Gyulai Éva: Szőlőbirtoklás Miskolcon a 16. században (Officina Musei 3. Miskolc, 1995)

Vineyard possession in Miskolc in the 16th century

it is stated in one of the orders by the Chamber to Diósgyőr in 1563 (Picture 18). For the villeins it was the autumn and winter time when they were allowed to sell their wines. The privilaged owners of houses, i. e. the noblemen in Miskolc wished to keep taverns, inns freely and they often came up against the landlords in Diósgyőr. In Miskolc, as in any other place at that time, the consumption of wine by the local population was also considerable. In addition to the volume for everyday concumption, a lot of wine was drunk at familiar ceremonies (wedding) and during important agricultural events (harvest, vintage). Another form of selling wine was wine wholesale, long-distance wine trading. In Miskolc it was mainly the noblemen or people wanting to become noblemen in market towns - many of them were citizens of Kassa - who dealt with such business. Not only wines of Miskolc were supplied by „our trading noblemen" - as they were called by a contemporary person - even to Krakkow but a high volume of wine was brought to Miskolc from the neighbouring wine-growing villages and the wine district of Gyöngyös in the period from 1580 to 1590 to sell it here (Picture 19). The local town council was liable to endure the selling of alien wine here only if the wire merchants concerned paid after the brought-in wines, i. e. town council officials collected taxes after the sale of wines of non-Miskolc area origin. The wines of Miskolc were sold not only by the citizens of Miskolc but also by the aristocratic wholesaler merchants. The Homonnai family, for example - one member of which was also the landlord of Miskolc - is a figure well known in the wine trade to Poland in the late 16th century. The wine of Miskolc was bought also by Sebestyén Thököly, a baron earning property and title by way of cattle trading and also by Ferenc Révay, the director of the Royal Chamber of Szepes.