Szombathely kereskedelmi szerepe és jelentősége a reformkorban
The Commercial Role and Significance of Szombathely in the Reform Age

Summary/Abstract: This study presents in the first place how important commerce has been throughout the history of Szombathely, going back to its significant medieval commercial function and proceeding with a powerful development that was encouraged by the elevation of the market town to an episcopal see in 1777. Furthermore, the study points out the role that Szombathely played in the commercial life of Transdanubia, more closely of Western Hungary. After dealing with the general conditions of commerce in a market town, the life of a town market that regularly brings great business and is visited from afar, finally the society of Szombathely merchants, their domestic and foreign connections, the study looks at the number and social composition of Szombathely merchants, and at the commercial importance of the town at two different periods. The examination of the 1828 national census and the body of data collected in 1847 with a different purpose shows that the commercial weight and significance of Szombathely did not decrease or cease in the Reform Age, on the contrary, it accelerated while the role of Kőszeg gradually decreased. Within a few decades these towns changed roles, which resulted around the end of the Reform Age in Szombathely becoming not only the first among all settlements in Vas county but in directly lining up behind Sopron and Nagykanizsa and becoming one of the most important commercial centres of Western Hungary.

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