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

Maria Theresa stepped forward as the patron of villains within such circumstances. On March 20, 1765, she commissioned Pál Festetics counsellor for the court to draft a socage regulation scheme. Two days later she passed the petition of the peasants of Vas county to the competent clerks of the royal Chancellery to examine its legitimacy. In August, 1765, she delegated a committee of soldiers and civilians to appease the peasants of Vas county.

Pál Festetics took a long time to prepare the socage regulation draft. So the Queen ordered the Chancellery on August 26, 1765 to hand in an urbárium (socage tenure regulation patent) on the regulation of the villain/landlord relationship within two months. The Transdanubian peasants were even more impatient than the Queen. The uprising spread from Vas county to Zala, Sopron, Tolna and Baranya counties. On October 31,1765 Maria Theresa ordered in defence of the villains that all the judgments brought in any of the manorial courts of the country should be presented to the Council of Governor-General for approbation before execution. She ordered the Council of Governor-General to set up the Socage Tenure Regulation Committee.

These measures seemed feed instead of appeasing the unrest of the peasants. On January 16, 1766, the Queen sent Antal Brunszvik to Vas county as a royal commissioner. In July, his commission was extended to Sopron county. In the meantime, other royal commissioners were sent to Somogy, Baranya, Tolna and Veszprém counties. These measures did nit bring the desired peace. Thus Maria Theresa introduced a unified socage tenure regulation in Vas, Zala, Sopron, Somogy, Tolna and Baranya counties on December 27, 1766, and then, on January 23, 1767, she issued the Socage Tenure Regulation Patent. According to her orders, a uniform socage tenure regulation had to be introduced in every settlement of the Hungarian Kingdom. The Urbárium regulated the usufructs of the villains and the proportionate services to the landlords.

The socage tenure regulation included every villain and cottager and bordar. It affected every landlord who owned serfs. With this statute, Maria Theresa intervened in the private affairs of the landlords and hurt their ownership rights. It was a possibility that the counties that had administrative autonomy would sabotage the execution of the decree. So the Queen charged his loyal senior administrators with the execution of the socage tenure regulation.

Socage tenure regulation started by a central control first in Transdanubia in 1767 and then all over the country, which lasted from January 1767 until December 1775.

Socage tenure regulation committees were set up in every county of the kingdom. Judges and jurors together with the delegated socage tenure regulation commissioners got the printed Directives that determined the process of the regulation together with the printed Terrier and the Tabella. The regulation was carried out by the continuous control of the royal commissioner. The process was the same everywhere.

First the locally customary socage tenure usufructs and the services due for them were assessed. It was clarified who served which landlord. The size of the inner plot of every villain and serf and the extent of the arable land and the meadow used by him were assessed. A list was made of their vineyards and clearances. The data were registered in a hand-written table. Theoretically, each individual had to declare the lands he cultivated

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