Takács Péter (szerk.): A jobbágylét dokumentumai az úrbérrendezés kori Szatmár vármegye Nyíri járásából - A nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum kiadványai 66. (Nyíregyháza, 2010)

A jobbágylét dokumentumai az úrbérrendezés kori Szatmár vármegye Nyíri járásából

DOCUMENTS OF SOCAGE TENURE REGULARISATION IN THE NYÍR DISTRICT OF SZATMÁR COUNTY

On April 30, 1711, the delegates of Joseph I and then Charles III of the Hapsburg dynasty and Sándor Károly signed the peace treaty in the town of Szatmár that closed Rákóczi’s war of independence. The next day, the Kuruc army laid down the arms in the Nagymajtény field. From 1526, Hungary was tom into two and then three parts - together with Transylvania - and for two hundred years it was ruled by the Hapsburg dynasty. The Hungarian Kingdom and the Transylvanian Principality became the raw material and food producing hinterland of the more industrialised provinces (Austria and Bohemia) of the Hapsburgs, which was further consolidated by the customs politics of the dynasty.

Due to the lack of industrial advancement, the transportation infrastructure of the Carpathian Basin hampered the development of agriculture apart from Transdanubia. The raw material and food demands of the manufactures of the hereditary provinces were met from this region. The landlords of this region adopted production for the market. However, in lack of capital, the exploitation of the labour of the villains and the appropriation of higher quality fields were the means of increasing income instead of modernisation. This led to the impoverishment of the peasantry and the corruption of the landlord-villain relationship. In the 1760’s, peasant revolts broke out in several counties of Transdanubia. The movements started in Vas county close to Vienna and Graz, from where they spread to Zala, Sopron, Somogy, Tolna and Baranya counties.

Bigoted Catholicism, enlightened philanthropy, a fashion in the court at that time, and the Transdanubian peasant revolts together turned Maria Theresa’s attention to the villains. To maintain the tax paying capacity of peasants was more important than humanitarian aspects. The permanent army and state bureaucracy consumed more money than ever before. More income had to be secured. Hungarian aristocracy, however, “paid tax in blood”: they were obliged to join the forces with arms to defend the country. This obligation absolved them from monetary taxation. The income of the treasury could only be increased from commercial taxes, the profits of salt and precious metal monopolies and taxes paid by royal towns, free districts and villains. In lack of industrialisation, the taxes paid by towns could not be raised. The gold and silver mines were nearly exhausted and they brought less and less profit. The Diet did not support the raising of salt prises. In Hungary a higher tax income could be expected only from increasing the incomes of the villains. Thus the Queen intended to regulate the relationship between the landlords and the villains in the Diet of 1764-1765. Nevertheless, this intent was hindered by the deputies who insisted on the “feudal constitution”. Aristocracy joined in good producing and put more and more burden on the villains. Thy overloaded them with socage work and even tried to reduce their plots.

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