CHURCH AND THE SETTLEMENT: CHURCH AND SETTLEMENT INTERACTION IN MEDIEVAL PEZINOK

In our study we will take a closer look not only at the settlement of Pezinok itself and its military guard, toll and market functions, but also at the formation of its ecclesiastical centre – the parish and the Parish Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary – because the factor of the magnate’s residence gave it a distinct position in the territory of the Bratislava Provostry. Pezinok was already of considerable importance in Great Moravian times, as it was a settlement situated in the immediate vicinity of a strategic pass through the Little Carpathians. It was this location that resulted in the fact that even after the establishment of the Kingdom of Hungary, its importance was preserved. The settlement situation and archaeological findings make it possible to express the opinion that there must have been a sacral building, which survived until the major rebuilding in the fourteenth century. From 1207 Pezinok became the property of the noble Hont-Poznan family, the ancestors of the local counts. After being settled by a German population, it developed towards urban agglomeration, as a result of which it has been called a town since the fifteenth century.