Odis A. Schlösser
Witnesses who appeared before a County Commission in the year 1699
stated that the open prairies of Gyönk, Szabaton, Göszle, Kéty,
Tabód and Gerenás had been populated by Serbs quite a few years
before; the noble landowner at the time was Gergely Szili and he
continued to collect taxes from the peasant farmers during the
Turkish occupation, often using troops of his own.
On the basis of these statements the prairies were awarded to István
Sándor as the rightful heir because his first wife had been Eva, the
daughter of Gergely Szilli. The Sándor family lived in Komárom
and that is why it assigned all of its rights and powers to István
Sándor. The Székelyi family had a much humbler presence in the area
with their manor in Simontornya and as of 1700 owned the village of
Varsád. István Sándor died prior to 1700. The heirs, István Sándor
Junior and his sister Judith who was married to Péter Magyary-Kossa,
the Reformed Superintendent (Bishop) for the Upper Danube region,
were granted the previously cited prairies in a Land Grant in 1702
following the payment of a 12,000 Gulden fee to the Treasury. The
deed did not mention Gerenás around which several legal procedures
would follow.
In 1703 Gyönk had a population consisting of sixteen Hungarian
families. They were all expelled during the wars that followed.
Only one of their names later appears in an official register:
András Bölcsfoldi. In 1715 several families (Bosnyák, Irasi, Sáfár)
made claims on the deserted prairie whereby the Treasury set out to
obtain verification of the property rights of those involved.
The representative of the Royal Chancellery in Simontornya, Johann
Kaufmann, was commissioned to implement a conscription, which he
then forwarded to the Administrators of the Chancellery in Buda
under the title, “newly settled village of Gyönk together with the
relevant five open prairies.” In it, he writes, “This new suitably
situated village of Gyönk requires a great deal of work for the most
part but a few fields and meadows are available. The two other
prairie areas of Gerenás and Szabaton have also been appropriated by
the inhabitants and show some economic benefit. The village of
Gyönk borders Szabaton towards the rising of the sun, to Szakadát
towards midday, and Gerenás towards the setting of the sun. It is
not a large Puszta, its length can be walked in half an hour; the
width is somewhat smaller, the forestry consists mainly of oak
trees.” He later mentions that there is also an oak forest and
cultivated fields in Gerenás; in Szabaton the harvest was two
hundred loads of hay and the inhabitants had left little Szabaton
years ago during the pestilence to save themselves and hid in the
forests. Kéty “was populated with many inhabitants before the
rebellion of 1701 and is an extremely beautiful Puszta.”
Six Hungarian families are registered in Gyönk in his conscription;
all of them have cows and calves, while five families also have
draft animals, predominantly horses. By 1715 one family moved on,
while the others continue to appear in the conscriptions of later
years.
György Bárány of Szenicze reports the events of the first years here
in his history of the Evangelical Lutheran Church District of Tolna,
Baranya, Somogy that he wrote in 1742 and the County records contain
further details. According to Bárány only a few scattered Lutherans
lived among the Catholics and Reformed in this area until a group of
Lutherans from the Domains of Pápa settled on the prairie of Gyönk.
In order not to have to assimilate with the other religious
confessions they sought seclusion in the forests since they made
their living more easily as hunters rather than farmers. (In a
sense the conscription prepared by Kaufmann contradicts that in
terms of their numerous draft animals.) They appealed to the
Inspector of the Treasury in Buda in order to be allowed to have an
Evangelical Lutheran preacher. They then called András Molitoris,
the former pastor of the Lutheran parish of Varpalota from where
some of the Hungarian Lutheran families living in Gyönk came from.
The scattered Lutheran families living in the vicinity streamed to
Gyönk to attend worship, which resulted in the intervention of the
Roman Catholic clergy.
As early as September 17th 1715 the priest in Pincehely
lodged a complaint at the General Assembly of the County that the
Lutherans who had recently settled on the prairie at Gyönk had
called and installed a preacher. He made his protest in the name of
Cathedral Chapter of Pécs and the Vicar General and asked the
General Assembly to order the removal of the preacher. The Assembly
instructed their Administrator, Johann Kaufmann to carry out the
expulsion of the preacher immediately after his return home. Since
the appointment was probably made under the supervision of Kaufmann
he did not take any action, with the result that on the 2nd
of April 1716 a protest was filed again with the Assembly because he
had not carried out the expulsion. On this occasion the Vice
Sheriff was commissioned to remove the preacher who failed to comply
promptly with his urgings. According to Bárány’s report, Molitoris
was then banned from all church activities in 1717 and in order to
save him from incarceration the officials of the County were given
various gifts from their hunting efforts. However, the preacher was
still sent away from the village in that year because he was rarely
found at work in his parish because of his drunkenness and did not
fulfill his duties.
