Trnava (, , ; , also known by other alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, to the northeast of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of the Trnava Region and the Trnava District. It is the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishopric (1541–1820 and then again since 1977). The city has a historic center. Because of the many churches within its city walls, Trnava has often been called "Little Rome" (, ), or more recently, the "Slovak Rome".
Names and etymology
The name of the city is derived from the name of the creek Trnava. It comes from the Old Slavic/Slovak word tŕň ("thornbush") which characterized the river banks in the region. Many towns in Central Europe have a similar etymology including Trnovo in Slovakia as well as Tarnów (Poland), Tarnow (Germany), Veliko Tarnovo (Bulgaria), Trnava and Trnavac (Serbia); and Tyrnavos (Greece) among others. In Hungarian, the original name had gradually evolved into Tyrna which influenced also later German and Latin forms.
When it developed into an important market town, it received the Hungarian name of Nagyszombat (Sumbot 1211) referring to the weekly market fairs held on Saturdays (). However, this name was only used by the royal chamber, as is indicated by the adoption of the Slovak name rather than the Hungarian name by German newcomers after the Mongol invasion.
The varieties of the name in different languages include ; (from the 14th century onward) and .
History
Permanent settlements on the city's territory are known from the Neolithic period onwards.
Middle Ages
During the Middle Ages, an important market settlement arose here at the junction of two important roads – from Bohemia to Hungary and from the Mediterranean to Poland.
The first written reference to Trnava dates from 1211. In 1238, Trnava was the first town in (present-day) Slovakia to be granted a town charter (civic privileges) by the king. The former agricultural center gradually became a center of manufacture, trade, and crafts. By the early 13th century, the king of Hungary had invited numerous Germans to settle in Trnava; this settlement increased after the Tatar invasion in 1242. At the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries, a part of Trnava was enclosed by very long city walls. The original Slovak market settlement and the Germans stayed behind this wall.
Trnava was also the place of many important negotiations: Charles I, the king of Hungary, signed here a currency agreement with the Czech King John of Luxemburg in 1327, and King Louis I (who often stayed in the town and died there in 1380) signed a friendship agreement with Emperor Charles IV there in 1360.
Hussites and Slovak majority
The temporary German majority in Trnava's population yielded in favour of the Slovaks during the campaigns undertaken by the Czech Hussites in the 15th century. In April 1430, the Hussites penetrated close to the town and defeated the Hungarian army in the Battle of Trnava. However, they suffered heavy losses and withdrew to Moravia. On 24 Jun 1432 a small group of Hussites masked as tradesmen entered the town, overcame the guards in the night and captured the town without a fight. Then, they made Trnava the center of their campaigns in northwestern Kingdom of Hungary from 1432 to 1435.
16th-18th centuries
The town, along with the rest of the territory of present-day Slovakia, gained importance after the conquest of most of what is today Hungary by the Ottoman Empire in 1541, when Trnava became the see (1541–1820) of the Archbishopric of Esztergom (before 1541 and after 1820 the see was the town of Esztergom, which was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1543). The cathedrals of the archbishopric were the Saint John the Baptist Cathedral and the Saint Nicholas Cathedral in the town. Many ethnic Hungarians fleeing from the Turks moved to the town after 1541 from present-day Hungary, which remained under Ottoman rule until 1699.