Káldy–Nagy Gyula: A budai szandzsák 1546–1590. évi összeírásai. Demográfiai és gazdaságtörténeti adatok - Pest Megye Múltjából 6. (Budapest, 1985)

Introduction

to quote from the Sultan's July 31, 1560 instructions to the sanjakbeg of Lippa: „Now that I have ordered the census of your sanjak, I am ordering you to be of appropriate assistance to the vilayet's census taker when he arrives. The rayas of your khass properties as sanjakbeg and the rayas of all ziamet and timar properties are to be registered. Pay particularly close attention that no rayas be hidden or sent into refuge. So, should a village simply take off, should anyone deny the existence of some rayas on either your khass properties or on any of the ziamet or timar properties, should anybody hide anything and this fact be reported by the census taker of the vilayet, should any such thing occur on any timar property, no excuses will be accepted and whoever is responsible will not only lose all his assets, but will certainly receive his adequate punishment."

14 However, not only the census takers, but the timar landlords also were given the right to register complaints if they felt that some injustice had befallen them. This happened after the 1580 census of Pozega, and the Sultan's reaction was recorded and forwarded to the beglerbeg of Buda as follows: "Scrutinize the previous and the current defter and determine whether the census taker in question has conducted himself justly, according to my orders, or has he indeed valued certain ziamet or timar properties [i.e. their income] higher than certain others, as they have reported it. If, once you have followed the matter through, you find that not all timar properties were alotted the proper and reasonable burden, but that some were levied higher taxes than others, rectify the situation in a just manner."

15 The census taker could not be partial to everybody without being detrimental to the interests of the treasury. Istanbul expected a steady growth of revenues. Those wanting to climb higher within the hierarchy of officialdom also aimed at higher revenues, just as the 1580 census taker of the sanjak of Buda, who proudly reported that he had registered 1,134 more families than were listed in the previous (1570) defter.

16 This piece of information becomes truly relevant if it is related to the varying numbers of heads of families registered in the sanjak of Buda in the various years. To this end, from the demographic data of our volume we have summarized the numbers of heads of families as follows

: 1546 1559 1562 1580 1590 9,806 9,901 10,609 12,140 9,682 In addition to the above, and based on the quoted remark of th3 1580 census taker, we can assume that in 1570 they registered 11,006 h.3ads of families. Looking at these figures, one can say that the census taker of 1580 served the interest of the treasury quite well. Yet, when we take a closer look at the results of his efforts we will find that he registered half of the 1,134 heads of families in the town of Kecskemét. And here we find another peculiarity: out of the 1086 registered family heads, only 14. Istanbul, Basbakanlik Arsivi, Mühimme Defterleri, Vol. 3., 464. 15. loe. cit., Mühimme Defterleri, Vol. 39, 95. 16. loc. cit., Mühimme Defterleri, Vol. 39, 204. 3* 35