Urbs - Magyar várostörténeti évkönyv 8. (Budapest, 2013)

Recenziók

Abstracts

319

ENIKŐ RÜSZ-FOGARASI

Nagyszeben - “Capital” of the Saxons?

The position and status of the city of Nagyszeben is difficult to define in the history of the Principality of Transylvania. Gyulafehérvár was princely residence, while in case of Kolozsvár, Brassó and Nagyszeben their significance made them the most important cities of Transylvania.

This paper focuses on the question: how did Nagyszeben become one of the chief cities in Transylvania? Through our study it has been revealed that Nagyszeben remained the legal centre of the Saxons till the end of the Principality, because their appellate court operated there as well. Apart from these facts, the Saxon law was elaborated in Nagyszeben. The city’s status has been approached through the issue and the procedure of inheritance, especially the position of the judges responsible for distribution of the bequeathed goods.

PETRA MÁTYÁS-RAUSCH

The Role of the Political Élite of Nagybánya in the Local Mining Industry during the Years of the Camaralistic Administration

(1569-1579)

The political élite of Nagybánya was formed by three groups in the examined period: guildsmen, miners and those citizens of Nagybánya who can be classified to neither of these categories. The said two groups had almost the same level of influence on the political relations of the city. The guildsmen could delegate more jurors and councillors than the miners, while Lukács Mészáros who had an incredible career, represented the latter group. Some sort of specialization can be identified, namely the guildsman did not possess mining properties, on the other hand the most crucial producers (Simon Nagy, Ferenc Szegedi) could not or did not intend to make efforts to build significant political career. In some cases the status of medium-sized producer made the combination of the successful public activity and the mining production possible. That is proved by the career of Lukács Mészáros.