A Herman Ottó Múzeum évkönyve 48. (2009)

Hazag Ádám: Borsodi források cigányokról a 18. század második felében

FORRÁSOK B.-A.-Z. Megyei Levéltár, IV. 501/b III. I. 750. B.-A.-Z. Megyei Levéltár, IV. 501/b III. I. 754. B.-A.-Z. Megyei Levéltár, IV. 501/b III. I. 759. B.-A.-Z. Megyei Levéltár, IV. 501/b III. I. 764. B.-A.-Z. Megyei Levéltár, IV. 501/b III. I. 770. B.-A.-Z. Megyei Levéltár, V/l 1. 141-142. kötet, vagy V/198. 19-20. kötet. Sajószentpéter, Római Katolikus Plébánia, anyakönyvek I. kötet. DOCUMENTS ON THE GYPSIES FROM THE LATER 18TH CENTURY IN COUNTY BORSOD In 2009, the History Department of the Herman Ottó Museum began the systematic research of the minorities living on the settlements of County Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén. The first commission for research came from the three minority councils of Sajószentpéter: a research project aimed at the study of the history of the German, Polish and Gypsy population. In view of my earlier research, I undertook the study of the history of the Gypsies in Sajószentpéter and it was my hope that I would learn more about the Gypsies of historical County Borsod during my research. In my earlier studies I have repeatedly mentioned that the sections concerning the royal county of Borsod in the national census of the Gypsies made in 1768 on the orders of the Empress Maria Theresa are lacking from both the county and the national archives, and I regarded the possibility to study the Gypsy population of a settlement in Borsod as an exciting challenge. My research, complemented with fieldwork in Sajószentpéter, yielded exciting result and often furnished additional data to the information contained in the written sources. The choice of the period was influenced by my earlier research and the fact that the earliest sources date from this period, and also by the fact that this period had a lasting impact on the life of the Gypsy population. During my fieldwork in Sajószentpéter, I was repeatedly told that Maria Theresa was the person who with her decrees brought an end to the "good old days" by attempting to forcibly assimilate the Gypsies and strip them of their earlier "freedom". My research in Sajószentpéter was based on three major sources: the town records, the censuses of the Gypsy population and the narratives of the local Gypsy population. The study presents an overview of these three sources. A dám Haza g