1529 – 1549 · and the raid of 1574 Matej Bašo, the robber baron of GemerMatej Bašo, lúpežný rytier Gemera

The Ottoman wars pulled the kingdom's soldiers south and left the northern uplands to look after themselves — and a castle nobody could climb suddenly became a business opportunity. From about 1529 Muráň was held by Matej Bašo, who for twenty years raided out of it across Malohont, Gemer and Spiš: a robber baron, meaning a nobleman who behaved like a bandit because there was nobody within reach to stop him. In 1549 the assembly of the kingdom finally sent a royal army up here, and the castle that could not be climbed was taken. Accounts of his end differ — Slovak sources say he was killed as he tried to slip away, others that he was captured and executed — but either way he was finished, and the kingdom had shown it could reach even this rock when it decided to. Down in the valley the war was no abstraction: in 1574 Ottoman troops plundered and burned the village of Muráň and carried its men off into captivity.Osmanské vojny stiahli vojakov kráľovstva na juh a horné kraje sa museli postarať samy — a hrad, na ktorý sa nedalo vyliezť, sa zrazu stal dobrým obchodom. Zhruba od roku 1529 držal Muráň Matej Bašo a dvadsať rokov z neho podnikal výpravy po Malohonte, Gemeri a Spiši: lúpežný rytier, teda šľachtic, ktorý sa správal ako zbojník, lebo ho nemal kto zastaviť. V roku 1549 poslal proti nemu snem kráľovské vojsko a hrad, na ktorý sa nedalo vyliezť, padol. O jeho konci sa pramene rozchádzajú — slovenské hovoria, že ho zabili pri úteku z hradu, iné, že ho zajali a popravili — tak či onak sa ním skončilo a kráľovstvo ukázalo, že keď chce, dosiahne aj na toto bralo. V doline pritom vojna nebola nič abstraktné: v roku 1574 Osmani obec Muráň vyrabovali, vypálili a mužov odvliekli do zajatia.