„Csak az menjen katonának…” A vitézlő rend életkörülményei és motivációja a 17. második felében
“Only those enter the army...” (The living conditions and the motivation of the warrior estate in the second half of 17th century)

Summary/Abstract: In order to understand the circumstances of the Hungarian warrior class of the 16th and 17the centuries, we need to thoroughly study their legal position and living conditions. However, it is rather difficult to give an overall picture as the composition of the frontier military was not uniform in either territorial, social, financial, legal, ethnic or religious terms. The diverse circumstances can be best illustrated through the correspondence of the generalatus and the districts of the captain generals, of which the paper describes the life of the border forces in lower Hungary in detail. Using the correspondence of Pál Esterházy, captain general of the mining area and the Cisdanubia district with the border fortresses, the author studies the legal situation and living conditions of the warrior estate. Using both already published and yet unpublished sources as well as the literature, he shows the peculiarities and contradictions of the life of the warrior class. Looking at the advantages of serving at the frontier, he describes those rights, privileges and possibilities that provided a living for the soldiers at the frontier in the constantly deteriorating circumstances during the second half of the 17th century. He also shows the disadvantages and the unfavorable side of the service to illustrate which were those ever worsening conditions in which the soldiers lived their daily lives. Through the study of their rights and living conditions, he aims to amend the oft-mentioned commonplace about the border armies’ “old freedom”. Through this we can not only have a glimpse of the everyday life of the forces guarding the frontier but also get a better understanding of the social class that emerged within the new circumstances of the Ottoman occupation.

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