In the Middle Ages , a squire was the shield - or armour -bearer of a knight .
85-524: Szepes ( Slovak : Spiš ; Latin : Scepusium , Polish : Spisz , German: Zips ) was an administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary , called Scepusium before the late 19th century. Its territory today lies in northeastern Slovakia , with a very small area in southeastern Poland. For the current region, see Spiš . Szepes county shared borders with Poland and with the counties as follows: Liptó , Gömör-Kishont , Abaúj-Torna and Sáros . After
170-505: A portmanteau of the words squire and parson . The squire would also have performed a number of important local duties, in particular that of Justice of the Peace or Member of Parliament. Such was the power of the squires at this time that modern historians have created the term 'squirearchy'. Politically, during the 19th century, squires tended to be Tories , whereas the greatest landlords tended to be Whigs . The position of squire
255-446: A "rhythmic law" which forbids two long vowels from following one another within the same word. In such cases the second vowel is shortened. For example, adding the locative plural ending -ách to the root vín- creates vínach , not * vínách . This law also applies to diphthongs; for example, the adjective meaning "white" is biely , not * bielý (compare Czech bílý ). Slovak has final devoicing ; when
340-576: A gentleman but below a knight . In the modern world, the term has correspondingly often been extended (albeit only in very formal writing) to all men without any higher title. It is used post-nominally, usually in abbreviated form: "John Smith, Esq.", for example. In the United States , this style is most common among lawyers , borrowing from the English tradition whereby all barristers were styled "esquires". ( Solicitors were entitled only to
425-541: A character in her novel Silas Marner . One of the main characters of Anthony Trollope 's Doctor Thorne , published in 1858, is Squire Francis Newbold Gresham. Sherlock Holmes ' ancestors are mentioned to be country squires in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories. The "Royal Esquires" of the late-medieval English Court were not young men studying for knighthood. Far more frequently, and certainly from Edward III to Henry VIII , they tended to be men of
510-521: A large German population (see Carpathian Germans ). The last wave of Germans arrived in the 15th century. In the early 13th century, the people of Szepes created their own religious organization called the "Brotherhood of the 24 royal parish priests", which received many privileges from the local provost . It was re-established after the Tatar invasion in 1248. At the same time, the German settlements of
595-569: A largely depopulated area (some 50% of the population was lost). There was no significant Slavic population remaining and as it was a part of Hungary, King Béla IV of Hungary invited Germans to colonize the Szepes and other regions (covering parts of present-day Slovakia, present-day Hungary and Transylvania ). The settlers were mostly traders and miners. The settlements founded by them in the southern parts (Szepesség) were mainly mining settlements (later towns). Consequently, until World War II, Spiš had
680-585: A natural process of colonizing the lands along the rivers, going up-stream. In this case, the river was Poprád river ( today Poprad ) which flows into the Vistula and thus belongs to the drainage basin of the Baltic Sea (as opposed to nearby Hornad and Vah , and all other Slovak rivers; Poprad is the only river in contemporary Slovakia going north), and all colonists originated from Sądecczyzna and Podhale region of Southern Poland . Economic activity in
765-583: A similar age to the monarch ; having his complete trust. In the 15th-century Black Book of the Household – a set of ordinances composed for Edward IV for the "Governance and Regulation of the Royal Household" – the king had only four "Esquires for the Bodie"; these were the most senior servants in the royal household, with total access to the royal person at all hours. They were the senior staff of
850-606: A squire included: The young King Arthur served as Sir Kay 's squire in the traditional tale of the Sword in the Stone that appears in literary works, including Le Morte d'Arthur and The Once and Future King . One of the pilgrim-storytellers in The Canterbury Tales is a squire who is the son of the knight that he serves. In Miguel de Cervantes ' Don Quixote , the babbling Sancho Panza serves as squire of
935-521: A squire served as a knight's apprentice. Later, a village leader or a lord of the manor might come to be known as a "squire", and still later, the term was applied to members of the landed gentry . In contemporary American usage, "squire" is the title given to justices of the peace or similar local dignitaries. Squire is a shortened version of the word esquire , from the Old French escuier (modern French écuyer ), itself derived from
