Gabriel Bethlen și orașul Târgu Mureș
Gabriel Bethlen and the town of Târgu Mureș

Summary/Abstract: The present paper analyzes the relation between Gabriel Bethlen, the prince of Transylvania between 1613 and 1629 and Târgu Mureş (in Hungarian: Marosvásárhely), a Transylvanian town of circa 2500 inhabitants. The main sources of the investigation were the documents of the town’s archive: charters issued by the prince and the tax accounts, most of them being unpublished.The biggest part of these sources refers to the town’s obligations toward the ruler. The settlement paid yearly circa 600–700 florins in taxes. These sums were calculated on the basis of its 31 „gates” („kapu”: a tax unit, theoretically incorporating ten families) and the tax sum fixed for a „gate” by the general assemblies of Transylvania. In other cases, the town had to fulfill obligations of military nature or to make gratuitous works at Bethlen’s construction sites.The relation was not unilateral, as the prince donated sums for the town’s school, confirmed the statutes of some guilds in TârguMureş, and most importantly, in 1616 raised the market town to the rank of a free royal town.

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