Körmöczi Katalin szerk.: Historical Exhibition of the Hungarian National Museum 3 - From the End of the Turkish Wars to the Millennium - The history of Hungary in the 18th and 19th centuries (Budapest, 2001)

ROOM 9. The Rákóczi War of Independence and the Anti -Turkish Wars at the Beginning of the 18th Century (Gábor Németh)

9. Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663-1736), Copper engraving, early 18th century prince himself made while in exile. As we know from Kelemen Mikes (16901761), who loyally followed his master abroad, the prince passed the time during the bitter period of his exile in Turkey (1717-35) in carpentry work. A characteristic musical instrument of the age was the Turkish pipe, a kind of oboe favoured by the kuruc minstrels and dancers. It was used in the kuruc army for signalling, on account of its sharp, penetrating noise. Passages from the Rákóczi Melody which can be read in the room recall the rich literary heritage of the kuruc time. On each of the finely worked silver platters different battle scenes recalling the war of independence can be seen. On the basis of engravings from the time, we can assert that they were made in an Augsburg workshop as parts of a larger set. The two maps present the devastation caused by the Turkish occupation and the liberation war. The Great Plain became a sparsely-inhabited swamp. The population of the country shrank markedly, but in the absence of exact data we can only estimate by how much. However, this much is certain: sources from the beginning of the 18th century speak of a succession of settlements in the regions recovered from the Turks which were either barely populated or completely deserted. The proportion of ethnic Magyars in the population decreased. An influx of Southern Slavs, and later of Romanians and Slovaks, began as early as the period of the Turkish occupation. Renewal and a rise in the population were hampered by devastating epidemics of bubonic plague in the first half of the 18th century.