1556 First named in writingPrvá písomná zmienka

Podbiel is first mentioned in writing in 1556 — a fact about a surviving document, not about when the first roof went up. The name moves about in the records as Podbyly, Podbielie and Podbilia before settling into its present form in the eighteenth century. It is worth looking at what was happening elsewhere in the same decades: after the defeat at Mohács in 1526 the southern half of the kingdom became an Ottoman war zone, with a line of garrison fortresses across what is now southern Slovakia. No Ottoman army ever came near Orava. While the south was being fought over, the north was being settled — the Thurzo family, who held Orava Castle, put shepherds and woodcutters onto these slopes under Wallachian law, a lighter set of dues designed to make cold, high, stony ground worth living on.Prvá písomná zmienka o Podbieli je z roku 1556 — je to údaj o zachovanej listine, nie o tom, kedy tu stála prvá strecha. Meno sa v záznamoch strieda ako Podbyly, Podbielie či Podbilia a dnešnú podobu získava až v 18. storočí. Oplatí sa všimnúť si, čo sa v tých desaťročiach dialo inde: po porážke pri Moháči v roku 1526 sa južná polovica kráľovstva zmenila na osmanskú vojnovú zónu a cez dnešné južné Slovensko prešla línia pevností s posádkami. Do Oravy sa osmanské vojsko nikdy nedostalo. Kým sa na juhu bojovalo, sever sa osídľoval — Thurzovci, ktorí držali Oravský hrad, sem priviedli pastierov a drevorubačov na valašské právo, teda na miernejšie dávky, ktoré mali urobiť studenú, vysoko položenú a kamenistú pôdu znesiteľnou na život.