Horváth M. Ferenc (szerk.): Vác The heart of the Danube Bend. A historical guide for residents and globetrotters (Vác, 2009)
Tartalom
VÁC IN THE OTTOMAN ERA 97 The larger northern, north-eastern part of the medieval German town remained in Hungarian hands. They occupied the greater part of the quarter named after the Main Street, Nagy (“Big") Street. In the north the street ran beyond the town wall and kept on expanding: during the decade following the tax register and census of 1562 there were about a dozen houses built outside the town wall. The properties in the market place all belonged to Hungarian owners; except forTaligás Haydar's house, only foundation houses, shops and plots went into Muslim ownership. The mahalle called Kis ("Small") Street, probably north-east of the market place, had also Christian house owners with just one Muslim amongst them. The Sáros ("Muddy') Street quarter and the Lökös Street mahalle, possibly outside the town wall, were occupied by Hungarians exclusively. A COLOURFUL SOCIETY As we can see, the separation of the ethnic and religious groups had already begun by 1570: the south-western part of the town bordered by the castle and the Danube was occupied by Muslims and Christian people from the Balkans who were in Ottoman military service, while the north-eastern part mainly by Hungarians. The medieval wall and moat of the German town seem to have survived but they were in ruins and neglected.The new Muslim quarters were probably surrounded with mud walls. The Catholic, Orthodox Christian and Muslim, Hungarian, German, Balkan and Ottoman inhabitants of the town represented different cultures. One might think that this diversity was reflected in the great variety of streets and squares, buildings, shops, clothing, customs, in the general ways of life. It was not true. The life of Hungarians and Germans did not differ, while the occupiers, coming mostly from the Balkans, did not represent authentic Muslim culture. Naturally Islam became the dominant religion and the occupiers made sure that it was not forgotten: five times a day the Arabic chant of the muezzins could be heard from the djami in the castle and the two minarets of the town to remind the congregation of the time of the common prayer. Their contemporaries wrote quite disapprovingly about the devotion of the people having converted from orthodox Christian to Muslim. Still, we can assume that on Fridays they all marched to the castle to take part in the main service in the Suleyman Djami. On Sundays Hungarians from all over town proceeded to the church in the market place. While they were saying their prayers, the noise from the shops outside penetrated into the church as the butchers - more in Serbian than in Turkish - were praising the mutton swarmed over by flies. There are several criteria that we think of as characteristic to Islam, but we cannot find them in the societies of the new Muslims either in the Balkans or in far-away Hungary. Except for the highest ranking governors nobody had a harem and there were no crowds of children in the one-or two-roomed houses. Women did not cover themselves from head to toe and the men were keen on drinking wine, just like everyone else at the time. The streets stank of the household waste thrown all around, nothing but heavy rains could clean it away. It was not a local speciality either, the towns of the era both in the east and in the west were filthy. The streets were bustling with life, people kept coming and going, which was partly due to the fact that very few families had wells and the majority went to the Danube to fetch water and clean their clothes and horses. THE MARKET AND SHOPPING The busiest days were those of the weekly markets and the annual fairs. Of the Ottoman journals, registering the incomes derived from the town, customs place and the neighbouring villages between 1546 and 1564, several fragments have survived that span periods of 1-6 month each. In the Journey in the 16th century
