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 ...
with a population of 4,010 (as of 2014).
The village is situated between the Danubian Lowland and the
Little Carpathians
The Little Carpathians (also: ''Lesser Carpathians'', sk, Malé Karpaty; german: Kleine Karpaten; hu, Kis-Kárpátok) are a low, about 100 km long, mountain range, part of the Carpathian Mountains. The mountains are situated in Western Slov ...
. It is best known for the ruins of the nearby Čachtice Castle, home of Elizabeth Báthory. The castle stands on a hill featuring rare plants, and the area was declared a national nature reserve (''Čachtický hradný vrch'') for this reason.
History
Prehistoric settlements from the
neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...
,
eneolithic
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star.
Computer scientists and mathematicians often v ...
,
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...
,
Hallstatt period
The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Western and Central European culture of Late Bronze Age (Hallstatt A, Hallstatt B) from the 12th to 8th centuries BC and Early Iron Age Europe (Hallstatt C, Hallstatt D) from the 8th to 6th centuries B ...
,
La Tène period
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...
,
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 ...
periods and the early Slavic period have been found here.
The first written reference to the village dates from 1263. Čachtice has received the status of a town in 1392, but it was later degraded back to a village. In 1847 the parsonage was the meeting place of the first Slovak national and cultural society Tatrín, at which the definitive decision to use the central Slovak dialects as the basis for the new standard of the codified
Slovak language
Slovak () , is a West Slavic language of the Czech-Slovak languages, Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script. It is part of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, and is one of the Slavic languages, which are part of ...
was adopted.
Castle
Image:Csejtecivertanlegi2.jpg
Image:Csejtecivertanlegi1.jpg
Image:Csejtecivertanlegi3.jpg
Image:Csejtecivertanlegi4.jpg
Image:Slovakia Cachtice hrad 2.JPG, Čachtice Castle
Image:Čachtický hrad a Višňové.jpg
The castle was built in the 13th century in order to protect a trade route to
Moravia
Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia.
The m ...
. The most famous owner was the Countess Elizabeth Báthory,
whose bloody legends were based on rumors. There was national process against her. According to the alleged murders, the questioned witnesses answered that they just heard the stories by others. Elizabeth's four servants testified (under torture), and they were executed quickly. György Thurzó, and the soldiers found an alive "prey" girl in the castle, and there is no document that they asked her what had happened to her. There was no real confession against the Countess. Historians now agrees that the story was a discrediting, conceptual litigation.Szádeczky-Kardoss Irma - Báthory Erzsébet igazsága / The truth of Elizabeth Bathory (10 years of research based on contemporary correspondence) She was imprisoned in her own castle and died there in 1614. The castle was abandoned in 1708 and now lies in ruins. Recently, the castle has undergone minor reconstructions.
Genealogical resources
The records for genealogical research are available at the state archive "Statny Archiv in Bratislava, Slovakia"
* Roman Catholic church records (births/marriages/deaths): 1661-1921 (parish A)
* Lutheran church records (births/marriages/deaths): 1783-1922 (parish B)