Cseri Miklós, Füzes Endre (szerk.): Ház és ember, A Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum évkönyve 12. (Szentendre, Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum, 1998)

KATONA GYULÁNÉ SZENTENDREY KATALIN: Szentendre településtörténete a 19. század végéig

In 1659 Leopold I. donated the domain Óbuda consisting of several villages around Buda - amongst them Szentendre -, still under Turkish rule, to the captain-general, the count of István Zichy. Hungarian Catholics populated Szentendre originally. Between the beginning of the 15th century and the end of the 17th century different Bulgarian, Macedonian, Greek, Bosnian and Serbian groups, followers of the Orthodox faith as well as Catholic Croatians fled to Hungary in several waves because of the Turkish occupation of their country. Most of the refugees arrived in 1690 and settled down in Szentendre. At the end of the 17th century, the depopulated villages around Buda have been repeopled with Catholic Germans and Catholic and Protestant Slovaks. Several families found their home in Szentendre. The „Hofkammer" (the organ of Habsburg financial administration) claimed the domain of Óbuda from the family Zichy and the villages became in 1772 again crown lands. In 1773, Maria Theresa donated the crown estate Szentendre to the Roman-Catholic and Orthodox inhabitants of the town as heritable lease for 6000 guldens. After this, the legal status of the town was „Privilegiati Regis Oppidi Szentendre", which means royal free borough. A petty counsellor elected on the basis of religion and a body of representatives governed the town from the beginning of the 18th century. From 1872 Szentendre was a borough governed by a mayor and the body of representatives. In 1886, Szentendre redeemed forever the use of domains, endowments and feudal rights and these goods and rights went over into the town's proprietorship. The settlement took shape in the area enclosed by the Danube, the Bükkös and Öregviz brooks. Old documents and archaeology suggest that the village Apurig was situated here as well. The village developed into a medieval town on the hill between the southern part of today's Bogdányi street and the Bükkös brook on a surface of 300-500 m. In the centre of the settlement stood the church with the triangular market square, through which led the country road in North-South direction. The streets arrangement shows clearly a loose settlement structure. Szentendre was in the Middle Ages a settlement with town character. The town suffered serious damages during the Turkish occupation and the battles for the re-conquest of Buda: the majority of the population fled. The population settling down at the end of the 17th century was mainly engaged in industry, trade and viniculture. Out of 1454 heads of household 300 carried out 37 professions in 1696. After the South Slavs returned home, in 1770 230 craftsmen were engaged in 13 professions. Szentendre was the market town of the area: inhabitants of surrounding villages sold their produces and purchased industrial goods here. The citizens of Szentendre took up wholesale trade abroad. They supplied the famous wine of Szentendre to Pozsony, Leipzig and to Turkey on their own ships. At the end of the 19th century, the phylloxera destroyed the vine monoculture and the industry and trade connected with it. The agriculture had to be restructured: viniculture was replaced by fruit-growing and animal husbandry. The railway built in 1886 brought forth a change in the structure of the settlement as well as in the fields of economy and society. When 6000 refugees came to the town in 1690, the existing area of settlement with the abandoned houses or ruins was not sufficient. The long plots of land from earlier times, which flanked the main roads have been parcelled out and covered by new buildings. The settlement still needed more extension. The geographic situation permitted only an irregular townscape. The groups of the different immigrants stayed together and created their own quarters with own churches. The structure of settlement at the beginning of the 19th century remained unchanged until the end of the century. A map of 1887 shows that the settlement with its net of streets and its borders covers more or less the area of today's historic town.