Summary

The large village of Gone lies in a beautiful landscape between the hills of Tokaj and the Hernad river, close to the Hungarian-Slovakian border. Its region covers both the catchment basin of the Hernad river and the forest-covered romantic hills of Tokaj. Its hilly part belongs to the Landscape Protection Area of Zemplen. Very interesting flora and fauna have formed along the borderline of the river valley and the ridge of hills.

Very few relics have been explored from the prehistoric age. The settling Hungarians did not conquer this area immediately, its settlement took place only much later. The first written mention of the settlement dates back to 1219, when it was mentioned as one of the villages of the Vizsoly district, where the German subjects of the queen were living. Its name comes from the name of the leader of the settlements, who was called Kuncz. The settlement preserved its German characteristics until the first half of the XVI century. The powerful palatine Amade was the lord of Gone at the end of the XIII century. He built the castle on the 660 metre high hill next to the settlement, which received his name later, and which played an important role in the fight for the Hungarian crown after the extinction of the Arpadian House (1301).

The other early-medieval ruin of the settlement is the monastery belonging to the Order of St. Paul on the Dobogo-hill, which was established by King Louis the Great. The monks did not only live their religious lives within the walls of the monastery, but pursued successful farming as well in their age.

The geographical position of the settlement made it suitable for becoming an important junction of medieval trading. In addition to this, the settlement had a significant vineyard- and fruit-production as early as in the XIV century. Due to all this, Gone - following Kosice - developed to become the second settlement in Abauj county by the beginning of the XIV century. It started to be mentioned as a borough (oppidum) after the beginning of the XV century.

During the reigning of King Mathias it was a royal borough under the leadership of the officers of the royal estate in Diosgyor. The ruler donated several important privileges to his favourite town, among which the most important was the privilege of customs exemption received in 1471. Gone received a similarly important privilege from Wladislas II, who allowed the town to organise four national fairs every year. The privilege considered to be the most important in the Middle Ages, the power of life and death was given to the town by Ferdinand I in 1563.

The settlement cherished many advantages due to its geographical situation in times of peace, but the same meant disadvantages in war times. It was the scene of many important events in our national history. After the county was divided into three parts, the town was subdued to extortion by the troops of either Ferdinand I or Kingjanos Szapolyai, and even the landlords were arguing over its ownership, and whoever received it, tried to extort the most possible from it. And still, the XVI century gave birth to the national glory of Gone, which did not fade away until today. Istvan Bencedi Szekely, the Calvinist priest of the borough wrote his major work here, which was the first Hungarian world history, and Gaspar Karolyi, the preacher of Gone, and his fellow-priests translated the total text of the Bible, and issued it in Hungarian in 1590. This book, which had the most publications in Hungary is the basic source of the Hungarian colloquial language. It is due to this book that the norm of our language became the use of letter e rather then the i characteristic in earlier publications.

The XVII century was the most stormy period in the life of Gone. This settlement became the focus of the fights of the princes of Transylvanian and the Hapsburg kings, but it was also tormented by the Turks and outlaw soldiers. During the Rakoczi freedom fight fought for the independence of the country, the population of Gone unanimously followed the reigning prince. He acknowledged the loyalty of the people of Gone by providing them with the privilege of a town of the Heyducks. During the counter-reformation, the Calvinists of Gone suffered a lot of damages, they lost their church and school.

During the civil settlement of public administration, Gone lost its status as a borough, and gradually got deprived of its role as a sub-centre. Civilisation started in this settlement, as well, which process, however, was blocked by the first World War, and was stopped by the second World War. After the peace treaties that closed the wars, the settlement was pushed to the verge of the county, and the whole country. This also contributed to the fact, that today, Gone belongs to the Hungarian settlements with multiple disabilities.