The Nordschomodei in Swabian Turkey
The source of the information in this article is taken from
the "Heimatbuch der Nordschomodei"
published in Münich in 1973. Subtitle:
The History of a German
Linguistic Island in Swabian Turkey in Hungary."
Published at DVHH.org, 15 Mar 2012 by Jody McKim Pharr
The term, Nordschomodei, refers to a government district
covering the northeast portion of Somogy County. This area was also known by
other designations during the 18th and 19th Centuries: Schümeger Komitat or
Gespanschaft that are based on the medieval Latin Comitatus Simig(h)iensis.
One third of the area was heavily forested, the rest of the
land was cultivated fields on steep rolling hills and deep valleys were there
were numerous creeks, streams and rivers. There was black earth in the lower
lying land and red earth predominated in the hill country. The highest
elevation in the area was the Josephberg Mountain in the vicinity of Döröschke.
The hill country proved to be excellent for the cultivation of vineyards and the
best wines were produced in Somogyszil, Döröschke, Tab and Lulla.
The region suffered great devastation during the Turkish
occupation and was virtually depopulated except for a few isolated hamlets that
managed to survive. By 1690 the area was liberated from the Turks as was true
of most of Swabian Turkey. The area in question would become a "linguist
island" of German-speaking people in the districts of Tab and Igal in the north
eastern-corner of the County. As was true in other areas of Hungary the call
for German settlers for the private colonization and re-development of the
ruined estates of the Hungarian nobles was answered by them beginning early in
the 18th Century. The settlement that took place was closely related to the
settlement of Swabian Turkey as a whole but particularly with that of Tolna
County which took place earlier but had some special dynamics of its own.
This settlement initially involved twelve communities in
close proximity to one another where the inhabitants were entirely or almost
entirely German. In that sense they formed a linguistic island in an otherwise
Hungarian County with a smattering of Slovak settlers and villages in their
midst as well. What distinguished them from one another was their religious
confession. There were Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed villages.
The Roman Catholic villages included Nágócs, Pusztaszemes,
Zics, Miklósi, Kara and Szorosad (which had a Lutheran minority). The Lutheran
villages were Döröschke, Gadács, Ecsény, Somogyszil, Bonnya and Kötcse. The
Reformed settled in Felsô Mocsolád and later in Bonnya.
The place of origin of the settlers was from the various
principalities in south-western Germany that were part of the Holy Roman
Empire. The major portion of them came from Württemberg, Hesse and the
Palatinate (Pfalz). The vast majority of the settlers had first settled in
Tolna County before migrating to Somogy County. Many of the families in
Döröschke and Bonnya knew that their family origins were in Tolna County in
Udvári, Szarázd, Gyonk and Nagyszékely (Grossäckel). On the whole, the local
dialects take on the basic characteristics of the one designated as Main/Franconian.
Later arriving settlers abandoned their own Swabian and Bavarian dialects for
that spoken by their neighbours. In the late 19th century as land grew more and
more scarce young families moved into new mixed-nationality and
mixed-confessional villages while others sought their fortune in Slavonia that
had been opened to Protestant immigration while still others went off to America
and later Canada.
Living in their isolated enclave and linguist island, the
so-called Swabians were always in danger of being swamped due to efforts to
Magyarize them by government authorities. The Lutheran communities proved to be
more resistant and successful in retaining their German identity because the
constitution of the Lutheran Church of Hungary guaranteed them the freedom to
choose the language of worship and school instruction unlike the Roman Catholic
communities that were deliberately assigned Hungarian-speaking priests and
teachers. This linguistic island numbered in the neighbourhood of 8,000
persons.
With the expulsion of the Turks in 1690 as mentioned
previously lawlessness reigned in future Swabian Turkey. Robber bands, gypsies,
marauders, army deserters and the Imperial troops struck terror in the hearts of
the surviving population. The boundaries of Counties and administrative
districts were redefined or re-established. In many places the County
administration ended up in the hands of Germans that led to hostility on the
part of the Hungarian nobility that had survived. In 1701, one of the first
tasks put to the new County administrators by Archbishop Kollonics who was in
charge of the so-called repopulation of Hungary, was the immediate expulsion of
any Protestants. All of the Counties refused to comply because of the pressure
applied by the Hungarian nobles. In response to their defiance the Archbishop
charged the Protestant nobles were allies of the Kurucz rebels who were carrying
on guerrilla attacks and raids against the Habsburgs all across the country in
an attempt to gain Hungarian independence from Austria.
