A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Studia Ethnographica 4. (Szeged, 2003)

Mód László: Egy dél-alföldi mezőváros gazdasági kapcsolatai a 18. században

The economic links of a market town in the south-eastern part of the Great Hungarian Plain in the 18

th century by LÁSZLÓ MOD The citizens of the town of Szentes had an extensive and widespread network of business and trade relations in the 18

th century. That is why the people of Szentes often went to remote places with which they were in close co-operation. Despite the fact that in 1730 the town itself was licensed to host three national fairs, members of the local population regularly frequented fairs at both nearby and more far-off places. In the period investigated here the people of Szentes travelled to fairs mainly in Gyöngyös, Mezőtúr, Gyula, Kecskemét, Hódmezővásárhely, Debrecen, Fehérvár and Pest. Local Greek, Jewish and Hungarian merchants were actively engaged in trading. Naturally, only a thin stratum of the respective communities of the market towns studied here actually participated in trading. One such stratum included the residents of Szentes, who launched a joint enterprise hoping that they would be able to reap greater profits in this way. Their investment was the buying in bulk of crops and livestock. They purchased horses and cattle from local farmers, then sold them. As well as the persons engaged in trading either temporarily or on a regular basis, there were wranglers and hauliers who drove the animal stock and transported the goods of local merchants. These two groups also formed part of the mobile strata of the local society of Szentes. Besides the merchants of Szentes, the persons who either brought goods to Szentes from remote areas or bought locally produced goods in bulk also deserve a mention. As a rule, they were either merchants or craftsmen belonging to guilds. Szentes had a stratified system of relationships in the 18

th century. It had several different types of links with certain settlements at the same time, and only occasional ones with others in some exceptional cases. Needless to say, the travellers were quite familiar with the places that they frequented. However, distance also meant taking risks. A prime example of this was the year of 1790 when, due to adverse weather conditions, a portion of the livestock had to be driven to faraway areas. Going through the places cited in archives revealed that the business and trade links of Szentes were especially strong with certain regions. The reasons for this being the case may have had something to do with the differing geographical features but various social and political factors also played a part. The network of business and trade links outlined in this study merely provides a glimpse of what things were probably like at that time. For archive sources only touch upon these factors in connection with lawsuits. Thus, it may happen that the documents fail to mention a strong network of ties with a faraway region despite the fact that it was common practice in that age for traders to keep in touch. 48