B. Gál Edit – Veres Gábor szerk.: Agria 47. (Az Egri Múzeum Évkönyve - Annales Musei Agriensis, 2011)
Petercsák Tivadar: A Mátra cédula
Tivadar Petercsák The Mátra ticket From the end of the 17 t h century the town of Gyöngyös regularly made arrangements protecting forests, with that - in accordance with national decrees - on the one hand wanted to ensure one of the main income sources for the town in the long run, on the other hand it provided the inhabitants with firewood and timber. People in Gyöngyös could carry wood home, feed their pigs with acorn and could pasture their cattle in the wood pasture in possession of the so called Mátra ticket, but they could also cut hoops for barrels. Only people residing in Gyöngyös for at least ten years were entitled to the ticket named after the Mátra Mountain Range. Examples of similar preferences could be mentioned from other towns (Sopron, Debrecen) as well, but this local appellation is known only from Gyöngyös. In the middle of the 18 t h century the routine was that those people or their predecessors, who once paid the Mátra fee, could freely exploit the right to firewood. Otherwise, the Mátra fee was allocated in an annually variable amount after foot transfer or animal-drawn vehicles. In the second half of the 19 t h century - when the term Mátra ticket was not used any longer - people paid a variable amount after the animal-drawn vehicles or they worked in the woods in return. The transport of dry wood on foot or by mandrawn devices was still free at that time for people residing in Gyöngyös. Regulation of the wood tenure also involved a ban on certain wood territories, prohibiting any cutting tools in the woods. To control these offences the town employed professional staff and wood rangers. Various lawsuits, fines and corporal punishment imply that the inhabitants of the town often offended against local regulations and sold their allotted firewood on the market, damaged the trees, with that causing considerable detriment to the town. The original Mátra ticket became a multiple wood carrying permission by the end of the 19 t h century, the form by this time became common in the manors and other towns. 307