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#17327732289741020-415: A voiced consonant ( b, d, ď, g, dz, dž, z, ž, h ) is at the end of a word before a pause, it is devoiced to its voiceless counterpart ( p, t, ť, k, c, č, s, š, ch , respectively). For example, pohyb is pronounced /pɔɦip/ and prípad is pronounced /priːpat/ . Consonant clusters containing both voiced and voiceless elements are entirely voiced if the last consonant is a voiced one, or voiceless if
1105-493: Is /x/ . Slovak uses the Latin script with small modifications that include the four diacritics ( ˇ, ´, ¨, ˆ ) placed above certain letters ( a-á,ä; c-č; d-ď; dz-dž; e-é; i-í; l-ľ,ĺ; n-ň; o-ó,ô; r-ŕ; s-š; t-ť; u-ú; y-ý; z-ž ) Italic letters are used in loanwords and foreign names. The primary principle of Slovak spelling is the phonemic principle. The secondary principle is the morphological principle: forms derived from
1190-574: Is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group , written in Latin script . It is part of the Indo-European language family , and is one of the Slavic languages , which are part of the larger Balto-Slavic branch . Spoken by approximately 5 million people as a native language, primarily ethnic Slovaks , it serves as the official language of Slovakia and one of the 24 official languages of
1275-410: Is associated with one or more grammatical cases. The noun governed by a preposition must agree with the preposition in the given context. The preposition od always calls for the genitive case, but some prepositions such as po can call for different cases depending on the intended sense of the preposition. Slovak is a descendant of Proto-Slavic , itself a descendant of Proto-Indo-European . It
1360-620: Is closely related to the other West Slavic languages , primarily to Czech and Polish . Czech also influenced the language in its later development. The highest number of borrowings in the old Slovak vocabulary come from Latin , German , Czech, Hungarian , Polish and Greek (in that order). Recently, it is also influenced by English. Although most dialects of Czech and Slovak are mutually intelligible (see Comparison of Slovak and Czech ), eastern Slovak dialects are less intelligible to speakers of Czech and closer to Polish and East Slavic , and contact between speakers of Czech and speakers of
1445-463: Is currently undergoing changes due to contact with surrounding languages (Serbo-Croatian, Romanian, and Hungarian) and long-time geographical separation from Slovakia (see the studies in Zborník Spolku vojvodinských slovakistov , e.g. Dudok, 1993). The dialect groups differ mostly in phonology, vocabulary, and tonal inflection. Syntactic differences are minor. Central Slovak forms the basis of
1530-688: Is defined by an Act of Parliament on the State Language of the Slovak Republic (language law). According to this law, the Ministry of Culture approves and publishes the codified form of Slovak based on the judgment of specialised Slovak linguistic institutes and specialists in the area of the state language. This is traditionally the Ľudovít Štúr Institute of Linguistics , which is part of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. In practice,
1615-771: Is present when, for example, the basic singular form and plural form of masculine adjectives are written differently with no difference in pronunciation (e.g. pekný = nice – singular versus pekní = nice – plural). Such spellings are most often remnants of differences in pronunciation that were present in Proto-Slavic (in Polish, where the vowel merger did not occur, piękny and piękni and in Czech pěkný and pěkní are pronounced differently). Most loanwords from foreign languages are respelt using Slovak principles either immediately or later. For example, "weekend"
1700-438: Is spelled víkend , "software" – softvér , "gay" – gej (both not exclusively) , and "quality" is spelled kvalita . Personal and geographical names from other languages using Latin alphabets keep their original spelling unless a fully Slovak form of the name exists (e.g. Londýn for " London "). Slovak features some heterophonic homographs (words with identical spelling but different pronunciation and meaning),
1785-594: Is the plural genitive (e.g. päť domov = five houses or stodva žien = one hundred two women), while the plural form of the noun when counting the amounts of 2–4, etc., is usually the nominative form without counting (e.g. dva domy = two houses or dve ženy = two women) but gender rules do apply in many cases. Verbs have three major conjugations. Three persons and two numbers (singular and plural) are distinguished. Subject personal pronouns are omitted unless they are emphatic. Several conjugation paradigms exist as follows: Adverbs are formed by replacing
