Szepes County

Szepes (Slovak: Spiš; Latin: Scepusium, Polish: Spisz, German: Zips) was an administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary, called Scepusium before the late 19th century. It now lies in northeastern Slovakia, with a very small area in southeastern Poland. For the current region, see Spiš.

Geography

Szepes county shared borders with Poland and with Slovakian counties as follows: Liptov, Gemer, Abov and Šariš. After the late 18th century dismemberment of Poland, the border was with the Austrian province of Galicia. Its area was 3,668 km² in 1910. The county became part of Czechoslovakia, apart from a very small area now in Poland, after World War I, and is now part of Slovakia (and Poland).

Capitals

The original seat of government of Szepes county was Spiš Castle, which was constructed in the 12th century. Unofficially from the 14th century, and officially from the 16th century, until 1918 the capital of the county was Levoča.

Subdivisions

From the beginning of the 15th century, the county was subdivided into three processuses. The number was changed to four in 1798. In the second half of the 19th century, the number of processuses (districts) was increased.