Megyetörténet. Egyház- és igazgatástörténeti tanulmányok a veszprémi püspökség 1009. évi adománylevele tiszteletére - A Veszprém Megyei Levéltár kiadványai 22. (Veszprém, 2010)

Tanulmányok a veszprémi egyházmegye történetéről - Jakab Réka: Zsidóság a veszprémi püspöki és káptalani birtokokon 1848 előtt

Zsidóság a veszprémi püspöki és káptalani birtokokon 1848 előtt

Jewish population at the estates of the bishop of Veszprém

AND OF THE VESZPRÉM CATHEDRAL CHAPTER BEFORE 1 848

Studies about the onset, history, economic activity and life of different-sized Jewish communities in Transdanubian manorial towns are available from regional and social-historical perspectives as well. It is the circumstances of Jewry living at the centres of magnates’ estates that these studies describe. This paper, however, elaborates a topic that heretofore only a few scholars have studied, namely the situation of Jewish population living in church estates before 1848, more precisely that of Jews who dwelt in villages and country towns (oppidi) of the bishop of Veszprém and of the Veszprém cathedral chapter. This examination covers townspeople as well as the legal, economic and social situation of some Jewish families, who settled down in villages and made their living as lessee of „regalia” of the landlord, petty tradesman, shopkeeper, brandy distiller or petty dealer in cheap secondhand goods. This paper also demonstrates the process by which Jews, who acquired the right to settle down on church estates, purchased houses and got involved in renting public homes, meat stalls and stores, gradually became the most important partners for the landlord and the almost exclusive vendors of goods produced on the very estate. Consequently, a certain kind of interdependence developed between the church as landlords and Jews, thus principally economic aspects characterised the contacts of the mentioned partners. In such a relation, which is mainly motivated by economic necessities, Jewry at the estates of the bishop of Veszprém and of the Veszprém cathedral chapter enjoyed relative freedom, which also strengthened their rights as a community. The described development and economic progress in the examined period contributed to a great extent to the later political emancipation of these communities.

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