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 115 vinists, while the settlers - except for the 10 Orthodox Christian families - were all Roman Catholics. The register reveals that while at the beginning of the century one third of the population was Swabian (German), in the 1780s only 10% of the population of over 8000 were not Hungarian. Half of them had German as their mother tongue, but their assimilation - as well as that of other nationalities - took place in two to three generations. This process was faster in the case of poorer families and longer in the case of the wealthier ones, because they could retain their family traditions and cultivate relations with their home country and thus carried on using their mother tongue in business and trade. The period of the Rákóczi's War of Independence was advantageous for the adherents of the Reformation. However, the end of the period meant the end of peaceful life for the Calvinist inhabitants as well. The population of Kisvác serf-village, which enjoyed independence between 1714 and 1770, were Calvinist families. In the spirit of the Counter-Reformation they had been forced by Bishop Zsigmond Kollonits to leave the territory of Nagyvác because of their faith and settle down outside the town walls to the north by the Danube. It was a very close-knit community even in the first half of the 20th century. The seal of the St Michael's Parish Nowadays the old single-storey serf and peasant houses with large farm-yards are disappearing, giving way to modern buildings. The liberation wars, which were fought beyond the southern frontiers of the country, forced some of the Southern Slavs such as the Orthodox Serbs (or Racis) to flee to areas that had already been free of Turks. Some of the Serbian families, who had moved to Szentendre led by their Patriarch Arzén Csernovics, had lived in Vác as early as the 1710s. We can mention Kuzmanovics (known later as János Paprika) by name, who soon became a wealthy tradesman as well as vineyard- and mill-owner. However, the Serb merchants did not stay long in the town because they were ousted by the Greek merchants who came from Albania and Macedonia. The "Greek" merchants were actually of Albanian, Macedonian and other southern Slav origin. They were mostly Orthodox Christians from the Balkans and led a separate life of their own. Their settling was made possible by the Treaty of Passarowitz (present-day Pozarevac in Serbia) in 1718 concluded by the Habsburg Empire and Venice on the one The seal of the Calvinist Parish of Vác The plan of sites in Kisvác with the row of trees, late 18th century Jt-jt-f-t j t t&A-t lit iÜ.? Li 11
