Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis. – Alba Regia. A Szent István Király Múzeum Évkönyve. 32. 2002 – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: C sorozat (2003)

Tanulmányok – Abhandlungen - Lukács László: Multiethnic and Homogenous Periods in the History of Székesfehérvár. p. 43–51.

bouring counties, such as Veszprém, Komárom, Pest and Tolna, as well as Győr, Moson, Pozsony, Sopron and Vas. A lot of German craftsmen came from the WesternHungarian territories. The majority of the settlers coming from abroad were German, the minority Slav. There were 134 settlers coming from Austria, 60 from Bavaria, 56 from Bohemia, 33 from Moravia and 24 from Silesia. The settlers from Austria came mainly from Lower Austria, Styria but also from Upper Austria and Tyrol. Concerning the towns, 12 burghers came from Vienna, 4 from Graz and 3 from Klosterneuburg, Mödling and Oberhollabrunn (Lower Austria); 4 from Obergiinzburg (Bavaria), 3 from Munich and 8 from Prague. From other places in Germanlanguage areas only one, seldom two burghers settled down in Székesfehérvár. Because of the above mentioned religious limitations, the German settlers could only come from the Catholic South German territories (Bonomi 1943, 178-210, 1944-45,260-361). The burghers of Székesfehérvár with full civil rights were outnumbered by those with partial rights and by the cotters. In 1728, out of the 5460 inhabitants of the town 453, in 1828, out of the 20069 inhabitants 1080 persons had civil rights. Only the burghers and in the 18

th and 19

th century the wealthy craftsmen of partly German origin had a word in the local government. The 'leader of the German Party' was Mihály Hiemer a butcher by trade, who was the town judge in 1692, 1702 and between 17141726. His family played a leading role in the 18

th century history of Székesfehérvár. Their house the Hiemer-house in Úri Street (today Jókai Street) built around 1760-70 in rococo style, is one of the important monuments of Székesfehérvár. (Farkas 1994a, 14) Ádám Schlosser, a tanner, was appointed town judge in 1731, 1733 and 1735, and was the head of the local government for eight years. One of the nicest houses in the town centre at 1 Lépcső Street, built in Baroque style, with mansard roof, together with the neighbouring houses, belonged to him. The Hiemers, the Schlossers, the Peyerls, the Korherrs and the Schinigins were among the 18 well to do German families who had the economic and political power in the 18

th century. The town judge (Stadtrichter) was the most important body of the self-government, presiding over the 12 members of the inner council (Innerer Rat). Between 1703 and 1731 the Hungarian and German burghers took turns in fulfilling the position of town judge (Farkas 1994b, 24). The inner council had rulemaking, judicial and executive powers at the time (Kállay 1972a, 109). The Hungarians and Germans shared evenly the places in the council at the end of 17

th and throughout the 18

th century. When Mihály Hiemer was the town judge, in 1692, the following people were in the inner council: on behalf of the Hungarians János Bende, András Parraghy, András Meszeli, István Újvári, Gergely Veress, Benedek Albert and on behalf of the Germans András Payed, András Träxler, Gáspár János Hegh, Gergely Karner, György Erdli. The judge and the inner council as court of law administered justice. Viktor Juhász, who was the chief archivist of Székesfehérvár in the first half of the 20

th century, stated the following in connection with the judgements of the inner council: 'In the archives of the town 2 volumes of the Austrian Landgerichts Ordnung from 1657-58 are kept. One can find here penal provisions and civil law regulations. The punishment imposed on some criminals often remind us of the corresponding provisions of the Austrian penal code.' (1931,218) Numerous civic rights were applied according to the common law in this period. This law prescribed that the garment of burghers should be made of blue cloth and no other inhabitant or cotter could wear it. This blue cloth garment was still worn by the elder burghers of Székesfehérvár at the beginning of the 20

th century. Géza Szarka wrote about the burgers who were talking after the mass on Sunday in the Town Hall Square the following: 'On Sunday mornings, as an ethnographical curiosity, here reigns the blue parliament of the Upper town.' (1930, 228) The 12 members of the external council, (Äusserer Rat) took part in the rulemaking activity of the local council led by the advocate (Vormunder). In 1790 10 out of the 12 members of the external council could speak both Hungarian and German and 6 could speak Latin. There were 8 craftsmen, one nobleman, one barman, one pharmacist, and one postmaster (Kállay 1972a, 112-113). The external and internal council communicated with each other by the means of messages. The message was transmitted by the advocate; he was the mediator between the two councils. In the 18

th century there was a separate Hungarian and German advocate. The lowest body of the town administration, the Viertelmeisters were chosen from the craftsmen. They mediated the edicts of the town council towards the inhabitants, they contributed in the imposition of taxes, controlling of pubs and looked after the fire-protection. In 1776 they retailed wine in the cellar of the town hall (Kállay 1971, 46). In the 18

th century there were two Viertelmeisters in each district, altogether six in the town (Juhász 1931a, 182). With the two new districts (Tóváros, Víziváros) the number of Viertelmeisters was increased: by the middle of the 19

th century Székesfehérvár was divided into nine quarters, each of them had their own Viertelmeister (Palugyay 1853, 134; Czakó 1971, 23-43, 1973, 7-48). From the second part of the 18 century the German immigration slowed down. The local council accepted those craftsman in the first place, whose trades were in need (sculptors, wigmakers, printers, stocking-makers, coppersmiths and glue-boilers) (Kállay 1977, 251-252). In the 18

th century the language of the population was Hungarian and German, while the language of public 51