A History of Central Eastern Europe

possession of the powerful BERZEVICZY family. It may have been at this time that the
area got the name SPIŠSKÁ MAGURA. The power and influence of this family may be
linked to the fact that it seems this knight, RUTKÉR BERZEVICZY, may have been in the
retinue of the young GRÄFIN GERTRUDE VON ANDECHS‐MERANIA as she traveled from
Bavaria to marry the future king.
Before leaving the knight (have no information on whether his armor was shiny or not),
the two noble houses he is credited with founding can be explored briefly. He
reportedly had 2 sons who are known: HERMAN who was alive in 1246 and RIKOLF who
was living in 1270. It’s a safe assumption to say both were probably born in the area.
RIKOLF also had 2 known sons: JÁNOS and RIKOLF II. It is the descendants of JÁNOS that
became the powerful BERZEVICZY family. RIKOLF II’s descendants populated the house
of TÁRCZAY who would come to own the village of ČIRČ (CSÉRCS in Hungarian), and
probably much more, in the STARÁ ĽUBOVŇA OKRES just east of KEŽMAROK OKRES. 12
KOKOSZ BERZEVICZY (variations include KAKAŠ and KOKOŠ) apparent head of the family in the
early 14 th c, receives credit for being the founder of the villages of VÝBORNÁ and LANDEK
(LÁNDOK Hungarian)) in KEŽMAROK okres and KACWIN, located just across the Dunejac
River, now in the VOIVODESHIP OF LESSER POLAND. He also built the NEDECKÝ HRAD
(NIEDZICA castle) around 1310 and owned the nearby town of FRYDMAN, both in LESSER POLAND.
13 In 1320 he sold the 3 LESSER POLAND properties and VEĽKÁ FRANKOVÁ in KEŽMAROK okres
to his brother JÁN and JÁN’S son MICHAEL for 100 grzywien. 14
KOKOSZ is also specifically given credit for the “refounding” of “ALTENDORF” by some
writers. 1308 and 1326 are two years specifically mentioned and the earlier one is the
year in which a record, possibly a deed, surfaces which involves a tract of land under
the control of FRIDRICH ŠOLTÝS of HUNCOVCE and a MASTER FREDERICK KOKOŠ. This
record, dated the 24 th of July, locates the tract in the “Pribicz Forest on the river” and in it
MASTER KOKOŠ is charged with setting up a “new location” on the site (or so the available
translations would have us believe). HUNCOVCE was a nearby serf‐village of the
BERZEVICZY family. The record “reads” like a deed that transferred land from ŠOLTÝS to
KOKOŠ except that deeds (at least in our own time) rarely control what happens on the
land after it is transferred as is done in this record. So the 1308 year is more plausible
than 1326 and it is doubtful that 18 years would pass before the new location was ready
to be inhabited. The similarity and uniqueness of the name KOKOSZ BERZEVICZY and
MASTER FREDERICK KOKOŠ has not gone unnoticed by this author who has hesitated in
making a final conclusion, if such is possible, regarding the correct transcription of the
land “record” just discussed, in part due to what subsequently happened. MASTER
KOKOŠ and residents enjoyed extensive privileges, most important of which was the
right to hold weekly markets on Tuesdays; additionally, the residents were freed from
paying customs duties and road tolls. At some unspecified “later” time, but definitely
before 1337 and quite possibly around 1320 when he sold 4 properties to a brother,
MASTER KOKOŠ experienced some financial reversals, a consequence of which was his
“pledge” of SPIŠSKÁ STARÁ VES to VILMOS DRUGET for a considerable sum of money.
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