Horváth M. Ferenc (szerk.): Vác The heart of the Danube Bend. A historical guide for residents and globetrotters (Vác, 2009)
Tartalom
RESETTLEMENT AND THE AGE OF THE GREAT CONSTRUCTIONS - THE 18TH CENTURY 109 We have some information about the circumstances of the “occupation" i.e. the resettlement. The first inhabitants must have been Hungarian Protestants who had fled from the Turks to the neighbouring villages and mountains and after the liberation wars returned to their town. The authorities started reorganizing town life under Protestant control. An example of this process was that the chief justice of Vác issued a residence permit and allocated a building site near St Michael's Church for an inhabitant of the village of Szada in February 1687; in addition, he offered protection to him. The document was issued in the presence of their preacher and - rather surprisingly - authenticated with a seal depicting the Virgin Mary that was carved in 1610. The imprint of the seal has not survived, but its image can be found in the Calvinist historia domus. The bishops invited Roman Catholic settlers from mainly Austrian and German territories. In 1689 Bishop Miklós Bathe letters patent of nobility for János Schick in 1727 logh made a residence agreement with Conrad Büllau and his companions coming from Munterkönig (probably today's Munderkingen) in Baden-Württemberg in the Holy Roman Empire. He offered them residence permits, tax benefits, freedom and free plots in the area surrounding the castle of Vác. The bishopric continued its settlement policy in the second half of the 18th century as well. The settlement certificate issued by László Beniczky Manorial Prefect in 1763 promised "to carve out spacious plots and adjacent gardens for the new houses to be built*. This idyllic idea was part of a national policy that Hungary should bloom into a leading European nation. However, the possibilities were restricted by the size of the fields around the town, therefore most of the settlers were given only half, quarter or eighth plots instead of whole ones. Among the settlers the “Swabians of Mac"- as they are called by a contemporary source- played a determining role in the economic life of the town. In the first few decades of the 18th century they specialised mainly in trade and handicrafts, and later, due to their increased wealth, in viticulture too. In 1727 King Charles III conferred imperial knighthood on János Schick from Bavaria, who was an outstanding member of the German-speaking community and a typical representative of a social class that served the interests of the emperor, profited from wartime boom and got rich quickly. In 1710 during the Rákóczi's War of Independence he set up an imperial outpost in Vác. Having settled here he was engaged in trade and brewing (with exclusive rights), and he also owned a ship-mill on the Danube. The Calvary of Vác was erected with his donation in 1727. His coat of arms is carved into stone and is placed above the entrance door. 17-18TH CENTURIES 1714-1770 1719 1727 1731 after 1731 Calvinists are expelled from the town. Kisvác is an independent serf village. The Piarist Order settles down (1714) The Franciscan Order settles down Jewish residents are expelled from the town Conflagration The reconstruction of the town is continued
