Demográfiai viselkedés és lokális társadalom
Sources for the History of Plague Epidemics in Hungary: The case of Máramaros County
This paper discusses the demographic effects of the plague epidemics in the historical county of Máramaros (in present-day Ukraine and Romania). Its aim is to formulate a methodology which is suitable for the historical analysis of disasters in a region whose past is not recorded in parish registers. (Prior to the last plague epidemic in 1738, more than half of the Kingdom of Hungary was without parish registers. – Table 1, Figure 1). Certain regions and religious denominations cannot be researched with this methodology at all. Based on the tax registers of both 1710 and 1742 (Table 3 and Table 7 respectively) the effects of the plague can be detected. The sources, however, lend themselves to a demographically relevant analysis only in the case of the last epidemic in the year 1742. Based on these sources it is possible to determine the duration of the epidemic in each settlement (Table 5) and its diverse impact on spatial and cultural groups of the population (Map 1, Tables 4 and 6). The examination of some settlements in detail affirms the observations of the research so far: the plague affected all age groups, but the proportion of women and heads of families is lower than average. The epidemic did not affect all status groups equally (Table 8, Fig. 2). The number of people infl icted with the plague altogether is nearly 60% of the total population of the county and 40-42% of the total population died in 1742 (Tables 9 and 10). Nevertheless, factors like the age at marriage being lower than Western Europe, a high birth rate, and the continuous Ukrainian immigration from Galicia, ensured that the county compensated for the tremendous loss in population in a relatively short time. Moreover, despite the two highly destructive plague epidemics, the population of Máramaros at the time of the first census in 1785 was two and a half times bigger than it was in the beginning of the eighteenth century (Table 12). Both the chronology of the plague epidemics of the Carpathian Basin, and the ensuing reconstruction of population show different patterns than those of the Western European plague epidemics of the seventeenth century.
Family and Marriage in Eighteenth and Nineteenth- Century Hungary: Pest-Pilis-Solt-(Kiskun) County, 1774–1900
This study addresses the fundamental questions of the modes of household formation (size and structure of households) and the demography of marriage (age at first marriage, proportion of the non-married) in the mixed-ethnicity historical county of Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun, in two time frames (in the 1770–80s and the end of the nineteenth century). The parts of the analysis concerning the eighteenth century are based on settlement-level data in the soul-conscriptions (Conscriptio Animarum) of Pest county (1774–1783) and the census of Joseph II (1785). The section on the nineteenth century is based on data ranked by settlements in the 1890 population census. The data of the Joseph II cadastral register (1789), as well as the confessional, ethnic and vocational data of the population census of 1900 are used as reference variables. Published parish register data of the settlements of the county are used to analyse the intensity of the number of marriages.
Our aim is to distinguish between basic types of household formation and marriages in both periods in a county, which can be considered a representative sample in various aspects (varied ethnicity, religion and geographical settlement types). Groups of settlements were formed by means of multi-variable mathematical- statistical analysis (cluster analysis) for both periods on the basis of the available settlement-level census data and the resulting variables. These groups are considered as the basic types of household formation and marriage patterns.
Our research question is whether there are discernible patterns of marriages and household structure in the period and geographical region in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Pest county. Our results suggest that the simplified dichotomous model of European marriage pattern is not acceptable. On one hand, this county is home to both 'Eastern' and 'Western' models of marriage and houshold structure. On the other hand, there was a number of transitory types between the two models, the ethnocultural interpretation of which is not fully satisfactory either. While the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century migration does mix 'Eastern' and 'Western' ethnicities, and their demographic behaviour is often rather different, different ethnic groups can behave similarly too. In addition, marriage patterns were signifi cantly infl uenced by other factors, such as settlement types, religion, migration, and the industrialisation and urbanisation processes of the second half of the nineteenth-century. Moreover, marriage is only one element of demographic behaviour. The marriage types discussed here are likely to have been part of various rational demographic strategies.