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#17327732289741870-626: Is used to create numerals 20, 30 and 40; for numerals 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90, desiat is used. Compound numerals (21, 1054) are combinations of these words formed in the same order as their mathematical symbol is written (e.g. 21 = dvadsaťjeden , literally "twenty-one"). The numerals are as follows: Some higher numbers: (200) dv e sto , (300) tristo , (900) deväťsto , (1,000) tisíc , (1,100) tisícsto , (2,000) dv e tisíc , (100,000) stotisíc , (200,000) dv e stotisíc , (1,000,000) milión , (1,000,000,000) miliarda . Counted nouns have two forms. The most common form
1955-477: The Battle of Bosworth Field on 22 August 1485, and an extra five esquires by the end of his reign in 1509. His son Henry VIII retained his father's esquires of the body while dismissing others of his father's senior officers and even executing some (for example, Richard Empson and Edmund Dudley ), but he vastly increased the number of that select group, as he enlarged the rest of the royal household as set down in
2040-472: The Gorals using Polish dialect of Szepes region). The Hungarian censuses ignored the Polish nationality, all ethnic Poles were registered as Slovaks . There was also a very strong process of Slovakization of Polish people throughout 18th–20th centuries, mostly done by Roman Catholic Church, in which institution the local aboriginal Polish priests were replaced with Slovak ones. Also the institution of schooling
2125-562: The Late Latin scutarius ("shield bearer"), in medieval or Old English a scutifer . The Classical Latin equivalent was armiger ("arms bearer"). The most common definition of squire refers to the Middle Ages. A well-known squire was Juleseth Von Lichtenstein, the squire of the famous Lord West. Lord West and his squire were famous for dominating many battles, and providing medical cures for deadly illnesses. A squire
2210-579: The Polish noble insurrections in the second half of the 18th century and occupied the towns in 1769 (with the apparent consent of the then Polish king Stanislaus II of Poland ) without debt repayment. This act was confirmed by the First Partition of Poland in 1772. In 1773, the pawn was cancelled. In 1778, the 13 towns regained their privileges of 1271, the privileges were extended to the other three previously pawned towns, and this newly formed entity
2295-509: The United Kingdom , Australia , Austria , Ukraine , Norway , and other countries to a lesser extent. Slovak language is one of the official languages of Autonomous Province of Vojvodina . There are many Slovak dialects, which are divided into the following four basic groups: The fourth group of dialects is often not considered a separate group, but a subgroup of Central and Western Slovak dialects (see e.g. Štolc, 1968), but it
2380-704: The high medieval period, and the standardization of Czech and Slovak within the Czech–Slovak dialect continuum emerged in the early modern period. In the later mid-19th century, the modern Slovak alphabet and written standard became codified by Ľudovít Štúr and reformed by Martin Hattala . The Moravian dialects spoken in the western part of the country along the border with the Czech Republic are also sometimes classified as Slovak, although some of their western variants are closer to Czech; they nonetheless form
2465-750: The "guardians of the northern border." The territory of the county was populated by Germans , Hungarians and Slavs (Theotonicis, Hungaris et Sclavis) . In 1802, when its inhabitants decided to merge the sedes with Szepes county, it included the following settlements: Ábrahámfalva/ Abrahámovce , Betlenfalva/ Betlanovce , Filefalva/Filice (today part of Gánovce ), Hadusfalu/Hadušovce (today part of Spišské Tomášovce ), Primfalu/ Hôrka (including Kišovce, Svätý Ondrej, Primovce), Hozelecz/ Hozelec , Jánócz/ Jánovce (including Čenčice), Komarócz/Komárov, Lefkóc/Levkovce (today part of Vlková ), and Mahálfalva/Machalovce (today part of Jánovce). Originally more villages were included. The 'lance-bearers' were squires . The "sedes"
2550-670: The 1290s. The northern border of the county stabilized in the early 14th century. Around 1300, the royal county became a noble county. The subsidiary of the Hungarian Chamber (the supreme Habsburg financial and economy institution in the Kingdom of Hungary ) responsible for eastern territories (i.e. not only for Szepes) was called the Szepes Chamber ( Zipser Kammer in German), and it existed from 1563 to 1848. Its seat
2635-407: The 12th century. Unofficially from the 14th century, and officially from the 16th century, until 1920 the capital of the county was Lőcse (present-day Levoča ). This article only covers the history of Szepes when it was part of the Kingdom of Hungary (approx. 11th century – 1920). For a complete history of the region see Spiš . The southern part of Szepes was conquered by the Kingdom of Hungary at
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2720-416: The 15th century and later, iron, copper and silver were all exploited in the south of the region. Its relative wealth during this period, and its mixture of nationalities and religions, resulted in it becoming a major cultural centre – many schools were founded, and the town of Lőcse (present-day Levoča) became a major centre for printing in the 17th century. The buildings and churches of the region's towns, and