Up until the Kurucz rebellion ended in 1711, German
settlement in Somogy County had been confined to garrison towns like Kaposvár
and Szigetvár. There had been no planned German settlement in the County prior
to 1711. The Nordschomodei had been the scene of plundering especially in the
area around Igal which had been in the hands of the rebels who the Archbishop
identified as the "Evangelical League" who were driven farther north from there
in 1709 so that the redevelopment of the area could begin after 1711.
The actual resettlement of the Nordschomodei had begun
in 1690 consisting mostly of Hungarians brought from Western Hungary and Upper
Hungary (Slovakia). From 1709-1711 all of Hungary fell victim to the plague.
It was the plague rather than military might that led to the surrender of Kurucz
rebels to the Imperial forces. The resettlement of the County that had begun
twenty years before was back to where it had started.
A German settlement of the Nordschomodei began in 1712.
Other authorities claim the earliest settlement cannot be dated and that by 1720
only Szigetvár had a German majority. By contrast only a few households could
be found scattered in the area. There is another source that claims that by
1720 the interior of the Nordschomodei had been settled by Swabians from
Württemberg who raised tobacco on the sandy hills and that a recruitment of
German settlers in adjoining Tolna and Baranya Counties was underway. The
latter statement more accurately describes what actually took place.
A County list of settlements covering 1715-1720 include
Somogyszil and Német (German) Egres in the Nordschomodei which are both adjacent
to the border with Tolna County. Quite early both developed a Magyar character
even though they would be in the neighbourhood of six German villages. The
inhabitants in both communities were all Roman Catholics and Hungarians.
The second oldest German settlements in Somogy County
were established in 1723 at Felsö Mocsolád and Nágócs. Felsö Mocsolád was
settled by Lutherans and Reformed from Hessen and the village could have existed
as early as 1721 or 1722. Nágócs was established by German Roman Catholics by
Baron Adam Zichy. On the basis of the records of the Lutheran Church District
(Seniorat) that included all of Somogy County there were two German Lutheran
congregations and settlements in the Nordschomodei in 1725. One to the north in
Kötcse and the other in Fiad. The congregations were formally organized in 1725
but had been existence for some time before. Other sources indicate that the
various Protestant nobles who shared in the ownership of Kötcse settled Hessians
and some families from the Palatinate (Pfalz) on their estate having recruited
some of them in Tolna County shortly after their arrival there. This
settlement could have taken place as early as 1723. The Roman Catholic village
of Miklósi was established in 1736 although there are other sources that
indicate it was in 1726.
The town of Tab should also belong to the resettlement
that was initiated in 1720 in the Nordschomodei. At that time, according to
church records that are available to us it was a Slovak Lutheran settlement with
a Magyar Reformed minority that had survived the Turkish occupation. A
Hungarian Roman Catholic parish was established there in 1759. A German
Lutheran congregation was established in Tab on April 11, 1730 according to the
Patent granted by the Emperor Charles (Karl) VI for forty-seven German Lutherans
living there. There are other sources that suggest a date of 1712-1713.
Bonnya needs to be included among these early
settlements. The basis for that are the Becht Family Chronicles. Jakob Becht
arrived in Bonyhád in Tolna County from Württemberg some time prior to 1730 to
serve as the "underground" Levite Lehrer (schoolmaster and lay worship leader)
to the Lutherans in the settlement. At some point he was apprehended by the
authorities and he and his young family were driven out of the settlement and
sent into exile back to Germany but he and his family escaped and made their way
to the hill country of Somogy County to serve a small band of Lutheran settlers
who had established a congregation in Bonnya. He arrived there on April 11,
1730 and posing as a farmer he served the congregation until his death and was
succeeded by his son Peter who in turn was succeeded by his own son which would
be the pattern followed for the next seven generations until October 1949 when
the last of the Bechts was forced to leave when the Lutheran school was
confiscated by the Hungarian State.
We have specific information on the establishment of
Döröschke (Dörnberg) in the second half of the 18th Century. The Lutheran Church
records report: "In the year 1758 in the month of May the fathers of the
present inhabitants settled on the Puszta of Döröschke and on September 18, 1787
the nobleman, Josef Horvath was called as their pastor." This entry was written
by Horvath himself, the first pastor of Döröschke. Prior to the Edict of
Toleration, the German Lutheran inhabitants in Döröcske were placed under the
spiritual jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic priest in nearby Törökkoppany.
Those church records indicate they were already there as early as 1738.
