Magyar News, 1998. szeptember-1999. augusztus (9. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1999-07-01 / 11-12. szám
Kocsi - Coach - Cache - Coccio Travel around the World from the Hungarian village, Kócs by Gyula Antalffy Herberstein travelling in a Hungarian caariage, a kocsi, from Vienna to Buda in 1546 ■■ rrrravelling through Hungary I often came across one-horse wagons carrying six, seven, or even eight people. Some of these vehicles were covered, they were very pleasing, and so light that anyone could have carried the whole structure, including the wheels on his shoulders. The back wheels were much larger than the front ones, and the body was very comfortable to sleep and rest ia The country being flat, the horse could trot everywhere.” This information comes from Bertrandon de la Brocquiere, already quoted previously and dates from 1435. This means of transport was quite new at that time, and differed basically from every other vehicle known until thea The French traveller was the first to describe the remarkable Hungarian invention: the carriage. A vehicle so light that a man could lift it on his back could no longer be regarded as a wagon, and Brocquiere evidently only called it so, because he had never seen such a light means of passenger transport before. The invention of the carriage was just as epoch-making in the field of transport as the appearance of the railway four hundred years later. The awkward, heavy, slow wagon for carrying passengers was superceded by a light and quick vehicle. Those clumsy, over-decorated,covered wagons in use could not cover more than 20 to 25 kilometres a day, a distance which could equally be covered on foot. Those who needed a swifter means of travel rode a horse. But long journeys without frequent stops could hardly be made on horseback; both horse and rider had need of rest. The appearance of the new light vehicle, the carriage, the "coach" from Kocs, made it immediately possible to travel if necessary day and night without rest. The new coach could travel as fast as a galloping horse, but more comfortably and for longer stretches. In this lay the epoch-making significance of this first rapid means of passenger transport, and it is this aspect which all foreign writers stress in their appreciative descriptions. From Bertrandon de la Brocquiere's account we learn that such light, covered, one-horse vehicles were already running on the Hungarian highways in the reign of King Sigismund (1387-1437). By the second half of the fifteenth century, under King Matthias, this carriage, or coach was already in use all over the country. It was a vehicle with the body resting directly on the axles, not on spring or straps, it had a “wicker” work body, steps, and often a tarpaulin cover, and was drawn by three horses. Four persons could travel in it comfortably. King Matthias had splendid horses and decorated covered wagons, but nevertheless liked to travel by the simpler carriage or new coach. Antonio Bonfmi, the Italian historian, noted that "King Matthias travelled at an incredible speed; in the rapid carriage (actuario curru) he covered as much as a hundred thousand paces (about 75 kilometres) a day." According to an account by the Bishop of Veszprém, Janos Liszti, the old Cartwrights of Kócs village famous for their expertise, experimented with the new light type of conveyance on the personal encouragement of King Matthias himself. It was these experiments in Kócs which led to its being named "kocsi-szeker" (coachwagon) and later just "kocsi" (coach). The name was then taken over practically all over the world. The German name "Kutsche" derives from the Hungarian word, as does the English "coach", the French "cache", and the Italian "coccio". Siegmund Freiherr zu Herberstein, who in 1518 came as ambassador to the court of King Louis n, declared categorically that the vehicle took its name from the village Kócs situated ten miles from Buda. Contemporary information confirms the origin of this carriage or coach: this method of transport, which spread all over Europe and opened up new potentialities in travel, came from Hungary. For a while, from the middle of the fifteenth century, the carriage was quite a common means of transport in this country, it only appeared in other parts of Europe in the middle of the sixteenth century. Brocquiere frequently came across such carriages in Hungary as early as 1433, but in France the first such vehicles appeared a hundred years later, between 1540 and 1550. The first to refer to it as a "cache" from the original Hungarian "kocsi" was Montaigne. In 1550 there were only three carriages in the Travelling in a “forspont”. Nineteenth century Page 6