2805-621: The Czech language fulfills the requirement of fundamental intelligibility with the state language"; the state language is Slovak and the Minority Language Act basically refers to municipalities with more than 20% ethnic minority population (no such Czech municipalities are found in Slovakia). Since 1 September 2009 (due to an amendment to the State Language Act 270/1995 Z.z.) a language "fundamentally intelligible with
2890-564: The European Union . Slovak is closely related to Czech , to the point of very high mutual intelligibility , as well as Polish . Like other Slavic languages, Slovak is a fusional language with a complex system of morphology and relatively flexible word order . Its vocabulary has been extensively influenced by Latin and German , as well as other Slavic languages . The Czech–Slovak group developed within West Slavic in
2975-516: The German minority. The figures do not make clear how Jews were categorised, but their numbers must have been substantial as many of the towns had synagogues (one survives in Spišské Podhradie ) and Jewish cemeteries still survive in Kežmarok, Levoča and elsewhere. Up until now, there is a significant population (about 40,000 to 48,000 estimated) of ethnic Poles (practically without any exception,
3060-560: The Hernád (present-day Hornád) and Poprád (present-day Poprad) basins created a special political territory with its own administration. They received collective privileges from King Stephen V in 1271, which were confirmed and extended by King Charles I in 1317, because the Szepesian Germans had helped him to defeat the oligarchs of the Kingdom of Hungary in the battle at Rozgony (present-day Rozhanovce) in 1312. The territory
3145-488: The Kingdom of Hungary in 1869 (and later in 1900 and 1910) the population of Szepes county comprised the following nationalities: Slovaks 50.4%, (58.2%, 58%), Germans 35% (25%, 25%), Ruthenians ( Rusyns ) 13.8% (8.4%, 8%) and 0.7% (6%, 6%) Magyars (Hungarians). The sudden increase in listed Hungarians after 1869 may be due to statistical interpretation (use of "most frequently used language" as criterion); it may also be attributable to assimilation, Magyarisation , most notably of
3230-545: The Ministry of Culture publishes a document that specifies authoritative reference books for standard Slovak usage, which is called the codification handbook ( kodifikačná príručka ). The current regulations were published on 15 March 2021. There are four such publications: Slovak speakers are also found in the Slovak diaspora in the United States , the Czech Republic , Argentina , Serbia , Ireland , Romania , Poland , Canada , Hungary , Germany , Croatia , Israel ,
3315-460: The Polish and the Hungarian crowns gave the "Province of 13" to significant commercial advantages over Lőcse (present-day Levoča ) and other towns in the "Province of 11". The pawned territories remained politically a part of the Kingdom of Hungary (and of its Esztergom diocese ), while the revenue from the territories went to Poland. Poland also held some administrative powers in the area and
3400-431: The Slovak Republic. (2) The use of languages other than the official language in official communication shall be laid down by law. Constitution of Slovakia , Article 6. Beside that, national minorities and ethnic groups also have explicit permission to use their distinct languages. Slovakia is a country with established Language policy concerning its official language . Standard Slovak ( spisovná slovenčina )
3485-526: The Statutes of Eltham. The position was highly regarded, for the value of its close access to the king. At least two notable late-medieval gentlemen are recorded contemporaneously as refusing knighthood, declaring that to be an " Esquire of the Body " was a far-greater honour. In the post-medieval world, the title of esquire came to belong to all men of the higher landed gentry ; an esquire ranked socially above
Szepes County - Misplaced Pages Continue
3570-399: The adjectival ending with the ending - o or - e / - y . Sometimes both - o and - e are possible. Examples include the following: The comparative of adverbs is formed by replacing the adjectival ending with a comparative/superlative ending - (ej)ší or - (ej)šie , whence the superlative is formed with the prefix naj-. Examples include the following: Each preposition
3655-505: The amount of 37,000 Czech sixty- groschen coins, that is, approximately 7 tonnes of pure silver. This was to finance his war against the Republic of Venice . The pledged towns were to be returned to the Kingdom of Hungary as soon as the loan was repaid; nobody expected the pledge would take 360 years to redeem (from 1412 to 1772). From 1412 the pawned towns were officially known as the "Province of 13 Szepes Towns" (although it included also
