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Trnava
KNOWLEDGE OF Trnava
Trnava (Hungarian: Nagyszombat, German: Tyrnau) is a town in western Slovakia, 45 km to the northeast of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river, and at the main Bratislava-Žilina railway and Bratislava-Žilina limited-access highway. It is the capital of a region (kraj), a Higher Territorial Unit (VÚC) and the biggest town of a district (okres). It is the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishopric (1541-1820 and then again since 1978). The town has a historic center. Because of the many churches within its town walls, Trnava has often been called the "Slovak Rome."
The name of the town is derived from the Slovak word tŕnie (=thornbush) which characterized the river banks in the region.
Permanent settlements on the town's territory are known from the Neolithic period onwards. During the Middle Ages, an important market settlement arose here at the junction of two important roads- from Bohemia to Hungary and from the Mediterranean to Poland.
The first written reference to Trnava dates from 1211. In 1238, Trnava was the first town in Slovakia to be granted a town charter (civic privileges) by the king. The former agricultural center gradually became a center of manufacture, trade, and crafts. By the early 13th century, the king of Hungary had invited numerous Germans to settle in Trnava; this settlement increased after the Tatar invasion in 1242. At the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries, a part of Trnava was enclosed by a very long town wall. The original Slovak market settlement and the Germans, however, stayed behind this wall.
The town was also the place of many important negotiations: Charles I, the king of Hungary, signed here a currency agreement with the Czech King John of Luxemburg in 1327, and King Louis I (who often stayed in the town and died there in 1380) signed here a friendship agreement with Emperor Charles IV in 1360.
The temporary German majority in the town's population ceased in favour of the Slovaks during the campaigns undertaken by the Czech Hussites in the 15th century, who opposed Germans and made Trnava the center of the campaigns in southwestern Slovakia from 1432 to 1435. The town, along with the rest of the territory of present-day Slovakia, gained importance after the conquest of most of what is today Hungary by the Ottoman Empire in 1541, when Trnava became the see (1541 – 1820) of the Archbishopric of Esztergom (before 1541 and after 1820 the see was the town of Esztergom, which was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1543). The cathedrals of the archbishopric were the Saint John the Baptist Cathedral and the Saint Nicholas Cathedral in the town. Many ethnic Hungarians fleeing from the Turks moved to the town after 1541 from present-day Hungary.
In the 16th and especially the 17th century, Trnava was an important center of the Counter-Reformation in the Kingdom of Hungary (at the time largely identical with the territory of present-day Slovakia and a strip of western Hungary). The Archbishop Nicolas Oláh invited the Jesuits to Trnava in 1561 in order to develop the municipal school system. Subsequently, he had a seminary opened in 1566 and in 1577 Trnava’s priest Nicolas Telegdi founded a book-printing house in the town.
The Jesuit Trnava University (1635-1777), the only university of the Kingdom of Hungary at that time, was founded by Archbishop Péter Pázmány. Originally founded to support the Counter-Reformation, it soon became a center of Slovak education and literature, since most of the teachers, one half of the students and the majority of the town’s inhabitants were Slovaks. From the late 18th century Trnava became a center of the literary and artistic Slovak National Revival. The first standard codification of the Slovak language (by the priest Anton Bernolák in 1787) was based on the Slovak dialect used in the region of Trnava.
The name of the town is derived from the Slovak word tŕnie (=thornbush) which characterized the river banks in the region.
Permanent settlements on the town's territory are known from the Neolithic period onwards. During the Middle Ages, an important market settlement arose here at the junction of two important roads- from Bohemia to Hungary and from the Mediterranean to Poland.
The first written reference to Trnava dates from 1211. In 1238, Trnava was the first town in Slovakia to be granted a town charter (civic privileges) by the king. The former agricultural center gradually became a center of manufacture, trade, and crafts. By the early 13th century, the king of Hungary had invited numerous Germans to settle in Trnava; this settlement increased after the Tatar invasion in 1242. At the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries, a part of Trnava was enclosed by a very long town wall. The original Slovak market settlement and the Germans, however, stayed behind this wall.
The town was also the place of many important negotiations: Charles I, the king of Hungary, signed here a currency agreement with the Czech King John of Luxemburg in 1327, and King Louis I (who often stayed in the town and died there in 1380) signed here a friendship agreement with Emperor Charles IV in 1360.
The temporary German majority in the town's population ceased in favour of the Slovaks during the campaigns undertaken by the Czech Hussites in the 15th century, who opposed Germans and made Trnava the center of the campaigns in southwestern Slovakia from 1432 to 1435. The town, along with the rest of the territory of present-day Slovakia, gained importance after the conquest of most of what is today Hungary by the Ottoman Empire in 1541, when Trnava became the see (1541 – 1820) of the Archbishopric of Esztergom (before 1541 and after 1820 the see was the town of Esztergom, which was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1543). The cathedrals of the archbishopric were the Saint John the Baptist Cathedral and the Saint Nicholas Cathedral in the town. Many ethnic Hungarians fleeing from the Turks moved to the town after 1541 from present-day Hungary.
In the 16th and especially the 17th century, Trnava was an important center of the Counter-Reformation in the Kingdom of Hungary (at the time largely identical with the territory of present-day Slovakia and a strip of western Hungary). The Archbishop Nicolas Oláh invited the Jesuits to Trnava in 1561 in order to develop the municipal school system. Subsequently, he had a seminary opened in 1566 and in 1577 Trnava’s priest Nicolas Telegdi founded a book-printing house in the town.
The Jesuit Trnava University (1635-1777), the only university of the Kingdom of Hungary at that time, was founded by Archbishop Péter Pázmány. Originally founded to support the Counter-Reformation, it soon became a center of Slovak education and literature, since most of the teachers, one half of the students and the majority of the town’s inhabitants were Slovaks. From the late 18th century Trnava became a center of the literary and artistic Slovak National Revival. The first standard codification of the Slovak language (by the priest Anton Bernolák in 1787) was based on the Slovak dialect used in the region of Trnava.
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