Veres Gábor - Berecz Mátyás (szerk.): Hagyomás és megújulás - Életpályák és társadalmi mobilitás a végváriak körében - Studia Agriensia 27. (Eger, 2008)
VINCZE DÁNIEL: Az egri vilajet kolduló rabjainak szerepe a török-magyar diplomáciai és társadalmi érintkezésekben
Dániel Vincze BEGGAR PRISONERS IN THE VILAJET OF EGER WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO TURKISH-HUNGARIAN DIPLOMATIC AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS One of the most interesting phenomena in Turkish-Hungarian affairs in the 16th- 17th centuries was the incarceration and trading of prisoners in the border regions. Some of the soldiers who had fallen into captivity were used either to exchange with those who had been taken prisoner by the enemy, or in some cases released in exchange for a ransom. For some of the prisoners it was possible to cover the amount necessary to buy freedom by selling private possessions or other moveable goods, for others the only option open to them was begging. In such cases the person in question was given a personalized letter of safe-conduct (Hung.: hitlevél), which allowed the person in question to be temporarily released from prison for the purposes of raising his ransom through begging. In the meantime, however, those colleagues remaining behind in the prison were used as security, and stood the risk of being tortured or mutilated should the prisoner fail to return. Examining the terms of internment in the vilad’et of Eger and its immediate surroundings it is possible to notice a number of interesting tendencies: it was only in the mid 17th century that the institution of the beggar prisoner became general in the area that had come under Turkish administration in 1596. It was a time when prisoner violations were constantly occurring on both sides of the border to the detriment of the local population. It was in an attempt to curb the accompanying cases of debauchery that the Hungarian border fortress authorities introduced severe punishments. On the other side of the frontier, however, the Turks proved much more lax, believing that raising prisoners’ hopes would bring material dividends. Although the Moslem party had failed to react with sufficient rigour towards the beggars for almost two decades, it was they who first put an end to the issuing of letters of safe-conduct in 1677, before going on to restrict the free movement of beggars shortly afterwards. Following mutual agreement the institution of the beggar prisoner was reintroduced in 1680, only for renewed fighting and the recapturing of Eger in 1687 to bring an end to the practice. 174
