Kovács Zsuzsa: Göcsej Village Museum. Exhibition Guide (Zalaegerszeg, 2008)

EXHIBITION GUIDE gyepű is the 30-40 kilometer wide borderland used to defend the country in the Middle Ages - where people, having been ordered to defend the border, had then settled down. The contemporary Göcsej'

s northern and middle part, called the 'szeg-region' (szeg, szeglet = corner), was the last to be populated. Here the settling of the feudal tenants, people of the bailiff created by Saint Stephen of Hungary, happened only at the very end of the 10th century. Most of them undertook army duties and were given fields and noble privileges in return. The present inhabitants of Göcsej are the descendants of the 'frontier guards' and feudal tenants. Throughout the centuries they pursued a peasant lifestyle either as feudal tenants or with noble titles. Göcsej Landscape from Dobronhegy Everyday Life In one of the wettest parts of the country the great amount of rain and the very thick sometimes impenetrable greenery and huge woodlands made it impossible to have large estates here. People farmed in small clearings and formed a lifestyle based mostly on animal husbandry. On the poor, muddy land arable farming was of little importance produced barely enough for everyday needs as it was extremely hard work to grow wheat, barley, oats or rye. Rain con-