Lukács László (szerk.): Märkte und Warenaustausch im Pannonischen Raum - István Király Múzeum közelményei. A. sorozat 28. (Székesfehérvár, 1988)

Lubica Falt'anová: The Main Directions of Trade from Slovakia

As regards trading in textiles, linen-weaving became perhaps the most known and from the trading point of .view it reached during its development a high stage of organization. The most developed forms of this trading were reached first of all in Grava in northern Slovakia. Its existence in this part of Slovakia was evident already at the beginning of the 18th century.(19) But there are also reports according to which linen-weaving was localized also in other parts of Slovakia, e.g. in County Nitra. For instance, the linenweavers from Sa^tin (County Nitra) sold their linen made in the Baltin manufactury. dán Caplovib' has characterized the travels of Slovak linen-weavers as follows: "The linen-weavers come mainly from County Orava and County Nitra. The first usually travel in groups. They load their merchandise together on low rack-wagons (harvest-carts) and wander in lower Hungary. The latter come mainly from Sastin district, where the linen-manufactury is situated, walk to Austria and carry the linen on their backs".(20) As a further point of interest based on his own observation, he writes: "In Vienna one can hear their cries: "Kaaft Leibet! Wolfl!" In order not to waste the return journey they buy goods also in fairs in Vienna. There is a shop in Vienna, on Leimgrube in Windmühlgasse 6, which has on an advertising shield (painted - author's note) a linen-weaver from Nitra(21). There are quite exact data from recent research by Slovakian ethnographers about the travel directions of traders from Orava.

The target regions of linen-weavers, just as in other trades, were settled by area division according to the individual families and later villages. A common feature, for instance, shared with the greengrocer, glass vendor and window-pane fixer, tinker and fruit seller was to establish fixed stands in certain towns, where stores for merchandise were established and also social meetings of the wandering traders were based. Some trade had developed to a such extent that in the target regions shops and manufactories having the features of industrial enterprises were founded, but for the moment we speak rather about area division of gradient regions of linen-weavers whose trading reached its peak in the 1860s to the 1890s. For instance, the village of Slanica had its target trade regions in Croatia, Slavonia, Dalmatia and Transdanubia (more exactly County Baranya and Tolna), and in rare cases also in Palestine and Egypt. The linen-weavers from Ustie used to sell their products in western Transdanubia, in Counties Sopron, Vas and Zala, and partly in Croatia; the linen-weavers from Bobrov travelled to Counties Tolna and Baranya, then to Bulgaria, Moldavia, up to the Crimea, Sedmohrad, Backa and Bánát. Linen-weavers from Lipnica also headed for Transdanubia (County of Komárom and County Fejér).(22)

The distribution of another textile article, embroideries, was also very interesting. Their sale was mainly for the upper classes of the inhabitants who developed a liking for folk embroideries for application in textile, dress and home decoration in the second half of the 19th century. In the organization of embroidery sales not only individual women-hucksters, but also private merchants and various supporting unions acted. The women-hucksters sold the embroideries mainly in towns, e.g. in Vienna, Budapest and Bratislava, which became the main centres of embroidery trading.

The intensive contact with Vienna and Budapest is confirmed also by reports about lace-makers and lace-hucksters who sold the lace made by the wives of miners from Central Slovakia. In a late 19th century work it is said about them: "they took mercery under the canvases of their carts and traded with it all over the country, and also among Serbians and Romanians,- they sold it

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