The Prince Born Behind These WallsKnieža narodené za týmito múrmi
Imrich Thököly was born in this castle in 1657, into a family that had spent three generations rising — merchants who became barons, barons who became magnates, and a house whose Protestant convictions put it steadily at odds with a Catholic Habsburg court. His father died defending another family castle against imperial troops; the boy escaped east.Imrich Tököly sa na tomto hrade narodil v roku 1657, do rodiny, ktorá tri generácie stúpala — z kupcov baróni, z barónov magnáti — a ktorej protestantské presvedčenie ju stavalo do stále ostrejšieho sporu s katolíckym habsburským dvorom. Jeho otec padol pri obrane iného rodového hradu proti cisárskym vojskám; chlapec ušiel na východ.
He came back as the leader of the kuruc uprising — the Protestant and noble revolt against Habsburg rule that burned across Upper Hungary in the 1670s and 1680s. At its height Thököly commanded most of what is now Slovakia and was recognised as a prince, with backing from the Ottoman sultan. That alliance was his ruin: when the Ottoman advance broke before Vienna in 1683, his cause broke with it.Vrátil sa ako vodca kuruckého povstania — protestantskej a šľachtickej vzbury proti habsburskej vláde, ktorá v sedemdesiatych a osemdesiatych rokoch sedemnásteho storočia zachvátila Horné Uhorsko. Na vrchole moci ovládal Tököly väčšinu dnešného Slovenska a bol uznaný za knieža, s podporou osmanského sultána. Práve toto spojenectvo ho zahubilo: keď sa osmanský postup v roku 1683 zlomil pred Viedňou, zlomila sa s ním aj jeho vec.
He ruled half a kingdom and died a guest of the empire that had backed him — two hundred years before his own town brought him home.Vládol polovici kráľovstva a zomrel ako hosť ríše, ktorá ho podporovala — dvesto rokov predtým, než ho vlastné mesto prinieslo domov.
Thököly ended his life in exile in Ottoman lands, far from the Spiš, and the Kežmarok estates were confiscated — which is precisely how the town finally got its hands on the castle in 1702. Two centuries later, in 1906, his remains were brought back to Kežmarok and interred in the mausoleum in the Evangelical church. Very few Slovak castles can show you both ends of a life like that within a five-minute walk.Tököly dožil vo vyhnanstve na osmanskom území, ďaleko od Spiša, a kežmarské panstvá boli skonfiškované — presne tak sa mesto v roku 1702 konečne dostalo k hradu. O dve storočia neskôr, v roku 1906, jeho pozostatky priviezli späť do Kežmarku a uložili do mauzólea v evanjelickom kostole. Málokde na slovenskom hrade uvidíte oba konce takého života na päť minút chôdze od seba.