3740-585: The basis of the lowland dialects (see above). The western dialects contain features common with the Moravian dialects in the Czech Republic, the southern central dialects contain a few features common with South Slavic languages, and the eastern dialects a few features common with Polish and the East Slavonic languages (cf. Štolc, 1994). Lowland dialects share some words and areal features with
3825-466: The bridge dialects between the two languages. Slovak language is primarily spoken in Slovakia. The country's constitution declared it the official language of the state (štátny jazyk): (1) Na území Slovenskej republiky je štátnym jazykom slovenský jazyk. (2) Používanie iných jazykov než štátneho jazyka v úradnom styku ustanoví zákon. (1) The Slovak language is the official language on the territory of
3910-403: The capital was Betlenfalva/Betlensdorf (present-day Betlanovce ). Many of the towns of Szepes developed from German colonization of existing Slavic settlements. The German settlers had been invited to the territory from the mid-12th century onwards. The major immigration came following the devastating Mongol invasion of 1242, which turned Szepes, like other parts of the Kingdom of Hungary, into
3995-619: The deluded Don. In the children's book The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop , the protagonist William serves as the squire of Sir Simon, a knight from the Middle Ages who got transported to the present. In the English countryside from the Middle Ages until the early 20th century, there was often one principal family of landed gentry , owning much of the land and living in the largest house, often referred to by people lower down
4080-456: The eastern dialects is limited. Since the dissolution of Czechoslovakia it has been permitted to use Czech in TV broadcasting and during court proceedings (Administration Procedure Act 99/1963 Zb.). From 1999 to August 2009, the Minority Language Act 184/1999 Z.z., in its section (§) 6, contained the variously interpreted unclear provision saying that "When applying this act, it holds that the use of
4165-601: The end of the 11th century, when the border of the Kingdom ended near Késmárk (present-day Kežmarok ). The royal county of Szepes ( comitatus Scepusiensis ) was created in the second half of the 12th century. In the 1250s, the border of the Kingdom of Hungary shifted to the north to Podolin (present-day Podolínec ) and in 1260 – in the northwest – to the Dunajec river. The northeastern region around Gnézda (present-day Hniezdne ) and Ólubló (present-day Stará Ľubovňa ) (the so-called "districtus Podoliensis") were incorporated only in
4250-601: The end of the 18th century over 500 iron mines were operative in the south. Such prosperity naturally meant that the churches paid great interest to the region. А Lutheran synod , the so-called Synod of Szepesváralja, took place in Szepesváralja (present-day Spišské Podhradie) in 1614. It discussed the Protestant organisation of the Szepes and Sáros counties. In the Catholic sphere, a separate Szepes Bishopric
4335-475: The languages surrounding them (Serbo-Croatian, Hungarian, and Romanian). Slovak contains 15 vowel phonemes (11 monophthongs and four diphthongs) and 29 consonants. The phoneme /æ/ is marginal and often merges with /e/; the two are normally only distinguished in higher registers. Vowel length is phonemic in Slovak and both short and long vowels have the same quality. In addition, Slovak, unlike Czech, employs
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#17327732289744420-419: The last consonant is voiceless. For example, otázka is pronounced /ɔtaːska/ and vzchopiť sa is pronounced /fsxɔpitsːa/ . This rule applies also over the word boundary. For example, prísť domov [priːzɟ dɔmɔw] (to come home) and viac jahôd [ʋɪɐdz jaɦʊɔt] (more strawberries). The voiced counterpart of " ch " /x/ is [ɣ] , and the unvoiced counterpart of " h " /ɦ/
4505-526: The late 18th century dismemberment of Poland, the border was with the Austrian province of Galicia . Its area was 3,668 km in 1910. The county became part of Czechoslovakia , apart from a very small area now in Poland , after World War I , and is now part of Slovakia (and Poland). The original seat of government of Szepes county was Spiš Castle ( Hungarian : Szepesi vár ), which was constructed in
4590-446: The military training area Javorina near Kežmarok), Szepesbéla (present-day Spišská Belá), Igló (present-day Spišská Nová Ves ), Szepesváralja (present-day Spišské Podhradie ), Szepesolaszi (present-day Spišské Vlachy ), Duránd (present-day Tvarožná ), and Ménhárd (present-day Vrbov ). The towns kept their privileged status (now in fealty to the Polish kings who did not alter their privileges). The Polish king ceded his interest in
