Kisné Cseh Julianna (szerk.): Annales Tataienses IV. Arx – oppidum - civitas. A vártól a városig. Tata évszázadai. Tata Város Önkormányzata – Mecénás Közalapítvány, Tata, 2004.

G. Miklós Márta: Adatok a tati céhek vallási szokásaihoz

Data concerning the religious customs of the guilds in Tata Márta G. Miklós By the beginning of the 17th century, Tata, a prosperous settlement in the era of King Matthias, has become almost entirely depopulated. The population of the settlement started to increase in the mid-17th century. Like in other regions liberated from the Turkish rule, the process of the formation of guilds started in Tata not earlier than in the 17th century. The second great wave of guild foundation occurred in the first decades of the 18th century. By the mid-18th century, the industrialization process of the market towns Tata and Tóváros has accelerated, owing to the fact that in 1727 the town became the possession of the Eszterházy family. Besides controlling economic activity, guilds exerted strong influence on artisans' religious affiliation. As a census taken in the first years of the 18

th century proves, 77% of the 70 artisans active in Tata were Lutherans or Calvinists. Those provisions of guild articles that called upon the practice of the Catholic religion can be regarded as a state-supported, aggressive means of re-Catholization. As a result of CounterReformation and the Habsburg attempts for centralization, guild flags came to play a significant role in the communal and religious life of handicrafts corporations. In the case of handicrafts corporations (that is, guilds and craftsmen's associations) in Tata, we can assume three generations of flags. There are no first-generation specimens that survived; their existence is proved by secondary evidences, that is, written sources. As for the second generation of flags, there survived the flags of the butchers' guild (dated: 1821), the bootmakers' guild (dated 1827) and the furriers' guild (dated 1831). Flags were consecrated in the course of a solemn holy mass. The most characteristic events of the flags and the associated religious life were pilgrimages and Corpus Christi processions. Flags played an important role in the communal life of the guilds; their significance grew as early as in the period of guilds and still intensified in the period of craftsmen's associations (e.g. they were used during funerals). In the period of craftsmen's associations some guild flags functioned as funeral flags. The third generation consists of flags of craftsmen's associations. As guilds terminated, guild flags were not replaced automatically; rather, some continued to be used until they wore out. This is to be explained not only by financial reasons but by the fact that craftsmen's associations enjoyed legal continuity and inherited the role of guilds in the control of artisans' communal and religious life. The flags which the present study endeavours to present date from the first half of the 19th century. Most probably, they were produced in a workshop in Pest-Buda. They were prepared almost at the same time, that is, in the space of ten years, of similar material and with identical technology, which refer to the fact that they were produced in the same workshop. 195