Zsámbék (german: Schambeck) is a town in Pest County,

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

Location

Zsámbék is located 30 km west of

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

along the M1 motorway in the Gerecse Mountains. Its neighbouring villages are

Tök Tök is a village in Pest county, Hungary. It is located 30 km from Budapest, on the edge of the Zsámbék basin. Sister cities * Wettenberg – Germany * Gemerské Michalovce – Slovakia * Horgos – Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbia ...

, Perbál,

Páty Páty is a village in Pest county, Budapest metropolitan area, Hungary. It has a population of 7,476 (2018). The neighbouring villages are: Zsámbék, Tök, Budajenő, Telki, Nagykovácsi, Budakeszi, Biatorbágy and Herceghalom. The Zsambeki ...

, Herceghalom,

Mány Mány (german: Maan) is a town in Hungary, located in the north-east of Fejér County in the Zsámbéki Basin. History In the Middle Ages Mány was in Esztergom county. Mány and Örs were completely destroyed in the first decades of the Turkis ...

Bicske Bicske (; la, Lusomana or ) is a town in Fejér County, Hungary. Its name is also spelled ''Bykche'', ''Biccke'', ''Bykcze'', ''Biczke'', and ''Bitske''. It is around west of Budapest. Its administration has undergone many changes; it has been ...

, and Szomor.

History

Zsámbék has been inhabited since Paleolithic times. It has seen Celtic,

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

and Avar populations throughout its history, according to archaeological finds. A Celtic coach's remains were found there as well as a bronze trumpet. In the 1180s the wife of

Béla III of Hungary Béla III ( hu, III. Béla, hr, Bela III, sk, Belo III; 114823 April 1196) was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1172 and 1196. He was the second son of King Géza II and Géza's wife, Euphrosyne of Kiev. Around 1161, Géza granted Béla a ...

, Margaret Capet, who was the step-sister of the French king Philippe Auguste, granted land around the village to a knight named Aynard, in recognition of his service to the King for safely escorting Margaret from Paris to Esztergom in 1186. His origin is obscure, but he would certainly have been selected for the military responsibility from those who the French king trusted. The only identifiable person in the king's entourage named Aynard was at one time the Viscount of Limoges, who had been outlawed by the Anglo-Norman court of Henry II in 1183. This person was assassinated in Paris in the year 1199. Aynard's family built the Premonstratensian church beginning in 1220. The church was destroyed in 1241 during the Mongolian invasions. Following the destruction, during the reign of

Béla IV of Hungary Béla IV (1206 – 3 May 1270) was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1235 and 1270, and Duke of Styria from 1254 to 1258. As the oldest son of King Andrew II, he was crowned upon the initiative of a group of influential noblemen in his fath ...

, the church and monastery were rebuilt. Positioned at an important merchant route — halfway between

Esztergom Esztergom ( ; german: Gran; la, Solva or ; sk, Ostrihom, known by alternative names) is a city with county rights in northern Hungary, northwest of the capital Budapest. It lies in Komárom-Esztergom County, on the right bank of the river Dan ...

and Székesfehérvár and near Buda — the village underwent rapid growth. In 1467

Matthias Corvinus Matthias Corvinus, also called Matthias I ( hu, Hunyadi Mátyás, ro, Matia/Matei Corvin, hr, Matija/Matijaš Korvin, sk, Matej Korvín, cz, Matyáš Korvín; ), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490. After conducting several m ...

granted the rights of a borough. He also gave the fortress to his son,

John Corvinus John Corvinus ( Hungarian: ''Corvin János'', Croatian: ''Ivaniš Korvin'', Romanian: ''Ioan Corvin''; 2 April 1473 – 12 October 1504) was the illegitimate son of Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, and his mistress, Barbara Edelpöck. Biog ...

. In 1541, Turkish troops occupied the fortress and held it for 145 years. During this occupation, they also built a Turkish bath, the ruins of which are still visible in the village. In 1686 general

János Bottyán János Bottyán (1643, Esztergom, Hungary – 27 September 1709), also known as Blind Bottyán, Vak Bottyán János was a Hungarian kuruc general. Bottyán was born into a poor noble family of Protestant religion, his father was Kurulh Efimovit ...

fought there against the Turks. Later the

Zichy family The House of Zichy (of Zich and Vásonykő) is the name of a Magyar family of the Hungarian nobility, conspicuous in Hungarian history from the latter part of the 13th century onwards. Brief history of the Zichy The first authentic ancestor of th ...

became the landowners of the region. They then rebuilt the castle. An earthquake in 1763 ruined the church once again. It was not reconstructed after this horrific event. Settlers from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, who came to live in the abandoned village after the Turkish occupation, took the stones from the church and used them for building houses and fences. Many of the church's stones are still present in the walls of older houses.

Notable people

* József Molnár, painter * Joseph Gungl, Austrian composer

Twin towns – sister cities

Zsámbék is twinned with: * Mărtiniș, Romania * Miglianico, Italy * Wettenberg, Germany *

Zawiercie Zawiercie is a city in the south of Poland located in the Silesian Voivodeship with 49,334 inhabitants (2019). It is situated in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland near the source of the Warta River. The town lies near the historical region of Sile ...

, Poland

References

External links