the sixteenth century · 1543 Copper for Europe, and a friary lost in 1543Meď pre Európu a kláštor stratený roku 1543

In the sixteenth century the copper of these mountains was traded on a European scale: the Thurzo family of Upper Hungary went into partnership with the Fugger bankers of Augsburg, reorganised the mines and shipped the metal west. Gelnica belonged to that world, and also to the disorder of its century — the Dominican friary in the town was destroyed in 1543, in fighting the records describe only as unrest. Notice what is not said. This was not an Ottoman raid, and a great deal of the damage popularly blamed in Slovakia on "the Turks" was actually done by Hungarian, imperial or rebel troops, or by fire. In the later 1500s about a thousand people lived here, roughly three German speakers to every Slovak.V 16. storočí sa meď z týchto hôr obchodovala v európskom meradle: hornouhorskí Turzovci sa spojili s augsburskými bankármi Fuggerovcami, bane preorganizovali a kov vyvážali na západ. Gelnica patrila do tohto sveta — aj do neporiadku svojho storočia. Dominikánsky kláštor v meste zničili roku 1543 počas bojov, ktoré pramene označujú len ako nepokoje. Všimnite si, čo tam nestojí. Nebol to turecký vpád; a na Slovensku sa „Turkom" ľudovo pripisuje veľa škôd, ktoré v skutočnosti napáchali uhorské, cisárske či povstalecké vojská alebo požiar. V druhej polovici 16. storočia tu žilo asi tisíc ľudí, zhruba traja nemecky hovoriaci na jedného Slováka.