1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Peterwardein

PETERWARDEIN (Hung. Petervarad, Serv. Petrovaradin), a royal free town and fortress of Hungary in the county of Syrmia, Croatia-Slavonia; situated on a promontory formed by a loop of the Danube, 62 m. N.W. of Belgrade by rail. Pop. (1900), 5019. It is connected with Neusatz on the opposite bank by a bridge of boats, a railway bridge and a steam ferry. The fortifications consist of the upper fortress, on a lofty serpentine rock rising abruptly from the plain on three sides, and of the lower fortress at the northern base of the rock. The two fortresses can accommodate a garrison of 10,000 men. In the lower fortress is the town, with a military hospital, and an arsenal containing trophies captured from the Turks. Peterwardein, the “Gibraltar of Hungary,” is believed to represent the Roman Acumincum, and received its present name from Peter the Hermit, who here in 1096 marshalled the levies of the first crusade. It was captured by the Turks in 1526 and retained by them for 160 years. In 1716 it witnessed a signal defeat inflicted on the Turks by Prince Eugène. During the revolutionary struggles of 1848–49 the fortress was held by the insurgents for a short time.