Urbs - Magyar várostörténeti évkönyv 1. (Budapest, 2006)

Abstracts

as well. The relation of free royal towns to the central authorities was also much closer; this assured considerable advantages as well. Nevertheless, the political influence of the towns can be considered low in comparison to the nobility. This phenomenon was identical in almost every country of Western Europe with the only exception of the Dutch towns. The real measure of the political influence of Western European towns did not lie in the impact that the fourth order disposed of at the diet, but the economic potential of their citizens. However, they primarily represented their own interests that usually overreached the towns (eventually countries too). ISTVÁN BARISKA Western-Hungarian Free Royal Towns in the Hierarchy of Estates in the Seventeenth Century With Special Regard to the Former Habsburg Pawn Towns Free royal towns represent the highest level in Hungarian urban hierarchy: Act No. 1 of 1608 after the crowning codified the categories of membership of the estates of the realm. In this classification free royal towns represented the lowest category. However, the importance of this article lies in the uniform terminology applied in it for the towns entitled to attend the diet. However, this arrangement was established on medieval bases. It is also well-known that in the period from the middle of the fifteenth century until 1648 the towns Kismarton (Eisenstadt, Austria) and Kőszeg were - according to private law - put in pawn to the Habsburgs. The Lower-Austrian Government and Chamber was commissioned with their governmental control. As in 1648 Ferdinand III agreed to reannex these towns to the body of the Hungarian Crown, he also donated them the status of free royal towns. Beside these towns, only Ruszt (Rust, Austria) managed to acquire this status in Western Hungary in 1681. The right to participate in the diet was certainly inherent with the membership of the kingdom (membrum regni). Nevertheless, it also meant that the tavernical authority was the appellate court of the free royal towns. This right was also codified in the privileges. The study analyses the period, in which the institution of hereditary high aristocracy (comes perpetuus) and perpetual serfdom were established. Western Hungarian noble families gaining the titles of hereditary counts and barons (e.g.) Batthyány, Nádasdy, Széchy, Esterházy etc.) did not approve the efforts of these towns concerning acquirement of the membership of the estates of the realm. Kismarton and Kőszeg, excluded from the development of the estates of the realm for two centuries, had to struggle even harder with the magnates. These towns had to open also towards the jurist nobility of the counties Sopron