11th – 13th century The northern edge of a kingdomSeverný okraj kráľovstva

When the Kingdom of Hungary took shape, the Tatras became its northern wall — a border made of forest rather than a line drawn on a map. Settlement crept up the valleys of the Poprad and the Váh from the south, and from the thirteenth century the kings invited German-speaking colonists into the Spiš basin below the peaks, where they founded the towns that still stand there: Poprad, Spišská Sobota, Veľká, Kežmarok. The mountains themselves were not settled and were not meant to be. They were counted as part of somebody's estate — forest, summer pasture and hunting ground — and they were used from below, by people who went up in June and came down in September.Keď sa formovalo Uhorské kráľovstvo, Tatry sa stali jeho severnou hradbou — hranicou z lesa, nie čiarou na mape. Osídlenie postupovalo od juhu dolinami Popradu a Váhu a od 13. storočia pozývali králi do Spišskej kotliny pod štítmi nemeckých kolonistov, ktorí tu založili mestá stojace dodnes: Poprad, Spišskú Sobotu, Veľkú, Kežmarok. Samotné hory osídlené neboli a ani sa s tým nepočítalo. Boli vedené ako súčasť niečieho panstva — les, letná paša a poľovný revír — a využívali sa zdola, ľuďmi, ktorí vyšli hore v júni a zišli v septembri.