Topics

Historical context

Upper Hungary around 1700: Rákóczi’s uprising, serfdom, plague and the phenomenon of outlaw bands in the Carpathians.

Panorama of a fortified town in the Váh valley around 1700, with a castle on a rock and rafts on the river, drawn in the style of a folk woodcut

Historical context

Upper Hungary around 1700 – war, plague and law in Jánošík’s world

The Ottoman wars, Rákóczi’s uprising, the plague of 1709–1714 and a criminal law of wheel and hook – this was the world in which Juraj Jánošík became a soldier, a guard and an outlaw.

13 min read

A narrow Carpathian pass with a merchant’s cart and shadowy figures among the firs above

Historical context

Zbojníctvo: Carpathian outlaw bands of the 17th and 18th centuries

In the 17th and 18th centuries bands of shepherds and farmhands roamed the forests and passes of the Carpathians. Court records show how they lived, shared their loot and died – and how little of it resembles the legend.

11 min read