Written records stored in archives are unique pieces
of evidence of life and work of dozens of our ancestors‘
generations. In the book, we mention some privileges that
the free royal town of Kežmarok gradually obtained from
rulers, and that significantly influenced its development.
In 1269, King Béla IV granted proper municipal rights
to Kežmarok. For the first time, the name of the town
was mentioned. By naming the town, Béla IV granted to
people of Kežmarok the right of free choice of a reeve and
the boundaries of the lands of Kežmarok were established.
Furthermore, they got a free market and a free use of a
church with a cemetery. They had to pay fixed taxes to the
ruler in two instalments. In 1411, King Sigismund granted
the right of free fishing to the town – no foreign men could
catch fish in rivers and streams belonging to the town.
The people of Kežmarok had the right to seize them, take
their boats and all the things they carried.
In 1412, thanks to the privilege gained from King
Sigismund, the people of Kežmarok were exempted from
paying customs duties in the territory of the Austro
Hungarian Empire and they should not be imprisoned for
debts of others. In 1440, they obtained another privilege
from King Vladislav, according to which they could travel
without paying customs duties even to Poland. It was a big advantage because traders had to pay customs duties for
transporting goods across borders, bridges, etc.
In 1417, King Sigismund granted the right of free use
of forests to the people of Kežmarok. According to it, they
could penalize anyone who would be caught taking wood
from the town’s forests without authorization. The amount
of the fine was three Florenas for each cart of wood. If they
could not pay the fine, their cart together with the horses
could be confiscated.
Based on the market right granted in 1419, the people of
Kežmarok got the right of two annual fairs – on 2 February,
i.e. on Groundhog Day (Hromnice), and on the 29th of June,
i.e. on the day of Peter and Paul’s name day. In addition,
King Sigismund guaranteed his protection to all traders,
both domestic and foreign, who visited the markets.
In 1435, the town of Kežmarok, which suffered
considerable damage due to the invasion of Hussite troops
from Poland, appealed to King Sigismund in order to confirm
its old privilege as a part of the archive with records was also
burnt in the fire. Thus, Sigismund confirmed in 1435 the
storage right to Kežmarok, which had never been granted
before and which was the subject of the Hundred Years‘ War
with Levoča. In 1438, King Albert granted the right of sword
(jus gladii) to the town upon which the people of Kežmarok
had the right to use a wheel, a stake and other instruments
of torture; they had the right to hang, to break upon a wheel,
to behead, to burn to death, to stake thieves, arsonists,
murderers, and other villains as the Austro-Hungarian law
required.
The most valuable document stored in the archive
of Kežmarok is its Letters patent. The patent granted
a coat of arms to Kežmarok along with the right to seal using
red wax, which then meant a special privilege. The town
gained this privilege from King Matthias Corvinus in 1463.
It is the only Letters patent in our territory with the coat
of arms pictured in the middle of it. Pursuant to this unique
depiction of the coat of arms was Letters patent of Kežmarok
recognized in 1986 as a cultural heritage.
In 1464, at the request of Emeric Zápolya, King Matthias
freed the town of Kežmarok from paying the thirtieth –
a tax on foreign trade. The town was freed from the thirtieth
also in 1491 and 1496 by King Vladislav and in 1694 by Holy
Roman Emperor Leopold.
Moreover, the archive stores three copies of King Ferdinand
III’s edict from 1655, which validated the municipal
privileges of Kežmarok issued by previous monarchs; inter
alia, Letters patent issued by Matthias Corvinus on 13 June
1463. There is one of the oldest pictures of Kežmarok on the
f
irst page and its coat of arms on the last one.
Preserved valuable archival jewels helped the
development of the town by their legal force and they will
bear testimony to the next generations as well.