Balázs György (szerk.): The abolition of serfdom and its impact on rural culture, Guide to the Exhibition Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the Revolution and War if Independence of 1848-49 (Budapest-Szentendre, Museum of Hungarian Agriculture-Hungarian Open-Air Museum, 1998.)
was obviously very different from that of their wealthier counterparts with ten or twenty serfs. The latter were the real lords of the counties, and their proud officials. Most noblemen leading a peasant's life lived in separate villages. The size of these villages differed with time. The inhabitants were often forced to flee front the Turks or had other reasons for moving. Families of noble birth sometimes lost their land altogether, as a consequence, for example, of mortgage. The less prosperous layers of serf-holders were the petty nobles living on a single plot or tenure ( kwialisták ), landless noblemen ennobled by a patent of nobility granting armorial bearings ( armalisták ), and serfs marrying women of noble birth, and their children (agilisek ). The lifestyles of these people were very similar, since most of them led a peasant's life, ploughing and sowing, and keeping animals. These members of the lesser nobility and the serfs living in the same or in the neighbouring villages were interdependent for centuries. There were very many serfs whose wealth was identical with or even exceeded that of noblemen. so some less prosperous families of noble birth willingly gave their daughters to rich young peasants in marriage. The villages of noblemen were divided according to the different ways of how they had been raised to noble rank, and according to the financial conditions of the inhabitants. Several members of the landed gentry sank into poverty, but there were some among the landless who managed to acquire wealth. The village of noblemen constituted a commonage, which meant the common use of common property. This common properly consisted of the income of rights pertaining to the inn, the mill, and the meat stall, and in some villages also the pasture, the meadow, and the common forest. Property rights over these items lay with the joint tenants collectively. and they exercised the rights of a landlord. These communities of noblemen were led by preceptors elected every second to fourth year. The preceptors were in charge 15
