1332 A village of freemen, not serfsDedina slobodníkov, nie poddaných

In 1332 Slatina is recorded as a village of slobodníci, freemen. That was unusual, and it had a reason: royal huntsmen lived here, and the village ran the courier and guard service of the Vígľaš estate. The king's hunting forests needed people who knew them, could carry messages across them and could watch the roads, and people with a job like that were not ordinary serfs — they held their land in return for service rather than for labour dues. Almost every neighbouring village in this valley was unfree. Slatina was not, and that head start shows in what happened next.V roku 1332 sa Slatina spomína ako dedina slobodníkov. Bolo to nezvyčajné a malo to dôvod: žili tu kráľovskí poľovníci a obec zabezpečovala kuriérsku a strážnu službu vígľašského panstva. Kráľovské poľovné revíry potrebovali ľudí, ktorí ich poznali, vedeli cez ne doniesť správu a strážiť cesty — a takí ľudia neboli obyčajní poddaní: pôdu držali za službu, nie za robotu. Takmer každá susedná dedina v doline bola poddanská. Slatina nie, a tento náskok vidno na tom, čo nasledovalo.