Urbs - Magyar várostörténeti évkönyv 3. (Budapest, 2008)

Abstracts

occupied an elite position in the church hierarchy. It was the place where the tithe tenant dues had to be submitted in the given age (while Rákos that was nearer to Vienna, located next to lake Fertő served as the representative bishop residence, as a meeting place and a resort). Even today only the "urbariums" (till 1656) and the tax registers do provide some information about the 17th century population of Szombathely. According to the data of the excellent history researcher of the town, Mr. Antal Tibor Horváth Premonstratensian teacher - on the basis of the data of the "urbariums" recorded between 1603-1656 - it can be established that for example in 1632 there were 109 burgher, 58 nobleman houses, in 1648 there were 159 burgher and 52 nobleman houses, and in 1656 there were altogether 201 houses. He also established that the population of the market town (using the disputable multiplication factor of Acsády!) was around 1000 persons, or just above it. It is less known, that searching the 17th century Szombathely is an excellent possibility, since a uniquely rich market town archive was left for the posterity. This includes not only the town minutes, the vineyard protocol volumes, but also the significant number of items, in which a collection of last wills of the 17th century consisting of close to 250 last wills is recorded (VaML V. 102.e.). This significant number of last wills offers an excellent opportunity for analysing the relation system of the inhabitants of the market town, which is intertwined with the nearby and the wider region. I wish to execute this analyses on the basis of three aspects: in the case of the wills recorded in the last wills I would focus on the kinship, kinship relations, external financial issues (debtors-credits), and on the charitable traditions (churches that are located in the Vas county and elsewhere). Actually the multitude of scattered settlement data included in the last wills shows the complex network of the spatial relation system of the population of the market town. These data — as I have indicated - may equally reveal the kinship relations, they may refer to the place of origin of the individual families (e.g. within the borders of the county, in addition to the settlements of Köveskút, Salfa, Nárai, Genes, Ják, the "population supplying" role of the population of village of Kenéz and the nearby market town of Vep belonging to the estate of the Vasvár chapter may be emphasised). The family and kinship relations are often intertwined with business relationships as well. The primary directions of the business relation system of the demising persons point to Pápa, Győr fortress town, Sopron free royal town, and Csepreg, the most important oppidum (market town) of the Sopron county. These settlements are located at the junction of the Bakony mountains and the Small Hungarian Plain. Outside the borders of the country the role of Graz is more significant. For demonstrating charity allow me to introduce a special case: scribe Mr. Gergely Gerczenj and his kinship came from Transylvania, and they seem to be a family that has settled in counties Vas (Sárvár) and Zala (Zalamindszent). The scribe, who had a significant wealth in cash, left 100 gold coins(!) to the church of his birth land (Monostor in Transylvania).