Данъчното облагане в завладените от турците унгарски земи
Hungarian Taxation in the Territory under Ottoman occupation

Summary/Abstract: As a result of the Ottomans’ victory over the Hungarian king (29 August 1526), which had a durable influence upon the history of East-Central Europe, the Hungarian Kingdom became the prey and also the permanent battlefield of the two greatest powers of the time, namely the Ottoman and the Habsburg Empires, both of which spread over three continents. The equality of the rival powers, however, was more apparent than real: apart from the density of the population and the structure of production all the other indicators point at a marked superiority of the Ottomans. In contrast to the Habsburg Empire, which was functioning as a loose complex of different parts, in the Ottoman Empire everything was subordinated to the interests of the army. The Sultan commanded the most perfectly organized and most modern army of the contemporary world, while the Habsburgs had not even begun to organize a standing army of their own. Consequently, the dominant element of their struggle was a constant Turkish advance in Hungarian territory even after the Ottoman Empire had gone beyond its apogee in general actioning as a loose complex of its components. The economic, technical and military superiority of the Habsburg Empire, which had been split in the meantime, only became clear as a result of an almost fortuitous event, namely the all-advised Ottoman attack against Vienna in 1683. In view of this initial situation it might seem interesting how the Hungarian landowners' class, which suffered one defeat after the other, and the state and the church were able to meantime their authority over their peasants living under Ottoman rule right up to the end. This authority, in the beginning manifesting itself only in the field of taxation, later penetrated the sphere of justice and that of administration as well. And the fact, that, while the Hungarian nobility was waging a war at two fronts, its influence grew parallel to the occupied zone, could justifiably be seen as a real historical curiosity.The article reviews the causes, the development and the practical functioning of this unusual situation, mainly on the basis of the work that the author published in 1981 in Hungarian.

• Details
• Contents