His successor in office as pastor was Bárány himself who reports his
appointment and arrival in Gyönk very vividly in the cited document
but does not cite any convincing reason for his leaving within a
year and moving to Györköny. We can assume that the nobleman and
landowner Magyary-Kossa who was a Reformed Superintendent and
Báránya a leading Pietist differed greatly in their theological
views to such an extent that it made friendly co-operation
impossible. For that reason Bárány probably preferred to accept a
pastorate with the Lutheran nobleman János Meszlényi who was the
landlord in Györköny. The Pietistic movement was fiercely opposed
within the rigid orthodoxy of the Protestant churches. In the year
1715 Judith Sándor and the widow of her brother, Maria Péli,
protested against the takeover of their property rights by the
Treasury. On the 23rd of March, 1716 they received
confirmation that they had proven their claim for the cited
communities with the exception of Gerenás, and a month later the
lands were given back to the legal heirs by Kaufmann, the
Administrator of the Royal State Chancellery. Gerenás, however,
remained in the hands of the Treasury for the immediate future.
From this point onwards it was important and necessary to strengthen
their claims on their property and defend it against any foreign
claims. This would prove to be difficult to do from far away in
Aranyos in Komorn County where Judith Sándor and her husband the
Superintendent Peter Magyary-Kossa resided.
Towards the end of the term of their free years from taxes their
subjects in Gyönk were given a contract dated on the 10th
of November in 1717 in Aranyos. In this contract the date
of their settlement in Gyönk is indicated as June 4, 1714. It is a
relatively short agreement with only six points.
(1)
According to the custom of the land they have to pay the
ninth from all of their income and earnings from their
agricultural products and any increase in livestock.
(2)
They will pay one Thaler to the Domain for one team of
draft animals.
(3)
Inhabitants without draft cattle will pay 50 denari
(4)
Twice annually they should offer an appropriate gift in Aranyos.
(5)
New arrivals in the year 1718 will receive two years of freedom
from paying taxes.
(6)
Newly laid out vineyards will be tax-free for six years.
A
year later Peter Magyary-Kossa complained that the County did not
respect the borders of his estate and property in Gyönk. He
appointed István Székely to act as his authorized representative to
protect his interest with the County.
When Magyary died in 1720 he left his widow behind with five
children. The youngest was only four years old. With great
determination his widow took on the full responsibility for the
fortunes of the whole family. In the years following that she
managed the family property with circumspection and toughness. On
March 20, 1722 she leased Gyönk and all of its landholdings to the
widow Maria Sokorai and György Halai for an annual lease in the
amount of 200 Rheineland Gulden. This superb contract also cited
the reasons that had led to the leasing of the estate: Gyönk was
too far from her place of residence and she could hardly farm it or
make use of it. The colonists remained in her debt in terms of
paying her an annual Arenda (fee in lieu of taxes) and also
neglected to present the appropriate gifts to her at Christmas and
St. George’s Day and had also proven themselves to be rather
ungrateful in manner towards her. She authorized the leaseholders
to conclude a new contract with their subjects according to their
wishes. Her one special condition was that the leaseholders would
have to provide her with twenty head of cattle if the villagers of
Gyönk were unable to provide them.
In April of 1723 Maria Sokorai handed over the lease to the Supreme
Court Judge, Mihály Keöszeghy. In 1724 this new leaseholder wanted
to have the lease renewed. In a letter to Judith Sándor he promised
to renovate the mill in Szabaton and also sent her some venison as a
gift. The mistress of the Domain and her son Adam who in the
meantime had come of age, consent and the lease agreement remained
200 Gulden. Keöszeghy, however, had to see to providing the forty
head of cattle. Shortly after that, on May 26, 1724 the village was
given a new contract, which now involved fifteen points. Judith
Sándor and her son Adam also signed the document. The conditions
are formulated more precisely and compared to those in the contract
of 1717 they are much more stringent and demanding.
On May 9, 1724 the owners concluded a detailed lease contract with
the new lease- holder but it is not available, so we do not know
what sort of privileges he gained from it. Shortly afterwards
quarrels broke out between the owners and the leaseholder. In
August, Judith Sándor sued the leaseholder bringing her charges to
the Vice Sheriff of the County claiming he had taken three loads of
hay out of Szabaton on three occasions. Szabaton was not included
in the lease and therefore the hay belonged to her. But Keöszeghy
made his case to the County that the matter was covered in the
contract and that she had no claim as the property owner.
