Veres Gábor szerk.: Agria 46. (Az Egri Múzeum Évkönyve - Annales Musei Agriensis, 2010)

Csiffáry Gergely: Az egri végváriak tevékenysége 1548-1596 között

Gergely Csiffáry The work of the soldiers of Eger border castle between 1548 and 1596 From 1541, the capturing of Buda Castle - i.e. from the splitting of the country into three parts - Péter Perényi occupied Eger fortress with his soldiers appointing Tamás Varkocs as captain. From this time onwards can we talk about the border castle period of Eger fortress. The author has already investigated the career of Tamás Varkocs in his two earlier studies. Hence the different military actions against the Turks during these seven years are not mentioned in this essay. In this way the events of the royal border castle period are followed from 15 August 1548 to 1596 - the time of Eger fortress being captured by the Turks. This border castle period covers about fifty years in Eger, most of this time there was officially peace, hence no greater military raids could be carried out by the soldiers. However, several different raids, ambushes and raids on fairs a year indicate that tensions became permanent along the Turkish border. The aim of these actions was primarily sacking, and on the other hand rescuing Hungarian prisoners or capturing Turks, as in return they could redeem Christian prisoners. Plundering each other's subjects, regular pillaging of the hinterland resulted in a permanent state of war during official peace time. Consequently, inhabitants were devastated and villages were deserted one by one in the years of Turkish occupation. The other consequence was that the Turks could never settle down in Hungary for good. Serfs under double taxation remained Hungarian all along, and inhabitants would not convert to Islam in great numbers. At the end of the border castle period the events of the last three years form part of the Fifteen Years War. Due to limited space the recapturing of Hatvan castle in September 1596, the fall of Eger fortress in 1596, furthermore the battle of Mezőkeresztes, which was the biggest engagement of the Fifteen Years War are only briefly discussed. 91