Városfalon innen és túl
Judit Benda: The Countryside in the City: Gardens and Manors in Medieval Buda
The study discusses a topic often neglected by urban history: urban gardens and manors. These green areas within the city were probably of a great significance in their time, since intramural gardens constituted nearly half of all the urban territory and their produce provided the city’s population with basic subsistence. In order to explore medieval urban gardens in Buda, the paper uses references found in available charter evidence and historiographical sources, complemented by garden walls documented in archaeological record. The research yielded various categories of gardens within the internal and external boundaries of Buda, which all played different roles in the city’s economy. The sources about urban gardens within the castrum are scarce, which is understandable since the high-density coverage of built-up areas probably did not leave much room for them. There is evidence, however, for gardens belonging to residential buildings, which were potentially extramural extensions, either attached to the main plot or situated completely separately. In the suburbium, the increasingly steep hillside closer to the castle walls was less suitable for residential purposes, so burghers planted orchards and manors in Taschental and Tótfalu quarters situated in the area at the foot of the castle. There were also gardens, farms, and manors in the wider surroundings of the city, which provided food for the burghers. Surviving evidence also shows the presence of vegetable gardens (solarium), orchards (pomarium), herb gardens (herbarium), and ornamental or flower gardens (viridarium) among the monastic gardens of Buda. Medieval landscaping standards and customs were for the most part modelled after antique traditions.
Ágnes Kolláth – Renáta Skorka: Agricultural Property Owned by Medieval Burghers of Fehérvár, Within and Beyond the Town Walls
The study examines the agricultural property owned by burghers of medieval Hungary’s coronation town, (Székes)Fehérvár. Despite the paucity of surviving medieval written sources, some remarks can be made to fill in the gaps in the history of the town. The authors first establish the medieval boundaries of the town and within it they delineate those areas which were suitable for ploughland and vineyards, tangential addressing the utilization of marshland reeds. They suggest that even as late as in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries certain plots situated in the center of Fehérvár had ploughlands attached to them in the outskirts of the town, which were probably redistributed on a yearly basis. Connecting the beginnings of this practice to the establishment of the self-governed town explains the staunch conservativism characterizing the regulations pertaining to agricultural land within the town boundaries. The findings suggest that the plots on the only hill within the medieval boundaries that was suitable for vineyards, referred to as ‘forehill’ in the sources, could be sold separately and even people from out of town were allowed to purchase them. Finally, the paper reveals that Fehérvár burghers expanded their property in their home county in every direction and they acted as landlords on their county properties: they used the grains and grapes grown there to augment their produce in town, and were entitled to sell, or place a lien on these lands in times of financial necessity. The similar analysis of their Somogy County properties – primarily vineyards – showed that most of the land they owned was concentrated in the northeastern part of the county, specifically the northern side of the outer Somogy hills.
Boglárka Weisz: Town in the County: Towns at Fourteenth- Century County and Palatinal Assemblies
Medieval towns in the Kingdom of Hungary did not exist in isolation: they were bound to other towns, to villages in their county and to the society of the whole country at large by complex economic and familial ties and interests. The connection between towns and county or kingdom can be best examined through their participation in the relevant assemblies, especially those where the towns or burghers were litigated even though their urban rights exempted them from their jurisdiction. Despite the scattered evidence, the presence of town representatives is demonstrable in nationwide assemblies of the Angevin kingdom. While the towns used these assemblies to have their rights confirmed or to acquire new ones, and to petition the king with requests, they also provided opportunities for adjudication between a town and out of town entities. Although towns and their resident burghers were both exempt from the jurisdiction of the county palatine – and, as such, from that of the palatinal assembly – this exemption only pertained to their affairs as burghers. As soon as they entered the ranks of landed nobility through the acquisition of lands out of town, they were no longer entitled to use their exemption in matters relating to these – if they suffered grievances, it was not even in their interest to do so. This means that while assemblies could be used to litigate against them, they were also entitled to appeal for legal remedy in matters concerning the town and its burghers, as well as their county properties. At the same time, palatinal and county assemblies were also used by the municipal governing bodies for securing their prerogatives, specifically their customs exemptions, and for obtaining the official approval of the county (or counties) participating in the given assembly. In addition, they also brought unlawful customs collection cases to court. Although all the surviving evidence is of cases concerning the customs exemption in the given county, it is justifiable to suggest that they took action at these assemblies also in cases where their country-wide customs exemption was violated. In the event of such violations, although they could voice their complaints at country-level assemblies, it is likely that they did so at least in their home county, or, in case of palatinal assembly, in a neighboring county.
