Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis. – Alba Regia. Az István Király Múzeum Évkönyve. 13. 1972 – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: C sorozat (1974)

The Meeting of the Commission for Urban History Székesfehérvár, 26 March 1972. - Fügedi Erik: Medieval topography of Fehérvár. XIII, 1972. p. 303–304.

early Latin sources called them urbs, civitas and castrum. They were seats of bishoprics and counties, chapters and schools. In some cases a concentration of the population can be proved

. All of them had regular markets and most of them Islamic and Jewish population. But there was nowhere a citizen in that meaning as we know them in Flanders of the 12

th century, there was no sign of autonomy here. These nomadic towns could not live, but in a period, when Hungary isolated herself from her western neighbours and remained part of an East-European economic area, the centers of wich were Byzantium and Kiev. When these links were gradually vanished and the frontiers opened before western immigrants, Hungary became linked to Western Europe as close as it had been until then to the eastern area. In this situation the nomadic towns became obsolete and so did their network. The towns had to be transformed, the network filled with new elements. The hundred years, beginning by 1160 with the grant of the royal charter to the latini of Fehérvár represents the second period of town evolution in Hungary, the transforming of old nomadic towns and founding of new European ones. Many of the old towns declined

. There were sees of bishops, that never reached the standards of a real medieval town. The new ones were many times founded with foreign immigrants, sometimes exclusively with them, sometimes mixed up with Hungarians. In the first half of the 13

th

century there was a special boom in the north of the country, where new silver mines were discovered . As I had the opportunity to point out elsewhere, it was of primary importance that the French immigrants preceded the Germans, because the latini claimed only judicial and administrative autonomy and were smoothly integrated into the political system of Hungary. The Germans could not claim more either. With one exception there was no town in the country that could lodge an appeal against the decision of the urban court to a city in Germany territory. If we draw a map of the cities and towns with Latin and German inhabitants, it will show a certain geographical stratification. In the North of Hungary the Germans were in majority, chiefly in the mining towns and the network of purely or partly German towns reached the southeastern border. The Latini occupied rather Transdanubia and the South of the country. Stating that newly founded or old transformed towns reached now the legal status of the typical medieval town in Europe, is only half of the truth. Between the West- and East-European towns there were great dicrepancies, such as lack or weakness of industry (except of course the mining towns), the preponderance of commerce, the weakness of the bourgeoisie in political matters. One can look at urban growth in Hungary — and if I am not mistaken in Poland and Serbia as well — as a part of a much greater process, the expansion of western economy. In the 12

th century a considerable population set off for Eastern Europe, where there was plenty of fertile soil, where there were raw materials of primary importance. Hungary could produce precious metals and skin, Poland lead and wax, Serbia silver. All these goods were indispensable for the western economy, but it meant — and here I simply follow the train of thought of my colleague Mr. Paulinyi — that eastern economy fell at the mercy of the West. The merchant in Italy or Flanders was in a much better position. He was a mesh in a well developped commercial net, he was backed by a firmly established credit system. At the same time he was in possession of the greater part of the commercial route leading to Eastern Europe. Sooner or later his EastEuropean partner had to become dependent on him, a Hungarian merchant fulfilled the duties of an agent, who distributed, imported, collected and exported goods. The dependence of the East-European merchant was so much more disastrous for the economy of his country, because commerce was the main source of living, being the industry weak and restricted to service (ready-made clothes, food, etc.).Capital could not be accumulated but by trade. East European towns were surely inferior to the western ones in the economic field. The discrepancies were not less in the social field. At the end of the 15

th century the bourgeoisie did not outnumber the nobility in its size, being the former 1% of the whole population. Constitutional conditions prevented the spread of urban way of living, because the inhabitants of smaller towns remained serfs for ever. The bourgeoisie could not make use of her educational advantage. Though more young bourgeois visited the universities as the rest of the population, in the 15

th century only 13% of the bishops came from a town, but they were mostly foreigners favoured by the kings. In most cases they made a political career, only one of 17 had an university degree. Smooth integration into the political system of Hungary in the 12

th century meant economic freedom, judicial and administrative autonomy on the one hand, keeping out of political matters on the other. The result was in the 15

th century, that the towns did not take part in the political life of the country. Some of them were invited to the parliament, but never formed a separate chamber as they did in Western-Europe. The first charter, granted to the latini of Fehérvár had its consequences in both ways. E. Fügedi 304