4675-429: The most common examples being krásne /ˈkraːsnɛ/ (beautiful) versus krásne /ˈkraːsɲɛ/ (beautifully). The main features of Slovak syntax are as follows: Some examples include the following: Word order in Slovak is relatively free, since strong inflection enables the identification of grammatical roles (subject, object, predicate, etc.) regardless of word placement. This relatively free word order allows
4760-533: The noun in situations where definiteness must be made explicit. Slovak nouns are inflected for case and number . There are six cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, locative, and instrumental. The vocative is purely optional and most of the time unmarked. It is used mainly in spoken language and in some fixed expressions: mama mum (nominative) vs. mami mum! (vocative), tato , oco dad (N) vs. tati , oci dad! (V), pán Mr., sir vs. pane sir (when addressing someone e.g. in
4845-638: The novel Tom Jones by Henry Fielding , who was himself a squire and magistrate. There is also a notable squire in Cormac McCarthy's Outer Dark and Charles Reade 's 1856 novel It is Never Too Late to Mend , where the squire uses his authority to abuse the postal and judicial services. In the Aubrey-Maturin series of novels by Patrick O'Brian , Jack Aubrey's father, General Aubrey and later Jack himself, are typical squires. Mary Ann Evans , alias George Eliot , includes Squire Cass as
4930-451: The one hand, it enabled economic and industrial expansion. On the other, it bypassed the old capital of the region, Lőcse (now Levoča), and favoured the growth of centres on its route, such as Poprád (now Poprad) and Igló (now Spišská Nová Ves ). In the aftermath of World War I, Szepes county became part of newly formed Czechoslovakia, as recognized by the concerned states in the 1920 Treaty of Trianon . According to censuses carried out in
5015-599: The other lesser servants of the privy chamber and acted as his valet, and stood guard while he was shaved, washed or bathed. One stood behind his chair when he dined. Squires accompanied him at play, including wagering with him on the results of games (see wagers lost and won recorded in the account books of Henry VII , each page signed by the king, National Archives at Kew ) and delivered confidential messages of all kinds. Edward IV and Richard III only appointed four esquires each. Henry VII appointed four of his closest "companions of Our late Exile" within days of his victory at
5100-558: The power of the Count of Szepes. The Province of 24 Szepes towns was dissolved in 1412, when, by the Treaty of Lubowla King Sigismund of Luxembourg , ruler of Hungary, pawned 13 of the towns of the former Province, as well as the territory around the Ólubló (present-day Stará Ľubovňa ) (i.e. the royal domain Lubló, plus Gnézda and Podolin , and several villages) to Poland, in exchange for
5185-512: The present-day standard language. Not all dialects are fully mutually intelligible. It may be difficult for an inhabitant of the western Slovakia to understand a dialect from eastern Slovakia and the other way around. The dialects are fragmented geographically, separated by numerous mountain ranges. The first three groups already existed in the 10th century. All of them are spoken by the Slovaks outside Slovakia, and central and western dialects form
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#17327732289745270-475: The privy chamber, and the closest of the king's "Affinity" (i.e., his most intimate daily companions), and were the only servants in the household who were required – not just allowed – to bear arms in the king's presence, as one of their duties was to act as bodyguards "of last resort" in the event of an immediate threat to the royal person. In times of war when their royal master was "under arms" himself, they would also fight at his side. They oversaw his pages and
5355-716: The prohibitive costs associated with maintaining large country houses . In Scotland , whilst esquire and gentleman are technically correctly used at the Court of the Lord Lyon , the title laird , in place of squire, is more common. Moreover, in Scotland, lairds append their territorial designation to their names as was traditionally done on the mainland of Europe ( e.g. , Donald Cameron of Lochiel). The territorial designation fell into disuse in England early on, save for peers of
5440-721: The realm . The later form of squire as a gentleman appears in much of English literature , for example in the form of Squire Trelawney in Robert Louis Stevenson 's Treasure Island . William Makepeace Thackeray depicted a squire in Vanity Fair as a lecherous, ill-educated, badly mannered relic of an earlier age. However, he clearly shows their control of the life of the parish. Others include Squire Hamley in Elizabeth Gaskell 's Wives and Daughters and Squire Allworthy (based on Ralph Allen ) in