István Kádas: Town, Village, County: The pecunia exercitualis from the Estates of the Towns at the End of the Middle Ages
The study examines a special tax relating to the relationship of towns and their home counties during the first decades of the sixteenth century. This tax, the so-called pecunia exercitualis, was the half of the royal tax paid by landlords’ peasants to the county. It is notable that barons also collected royal tax from their villeins, but they had the right to keep this half of the revenues for themselves. The county had to use these tax revenues to finance all military expenses. During this period, royal towns had valuable estates, for example, the town of Sopron was the third wealthiest landlord in its home county. The paper studies the pecunia exercitualis through a controversy that arose between towns and counties in 1525. The county argument was that since the towns had been paying the pecunia exercitualis to the king from the time of King Vladislaus II, they were liable to pay it this way in the future as well. Admittedly, the tax was introduced in 1498 but at the same time the king exempted the royal towns and their villages from the county taxes. The diets between 1498 and 1500 often dealt with this question, although the problem was not the towns’ hereditary estates but their pledges and the private means of the burghers. The royal towns and counties of Upper Hungary played a significant role in this dispute, because burghers and town communities there held a large number of pledges. Since the towns had to pay tax after their pledges, the outcome favored the nobility. Sopron at the time did not possess many pledges, and its hereditary estates were exempt from the county tax. In addition, the town recruited its own mercenaries. This suggests that although it is likely that Sopron did not pay tax to the county during the reign of King Vladislaus II, it did so in some cases under the reign of King Louis II.
Júlia Derzsi: Village Judges of Szeben Szék (Stuhl Hermannstadt): The Relationship of Town and Village through the Lens of Sixteenth-Century Official Regulations
The study demonstrates changes in the jurisdiction of village courts in Szeben szék (Stuhl Hermannstadt), effected by official regulations at the end of the sixteenth century. It analyses the standardized texts of the 1582 regulations of the villages of Oltszakadát (Săcădate/Sakadat), Felek (Avrig/Freck), and Oroszcsűr (Ruscior/Reußdörfchen), issued by the town of Szeben. She argues that the official regulations did not primarily serve law and order in the local communities concerned, rather, they were designed to extend the official powers of the municipality to the villages in its jurisdiction. The study contrasts the regulations issued for the villages with the town’s efforts regarding its own regulation pertaining to public administration, use of borders, the right of establishment, public order, ecclesiastic discipline, marriage regulations, as well as usufructuary and farming rights. Here the paper also provides an overview of the changes effected in the jurisdiction of the village judges elected by the local governments, and the ways in which the remit and powers of village judges, as well as the procedure of adjudication, were eventually fixed. Two components of official monitoring are especially notable: the subordination of the village judges’ jurisdiction to the town administration on one hand, and the strict municipal control of the disposal of property on the other, both of which affected the later development of the society of Transylvanian Saxon lands.
Zsuzsanna Cziráki: The Town through the Eyes of the Countryside: Brassó (Kronstadt/Brașov) and Its Environs at the Beginning of the Seventeenth Century
The study focuses on a distinctive administrative unit of the Transylvanian Saxon Universitas: the district of Barcaság (Burzenland/Revier Barcza). Relying on contemporary sources, primarily local chronicles and municipal account books, the paper examines the image of early-seventeenth-century Brassó (Kronstadt/ Brașov), one of the most important towns in early modern Transylvania, from the perspective of Barcaság, a district directly under its jurisdiction. This turbulent period held both destruction and prosperity for Transylvanians, so these couple of decades are especially suitable to demonstrate the relationship of Barcaság and its center, Brassó, in a wide range of issues. Based on the evidence found in surviving sources, three major themes emerge. First, the issue of defense dominating the war years: in case of military threat, the fortified town was an important place of refuge but was not suitable for the protection of the entire population of the area. Both the suburbs of Brassó, and the settlements in Barcaság were vulnerable when they faced Ottoman, Mongol or Hungarian haiduk armies. Although the town made efforts to protect them, these areas were largely expendable in the defense strategy of the Brassó magistrates. Secondly, the study examines supply and trade. Brassó was a commercial hub, but its advantage was achieved by repressing similar ambitions of other communities in Barcaság. At the same time, it was the most important trading place and served as a steady market outlet not only for the Saxon market towns and villages of Barcaság, but also for neighboring regions such as the Szeklerland and Wallachia. Finally, Brassó played an important role in the cultural life of the countryside; specifically, it acquired a significant sway over Barcaság through the control of faith and education. These aspects together clearly demonstrate that Brassó’s monopoly over Barcaság, originally developed in the Middle Ages, remained unchallenged in the early modern era too, and the long-standing symbiosis resulted in an exceptionally complex relationship which held both advantages and disadvantages for the people of Barcaság.
Anita Berecz: The Burghers of Eger, a Privileged Market Town, in the Early Nineteenth Century
The study examines the circumstances of individuals who attained the rank of burghers in Eger, one of the significant market towns in the Hungarian Reform Era (1825–1848). As a result of the economic and social changes by the beginning of the nineteenth century even the population under the jurisdiction of feudal lords rather than cities began to assume a burgher identity. Based on this, although not lawfully, they adopted burgher rights modelled after those of free royal cities. In connection with the role of burghers in the life of Eger, the author also discusses the type of people attracted to Eger by the burgher rights between 1786 and 1848. The overview of the newly sworn-in burghers demonstrates the extent of the efforts to acquire burgher status undertaken by individuals of various trades and social standing in the estate system. This framework allows the thorough analysis of the dynamics of acquiring burgher status, its substance and meaning; as well as of the composition, origins and family ties of the burghers in the town.
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