For two centuries after the Ottomans took Buda in 1541 the frontier ran across the lowland not far to the south-east, and Sereď sat just behind it, on the road that fed the war. Thousands of cattle passed through the town every year, driven north and west from the Hungarian plain to the markets of Vienna and Moravia, and grain went with them; all of it had to be ferried or bridged across the Váh at the toll. The lordship centred on the castle at the ford ended up with the Esterházy family, whose name the manor house still carries. A market town on a crossing does not need a battle to matter — it needs traffic, and this one had it.Dvesto rokov po tom, čo Osmani roku 1541 obsadili Budín, viedla hranica cez rovinu neďaleko na juhovýchod a Sereď ležala tesne za ňou, na ceste, ktorá tú vojnu živila. Mestom prechádzali každý rok tisíce kusov dobytka hnaného z uhorskej nížiny na trhy do Viedne a na Moravu, s ním obilie — a všetko sa muselo dostať cez Váh pri mýte. Panstvo s hradom pri brode napokon získali Esterháziovci, ktorých meno kaštieľ nesie dodnes. Trhové mesto na prechode nepotrebuje na svoj význam bitku, potrebuje premávku — a tej tu bolo dosť.
