A Nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum évkönyve 1. - 1958 (Nyíregyháza, 1960)

Balogh István: Tithe register of the county Szabolcs-Szatmár of 1556

ging to the Greek Church have been the payers of „pecunia Christianitatis" (s. c. Christian money). The number of serfs paying in cash was in 1556 in the county Szabolcs 42% of all serfs. From the registers it can be established that also the serfdoms paying the tenth produced few corn. The primary corp was generally wheat on sandy soil rye, but barley and oats were produced only in small quantities. On ground of different conversions we can establish that the corn production of most of the serfdoms was at best enough for the own household, but it was not for the market (plate 2). The register of sheep tenth' is more instructive. In the villages of the western sandy region of the county at most 3—4 serfs could keep sheep in great number, but in the eastern villages which later lost its population in consequence of turkish devastations, animal-keeping in huge proportions went on. Here many tenth payers were registered who no or few wheat crop while their stock of sheep amounted to 60—100 pieces. In later centuries in the place of the villages enorm pastures developed which remained pastures for centuries (plate 3.). The register of tenth contains also the dates of bee-keeping — very important in the Middle Ages. In the villages are important stocks of bees, although the serfs carried on bee-keeping only as by-work ; the payers of bee-tenth payed always wheat tenth as well. The lists of names make it possible to establish the ethnic distribution of the population. 95—96% in the county were Hungarians, but in some villages survived descendants of Serbians transferred from Northern Serbia from the Turks in the frist third of the 15

th century. István Balogh 169