 sis of Queen Gertrude
What was this about “the knight RUTKER VON MATREI”? Yes, this was that time –
medieval – knights & castles & crusades – we have all seen Hollywood’s versions and it
wasn’t that nice in real life! According to a descendant his ancestors were miners and
vintners who arrived in the area in 1202 and stayed until about 1518. MATREI is the
name of two towns near Innsbruck, in the Tyrol in Austria and being “VON MATREI” it
seems a logical choice for the knight and his family to come from, but a connection has
yet to be established. RUTKER VON MATREI supposedly founded the villages of EISDORF
in 1209 and GROSS‐LOMNITZ around the same time. At the time these villages, now
named ZAKOVCE and VEĽKÁ LOMNICA, were on the Polish border so it would make
sense if was a knight. It is believed he was the ISPÁN of whatever Royal County had
been established here (SPIŠ was still 40 years in the future).
The large tract that EKBERT received was right on the border and covered the area
around H UNCOVCE and Z AKOVCE (the inhabitants are thought to hail from EISACKTAL in
South Tyrol; I think that EISDORF in Lower Saxony is another good candidate). As the
13 th c progressed the Polish border wa s pushed further north until 1260 when it was set
at the Dunajec River. Sporadically it moved north even further, but never for long and it
always returned to the river. As it moved north so did EKBERT’S grants.
Now you know how a new village came to be named OLD TOWN, when it was new.
Wait a minute… no you don’t. What was the point of the previous story?
“What was the point? The point is….the point is….”*
Well, it probably wasn’t the oldest village around despite having some of the oldest
records around. Written records from OSTURŇA start in 1313, from VEĽKÁ FRANKOVÁ in
1314, and from MATIAŠOVCE date to 1326 though its founding is reportedly late 12 th c.
The village of R EĽOV, located where Ščerbová Creek joins the Rieka Stream south of
STARÁ VES, was founded in the 1200s by a “Master Kokoš” who was probably KOKOSZ
BERZEVICZY. It is impossible to accurately date the founding year of any of these towns
as most or all records were lost during the 1241 Tartar avalanche. It is estimated that
3,000 Spišsaks alone were killed in that year, fully one‐half of the population.
[*Go to the head of the class if you can identify the movie that Ryan O’Neal said this in.]
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