Little Francs

Malá Franková (1 198 mamsl) stretches through Frankowski stream valley. Cattle and sheep farmers settled here in the middle of the 16th century. In the 17th century Juraj Horváth was the owner of the whole Zamagurie region. In 1589 he bought Niedzica country from Albert Laszkého, and in 1593 he got the Order of the Holy Sepulchre in Lendak. In 1612 he was given the country of Červený Kláštor by the king Matej the Second. On 10th June 1611 Juraj Horváth gave Malá Franková to Łukasz Malec, ordering the village leader of the time to cut down the forest and settle 19 colonists. Each one of them received a part of the land and 20 years of freedom. After this time, they were to pay 1 florén 4 times a year, each settler had to plough for one day of the year, cut the meadow for one day of the year, and sow, clean and convert the land into forest for one day of the year as well. In 1892 a disease called ‘chrapka’ spread in the village. It probably was the Spanish flu. Swollen throat and suffocation were the symptoms of the disease. 33 children and more than 10 elderly people died that time. In 1910 the village had 297 residents. During the years 1979 – 1990 both Frankovás were merged together. Nowadays, they are separate towns.