Kecskés Péter (szerk.): Upper Tisza region (Regional Units of Open Air Museum. Szentendre, Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum, 1980)
1. LAND AND MAN
gradually increased up until the end of the last century when the rivers were regulated. This relatively isolated situation helped to conserve many traits of medieval farming and architecture. The memory of feudal social divisions remained alive, and many traditions of early centuries remained not only in existence but were passed on as historical conciousness of the past. Social consiousness was formed and cherished by those villages of petty nobles whose inhabitants fought for centuries to acquire and retain their feudal rights. Their struggle led them to become a traditional opposition, and thus at the beginning of the 19th century the meetings of Szatmár County became an important forum for the fight for Reforms. One of the spokesmen at these county meetings was the poet Ferenc Kölcsey, himself a nobleman of Erdőhát; at another meeting, Miklós Wesselényi made a speach that became quoted countrywide in 1841, the „12 clauses of Szatmár County" were formulated, which became one of the foundations of the 1848 laws. Social traits Compared to the neighbouring counties, a large portion of the population of County Szatmár is of noble origin. Already in the 12th century, besides villages where servant folk lived, a whole row of villages inhabited by nobles may be identified. Such early noble settlements are the villages of Tiszabecs, Borzova, Mánd and Panyola. Some of the villages populated in the 13th —14th centuries (Uszka, Botpalád, Kömörő) were also largely inhabited by noble families. According to data from the end of the 18th century: of 245 villages in County Szatmár, 23,367 houses were inhabited by noble families; thus, about 40% of the houses were occupied by nobles. In respect of the proportion of various social orders; apart from 9549 noble families, the number of serf-families was 9147, and of cotters 14,720. The high proportion of rural nobles becomes especially evident when compared to the neighbouring counties, Bereg and Ugocsa. Though the proportion of nobles was higher than in the rest of the country, yet in 320 villages, of 16,055 houses only 22% were inhabited by nobles, in the rest peasants (6563) and cotters (9460) lived. There were still exceptionally many petty nobles in the region of Erdőhát in the last century. In the village of Botpalád, out of 50 houses, 34 were inhabited by nobles (68%); in Uszka, the number 8
