Ihász István - Pintér János szerk.: Történeti Muzeológiai Szemle: A Magyar Múzeumi Történész Társulat Évkönyve 6. (Budapest, 2006)

Tanulmányok - Szemán Attila: A rézpénzek szerepe a Rákóczi-szabadságharc kitörésében és bukásában

to a disproportionate rate imposed upon the poor living in Upper Hungary. The Treasury, moreover, when collecting taxes, did not accept copper coins, despite the fact that at that time no other small change was in use in the region. Minting copper coins was forbidden in February 1703, but changing them into silver was started even later, and even then, only a small part of the copper was changed. This resulted in extreme poverty and generated discontent, thus it became one of the most important direct causes that led to the Rákóczi War of Independence. Paradoxically enough, despite the failure of the imperial copper coins, Rákóczi had no better choice than issuing copper coins to cover the expenses of the war of independence. He had two choices, so to say, either to impose taxes, or to issue copper coins without inner value. Reasonably enough, he chose the latter option. Kuruc copper coins were issued as credit money and Rákóczi promised to exchange them. At this time, however, the low lying deposits of precious ore in the mines of Lower Hungary were flooded. Suction, on the other hand, was not yet properly mechanized. This prevented him from changing copper coins for precious metal coins planned to be minted from the deposits of these mines. A technical problem in this way contributed to the failure of the war of independence.