On The Settlement Of The Zipser Saxons
This article represents an overview on the settlement of the Zipser Saxons (or Zipser Germans), an ethnic German minority native to the historical region of Spiš (known in German as Zips) which is situated in the north-east of Slovakia. This article briefly describes several topics of interest regarding the settlement (or ‘ansiedlung’ as the term is known in German) of the Zipser Saxons, more specifically their origins, autonomous privileges, and history during the Middle Ages on the territory of present-day Slovakia. At the same time, this article is rather similar, in essential/fundamental terms of analysis, with a previous one by me which was already published on The Dockyards, entitled On The Early Settlement Of The Transylvanian Saxons, another ethnic German minority native to Central and Eastern Europe (with whom the Zipser Saxons are related as well, naturally), a German-speaking community which has been living in Transylvania, Romania since the High Middle Ages onwards.
Historical background and origins
The ancestors of the Zipser Saxons or Zipser Germans (known in standard German/Hochdeutsch as Zipser Sachsen and/or Zipser Deutsche) were settled in the territory of the historical region of Spiš/Zips, which can be divided into two sub-regions, namely Lower Zips (i.e. Unterzips in German) and Upper Zips (i.e. Oberzips in German), through invitations by the Hungarian monarchs during the High Middle Ages. The region (which was previously inhabited by Slovaks) was decimated by the Mongol invasion of 1241–1242 (which had a devastating overall impact on the former territory of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary) and so it needed repopulation and further economic development (e.g. through mining) and urbanisation. So it was that the Hungarian kings sent invitations to Western European settlers of several ethnic backgrounds, i.e. Flemings, Walloons, Luxembourgers, and Germans (but also Latini, i.e. French- and Italian-speaking settlers), in order to colonise this region which was also a borderland of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary towards the north. In time, these settlers became collectively known as Zipser Saxons (or Saxones as they were officially referred to in the medieval royal documents of the Hungarian chancellery, this name being a blanket term used to refer to all privileged German-speaking settlers in the former medieval Kingdom of Hungary during the 13th century). The colonisation of the Spiš/Zips historical region by these Western European settlers had started in the second half of the 13th century (but in the case of the Lower Zips it actually commenced significantly earlier, more specifically in the second half of the previous century, namely the 12th century).
Ethnic map of the Kingdom of Hungary during the second half of the 13th century, with territories populated by Saxons (both Transylvanian and Zipser Saxons) marked in grey-blue. The region settled by Zipser Saxons is situated in the north, bordering the then Kingdom of Poland. Image source: Commons Wikimedia
As in the case of the Transylvanian Saxons in Transylvania (with whom the Zipser Saxons are naturally related), the first waves of Zipser German/Saxon colonists were farmers and miners and originally came mainly from the Rhineland and Moselle river region (i.e. most notably from contemporary Luxembourg) as well as in smaller numbers from Thuringia, Saxony, or Silesia. An additional smaller subsequent group of Zipser Saxons came from Bavaria and Tyrol during the second half of the 15th century and were miners. Given their valuable mining expertise, Zipser Saxons were also settled in other towns/cities even outside Spiš/Zips on the territory of present-day Slovakia such as Banská Bystrica (Neusohl) or Kremnitza (Kremnitz), both free royal mining towns in the former medieval Kingdom of Hungary. Another noteworthy town colonised by Zipser Saxons was Sabinov (Zeben), now in the Šariš region of Slovakia, back in the 13th century.
The picturesque town of Kremnica (Kremnitz) in Hauerland, Slovakia, an important mining centre centuries ago. Image source: www.pixabay.com
Royal privileges and autonomous rights: Zipser Freibrief and Zipser Willkür
These colonists benefited from a certain range of royal privileges and autonomous rights (which naturally made the immigration process attractive to them in the first place). These royal privileges and autonomous rights were conferred by Zipser Freibrief (i.e. The Charter of the Zipser Saxons, similar to the Golden Bull of the Transylvanian Saxons issued in 1224 during the reign of King Andrew II of Hungary) as well as Zipser Willkür (i.e. Zipser Arbitrariness). Zipser Freibrief conferred autonomous rights to the Zipser Saxons and was issued by Hungarian king Stephen V in 1271. This medieval royal charter gave these Saxons the rights to elect their own judges, priests, and counts (a noble title known in German as Zipser Graf). Zipser Willkür, on the other hand, represented the medieval German town law on which the towns/cities previously inhabited by the Zipser Saxons operated. This German town law is the eldest of its kind on the territory of present-day Slovakia. In time, these Zipser towns/cities formed the an economic union known as the Union of 24 Zipser Towns (Der Bund der 24 Zipser Städte in German and XXIV regium civitatum fraternitas in Latin). This union among the Zipser towns/cities took place in the 14th century, more specifically in about 1340.
Spišská Kapitula (Zipser Kapitel) and Zips Castle (Zipser Burg), painted by German artist Gustav Adolf Müller. Image source: Wikimedia Commons
Notable towns/cities with Zipser German population during the Middle Ages
The following list includes some of the notable towns/cities previously inhabited by Zipser Saxons during the Middle Ages in the historical region of Spiš/Zips, northeastern Slovakia (then part of the Kingdom of Hungary, more specifically Upper Hungary or Oberungarn as the region is known in German):
- Levoča (Leutschau), the former capital of the Zipser Saxons
- Kežmarok (Kesmark), another important urban centre of the Zipser Saxons which rivalled Levoča economically (i.e. in terms of a competition for holding markets in the past)
- Podolínec (Pudlein)
- Poprad (Deutschendorf)
- Spišská Belá (Zipser Bela)
- Spišská Nová Ves (Zipser Neuendorf)
- Spišská Kapitula (Zipser Kapitel)
- Spišské Podhradie (Kirchdrauf)
Kežmarok Castle (Schloss Kesmark) in the picturesque city of Kežmarok (Kesmark), situated in the proximity of the High Tatra Mountains, Slovakia (an important urban centre of the Zipser Saxons in the past as well). Image source: www.pixabay.com
Documentation sources and external links:
- My personal historical knowledge
- Zipser Germans on www.wikipedia.org (in English; an article on which I had a certain number of contributions in the past as well)
- Zipser Sachsen on www.wikipedia.org (in German; an article on which I had several modest contributions as well)
- Zipser Willkür on www.wikipedia.org (in English; an article written by me there as well)
- Zipser Freibrief on www.wikipedia.org (in Romanian; an article written by me there as well)
- Uniunea celor 24 de orașe zipser (in Romanian; an article written by me there as well)
- Zipser Sachsen – Deutsche in der Ostslowakei! by the YouTube channel Germania Magna on YouTube (in German)
- Die Zips on www.kulturforum.info (Deutsches Kulturforum östliches Europa; in German)
- Sachsen (Zips) on www.eeo.aau.at (Universität Klagenfurt/the website of the University of Klagenfurt in Austria; in German)
- Zips on www.ome-lexikon.uni-oldenburg.de (Online-Lexikon zur Kultur und Geschichte der Deutschen im östlichen Europa, i.e. Online Encyclopædia on the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg in Germany; in German)
- German Places in Slovakia on www.feefhs.org (in English)
