Szikszo, Hungary
Early history of Szikszo
as translated from the Szikszo, Hungary Website
by FRANK SZIKSZAI 12/2001 |
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In researching the Szikszo, Hungary area, Archeologists found neolithic and bronz age
tools and weapons that date the area back to the prehistoric age.The name Szikszo is first
mentioned in a Royal document in 1280. It was not spelled the same way as today, it
sounded more Polish than Hungarian. .
King Laszlo the IV when dating three of his documents, mentioned the area of Szikszo
using variations of the spelling of the name. The variations were
"Zekzon", "Zykzo", "Sceykson".
The Szikszo area is mentioned next in 1307, this time when Karoly Robert signs a
"Zykzow" document.
By the 14th century, the family branches had
broken apart. One of the branches was the Szikszai's, and they became the owner of the
estates. THIS FAMILY DIES OUT IN 1391.
After the conquest of Hungary, Szikszo was
held by the Aba family.
This was confirmed by Saint Stephen. It is known from written sources that the first owner
was "Marhard, the bailiff of Abaujvar". Later in 1308 his son, master Michael,
was already calling himself a "Zekzowi" citizen. After the death of the
house of Arpad, son's of Marhard's and his inheritors kept their estates.
The second time the Szikszai family is mentioned in a news/legal article, is in 1387
when master Nicholas Szikszai approved the building of a brige on the Hernad river.
This dates before 1391 when the whole family was extinct. The conclusion is that, the
Szikszai family owned the area from 1300 to 1391. |
We do not
know what happened after this family name died out, or how the other families came
in to the picture. A big fire destroyed Szikszo in 1852. During the fire, both churches
burned down. The churches were where most of the documents and papers were held.
These churches probably held all the christening documents. But in 1891, the population
and census records show the Szikszai/y family names.
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When
the Sizkszai family died out in 1391, their huge estates fell in to the hands of King
Zsigmond, and he gives ithe estates to his wife, Mary. In 1392, Queen Maria addressed it
as a royal city (civitas nostra). After the death of Mary, the estate falls back to
Zsigmond.
The property then falls to the founder of the Perenyi family, Simon Perenyi. Then to
his son, Peter Perenyi, the Szekely bailiff. Until the end of 14th century, the Perenyi
family had the largest ownership of the area. Some of their lands were pawned multiple
times,there was lots of legal action questioning ownership of the property.
By the 18th century, the Perenyi stars have fallen.
The Esterhazy and Csaky family now owned most of Szikszo's area.
Later the Esterhazy part was absorbed by the Csaky's.
The last owner of the estates were the Hunyadi's.
It was the Hunyadi's who donated most of the land back to the city.
In the 15th century the city started growing rapidly.
Since that time, the population has grown considerably.
Because of it's good positioning, Szikszo was a major transportation road trough Kassa,
it was considered a known place. Since the 16th century, war was constantly being waged,
which set back the city's developement.
The town of Szkiszo fought in 1558 against the Turks, and in 1678/79 with the
Labanc. The whole region suffered. Beside the continous wars and devastations lots of
natural desasters hit the Szikszoi people.
During its history, Szikszo, suffered from flooding, fires where large numbers
of houses burned down, & diseases that decimated the people. The residents of
Szikszo always rebuilt their prairie town.
In the 18th century Szikszo became a major trade centre. In 1852, an outbrake of
fire destroyed it again: 472 buildings, including two churches burned down. The city
had outlived so many storms, people could no longer see its value. Because of its
poor condition, a lot of people wrote it off. Szikszo was saved by a
country wide donation.
The people of Szikszo had suffered so much, they couldn't bear the city's administration
fees and in 1866 they ask to be downgraded to a large village. After the World War 1, the
Trianon Peace Treaty brought an unusual turn. Because it was the biggest city in
Abauj-Torna county,it become the capital of that county.
Since 1945, Szikszo was the capital of Abauj county, later it became the chief town of the
district.The latter function was taken over by the town of Encs in 1962.
Szikszo was upgraded to a large town in 1970, and in March 1st, 1989 it was declared
a city again. Since this time, Szikszo has been a dynamicly growing town with
a population of 6,369 and 2,155 homes.
...end |
Ideas on the naming of Szikszo:
Frank Szikszai speculates on how Szikszo might have been named. The soil around the city
was very sodic/alkalic which means szik. Consider that szik talaj, szikes
talaj, means sodic alkalic soil and so means salt, salty.
The two words combined can give you the Szikso name. Szik + so =
Szikszo, that's close enough. |
| Szikszai Family
information reported by members of the family: |
| Jean Szikszai'a father reports that at
one time, the name Szikszai was so prominent, that there was a cavalry regiment made up
entirely of Szikszai’s. This was dated circa 1840 (or 1860) during the time of
Kossuth. ...end |
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