Greek merchants in the eighteenth-century Jászkunság

Abstract

The Greeks in Hungary played an important role in the economic and commercial life of the country, especially in the eighteenth century. No comprehensive study, however, has been made on their activity and history. Previous papers mainly dealt with the history of territories with bigger communities and parishes. This paper tries to describe the main features of the history of the Greeks settled in the area of Jászkunság, a territory known less for its Greek inhabitants. The Greeks of the Jészkunság found themselves under special economic and social circumstances. The Jászkunság, situated between the rivers Danube and Tisza, did not form a unified territory, it consisted of Jászság (Jazygia), the Kiskunság (Little Cumania, in South Central Hungary) and Nagykunság (Great Cumania, in Eastern Hungary). These territories were joined during the Turkish supremacy into one administrative unit and Jászberény was the common seat of all three. Hungarian kings granted the Jazygians and the Cumanians important privileges when they settled here in the 13th and 14th
centuries respectively, but on the other hand their obligations increased. Thus,
they developed a relatively closed community and were not very willing to
receive foreigners. However, the Balkan merchants arriving in the 17th and
18th centuries were welcomed. In other parts of the country, especially where
the bourgeoisie was predominant, the reception of the Greeks was not
unanimously favourable. On the contrary, in the Jászkunság we can trace
no sign of refusal. Here, there was lack of merchants and the Greeks could
work without competition until the appearance of the Jews. The local inhabitants dealt only with agriculture and animal breading. This was well comple-?
mented by the trading activity of the Greek merchants who often lent money
to the residents. The documents in the Szolnog Megyei Levéltar (Archives
of the Szolnok Country) allow us to conclude that the assimilation of the
Greeks was much easier here than in any other part of Hungary.
The loyalty oath edict of 1774 was decisive for the Greeks in the Jászkunság, but as the authorities were very tolerant, its full application took a
long time. Unlike in other parts of the country, the immigration did not stop
after the loyalty oath edict; Greeks settled here as late as the 1790’s.
This paper tries to show the duality of the state of the Greeks settled in
this region. While they tried to adjust themselves to their new country and
adopt the local customs, they had a very strong tendency to preserve their
national awareness, as well as their religion, showing thus their adherence to
their native land. An outstanding Greek scholar in Hungary, Gyôrgy Zavirász,
played an important role in keeping alive the national awareness ofthe Greeks.
The remembrance of the Greeks in the Jászkunság is preserved not only in the archival documents, but also in a number of beautiful sepulchres (in
Karcag, Jászberény and Jászladány), in cemeteries and in the extremely beautiful Greek-Orthodox church in Karcag, which has been recently declared a
public monument.