Metadata: Congregation Documents (Acta politica) 1550-1848
Collection
- Country:
- Hungary
- Holding institution:
- National Archives of Hungary, Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County Archives, Nyíregyháza
- Holding institution (official language):
- Magyar Nemzeti Levéltár Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg Megyei Levéltára, Nyíregyháza
- Postal address:
- 4400 Nyíregyháza, Széchenyi u. 4
- Phone number:
- +36 42 414 313
- Web address:
- http://www.szabarchiv.hu/drupal/elerhetosegunk
- Email:
- szszbml@mnl.gov.hu
- Reference number:
- IV.A.1.b
- Title:
- Congregation Documents (Acta politica) 1550-1848
- Title (official language):
- Közgyűlési iratok (Acta politica) 1550-1848
- Creator/accumulator:
- Szabolcs county
- Date(s):
- 1550/1848
- Language:
- Latin
- Hungarian
- German
- Extent:
- 143.38 linear metres (1225 boxes)
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection ‘Congregation Documents (Acta politica) 1550-1848’ comprises the documents of congregations of nobilities in Szabolcs County. The collection is part of the extensive collection of ‘Documents of the congregation of nobilities in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county 1550-1848’.
The collection is complete. Nevertheless, the dates indicated in the title should be corrected. As a result of administrative reforms by Joseph II, the so-called administration records from 1787-1790 were separated into a particular collection. The collection includes 1224 boxes of documents, and follows the subject matters of general congregation entries. The congregations of nobilities constituted the intermediate level of public administration towards the end of the feudal administration system, and they fulfilled the roles of both public administration and jurisdiction. The collection is rich and covers a wide range of topics: petitions submitted to the congregations, examinations, notifications, reports, orders of emissaries, tax assessments, correspondence with other counties, regulations issued by the Royal Council of Governor-General and the Chancellery, reports on the operation of guilds, instructions, traffic-related information. The subjects of the documents include commercial issues, bankruptcy proceedings, farming leases, auctions, taverns, quarantine implemented by the judge, disrespect, emigration and immigration, runaways, their descriptions, meat sales, school, matters of horses, the military, recruits, felonies, beatings, manslaughter, swearing, tax arrears, thieves, factories, guilds, naturalisation, agriculture, invalidation of debts, wildfire, wood sales, military uniforms, travel documents, Jewish-related matters, re-acquisition of the right of ownership, nobility issues, obligations of feudal tenants, religious issues, cemetery, books, printings and censuses. The documents were written mainly in Latin and Hungarian.
The collection does not exclusively comprise Jewish-related documents. The relevant documents are scattered in the 1225 boxes of the archival collection, and their number is about 3653. The first of them is from 1699 and it refers to Jewish migration. The number of records showed continuous growth in the 18th century and then there was a surge in the 19th century. The number of headings refers to many more documents, as a heading may cover single documents and files from several dossiers. The extensive document collection highlights the fact that the county paid great attention to the Jewish community, monitoring their situation at both county and national level. The Jewish-related documents are similar to others in the collection: they comprise instructions and ordinances by the Council of Governor-General and the Chancellery, notifications, information, other reports from the county and petitions submitted by Jewish citizens (generally indirectly and also in their original form). The remaining records are very diverse: information on migration, censuses on names, petitions for settlement, warrants of caption for escapees, search for foreign escapees, leases contracted with landlords and lawsuits related to them, contracts, debt certificates, business relationships with the members of the local community and also with the county, commercial activities (peddling, small and wholesale trading), handicraft trade, cowhide purchase, conflicts with guilds, schedules for debt payment or collection, crimes where where victims could also be the perpetrators, horse theft, murders, use of fake money, taxes imposed on Jewish citizens, rate of tolerance tax, the volume and recovery of arrears, obligation for the recruitment of soldiers, issues of inheritance, religious affairs, community cases and issues of conversion. The various subject groups highlight that both the issues of public administration and jurisdiction are available in the collection. Geographically speaking, the records can be considered extensive right from the beginning, as they cover almost all counties in the country, including Jewish inhabitants in numerous settlements in the county: Napkor, Kisvárda, Nagykálló, Csenger, Nagykároly, (Nyír)Bátor, Kemecse, Kállósemjén, Oros, Balkány, Buj and Munkács.
Besides the large number of records, the collection is particularly valuable as source material: although the majority of the entries mentioned individuals, the number of data concerning communities was increasing over the examined period. Documents relating to individuals include trade documents of Laurentius Groszberg from Kisvárda (1821. 21. 191., 1822. 22. 785., 1823. 23. 1179., 1824. 24. 171., 203.), while the following communities are also represented: Munkács (1786. 36. 2279.), Kisvárda (1823. 23. 1312.), Nagykálló (guild) (1823. 23. 1312.), Nagykálló (cemetery) (1830. 30. 457., 466, 471.) The history of specific families is sometimes also traceable for years or decades, such as in the case of the Zichermann family (1808. 8. 477., 1809. 9. 164., 1828. 28. 474., 1830. 30. 262-264.). In several cases, the collection contains Jewish-related original, internal source materials, applications, contracts and claims written by Jewish individuals or communities. The documents were written mainly in Latin and Hungarian.
- Archival history:
- From the 14th-15th centuries the notary was tasked with recording judicial issues in the county. Initially, he worked on an ad-hoc basis, moving to a permanent position from the 16th century. The documents were maintained by sub-prefects and notaries also held dossiers in the 17th century. On expiry of their term of office, officials were expected to hand over the materials to their successors. Once the county archives were established, the documents were transported to the castle of Kisvárda. After the chief town of the country was appointed in the 1760s, the archives were transferred to the county office building of Nagykálló. 1893 saw the transfer of the document collection of Szabolcs County to Nyíregyháza. In 1950 the counties pf Szabolcs, Szatmár and Bereg were united, and the Nyíregyháza archives became responsible for collating materials for the three counties.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The collection of record documents was the task of sub-prefects and county notaries until the 17-18th centuries. Following the establishment of the archives, the materials were not filed and this fact was registered after an investigation in 1725. Notaries were tasked with the filing, but the situation remained unchanged until 1767. At that time, Ferenc Schemberger was commissioned with the systematisation of the dossier that is still usable today. The collection was classified on the basis of Ferenc Schemberger’s principle until 1848.
- Access points: persons/families:
- Groszberg, Laurentius
- Zichermann
- System of arrangement:
- The documents were arranged in batches by fasciculi 1-117 from 1550 to 1669. Documents without dates were arranged in files by fasciculi 118-121 in the 16-17th centuries. After 1700, the fasciculi were re-started and were numbered in ascending order from 1 to 68. In 1768- materials from several years were arranged in fasciculi as follows: 1768-1774: 1-39., 1775-1780: 1-40., 1781-1785: 1-40. fasc., 1-39. fasc. in 1786. After 1790 archivists returned to the methods of the initial years, i.e. Schemberger’s practice, and continued the categorisation.
- Finding aids:
- Schemberger compiled 6 handbooks until 1767 that facilitate the use of both the records and the documents. The handbooks provide guidance for both administrative and legislative documents. Following 1768, two handbooks provide further clarity: Under no. XXIV-XXVI: Elenchus proth. 1768-1774, Index 1768-1774 and in 1790-1829 Elenchus politicus No I-X. For 1830-1849 there is a subject list. The language of the handbooks was Latin until 1844, when it was replaced by Hungarian.
- Yerusha Network member:
- University of Szeged
- Author of the description:
- Dr. Tibor Almási and Dr. Erzsébet Mislovics, University of Szeged, 2019
