Bukovszky László (szerk.): Egy régió története a XI. századtól 1945-ig. Mátyusföld - Lokális és regionális monográfiák 4. (Komárom-Dunaszerdahely, 2005)

Helynévmutató

and 19,h centuries the number of market towns in this area was nine: Sládkovičovo, Vlčany, Galanta, Močenok, Šintava, Senec, Abrahám, Sered' and Šaľa. At the same time some sources qualify Veiké Úľany (in the 15th cent.) and Horné Saliby (in the 16th cent.) as market towns as well. Freedom and liberty given by the sovereign or squire provided the necessary stipulations for their growth.

In the same way as in the other regions of the land the settlements consisted of villages. The clear majority of them were serf villages consisted in common law and belonging to squires’ authority. Beside these serf villages the number of noble(curial) villages in Mátyusföld was significant too, where a predominant number of them were dwelt by smallholders and lower nobility, already mentioned in sources from the 15'\ 16lh centuries (Kajal, Hrubá Borša, Reca and Veľká Mača).The amount of such villages in the region was twenty in the first half of the 18'" century. The first charters that appeared at the beginning of the use of written records regarding to the early settlements were more noteworthy than relics from the same time. In thellth and 12th centuries Mátyusföld possessed a relatively well-developed village order. The majority of the charters remained from the 13,h century because the royal chancellery and the official record writing itself started their activity on a large scale in that century as well. There are charters which strengthen certain settlements ‘existence in the Árpád Era and bear irreplaceably important values from historical and cultural perspective, too, such as the script written on the occasion of founding Saint Martin's Monastery built by King István I in 1002, as well as the foundation script of Zobor Monastery issued by King Kálmán in 1113.The latter one transcending the bare description of properties and borderlines, firstly names the settlements of the territory (Močenok, Veča, Trnovec nad Váhom, Dlhá nad Váhom, Horná Kráľová, Vlčany, Žiharec and Gáň). Some written sources and charters published from thellth to thel4th century and in some cases ones that appeared a bit later tell upon the medieval story of the area, primarily contemplating the juridical situation, property system and the etymologically so essential place names.

At the end of the 15,h century, when Mátyás Hunyadi died there was a big struggle for the Hungarian royal throne. The Hungarian classes paid less attention to the Turkish by the southern border of the country. This kind of drawing aside and the attitude of being unprepared led to the deplorable defeat in the Battle of Mohács on 29'" August, 1526. It was relatively early, when the settlements of the region were ravaged by the Turkish in 1529 and then again in 1530.At the end of the 16th century during the Fifteen Years' War the Turkish kept the countryside under constant pressure. Alongside the Turkish danger or at the same time a big demolition was caused by the martial events of uprisings of the Estates of Bocskay István vs. Bethlen Gábor. After the fall of Nové Zámky the settlements of the region as far as Veľké Úľany taxed to the Turks. The constant Turkish threat was redeemed by Emperor Lipóťs construction of a defence system along the river Váh. Following the pattern in 1665 a palisaded stronghold was erected in Šaľa and then the castle was fortified and in Vlčany some ramparts were built. In the adjoining Galanta apart from the two fortified Esterházy castles the settlement itself was fenced off. The most serious strategical location proved to be the Castle of Šintava, because the Turkish failed to capture it. After the expulsion of the Turks, during the Rákóczi War of Independence from 1703 to 1708 the countryside was under the control of the Kuruc troops. Bercsényi and his troops encamped in Sered' and its neighbourhood in December of 1703, in the following year in Sládkovičovo, in 1705 in Galanta and then in Jóka. The ceaseless fights and their aftermath meant an enormous burden for the remaining population. Notwithstanding with the act of Peace of Szatmár the war of

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