Káldy-Nagy Gyula: A gyulai szandzsák 1567. és 1579. évi összeírása – Forráskiadványok a Békés Megyei Levéltárból 10. (Békéscsaba, 1982)

THE CENSUS OF THE SANJAK OF GYULA OF 1567 AND 1579

was in Turkish called "bostan". In our text-source, to differentiate these two from each other, we used further the definition "bostan"-kert (-garden). In several cases they registered further the so-called sultan-meadows (hassa chayir) situated outside the settlements, which probably were called so because when this territory was occupied and their owners had run away, the sultan declared those for his own. The income from these meadows was registered according to the hay harvested on them, counted with the number of carts, and was often left to the timar-holders of the settlement. But it also happened that the treasury sold such meadows, or vineyards (hassa bag) to some Turk, living in the surrounding (see: Kanuni devri Budin tahrir defteri 1546-1562, Ankara, 1971, 239). Often they did similarly with the mills declared as the possession of the sultan. The treasury sold many mills right after the occupation of the territory. However if considering later on that these prices are lower than their actual market values they declared these sellings "shameful swindles", and the mills in question were put up for auction. However, they demanded 50 akche tax a year after each mill. In the censuses the income was not registered in detail for every settlement. As those settlements which belonged to the hass-fiefs of the sultan, payed their tax and tenths in an annual lump. The dwellers of those villages had made a solicitation of complaint because of the importunity of the tax-collectors, and had asked to state their taxes in an annual lump, and to be allowed to pay this an three rates. Separately we have to speak about the census of the foundations of the church, i. e.the "vakf"-of Sokullu Mustapha, who was beglerbeg of Buda from 1566-1578, established several foundations of the church also in the sanjak of Gyula. His establishment consisted of several mills bought from the treasury, and also of gardens and meadows, as well as of two villages received as a donation. These two villages, Bikacs and Nagyradvány had been donated to Sokullu Mustapha in 1578 by the Voivode of Transylvania Kristóf Báthori. The instructive publication of these is found at the end of our work. Publishing the two Turkish defters in Hungarian now we followed the order of the registrations of the defter of 1579. In our publication, when we thought a surname could be read differently, we put an asterisk above (*). Where the text was readable only uncertainly because of the way of writing, there we put a question-mark. If we were unable even to spell the writing, we showed this using three points (...), and if the paper was torn, the writing indistinct, or the census-taker had left a date, we showed this using three hyphens ( ). If there were particular notes (e.g. the word "nőtlen" (unmarried, bachelor) written beside the name Szaboo, or the widow not obliged to pay jizye-tax), obvious clerical errors (e.g. son-inlaw bachelor) and wrong addition of tax-propositions, we used a note of exclamation, in some cases the Latin word "sic" to draw attention to this fact. The material of the censuses of 1567 and 1579 in all probability will be of great help for those exploring the history of habitation, the inner migration, the historical geography, denomination history, and last but not least for those exploring local history and demography. The results of the different facts and the effect of the Turkish domination finally are well measurable on the formation of the demographic circumstances. We receive a particularly remarkable picture if we compare the dates of the censuses coming down to us from the years before the castle of Gyula was occupied with those of 1567 and 1579. The concerning dates published in the table of the preface point out the inner migration though, but at the same time they also show that the population had stayed here even after the military expedition 401