Századok – 2017

2017 / 1. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Buza János: Bihar és Zaránd vármegyei települések az adóprés szorításában. Az Oszmán Birodalom monetáris válságához, 1645

BIHAR ÉS ZARÁND VÁRMEGYEI TELEPÜLÉSEK AZ ADóPRÉS SZORÍTÁSÁBAN

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LOCATIONS IN BIHAR AND ZARÁND COUNTIES UNDER FISCAL PRESSURE

On the Monetary Crisis of the Ottoman Empire, 1645

by János Buza

SUMMARY

Information about the history of Bihar and Zaránd counties under Ottoman rule in the seventheenth century is scarce. Based on a register of complaints by the local population, made in 1645 – and, albeit already published in 1889, almost completely forgotten by now – the present paper adds important new evidence to our present state of knowledge. The testimonies of taxpayers attest to relative regeneration and a slow increase in the number of the population after the peace of Zsitvatorok (1606). In 1645, however, leaders of some 100 villages in Bihar and Zaránd counties protested against an increase of their tax burdens. A comparison of the register of their complaints with scattered evidence from the counties of Borsod, Győr, Pest, Somogy and Vas support the conclusion that the monetary disturbances in the Ottoman Empire had greatly contributed to this process, and made their consequences keenly felt all over the Hungarian territory under Ottoman occupation. The veiled tax increases, caused by the compulsory currency rates, affected the majority of the population, while only a few succeeded in making profit from speculative monetary trade.