In a letter written on behalf of the congregations in
Döröschke and Lapafö to the Royal Hungarian Chancellery in 1786 they presented a
petition to allow for the free expression and practice of their faith and the
right to build a church and call a pastor. It was granted. This must be seen
in light of Emperor Joseph II's Edict of Toleration of 1781 which took years of
struggle to realize in the two villages who both lacked the necessary one
hundred families in order to qualify.
Szorosad was settled in the 1750s; Ecsény 1776-1783; Kara
1757-1767; Pusztaszemes 1778; Zics in the 1780. During the 19th Century new
German communities emerged in Vámos, Polány, Somogyszil, Gadács, Ráksi, Somodor,
Torvaj, Hács and Bize.
The conditions faced by the peasant farmers and settlers in
the years 1730-1740 got worse and worse with the nobles and landlords making
more and more demands of them even in excess of the original contracts they had
signed. Peasants who rebelled were executed or simply run off of their land and
German settlers were among them. The German inhabitants of Kötcse lodged an
official complaint against their nobleman landlord in 1757. It was addressed
not only to the County officials but they appealed directly to Vienna. Over the
objections of her advisers the Empress Maria Theresia responded positively to
the charges of the peasants.
Her Edict, entitled, Urbarium. was decreed on July 10,
1766 and went into effect on January 23, 1767. The Hungarian nobility was
enraged and the County officials led the opposition against its implementation
and it took until 1770 before it began to take effect everywhere. It was set in
motion in Somogy County on October 30, 1767. A questionnaire was circulated
from district to district to ascertain present contractual conditions. Many
peasants were mistrustful and refused to participate. The royal commissioners
were often unsuccessful at properly assessing the situation. If the peasants
decided their present contracts provided more security than the new proposals of
the Empress, the commissioners did not have a leg to stand on. Many villages
were under so many obligations to their landlords and their own needs were not
considered nor were there any regulations to protect their rights.
The significance of Maria Theresia's Urbarium was that
the position and status of the peasants was now to be regulated. The new terms
were not an easing of the tax burden for the peasants in Somogy County except in
a few places on some private estates. The peasants in Somogy County were
troubled by the implementation of the Urbarium and openly opposed it. But the
number of peasants in the Empire who were happy with the changes vastly
outnumbered those who were dissatisfied with it.
The local County officials could make or break the
Urbarium to their own advantage. In Baranya where the largest settlement had
taken place the Urbarium meant a great relaxation of demands on the peasants.
In Somogy County it was sort of half and half as the estate owners gained more
rights and privileges than the peasants. The nobles even reclaimed title to the
free meadow land from their peasants. Regardless of the initial response to the
Urbarium and the resulting situation of the peasants the real significance was
that in the future the Royal State Office had strengthened its right to be
involved in determining the social and economic position of the peasants
overriding the nobles exclusive control and hold over them. The regulations
within the Urbarium agreed upon in the Nordschomodei in 1767 were the same for
the German and Hungarian peasants except that the Germans were allowed the
freedom to migrate if they so chose.
The Urbarium agreements for the various villages not
only include the duties and rights of the peasants and nobles but also the names
of peasants and provide a wealth of information for family researchers. Names
are often corrupted by the Hungarian official who was involved.
