Dénesi Tamás - Dejcsics Konrád (szerk.): Collectanea Sancti Martini - A Pannonhalmi Főapátság Gyűjteményeinek Értesítője 2. (Pannonhalma, 2014)
II.Közlemények
198 KÖZPONTI JÓSZÁGKORMÁNY VAGY GAZDASÁGI TANÁCS? PRT = A Pannonhalmi Szent -Benedek-rend története, I–XII. B, szerk. E RDÉLYI László – SÖRÖS Pongrácz, Budapest, 1902–1916. PRT VI. A = SÖRÖS Pongrácz, A Pannonhalmi Főapátság története. Hatodik korszak (1802 től napjainkig) A, Budapest, 1916. PRT VI. B = SÖRÖS Pongrácz, A Pannonhalmi Főapátság története. Hatodik korszak (1802 től napjainkig) B, Budapest, 1916. Zoltán Boros: Economic Council or Central Estate-Administration? Contribution to the system of estate-administration of the Archabbey in Pannonhalma in the period of the Dual Monarchy During the work in progress organizing the archive groups in the Archives of the Archabbey in Pannonhalma, some volumes turned up in the archive of economic affairs containing the records of the central estate-administration. Since there is no such term for creating fonds in our archives, the present paper examines what the phrase of Central Estate-Administration means and in which was the period of its activity. Specialized sources regard the Economic Council (concessus oeconomicus ) established by the general chapter in 1822 to be the supreme decision-making body of the Order’s economic administration, although it was not subordinated to the Archabbot, but was operated by the estate-administrator of Saint Martin with the assistance of lay employees. There were economic meetings in earlier periods with Archabbots Tamás Kovács and Mihály Rimely as presidents in person, but the operation of the Central Estate-Administration (directio centralis oeconomiae) was started only due to the regulations of the Order’s general chapter of 1866. Its constitution changed many times during half a century but four superiors of the Order, namely the Archabbot, the prior, the central or chief estate-administrator, and the chief auditor were permanent members. The management of the Archabbey was directed with collective decision-making, and proposals were made to the monastic community to take measures in economic matters. Preparing the employment, transfer, dismissal or pensioning in case of need concerning economic experts, especially administrative officers fell within its competence. It regularly took steps in assessing their wages, the rules of paying wages for servants and employees with payment in kind, pensions and assistance. It supervised constructions, investments, industrial facilities, and the Order’s trading activity. Its field of operation gradually expanded from the economic areas of the Archabbey to the properties of the dependent abbeys as well. In between the two world wars, this body in similar constitution with similar sphere of authority, but in accordance with the statutes of 1921 kept working on being referred to with an old-and-new name as the Economic Council. Since in the period under examination the Economic Council as a designation also referred to the meetings of the estate-administrators of the districts, it seems justified in the period of the Dual Monarchy to regard the Central Estate-Administration to be the ruling economic body of the Order as opposed to the designation of the Economic Council.
