Želiezovce had no castle, and places without walls do not get sieges written about them — they get raided and taxed by both sides at once. What is recorded is what happened on either side of them: the Ottomans took Ostrihom on the Danube in 1543, took Nové Zámky in 1663 and Levice up the valley in November of the same year, and the imperial army retook Levice in June 1664. The Hron valley was the corridor between those events and this town sits in the middle of it. So when you read that some small town "was destroyed by the Turks", ask how we know; for places like this the honest answer is usually that the details have not survived.Želiezovce nemali hrad a o obciach bez hradieb sa kroniky nepíšu — neobliehajú ich, len ich plienia a zdaňujú z oboch strán naraz. Zapísané je to, čo sa dialo okolo nich: Osmani dobyli v roku 1543 Ostrihom, v roku 1663 Nové Zámky a v novembri toho istého roku aj Levice o kus vyššie v doline, a v júni 1664 cisárske vojsko Levice získalo späť. Pohronie bolo chodbou medzi týmito udalosťami a Želiezovce ležia presne v jej strede. Keď teda čítate, že malé mesto „zničili Turci“, pýtajte sa, odkiaľ to vieme; pri takýchto obciach je poctivá odpoveď zvyčajne tá, že podrobnosti sa nezachovali.