5525-783: The region was principally based on agriculture (and, in the mediaeval period, mining). From the beginning of the 15th century, the county was subdivided into three processuses . The number was changed to four in 1798. In the second half of the 19th century, the number of processuses (districts) was increased. In the early 20th century, the subdivisions of the county Szepes were (town names first in Hungarian, then in Slovak, then in German): Slovak language [REDACTED] Croatia Slovak ( / ˈ s l oʊ v æ k , - v ɑː k / SLOH -va(h)k ; endonym : slovenčina [ˈslɔʋent͡ʂina] or slovenský jazyk [ˈslɔʋenskiː ˈjazik] ),
5610-414: The same stem are written in the same way even if they are pronounced differently. An example of this principle is the assimilation rule (see below). The tertiary principle is the etymological principle, which can be seen in the use of i after certain consonants and of y after other consonants, although both i and y are usually pronounced the same way. Finally, the rarely applied grammatical principle
5695-463: The skills of schools such as those of the carver Master Paul of Levoča testify to this affluence and culture. Until the end of the 17th century, the area was often disrupted by wars, uprisings against the Habsburgs , and epidemics (a plague of 1710/1711 killed over 20,000). But from the 18th century onwards, relative stability enabled faster economic development. Many craft guilds were founded and by
5780-419: The social scale as the "big house". The head of this family was often the lord of the manor and called "the squire". Lords of the manor held the rank of esquire by prescription. Squires were gentlemen, usually with a coat of arms , and were often related to peers . The squire usually lived at the village manor house and owned an estate , comprising the village, with the villagers being his tenants. If
5865-453: The squire owned the advowson or living (i.e. "was patron ") of the parish church — and he often did — he would choose the incumbent, designated as either a rector , or if the parish had a lay rector or impropriator , who was often the squire himself, a vicar . These roles were often filled by a younger son of the squire or of another family of local gentry. Some squires also became parish incumbents themselves and were known as squarsons;
5950-432: The state language" (i.e. the Czech language) may be used in contact with state offices and bodies by its native speakers, and documents written in it and issued by bodies in the Czech Republic are officially accepted. Regardless of its official status, Czech is used commonly both in Slovak mass media and in daily communication by Czech natives as an equal language. Squire Use of the term evolved over time. Initially,
6035-414: The street). There are two numbers: singular and plural. Nouns have inherent gender . There are three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. Adjectives and pronouns must agree with nouns in case, number, and gender. The numerals 0–10 have unique forms, with numerals 1–4 requiring specific gendered representations. Numerals 11–19 are formed by adding násť to the end of each numeral. The suffix dsať
6120-623: The three towns in the territory of Ólubló, making a total of 16 towns). It was led by a count elected each year by a council including representatives of the towns, past mayors, and the previous count. The 13 main pawned settlements did not form a continuous territory. They included: Leibic (present-day Ľubica ), Poprád (present-day Poprad ), Mateóc (Matejovce, today in Poprad), Szepesszombat ( Spišská Sobota , today in Poprad), Strázsa (Stráže pod Tatrami, today in Poprad), Felka (Veľká, today in Poprad), Ruszkin (Ruskinovce, no longer in existence, located in
6205-453: The towns prospered economically. Attempts of the Kingdom of Hungary to repay the debt (most notably in 1419, 1426, and 1439) failed and later the will (or ability) to pay declined. After alleged mistreatment of the towns – especially by Teodor Konstanty Lubomirski , Maria Josepha of Austria (queen consort of August III of Poland ), and Count Heinrich Brühl – Maria Theresa of Austria decided to recover them by force. She took advantage of
6290-574: The towns to Count Sebastian Lubomirski in 1593, whose family then became effectively the proprietors of the province. The remaining 11 of the former 24 Szepes towns, which created the "Province/Union of 11 Szepes towns" in 1412, were not able to maintain their privileges. As early as 1465 they were fully incorporated into the Szepes county, i.e. they became subjects of the lords of the Spiš Castle . Some of them gradually turned into simple villages and lost their German privileges. Having privileges from both
6375-705: The use of word order to convey topic and emphasis . Some examples are as follows: The unmarked order is subject–verb–object . Variation in word order is generally possible, but word order is not completely free. In the above example, the noun phrase ten veľký muž cannot be split up, so that the following combinations are not possible: And the following sentence is stylistically infelicitous: The regular variants are as follows: Slovak, like every major Slavic language other than Bulgarian and Macedonian , does not have articles. The demonstrative pronoun in masculine form ten (that one) or tá in feminine and to in neuter respectively, may be used in front of
