Prešov

Prešov ( German Eperies , 1938 to 1945 also Germanized Preschau, thereafter rarely; HungarianEperjes ; PolishPreszów ; UkrainianПряшів for Prjaschiv; LatinFragopolis or Eperiessinum ) is the second-largest city of eastern Slovakia (third-largest city in all of Slovakia ) and the center of traditional Šariš landscape . The population as of December 31, 2020 is 87,886.

Prešov is the capital of a regional association ( Prešovský kraj ) and a district ( Okres , see also Administrative divisions of Slovakia ). It is also the seat of the University of Prešov and since January 30, 2008 the seat of the Metropolitan Church of the Greek Catholic Church in Slovakia, which thus became a church in its own right .

Geography 

The town is situated on the north-eastern foothills of the Šarišská vrchovina (Sharosher Uplands), the northern edge of the Košická kotlina ( Kašice Valley Basin) and the confluence of the Torysa and Sekčov rivers , which enclose the town from the west and east, respectively. The 49th degree of latitude runs right through the city . The city center is at an altitude of 250 m nmand is 37 km from Košice and about 410 km from Bratislava (both by road).

Panorama of Prešov from Calvary. Stráž (740 meters) in the middle on the horizon, Slanské vrchy on the far right . In Prešov, on the left, the new development area Sidlisko 3, in the middle the center with St. Nicholas Church , below it the university and schools, on the right the new development areas Sekčov and Solivar

From time immemorial, the valley of the Torysa River has been known as part of the important trade  route  between Byzantium ,  Belgrade ,  Košice  and Warsaw

Prešov is an old settlement site ( Paleolithic , Neolithic , Bronze Age , Celtic settlement, Germanic settlement, settlements from the Migration Period ).

As the Hungarians gradually took over modern-day Slovakia, the region was incorporated into the Kingdom of Hungary around 1100, and Hungarians and their military presence entered the ancient Slavic settlement. 

Since the 13th century, Prešov has been inhabited by three different nationalities, Slovaks, Hungarians and Germans, who over the centuries have had varying degrees of influence on the town’s fortunes and contributed to its wealth.

Salt has been mined in this area since time immemorial: in 1261  Solivar (“Salzburg”), a district of Prešov since 1973, was first mentioned as “Souuvar”. In this old settlement area (Palesteinzeit, Wandalen ) there should have been two castles before that. The one remaining castle was completely destroyed in 1715.

Before the city rights were granted, Prešov belonged to the castle Šariš/Scharosch , d. H. the head of the Šariš county (which was probably part of the county “Novum Castrum” before 1241) subordinated. King Andrew III gave/confirmed Prešov city rights in 1299 (as did Veľký Šariš and Sabinov ). Associated with this were the rights to their own city administration, a mayor and a city council. The city also gained economic independence as the residents were now free citizens with land and property ownership. Thus they could concentrate on crafts and trade; especially the German residents use these rights extensively.

In 1374 the city was raised to a royal free city by the king and thus also received the right to a city wall. In the same year, the first craftsmen’s guild, the shoemaker’s guild, was founded. Regular market days testified to the intensive development of trade at that time; the citizens of Prešov mainly traded in textiles and agricultural products, with the trade in wine being particularly profitable.

In 1455 Prešov was awarded a coat of arms by King Ladislaus Postumus . The prosperity of the city at that time is shown very well by the rapidly increasing number of inhabitants from 2,000 in 1425 to 3,300 in 1492. In 1441 the city was besieged by the Poles and set on fire.In 1480 the town became a member of the East Slovak League of Towns Pentapolitana ( Levoča , Košice , Bardejov , Sabinov , Prešov).

16th century 

The Reformation , which emanated from Germany and Switzerland , was also well received by the German residents of Prešov and the surrounding area. As a result, the first evangelical parish was formed here as early as 1531.In 1548 the first documented synod in Slovakia took place in Prešov,at which the Protestants accepted the Augsburg Confession . 1549 was based on the model of theConfessio Augustana by Leonhard (or Lyon-hard) Stöckel the confessional document (moderate Protestant “religion”) Confessio Pentapolitana written to allegations of heresy to meet. From the 1570s, however, the nobility and aristocracy promoted the Counter-Reformation or Re-Catholicization,which led to many anti-Habsburg uprisings in what is now Slovakia (1604-1711), in which Prešov mostly sided with the insurgents.

“ Gypsies ” also settled in the middle of the century. They settled in the area of ​​today’s Námestie mieru (“Peace Square”), where they founded the so-called New Egyptian Quarter. At that time the population was around 4,000. The importance of Prešov as a trading center is said to have even surpassed that of Košice.

In 1572 the Leopold shaft was built in Solivar/Salzburg. In 1573 the town became a mining town and in 1592 salt production was taken over by the state.

17th century

In 1647 the Habsburgs designated it the capital of Sáros county. In late January 1657, Transylvanian PrinceGeorge II Rákóczi, a Protestant, invaded Poland with army of some 25,000 which crossed the Carpathians on the road from Prešov to Krosno.

In the 17th century, most of Prešov’s inhabitants were Protestants. The ongoing anti-Habsburg uprisings, as well as the presence of the Turkish occupiers on the borders of the Habsburg Empire , prompted the Habsburgs to be temporarily more tolerant of new religions in Habsburg Royal Hungary(i.e. Slovakia, Burgenland and northern Croatia).

In 1667 a “Protestant College” was opened in Prešov, which was an important educational center for Upper Hungary (that was the name of eastern Slovakia at the time). The scholars working here were significantly influenced by the teachings of Jan Amos Comenius , who stayed in Prešov in the spring of 1650. Adding to the city’s rapidly expanding economic power was political strength. Thus, in 1647, the administrative center of Sharosh County, which often changed its seat, was moved to the city. In the 17th century, the nobility from the Rákóczi family held the position of county chief ( Gespans ).

In 1671 the Franciscan order settled in the city, followed two years later by theJesuitorder. The city’s support for the anti-Habsburg uprising under Emmerich Thököly in 1687 had serious consequences. Due to a decision of Emperor Leopold I , the so-called Eperies blood court was held in the city under the leadership of Antonio Caraffa , during which (from March 5 to September 12, 1687) 24 prominent Protestant citizens and nobles were sentenced to death and their property was confiscated. The plague epidemic caused further damageof 1696, which killed half of the town’s population, and the uprising of Franz Rákóczi II (1703–1711).

Names and Coats of Arms 

Prešov, Eperjes, Eperies 

^{According to current} opinion, the place name Prešov goes back to Hungarian eper “strawberry” and the associated adjective eperjes , from which the Slovak and German names are derived.^[3] . In addition, the region is a traditionally high-yield cultivation area for strawberries.^[2]
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Coat of Arms 

 Blazon : “In silver two red barsand in the place of theshield headthree red roses with golden slugs.”

Justification for the coat of arms: The city received its coat of arms in 1433 or 1455 (then from King Ladislaus Postumus ). In 1548 and 1558 it was modified. ^[8th]

I have seen these stripes on the King and wondered what they meant.  Of course we have seen the rose symbol throughout.