A Herman Ottó Múzeum Évkönyve 45. (2006)

Alabán Péter-Csépányi Attila: Adatok a történeti Csépány község közép- és újkori történetéhez

THE MEDIEVAL AND POST-MEDIEVAL HISTORY OF CSÉPÁNY Csépány (called Hódoscsépány since 1904) lies in the northern part of County BorsodAbaúj-Zemplén, near the border with Slovakia. The settlement and its almost four thousand inhabitants became part of Ózd on January 1, 1979 and in spite of repeated référendums, the population rejected the separation from the town. As regards its administrative position, the settlement was part of County Borsod in 1873 and of Counties Borsod, Gömör and Kishont in 1924, becoming again part of County Borsod in 1938 and then of County Borsod-Gömör in 1945, after which the settlement became an independent administrative unit with its own council in what became County Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén. According to the documentary evidence, Csépány had existed by the 13th century. The settlement is first mentioned in a charter from 1323, where its name occurs in the form Chepan (from the Latin Stephanus [Hung. István]). Its medieval history can only be reconstructed along broad lines in the lack of written sources: we know that its territory was carved up in the 14th century. On the testimony of the tax records, it passed into the possession of the Szenterzsébeti family in the 15th century; a century later, it became a holding of the Barna family. The settlement lay in the Turkishoccupied area during the Ottoman period and was obliged to render various duties. The heavy tax burdens and the continuous looting during the Fifteen Years War (1591-1606) impoverished the village's population and the settlement was unable to recover for a long time. The church registers list about fifty inhabitants at the turn of the 17th—

18th centuries. A gradual population growth can only be noted a century later. According to the census under Joseph II (1780-1790), Csépány had forty-five families and a population of 291. Somsály was part of the Csépány estates. This settlement is first mentioned as Somsai in a charter from 1446. It was later owned by various members of the Csépányi family. Coal mining in the Somsály Valley began in the mid-19th century, which became a lucrative business after the construction of the industrial railway in 1900. The continuous coal mining led to large-scale economic and social changes in the serttlement's life. The settlement's industrial nature faded from 1972, when the Somsály mine was closed down, bringing an end to local mining. The settlement is now one of the outer districts of Ózd and one of the town's most underdeveloped neighbourhoods: the one-time kindergarten, school and leisure centre have been closed down, the former population of miners and skilled workers have left, to be replaced by impoverished and socially handicapped families living in low-value houses. Péter Alaban-Attila Csépányi 294