Kežmarok

Kežmarok (German: Kesmark/Käsmark, Hungarian: Késmárk, Polish: Kieżmark, Latin: Kesmarkium) is a town in the Spiš region of eastern Slovakia (population 17,000), on the Poprad River. Settlement at Kežmarok dates back to the Upper Stone Age. In the 13th century the region contained a community of Saxons, a Slovak fishing village, a Hungarian border post and a Carpathian German settlement. Its Latin name was first mentioned in 1251 as Villa (Saxonum apud Ecclesiam) Sancte Elisabeth. In 1269 Kežmarok received its town charter. It also had the right to organize a cheese market (hence the German name Kesmark ("Käsemarkt" - "cheese market"). The terms Nobilissimus (most noble) and nobilissima familia (most noble family) have been used since...