The economy of medieval Hungary

666 Pages·2018·10.717 MB·English

by  József Laszlovszky, Balázs Nagy, Péter Szabó, András Vadas (editors)

The Economy of Medieval Hungary
East Central and Eastern Europe
in the Middle Ages, 450–1450
General Editors
Florin Curta and Dušan Zupka
Volume 49
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/ecee
The Economy of
Medieval Hungary
Edited by
József Laszlovszky
Balázs Nagy
Péter Szabó
András Vadas
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Cover illustration: (Front) Saint Anne Trinity, St Anne with the Virgin and Child (known as Metercia), 1513,
Cathedral of the Assumption of Virgin Mary, Rožňava (Katedrála Nanebovzatia panny Márie v Rožňave).
(Back) Golden florin from the period of King Charles I with the inscription Karolu[s] rex, Coin collection of
the Hungarian National Museum, Budapest (Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum. Éremtár).
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available online at http://catalog.loc.gov
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2018001835
Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface.
issn 1872-8103
isbn 978-90-04-31015-5 (hardback)
isbn 978-90-04-36390-8 (e-book)
Copyright 2018 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
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Contents
Note on Names ix
Acknowledgements x
List of Figures and Tables xii
Abbreviations xvi
Notes on Contributors xvii
Introduction: Hungarian Medieval Economic History: Sources,
Research and Methodology 1
József Laszlovszky, Balázs Nagy, Péter Szabó and András Vadas
Part 1
Structures
1 Long-Term Environmental Changes in Medieval Hungary: Changes
in Settlement Areas and Their Potential Drivers 39
László Ferenczi, József Laszlovszky, Zsolt Pinke, Péter Szabó
and András Vadas
2 Demographic Issues in Late Medieval Hungary: Population, Ethnic
Groups, Economic Activity 48
András Kubinyi and József Laszlovszky
3 Mobility, Roads and Bridges in Medieval Hungary 64
Magdolna Szilágyi
Part 2
Human-Nature Interaction in Production
4 Agriculture in Medieval Hungary 81
József Laszlovszky
5 Animal Exploitation in Medieval Hungary 113
László Bartosiewicz, Anna Zsófia Biller, Péter Csippán,
László Daróczi-Szabó, Márta Daróczi-Szabó, Erika Gál, István Kováts,
Kyra Lyublyanovics and Éva Ágnes Nyerges
vi CONTENTS
6 Mining in Medieval Hungary 166
Zoltán Batizi
7 Salt Mining and Trade in Hungary before the Mongol Invasion 182
Beatrix F. Romhányi
8 Salt Mining and Trade in Hungary from the mid-Thirteenth Century
until the End of the Middle Ages 205
István Draskóczy
9 The Extent and Management of Woodland in Medieval Hungary 219
Péter Szabó
10 Water Management in Medieval Hungary 238
László Ferenczi
Part 3
Money, Incomes and Management
11 Royal Revenues in the Árpádian Age 255
Boglárka Weisz
12 Seigneurial Dues and Taxation Principles in Late Medieval
Hungary 265
Árpád Nógrády
13 Minting, Financial Administration and Coin Circulation in Hungary
in the Árpádian and Angevin Periods (1000–1387) 279
Csaba Tóth
14 Coinage and Financial Administration in Late Medieval Hungary
(1387–1526) 295
Márton Gyöngyössy
Part 4
Spheres of Production
15 The Ecclesiastic Economy in Medieval Hungary 309
Beatrix F. Romhányi
CONTENTS vii
16 The Urban Economy in Medieval Hungary 335
Katalin Szende
17 The Medieval Market Town and Its Economy 359
István Petrovics
18 Crafts in Medieval Hungary 369
László Szende
19 The Economy of Castle Estates in the Late Medieval Kingdom
of Hungary 394
István Kenyeres
Part 5
Trade Relations
20 Domestic Trade in the Árpádian Age 419
Boglárka Weisz
21 Professional Merchants and the Institutions of Trade: Domestic
Trade in Late Medieval Hungary 432
András Kubinyi
22 Import Objects as Sources of the Economic History of Medieval
Hungary 455
István Feld
23 Foreign Trade of Medieval Hungary 473
Balázs Nagy
24 Foreign Business Interests in Hungary in the Middle Ages 491
Krisztina Arany
Appendix 509
List of References 511
Index of Geographic Names 625
Index of Personal Names 636

Note on Names
If a settlement lies outside the territory of present-day Hungary we always
use its official current place name. In order to make identification easier in
the index we will also refer to the Hungarian or other relevant forms of the
settlement name. If a settlement is lost or integrated into a modern settle-
ment with a different name we will use its medieval or early modern name.
With rivers having sections in present-day Hungary we will use the Hungarian
names unless they have an English version. With rivers outside of present-day
Hungary we use the form of the name used in the relevant countries. We will
use Hungarian forms for the historical county names. Kings and queens will be
referred to in their English name forms but will always indicate their title as
kings and queens of Hungary.
Acknowledgements
The concept of this volume originated in the scholarly oeuvre of the late pro-
fessor András Kubinyi (1929–2007), a leading scholar of medieval Hungarian
economic and social history. Most of the authors of the individual chapters
were his students or colleagues. The editors are indebted to Professor Kubinyi
for inspiration and the motivation he provided.
The present volume is a late but closely connected outcome of the project
Medieval Hungarian Economic History in the Light of Archaeology and Material
Culture, supported by OTKA (the National Scholarly Research Fund, OTKA TS
49866) between 2005 and 2008. The project was directed by András Kubinyi,
and after his death by József Laszlovszky.
The results of this research project have been summarized in a Hungarian-
language collective volume that was published in 2008 (Gazdaság és gaz-
dálkodás a középkori Magyarországon. Gazdaságtörténet, anyagi kultúra,
régészet [Economy and farming in medieval Hungary. Economic history, ma-
terial culture and archaeology], eds. Kubinyi, A., Laszlovszky, J. and Szabó,
P. Budapest: Martin Opitz). A later grant from OTKA also financed the English
translation of the volume (OTKA PUB-K 80703). Many of the chapters were
translated by Alan Campbell, and the editors hereby wish to express their grati-
tude to him for his precise and dedicated work as well as for Simon Milton for
proofreading the entire manuscript.
This volume, however, is not a simple translation of its forerunner in
Hungarian, but is basically a new volume which includes a number of new
chapters, covering – among other topics – royal revenues, environmental
changes, and roads and communication networks. All the chapters have been
re-written and adapted according to the needs and interests of non-Hungar-
ian readers. The authors have also endeavored to define and clarify all the
concepts and terminology that are less well known among non-Hungarian
readers.
The editors express their gratitude to the series editor Florin Curta for ac-
cepting this volume to the series East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle
Ages, 450–1450 and for his numerous advices to improve the quality of the
text. Marcella Mulder from Brill helped the editorial work from the begin-
ning until the last moment with special patience and care. The editors thank
Jozef Markotan, great provost of the Rožňava Cathedral Chapter for giving