Metadata: Documents of the Punitive Court of Csanád County 1735-1848
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.11.g
- Title:
- Documents of the Punitive Court of Csanád County 1735-1848
- Title (official language):
- A bűnfenyítő törvényszék iratai 1735/1848
- Creator/accumulator:
- Csanád county
- Date(s):
- 1735/1848
- Language:
- Latin
- Hungarian
- German
- Extent:
- 10.02 linear metres (77 boxes and 1 volume)
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The 'Documents of the Punitive Court of Csanád County 1735-1848' collection is part of the fonds entitled 'Regional Court Documents of the Csanád county' of the Csanád County feudal archives. The collection comprises the documents of the punitive court in 1735-1848. Daily reports on convicts and financial statements were attached to the collection.
The collection comprises 1 volume and 77 large boxes of documents. The collection can be divided into one larger and one smaller sub-unit: the documents are included in the first (75 boxes), whereas the daily reports on convicts and the financial statements in the second group (2 boxes and 1 volume).
In the feudal era public cases or crimes against the community included theft (horse or cattle theft), highway robbery, robbery, manslaughter, adultery, bigamy, rape, magic, witchcraft, infidelity, discord among noblemen, despotic measures, by noblemen against county officials, insubordination or infamy. In retaliation, sentences often referred to the Tripartitium compiled by István Webőczy or Corpus Iuris, sometimes the orders of the king. Criminal proceedings (similarly to civil lawsuits) illustrate the internal context of the period, the system of relationships among and between social groups, aspects of social life and the situation of individuals living in the society. The documents were written mainly in Latin and Hungarian.
The collection does not separate the Jewish-related documents. Jewish-related headings occur in about 50 boxes (approximately 55 records). Categorisation in the archives in the modern era reveals that the headings may indicate separated documents, so-called ‘orphans’, although most of them are related to a multitude of documents or extensive case files. The first Jewish-related entry in the period is from 1821. It must be emphasised that the legislative system in the given period was somewhat inconsistent, and the Jewish-related records make this feature even more palpable. Numerous court files considered criminal cases were recorded among the ’IV.A.11.b’ collection of civil proceedings. The source file shows the Jews in various types of roles: victims (robbery, beatings and despotism), offenders (possession of stolen property, theft and incitement), partners in contracts (farming leases, parties to business transactions, suppliers). The majority of cases took place after the 1820s. The collection primarily relates to residents in the settlements of Makó, Földeák, Sajtény and Tornya. The documents were written mainly in Latin and Hungarian. The sources detail the settlement of disputes within the Jewish society and the complex nature of their relationships with the non-Jewish community.
In addition to the case files, reports and statements may also comprise Jewish-related information. The tables contained the captives’ names, place of their arrest, their sentence and their religion.
- 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:
- The main judicial body of the noble county in the 18-19th centuries was the sedes iudiciaria (county tribunal). The Csanád county tribunal had two parts: a civil and a punitive tribunal. It split into punitive and criminal tribunals in the 19th century. The records were kept by the notary. Although the documents were divided into civil and criminal proceedings, they were dealt with together. In the classification of the material the records were often maintained together with the documents.
- Subject terms:
- Crime
- Legal matters
- Trade and commerce
- System of arrangement:
- The documents were given serial numbers by the Punitive Court annually and per sessions until 1785. Document numbering was annually re-started as of 1791.
- 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:
- Index books in the records in collections IV.11.a and IV.11.f may provide guidance. However, the two categories were not always precisely separated in the civil and punitive case files (although several attempts were made), hampering the retrieval of the documents. Moreover, certain criminal cases were grouped and Jewish-related documents were included in them. No handbooks are available for reports and statements on captives.
- Yerusha Network member:
- University of Szeged
- Author of the description:
- Dr. Tibor Almási and Dr. Erzsébet Mislovics, University of Szeged, 2019