6460-439: Was a collection of non-contiguous areas, which did not constitute a continuous territory. It had an autonomous government, similar to that of normal Hungarian counties, but was partly subordinated to the head of Szepes county. Until the 15th century, its capital was Csütörtökhely/Štvrtok/Donnersmark (present-day Spišský Štvrtok – which was not part of the sedes territories); following this there were various capitals, and after 1726
6545-867: Was called "Communitas (or Provincia) Saxonum de Scepus". By the mid-14th century, the territory was reduced to 24 settlements and later the name was changed to Province of 24 Szepes Towns . The province was led by the Count ( Graf ) of Szepes elected by the town judges of the 24 towns. There was yet another privileged territory in Szepes. Until 1465, the privileged German mining towns in southern Szepes (e.g. Göllnitz/Gölnicbánya/Gelnica, Schwedler/Svedlér/Švedlár, Einseidel/Szepesremete/Mníšek nad Hnilcom, Helzmanowitz/Helcmanóc/Helcmanovce, Prakendorf/Prakfalva/Prakovce, Vagendrussel/Merény/Vondrišel (today called Nálepkovo), Jeckelsdorf/Jekelfalva/Jaklovce, Margetzan/Margitfalu/Margecany, Schmölnitz/Szomolnok/Smolník, Höfen/Szalánk/Slovinky, and Krompach/Korompa/Krompachy) were also exempt from
6630-520: Was created in 1776 with its seat at Szepeshely (present-day Spišská Kapitula ). The spirit of nationalism, growing in the 19th century, moved also in Spiš. In 1868, 21 settlements of Szepes sent their demands, the 'Szepes Petition', to the Diet of the Kingdom of Hungary, requesting special status for Slovaks within the Kingdom. In 1871, the railway came to Szepes and this was to have profound consequences. On
6715-436: Was entitled to appoint a governor/administrator ( starosta ) for the territories, with his seat in Lubló, to manage them economically (especially to collect tax revenues) and to position guards at important road crossings even outside the pawned territories. One of the first Polish governors of Szepes was the famous knight Zawisza Czarny . Due to their complex political and economic status (German towns with Slovak subjects),
6800-417: Was granted self-government privileges similar to those of the royal free towns . In 1317, the special territory included 43 settlements, including Lőcse (present-day Levoča) and Késmárk (present-day Kežmarok), which however withdrew before 1344. From 1370 the 41 settlements of the territory subscribed to a uniform special Szepes law system (called Zipser Willkür in German). Initially, the special territory
6885-551: Was named "Province of 16 Szepes towns". The capital of the province was Igló, also known as Neudorf and later as Spišská Nová Ves . However, the privileges were gradually reduced and some 100 years later only religious and cultural rights remained. Finally, the province was dissolved altogether and incorporated into Szepes county in 1876. The Szepes county (today mostly Spiš region) prospered not only from being situated on trade routes, but also from its natural resources of wood, agriculture and, until relatively recent times, mining. In
6970-516: Was replacing the Polish language with Slovak language during classes. Up until the 12th century, there were no Hungarians (except the area of The Spis Castle and the Church of Saint Martin) in the region. The Slovak and German inhabitants came to Szepes in following centuries in a process of colonization the Carpathian wilds by Hungarian Crown. All localities were inhabited by Poles, as a result of
7055-427: Was the town of Kassa (present-day Košice ), sometimes Eperjes, (present-day Prešov ). The rulers of the county were from the following Hungarian noble families: Until 1802, there was a Seat of the 10 Lance-bearers , an autonomous administrative division , which was situated to the east of Poprad in present-day southern Spiš, and whose origin is unknown. From the 12th century onwards, its inhabitants were known as
7140-460: Was traditionally associated with occupation of the manor house, which would often itself confer the dignity of squire. It is unclear how widely the village squire may still be said to survive today, but where it does, the role is likely more dependent upon a recognition of lineage and long family association rather than land, which, while relevant, is nowadays likely to be considerably smaller than in former years due to high post-war death duties and
7225-448: Was typically a young boy, training to become a knight. A boy became a page at the age of 7 then a squire at age 14. Squires were the second step to becoming a knight, after having served as a page . Boys served a knight as an attendant, doing simple but important tasks such as saddling a horse or caring for the knight's weapons and armour. The squire would sometimes carry the knight's flag into battle with his master. The typical jobs of
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