Fatuska János – Fülöp Éva Mária – ifj. Gyuszi László (szerk.): Annales Tataienses II. A mezőváros, mint uradalmi központ. Mecénás Közalapítvány. Tata, 2001.

Dóka Klára: Mezővárosok az egri püspökség és káptalan birtokán a 18. században

Market-towns in the domain of the episcopate and chapter of Eger in the 18th century Klára Dóka There were three pieces of church lands under the authority of the bishop of Eger: in the possession of the episcopate, of the chapter and of the seminary of Eger. There were five towns among them: Eger, which was more developed than a market-town, Maklár on the episcopate domain, Poroszló, Polgár on the chapter domain and Apátfalva on the area of the seminary. Maklár was entirely unpopulated at the beginning of the 18th century and the new settlers, mainly of German origin, came into the possession of the fields and they were given several discounts for their services, but besides agriculture they were involved in practising of a trade. This market-town - although it had a settled right of holding fairs - was situated far from the arterial roads, so it had an attractive force only towards the neighbourhood in its immediate vicinity and did not become the chief town of the domain. Poroszló was built near a trade route and a ford at the river Tisza. Although not only did the chapter have domains here but the Orczy and Károlyi families as well in the 18th century, it had become one of the centres of the chapter involving Egyek, Tarnaszentmiklós and Tíszapalkonya. Polgár, which had used to belong to the Hey ducks, was given a similar role when it got back under the authority of the chapter in 1701. Also in 1701 Apátfalva, the ancient Cistercian settlement, after several changings became a seminary possession as its important centre. It was characteristic of all the market-towns that their inhabitants lived in better situation than the average serfs until the last third of the 18th century, they commuted their services - mainly the forced labour. The towns, being centres of domains, could develop by the help of the landlord (e.g. they got a new right for holding fairs) and even the landlord himself guaranteed marketing opportunities for the serfs' products. Settling the villein socage, which had brought rising in the services in these cases, had checked the growth. The amount of forced labour had risen, and it had to be worked off in the following decades in the manors, which were not considered to be as fee estates. That is why from the second third of the 18th century the hub of the domains had been relocated from the market-towns to the farmsteads (e.g. to Hídvég near Eger, to the outskirt of Polgár to Szentmargita, from Poroszló to Négyes and Montaj farmsteads, which belonged to Szentistván, and istead of Apátfalva to the vineyards). By this period the market-towns had become different from the villages only in the respect of their titles and names. 254