11th–13th century A county, and a story about a princeStolica a príbeh o kniežati

When the Kingdom of Hungary organised this plain it put it into Zemplín county — a county being the king's administrative district, run on his behalf by an official called an ispán, in Slovak a župan. Michalovce was one settlement among many in it and never the county seat. The one famous story attached to the river here is that a Slavic prince named Laborec was defeated by the arriving Magyars and hanged beside the water that has carried his name ever since. It comes from a chronicle called the Gesta Hungarorum, written roughly three hundred years after the events it describes, and historians treat it as legend rather than record. That is itself worth learning: a good story and a reliable source are not the same thing.Keď Uhorské kráľovstvo túto rovinu zorganizovalo, zaradilo ju do Zemplínskej stolice — stolica bola kráľovým správnym obvodom, ktorý v jeho mene spravoval župan. Michalovce boli jednou z mnohých osád v nej a nikdy neboli jej sídlom. Jediný slávny príbeh spätý s tunajšou riekou hovorí, že slovanské knieža Laborec podľahlo prichádzajúcim Maďarom a obesili ho pri vode, ktorá odvtedy nesie jeho meno. Pochádza z kroniky Gesta Hungarorum, spísanej asi tristo rokov po udalostiach, ktoré opisuje, a historici ho pokladajú skôr za legendu než za správu. Aj to sa oplatí vedieť: dobrý príbeh a spoľahlivý prameň nie sú to isté.