Marriage and Inheritance Patterns in Szőlősardó, 1770–1890
This paper discusses the marriage and inheritance patterns of Szőlősardó (Torna county), a protestant Hungarian village in the hilly countryside region of northeastern Hungary on the basis of parish registers (births from 1726, marriages from 1764, mortality form 1772), tax registers (1715, 1720, 1828), urbariums (i.e. tax-conscriptions of the landlords regarding their taxpayer peasantry, 1593, 1711, 1771), population censuses (1850, 1857, 1869), land register of partition and consolidation (1869–1871) and other nominal sources. The study analyses the spatial aspects of contemporary social processes by the identification of economic space, and the domiciles of families and clans.
Between 1771–1890 the marriage practices of Szőlősardó fundamentally corresponds with the early and general marriage pattern that is characteristic of our region. In the protestant villein population, women got married at the average age of 21, and by the age 25 the majority of women was married at least once. From the 1780s on, the age for first marriage for men was typically 23 years, but increased to 25 promptly after the enfranchisement of serfs. Before the 1880s the there is a discernible secondary peak in the age distribution of first marriages at the age of 32–33, due to the delayed marriages of the discharged soldiers.
Marriage alliances were established with protestant villein villages within 15 kilometres. The choice of domicile after marriage the patrilocal model is prevalent. Sons of farmers becoming sons-in-law stayed in their village with a few exceptions. the number of sons-in-law marrying into and settling in farming families was insignificant. Endogamy in the nineteenth century was not evenly proportioned, but a gradual intensification is apparent (from 25–30% to over 90%). The same trend can be observed for both sexes and all the four clans examined here. The similarity of lifestyles was a more important factor in the choice of marriage partners than the affilition to a certain social estate. The number of mixed-faith marriages was low.
The examination of the parish registers and censuses conducted for different ends (local aspect), as well as genealogies, allowed the reconstruction of the domiciles of the ancestry of clans localised to 1869 down to the seventeenth century, from which time the continuity of settlements is certifiable. This way, the process of the spread of clans became traceable too. The newcomers and the cotter-turned landowners mainly settled in the upper end of the village (Felvég). Before the 1860s, the kinship exogamy was breached only once, however, from 1865, András Parti Porcs married all his five sons to members of the Porcs clan. The two most important clans, the Rákis and the Porcses lived at the opposite ends of the village and never settled into the midst of one another.
The analysis of the inheritance of land is made difficult by the occasional comprehensive or partial re-division of urbarial land (land which belonged to the landlord but was in the usufruct of the villeins) according to urbarium or individual agreements. The clan histories surveyed here suggested that the parentelic succession played an important role in preserving the clan's property. This allowed that the lands belonging to extinct branches of the clan would be inherited by other branches. As a result of increasing property fragmentation, it was mainly the number of those holding land fragments that increased, while the number of cotters hardly did, and their relative weight within the villein population even decreased. Clans deployed different strategies to curb property fragmentation. The general model was equal filial inheritance, but in most cases only for one or two sons, seldom more. The rest of the sons were compensated in other ways. In the Ráki clan, descendants without inheritance became cotters. Cotters could raise to the position of landowners after a while and vice versa. In the Porcs clan these members of the family were made sons-in-law within the same village, what is more, within the same end of the village, with the exception of two cases. Up until 1870 we know of no cotters among the Porcses. The result of these two strategies: between 1828 and 1869 the Porcses obtained several properties within the village by the sons-in-law strategy, although the total of their urbarial land properties somewhat decreased (from 4 to 3 7/8). The Rákis decreased the number of cotters in the family from 3 to 2, and managed to increase the total of their urbarial land properties (from 2 to 2 3/8).
'Divorced' and 'Divorce' – Marital Status and Legal Institution in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century: The case of Budapest (Pest-Buda)
Historians studying divorce generally suggest that the nineteenth century was the age of secularisation and describe a trend – the onset of the present-day growth path of divorces –, which seems to prefigure the future (our present) undisputedly. Th us, whereas studies of earlier periods usually assume a culturalanthropological approach, examining their subject from an appropriate distance and focusing on the meaning of individual decisions, divorce in the second half of the nineteenth century is often painted as familiar, mensurable, and comparable to our day and age.