Döröschke:
Folting
Tilk Johan Lantman (Landmann)
Gerg
Jung Johan Stifli (Stickl)
Konrad Stilk (Stickl)
Johan Peter
Heinrich Hokk (Hogk) Gerg
Adam
Delhelm Defler (Valentin Tefner) Johan Ledig
Sebastian Landek Michl Pruder (Bruder)
Henric Raidli (Reidel)
Philiphus Kalpin (Kelpin)
Rupertus Konrad
Khonrad Miler (Mueller)
Gerg
Kausz Khonrad Peter
Johan Jung
Velheim Stelen
Johan
Ferber Just Pecher (Becker)
Herinch Krild (Grill)
Vilhelm Feiber (Ferber)
David Felda (Felder)
Nichlaus Masner (Meissner)
Frantz
Schmid Johan Simon
Leonard Landek
Johan Richl
Andreas Landek
Heinrich Remer
Johan
Ferber Ulrich Fuser (Fischer)
Khonrad Stilk (Stickl)
Johan Stochmon (Stockmann)
Martin Miler (Mueller)
Gerg Mercz (März)
Daniel Felber (Ferber)
Jakob Gross
Balthasar Reinperg
Alexander Ksort (Zart)
Andreas Verpak (Werbach) Michael
Trost
Kotcse:
Johan Pruder
(Bruder) Jakor Lanthmann (Landmann)
Villan Felldan (Wilhelm Felder) Adam
Francz
Johan Wiganth (Wiegand) Georg
Till
Hartman Rajcher (Reichert) Johan
Fridrich (Friedrich)
Stefan Helfenpan (Helfenbein) Heinrich
Lux
Georg
May Paul Ugrik (Ulrich)
Konrad Teffner
Jakob Viganth (Wiegand)
Adam Felden (Felder)
Georg Lux
Josef Teckmann (Deckmann) Georg
Pruder (Bruder)
Adam Teckmann (Deckmann) Andreas
Hepner
Kaspar Fridrich (Friedrich)
Killian Ferber
Peter Starck (Stark)
Johann Vegmann (Wegmann)
Johan
Ferber Johan Loor (Lohr)
Josef Stekkel (Stickl)
Martin Loor (Lohr)
Johan Gutman (Guthmann) Georg
Gebell (Giebel or Goebel)
Johan Harich (Heinrich)
Friedrich Zsub (Schub)
Stefan Rajcher (Reichert)
Johan Pumer
Stefan Lanthmann (Landmann) Matthias
Trummel
Filip Pekker (Becker)
Konrad Fridrich (Friedrich)
Stefan Landek
In addition to these landowning peasant farmers there were
the following cotters:
Michael Hedrich
Stefan Czokli (Zӧckl)
Josef Pruder (Bruder)
Georg Jererperger
Martin Gebell (Goebel)
Johan Rajser (Reiser)
Nikolaus
Krische Martin Gebell (Goebel)
Stefan Korcz (Kurz)
Stefan Nefzer
Andreas
Perser Franz Simon
Martin
Ferber Jakob Lerch
Josef Bek (Beck)
Georg Herner
The old Kurcz (Kurz)
Wife of Filip Rajser (Reiser)
Miklósi
Michael
Pem Joachim Santner (Szantner)
Johan Nisselberger
Sebastian Tzink (Czink)
Martin Steinbacher
Johann Nittner
Josef Titz
(Ticz) Jakob Witz (Viszt)
Ferdinand Gertowisch (Gerbovich) Andreas
Spandl
Sebastian
Bastl Adam Schipl (Sipl)
Stefan Geiger (Gaiger)
Adam Feder (Pheder)
Sebastian Wist (Viszt)
Wilhelm Petri
Adam Pem (Boehm)
Melchior Melicher (Melcher)
Josef Baum (Baumann) Franz
Zertwegner
Josef
Spendl Georg Schipl
Friedrich Erber (Erper)
Christoph Welf (Velf)
Franz Strauss (Stross)
Nikolaus Grinn (Grün)
In addition to the landowning peasants there were other
residents:
Johann Hammer (Hommer) Kaspar
Zinck (Czink)
Martin Zerwat (Horvath)
Thomas Gloser (Gloczer)
Johann Schneider (Snaider)
Nikolaus Bastler (Bostler)
Johann Furtner (Turmer)
Basilius Schwab (Svob)
Johann Mussperger (Muschberger) Nikolaus
Eckert (Ekkert)
Sebastian Welsch (Vels)
Kaspar Caspar (Gaspar)
Johann Ritz (Risz)
Jakob Burger
Mocsolád:
Johann Boldizsár
Stefan Fábián
Johann Garabont Sr.
Sebastian Foltner (Faltner)
Valentin Hahn (Hon)
Johann Hornung
Johann Schicketanz
Elias Pergmann (Bergmann)
Adam Balassa
Michael Plech
Peter Zsiros
Nikolaus Schwab (Svob)
Johann Gulás
Franz Fazekas
Johann Balassa
Samuel Csapó
Stefan Paál
Johann Pintermann
Michael Borza
Thomas Schicketanz
Michael Fábián
Georg Kiss Takács
Michael Varga
Michael Seifert (Szajfert)
Balthasar Pergmann (Bergmann) Melchior
Rosenperger
Georg Takács
Georg Purchold (Burchold)
Johann
Ritz Joachim Pirck
Christoph Frispold
Peter Kasoki
Matthias Pantner
Michael Bonyai
Elias
Miller Georg Borza
Johann Fábián
Leopold Pem
Stefan Györei
Leonhard Weiner (Vajner)
Andreas Bonyai
Stefan Fábián
Anton Rovás
Adam Bonyai
Stefan Balassa
Johann Garabont, Jr.
Cotters and residents:
Johann Szabó
Franz Kasolin
Heinrich Rosenperger
Johann Tóth
Johann Purchold
Johann Balassa
Andreas Róka
Georg Frispold
Sebastian Seifert (Szajfert)