Lukács László (szerk.): Märkte und Warenaustausch im Pannonischen Raum - István Király Múzeum közelményei. A. sorozat 28. (Székesfehérvár, 1988)
László Novák: Trade and Migrational Connections between Transdanubia and the Area between the Rivers Danube and Tisza in the 17th - 19th Centuries
portant crossing place across the Dráva River for the Turks. From here they went along the River Danube towards Buda and beyond to lay siege to fortresses in the Northern part of Hungary. In consequence of this, Somogy, Tolna, Baranya and Fejér counties were depopulated. The greater part of their population found shelter in Protestant country-towns during the 15 years-long war at the turn of the 16th - 17th centuries. In the 1590s; the Protestant school of Tolna escaped to Kecskemét, and many people came to Nagykőrös and Halas from different places in Baranya (for example Pécs, Harkány, Cún, Veresmart) . When II. Rákóczi György, Prince of Transylvania lost the war against the Turks, they started a series of attacks from 1660, conquering Nagyvárad in 1660, and Érsekújvár in 1663. The Turks sheltered in these important fortresses of the Northern part of the country and the neighbouring towns and settlements were increasingly dectroyed. People crowded to the Plain from Nyitra, Bars, Hont and Esztergom counties. As already mentioned, the Turks did not prohibit immigration; their aim was to get Christians who payed taxes well. These towns attracted people greatly because of their degree of freedom and autonomy and allied to these the possibility of increasing their assets. They could get land from the town council and if they had enough money they could hire fields and started a productive farming. By the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th migration had stopped. At this period it was mostly the gentry who moved to the area between the; Rivers Danube and Tisza (for example Nagykőrös) from the Northern part of Hungary. They were attracted by the Protestant autonomy and wider, better possibilities for farming. Agriculture was an important element in the connection between Transdanubia and the area between the Danube and the Tisza. This was related to the migration, as well. For example, the inhabitants, who came from Baranya conducted an intermediate trade between their new and former living places (especially in the wine trade). Although people grew grapes in the area between the Danube and the Tisza, it was not enough.Wine was imported . from the famous wine district of Villány, Baranya. In Nagykőrös, the town council bought wine in great quantities from Tamás Bandi of Pécsvárad in 1636, from János Tarkó of Veresmart in 1639, from people in Siklós in 1642, and from János Bangó of Harkány in 1642. Some members of the Bangó family moved to Halas and ran the wine trade with Nagykőrös, Kecskemét. Not only wine but also wheat was imported to the Plain from Baranya. Merchants of Nagykőrös in the middle of the 17th century were usually sent to Baranya for wheat, oats and broomcorn. In the 16th - 17th centuries, Transdanubia played an important part in the huge transit of domesticated animals. As in the 15th century and later in the 16th and 17th centuries, great numbers of animals were transported to the Western markets from the country towns of the Plain. The essential basis and origin of the country towns in the Plain is the fact that in European terms, agriculture or farming opened up the possibilities and provided the conditions for town development. These towns, with wide fields around them, continued a productive animal husbandry and transport of animals, because they had good possibilities too for this during the period of uncer - tainty of existence under the Turkish rule. Middlemen, well-to-do peasants (called civis) drove the animals on foot to Austria, Vienna, Munich, Nürnberg and other German towns and also to Moravia and the North Italian towns. 120
