K CIRKEVNEJ SPRÁVE NA ÚZEMÍ JUHOZÁPADNÉHO SLOVENSKA OD DRUHEJ POLOVICE 16. DO PRVEJ POLOVICI 17. STOROČIA

The aim of the article is to characterize the church administration of the south-western part of Slovakia, the so called Podhorský deanery in the early modern era. The church administration has been documented on the basis of the analysis of canonical visitations which provide an authentic image of the social-political and religious situation in the region from the 1560s to the 1650s. According to the visitations from 1560 – 1564, a lot of presbyteries had either no priest or they had one who violated the church discipline. Situation in the church organization of the studied area changed in the first half of the 17th century. Visitations inform us not only about Roman Catholic parishes but also about conditions in the former Roman Catholic, yet at the time of visitations, Protestant or Anabaptist settlements. On the basis of the studied material, we came to the conclusion that changes in the church administration occurred on the arch deanery level, but mostly on the level of deaneries, which means that – in comparison with the past - in the chosen time was a deanery formed by different parishes and filial churches. Reformation and subsequent – though not very fast – establishment of the chain of Protestant and Calvin parishes also influenced the former Roman Catholic Church administration.