Kamenica ( hu, Tarkő, (earlier) Tarkeő, Kamenyica) is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Sabinov District Sabinov District (''okres Sabinov'') is a district in the Prešov Region of eastern Slovakia. It lies on the highlands of Šarišská vrchovina. The district had been established in 1923 and from 1996 exists in its present borders. Food, pharmace ...

in the

Prešov Region The Prešov Region, also Priashiv Region ( sk, Prešovský kraj, ; hu, Eperjesi kerület; uk, Пряшівський край) is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions and consists of 13 districts (okresy) and 666 municipalities, 23 o ...

of north-eastern

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

History

The Castle Kamenica first developed out of the castle of the same name that was built on a nearby

hillock A hillock or knoll is a small hill,The Free Dictionary
"hillock" entry, retrieved December 18, 2007 ...

in the early 13th century in order to protect a major Polish trading route that had its terminus in

Košice Košice ( , ; german: Kaschau ; hu, Kassa ; pl, Коszyce) is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of app ...

to the south. In 1436, the castle garrison rebelled and was quickly brought back under control, but not long after the

Hussites The Hussites ( cs, Husité or ''Kališníci''; "Chalice People") were a Czech proto-Protestant Christian movement that followed the teachings of reformer Jan Hus, who became the best known representative of the Bohemian Reformation. The Hussit ...

had control of both castle and village. The castle was refurbished in the Renaissance style in the beginning of the 16th century. In 1556 imperial troops besieged under command of Simon Forgacs, captured and seven days later, on the order of

Emperor Ferdinand I Ferdinand I ( es, Fernando I; 10 March 1503 – 25 July 1564) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1556, King of Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia from 1526, and Archduke of Austria from 1521 until his death in 1564.Milan Kruhek: Cetin, grad izbornog sabor ...

, turned the castle into the ruin that can be seen today. After the sack of the castle the surrounding villages including Kamenica dwindled in size. Later, stones from the castle were used to build a brewery in Lúčka in 1816. The Village The village itself was first mentioned in 1248 as “Tharkveley,” (An early form of the Hungarian name for the village, Tarkő). In 1270 King

Stephen V Stephen V may refer to: *Pope Stephen IV, aka Stephen V, Pope from 816 to 817 *Pope Stephen V (885–891) *Stephen V of Hungary (born before 1239 – 1272), King of Hungary and Croatia, Duke of Styria *Stephen V Báthory Stephen Báthory of Ecs ...

along with his estates conferred Kamenica and its castle on Nicholas Berzeviczi, a keen supporter of the King. Stephen V died in 1272, jeopardizing the Berzeviczi family holding. The new King

Ladislaus IV of Hungary Ladislaus IV ( hu, IV. (Kun) László, hr, Ladislav IV. Kumanac, sk, Ladislav IV. Kumánsky; 5 August 1262 – 10 July 1290), also known as Ladislaus the Cuman, was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1272 to 1290. His mother, Elizabeth, was ...

, however, re-confirmed the holding in 1275 and reconfirmed in a charter signed in Eger in 1287. The church of Kamenica was built around 1300 in the Gothic style by Count Rikolf Berzeviczi and the first noted priest is a man named Gottfrid in 1330. After the troubles of the 1436 revolt and the Hussite struggles, the village hit on hard times. The Berzeviczi family had already waned in power and the Sztáray clan had taken over, but by the mid-16th century the Dessewffy family had control over the village and the ruins of the castle. As of 1600, the village consisted of 31 households. After the Dessewffy family took over, the Lutheran church was shut down and a Catholic-only church returned in 1672 in an expanded Baroque style though it was still affiliated with the neighboring parish and not a parish of its own. In the 1680s, the village church was once more given its own parish, which did not move after 1741. The village continued to grow and in 1787, the village’s 627 residents lived in 93 different houses. In 1804 the church was renovated once again and completed in the neoclassical style. By 1828, there were 740 inhabitants living in 97 houses. Most residents were occupied in farming, weaving, woodcutting and animal husbandry. The village in 1910 reached 974, predominantly Slovak, inhabitants. After the

Treaty of Trianon The Treaty of Trianon (french: Traité de Trianon, hu, Trianoni békeszerződés, it, Trattato del Trianon) was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace Conference and was signed in the Grand Trianon château in ...

was signed in 1920, Kamenica became a part of

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. During that same decade many villagers emigrated due to economic difficulties, many to the United States.

Geography

The

lies at an

altitude Altitude or height (also sometimes known as depth) is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context ...

of 501 metres and covers an

area Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape A shape or figure is a graphics, graphical representation of an obje ...

of 21.298 km². It has a

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of about 1870 people.
Slovakia Kamenica 12

Genealogical resources

The records for genealogical research are available at the state archive "Statny Archiv in Presov, Slovakia" * Roman Catholic church records (births/marriages/deaths): 1776-1895 (parish A) * Greek Catholic church records (births/marriages/deaths): 1815-1952 (parish B)

History

Geography

Genealogical resources

See also