It was the subjects who had to suffer because of these quarrels. In
the fall of 1725 Peter Magyary-Kossa Junior, who had also reached
his majority, appeared in Gyönk for the purpose of collecting the
Arendas that were in arrears from the villagers, which the lease-
holder actually owed him. When the leaseholder, who was not present
at the time, moved back to the village and learned of the affair, he
had the Richter and village council members who had approved of
young Magyary-Kossa actions with regard to the payment of arrears,
slapped in irons and locked up in prison in Högyész for six weeks.
In addition the Richter had to pay another fine and he had a cow and
calf taken from each of the council members. The petition sent by
the villagers was of no use. The County supported the decision of
the Supreme Court judge and the fine was validated.
On August 2, 1725 Keöszeghy concluded a new contract with the
Germans who had moved into the area that keeps to the terms and
conditions of the contract of 1724. This contract is written in
Latin and contains the following points:
(1)
Like the Hungarians they have to pay one Gulden and fifty Denari
for every team of oxen or three horses to the Domain per year.
(2)
According to local custom they are not entitled to a year free of
taxes but on the other hand they can freely move away after prior
registration of their intent; but whoever moves has to pay the
rent for the current year.
(3)
They are obliged to build good homes that they may sell on
leaving. But they have to pay half of the selling price to the
Domains treasury.
(4)
They are to lay out vineyards for themselves; after seven local
tax free years have passed they have to pay the ninth from the
wine they make. They are free to sell their wine.
(5)
Like the Hungarians, they have to do five days of free labour to
the Domain.
(6)
The butcher shop and public house belongs to the village and will
operate during the entire year but the Domain will receive the
ninth of its profits.
(7)
Hunting is forbidden for the villagers and infringement on those
rights will result in a fine of four Gulden. The new settlers
are, however, obligated like the Hungarians to help with their
noble landlord’s hunting activities.
(8)
Whoever moves away secretly or surreptitiously looses his full
possessions.
(9)
They will not provide a tithe but like the Hungarians will pay the
ninth according to the conventional custom: from their crops of
all sorts, from bees, hemp, corn and pigs not yet fattened.
(10)
Like the current Hungarian inhabitants every home has to provide
a pair of capons.
(11)
Finally, they must promise that everyone and every individual
will intend to live in harmony with the Hungarian inhabitants and
will not bother the Domain with trivial matters. They will have
house lots in the village of Gyönk next to the prairies of Nagy
and Kisszabaton as well as half of the open lands of Gerenás for
their use and cultivation.
The new settlers did not get any tax-free years. The relatives of
the first group came from the County and therefore they were not
entitled to any free years as well. The conscription records of the
County give us an idea of how the community developed and expanded
at this point.
The tax conscriptions of the County for 1725 that were transcribed
in the late fall of 1724, register twenty-three Hungarian
taxpayers. The surviving documents for the conscription in the year
1725 cites that next to the thirty-three Hungarians there were
sixteen German taxpayers that had come from Cikó and Varsád.
According to
the later spelling of their names they were:
|
Kaspar Trapp |
Heinrich Neller |
Johann Eberhard Keil |
|
Johann Christoph Kolb |
Jakob Jeckel |
Johann Schildwächter |
|
Thomas Polch (Polt) |
Peter Muth |
Johann Penton (Pentrin) |
|
Konrad Krähling |
Johann Gebhardt |
Joh. Heinrich Petermann |
|
Wilhelm Balthasar Schmidt |
Andreas Schauermann |
Peter Klener (Kleener) |
|
Heinrich Meinhardt |
|
|
Andreas Schauermann came from Varsád, the others all probably moved
to Gyönk from Cikó.
One cannot give any more precise details because the conscription
registers for Cikó are missing for the years immediately preceding
this migration. Once again the conscription list for 1728 gives a
reference to their origin. After the listing of their names, with
several deviations from the register from the year 1725, is the
remark that they were dealt with as new arrivals in their earlier
place of residence in Cikó where they were included in the
conscription immediately before they left and are therefore still
entitled to (illegible) tax free years. On the basis of the
County’s decision which had been handed over to them they were
supposed to be deleted from the tax register for the current year as
a substitute for the free year that they lost due to their move.
According to a later report on the part of the colonists that free
year was never granted to them.
The conscription registers of the following year
show an uninterrupted influx of settlers from other Counties and
Germany while there was also a migration away from Gyönk.
When the quarrelsome, ruthless young Peter Magyary moved to Gyönk
and took over the management of his estates in 1735 (or perhaps
earlier in 1734) a difficult period began for the colonists. The
majority of the Germans at one point, some thirty families left and
found a new home out on the wastelands of Mekényes on the Eszterházy
Domains. Those who remained carried on despite various injustices
their landlord caused them and owing to a further large influx off
settlers a strong German community developed in the following
years.