As opposed to this, present study approach the constructs of the legal institution (divorce) and marital status (divorced) critically through the peculiar development of marriage law in the Hungarian capital and in general. An inconsistency is revealed about the surveys of Hungarian censuses concerning the divorced population (which, at the time, included informally divorced Catholic couples too): the census data repeatedly indicate more divorced women than men, even though in the case of Budapest, where the same phenomenon is found, the ratio of remarrying men and women is only 10:9. As the most likely explanation for this, the paper suggests a 'tendency to hide' among the divorced population, and especially among men.
Two particular case studies are given as examples for the falsification of real marital status by divorced women in the capital, and at the same time, the author stresses the possibility of societal control with regard to the name of married women. The hypothesis is that it was easier for divorced men to be overlooked in administration, such as in censuses. Furthermore, the author refines the hypothesis of 'witholding information', and draws attention to the uncertainties about the contemporary meaning of the term 'divorced', and its use in everyday life. Using dictionaries, census instructions, and marriage certificates from Budapest, Nagy addresses the possibility of blurring the difference between estranged spouses and officially divorced couples, as well as the various alternative terms used to signify the marital status of officially divorced persons (e.g. widow(er), 'szabados', 'ledig und frei').
Finally, specifically Hungarian anomalies of the legal institution itself, that is, the termination of marriages, are discussed. On one hand, the termination of Catholic marriages became possible after 1868, however, if either of the spouses remained in the Catholic faith, the marriage remained binding for him/her. On the other hand, the parallel and often overlapping secular-ritual practices of terminating Jewish marriages resulted in similar uncertainties. In both cases the same question may arise: who was considered 'divorced' after all?
Education and Chances of Employment for Clergymen in the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century in the Protestant Diocese of East of the Tisza River (Tiszáninnen)
The aim of this study is to define the dimensions of education and the employment opportunities of protestant clergymen in Northeast Hungary two hundred years ago. The first half of the education of clergymen in the diocese was provided by the Protestant Collegium of Sárospatak. Here, young men preparing to become clergymen studied for 7–10 years after their elementary and secondary education. However, the large proportion of those who left school halfway through suggests that the Theology faculty played an important role not only in the supply of clergymen, but also in that of intellectuals of a lower degree. The education of clergymen was not complete with graduating from the Collegium. Ideally, it was followed by two two-three year long periods (village teachership and peregrination). Young men eligible for ordination usually served as curates or vice-clergy. Th us, from the time of enrollment in the academy to being awarded their first independent position as long as 15–20 years may have elapsed. This served as a selection period for candidates studying in the Collegium in much larger numbers than the diocese could employ, and also to allow time for a signifi cant number of young men to find other career choices. Although prelates of the church could not fully avoid entrant unemployment with this strategy, they were able to keep it under control to some extent.
Guest Work and Smuggling in the Nineteenth Century Offences on the Hungarian-Romanian Border in Háromszék and Brassó Counties in the 1880s
Compared to its earlier state, the border between the new sovereign state of Romania and the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in the second half of the nineteenth century solidified considerably. Such a borderline is the most important attribute of a modern nation-state. Its basic functions are to provide a framework to the development of national industry and economy, to control migration, to stop the spread of epidemics and last, but not least, to curb ideas that might jeopardise the integrity of the state. The change from borderland into borderline is not an organic process.
Between the border regions of these two countries – mainly due to environmental, and, not inconsiderably, to various economic and social factors – mutual dependency had developed in the course of the previous centuries, where the primary actors were the inhabitants of the region. The majority of the inhabitants pursued special activities and lifestyle, which necessitated their unobstructed transfer from one region to another. The different directions the two countries' economic development assumed increased the interdependency between the border regions, and intensified the movement of people and goods. However, the new development allowed narrower and more restricted mobility compared to the earlier practices of border crossing. This study aims to identify individuals who strove to bypass this restricted mobility in some ways. Infringements were both common and constant practice, and the relations between the two countries generated peak seasons for these several times within a decade. From the cases of petty offences and infringements registered by the authorities one may infer the nature of the lifestyle characteristic in this region and the subsequently developing networks of connections and people.
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