Metadata: Documents 1786-1790
Collection
- Country:
- Hungary
- Holding institution:
- National Archives of Hungary, Csongrád County Archives, Szeged
- Holding institution (official language):
- Magyar Nemzeti Levéltár Csongrád Megyei Levéltára, Szeged
- Postal address:
- 6701 Szeged, Pf. 460
- Phone number:
- +36 62 425 199
- Web address:
- http://mnl.gov.hu/mnl/csml/mnl_csml_szeged
- Email:
- csml@mnl.gov.hu
- Reference number:
- IV.A.2.b
- Title:
- Documents 1786-1790
- Title (official language):
- Iratok 1786-1790
- Creator/accumulator:
- Csongrád-Békés-Csanád county
- Date(s):
- 1786/1790
- Language:
- Latin
- Hungarian
- German
- Extent:
- 1.17 linear metres (9 boxes)
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The 'Documents' collection comprises the document materials of Csongrád-Békés-Csanád merged countries referring particularly to Csanád County, selected subsequently, covering the period of 1786-1790. The documents form part of the extensive collection of 'Documents of the united counties of Csongrád-Békés-Csanád related to Csanád County (1786-1790)'.
The documents mainly deal with issues of public administration, because jurisdiction was separated from public administration at that time, as it is shown by the method of document systematisation. The documents comprise county-level instructions and petitions submitted by individuals or communities. They relate to demographic (settlement, migration) and economic (contracts, debts, payments) issues, market activities, religious affairs, payment of tax, seizure of goods and commercial transactions. The documents were written mainly in Latin, German and Hungarian.
In the systematisation process Jewish documents were not treated separately as a distinct group. The language and layout of these documents are identical with that of other documents. The languages used are German, Hungarian and Latin. The Jewish-related documents are scattered and can be found in nine boxes. They were listed under their year cycles. The documents can be found under about 59 headings (i.e. not merely 59 independent documents, but, depending on the author or subject of the source, a heading may cover a single document or files including several documents). The value of the source documents is further enhanced by the fact that the material includes not only so-called external (i.e. decrees or written documentation of governmental or county authorities, petitions submitted by individuals), but also internal sources (e.g. application by Jewish individuals or communities). The majority of Jewish-related documents in this collection relate to the town of Makó. The documents primarily deal with individual cases rather than community issues. The subjects cover everyday life in the Jewish community: demography (settlement, migration, population data), national decrees related to commercial activities and migration; censuses, personal descriptions of escapees, economic relations (farming leases, debts, payments), religious affairs, payment of tolerance tax, arrears, their division, and source materials related to tax payment by the county and landlords. In fact, the collection should only include public administration issues, but there are Jewish-related documents which deal with murder cases, search for escapees and legal proceedings. Beyond the administrative framework, these documents can clearly be listed under documents of law and jurisdiction.
- Archival history:
- The Csanád county archives were established in 1717. The document collection was maintained in the office building of the county seat, Makó. The turbulent past of the county and its territorial transformations (for example, it was merged with Békés and Csanád counties in the 1780s, and Szegvár became the new county seat) affected the placement of the collection. The new collection was stored in the new centre, and some selected old documents were transferred to Szegvár. Csanád County remained in Makó (although the counties were also temporarily transformed in the 19th century). September 1950 marked fundamental changes when Szeged became the new county seat, since Csanád County was merged into Csongrád county. The documents concerning the newly developed territory of the county were transported to Szeged, where they are available today. However, the municipality of Makó seeks to place the former Csanád county documents in its own archives building, and the collection might return to Makó again.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- Once the united counties regained their independence, they requested the return of their files from Gyula, where the documents had been transported, according to their territorial areas of competence. The selection of the documents took place in the 18th and 19th centuries and a list was attached to them, although it provides assistance only for documents from 1788 and 1790.
- System of arrangement:
- The documents started with number 597 in 1786 and continued until no. 2429. In 1787 numbering started with 19 and finished with 3401. In 1788 it started with 11 and ended with 4720. In 1789 it started with 1 and ended with 4024. In 1790 it started with 6 and ended with 725.
- Access, restrictions:
- It is likely that this material will be moved to Makó, where it will be unavailable for an undefined period of time.
- Finding aids:
- The collection includes the Acta Generalis Congregationis (in Latin) which serves as an aid for 1788 and 1790. It is available at the archive in hardcopy. No finding aids are available for the other years and documents.
- Yerusha Network member:
- University of Szeged
- Author of the description:
- Dr. Tibor Almási and Dr. Erzsébet Mislovics, University of Szeged, 2019