Petercsák Tivadar: Nemesi és paraszti közbirtokosságok Heves Megyében (XVIII-XX. század) - Studia Agriensia 23. (Eger, 2003)
NOBLE AND PEASANT JOINT TENANTRY IN HEVES COUNTY (18th-20th CENTURY)
territory were fined thus providing a steady annual income for the joint tenantry. In villages having a number of lords the joint tenantry frequently leased out the lesser royal endowments serving the local population like for example the butcher’s shop, the inn and the market. The four joint tenantries in Heves enjoying market rights leased their four national fairs together with their incomes. The income deriving from them either helped to increase the wealth of the joint tenantry or made it is easier to divide up the proceeds amongst the landowners. The joint tenantries were also responsible for the upkeep of roads, wells, the water supply, bridges and those buildings held in common in their villages. They employed night watchmen to keep the peace. Some joint tenantries kept common granaries and a small charity fund which provided the poor of the village with com and low-interest loans. By being thrifty the joint-tenantries managed to maintain a balance between income and expenditure. One part of the noble joint tenantries disappeared at the beginning of the 20th century, whilst others continued to operate as woodland and pasturage associations right up until the 1960s. The fourth chapter deals with what was typical to the peasant farming collectives, namely the joint tenantries regulating the use of common woodland and pasture, as well as the woodland and pasturage associations. In Heves County, as was the case elsewhere in the country, a large number of these came into being as a result of state legislation. At the same time, however, the everyday practice abided by local traditions, as established by the example of the noble joint tenantries - and in doing so satisfied local economic interests. The framework for peasant land ownership was established by the emancipation of the peasants of 1848. However, whilst it was then that the peasants became the owners of the lands they had worked on, the pastures and woodland only fell into the hands of the Heves County’s peasantry during the 1850s and 1860s following the individual agreements and legal proceedings during which they were divided up. The village’s woodland and pastures, however, remained unpartitioned, the land divided off from the landowner’s property being calculated in 294
