Greeks in Jászberény in the 18th and 19th centuries

Abstract

In the 17th and 18th centuries Greek merchants played an important
role in Hungarian commerce and religious life. Their activity was especially
important in the regions of the country where there were no other merchants
but them. One of these areas was Jászkunság between the Danube and Tisza
rivers, the inhabitants of which were mainly engaged in agriculture and animal
keeping.
Archival documents made it clear that it was in Jászberény, the center
of Jászkunság, that Greeks played the most important role. First, their activities
were commercial, then they joined the town’s public life. The town was
the scene of the strongest opposition between the Greeks and their competitors,
the Jewish merchants, who appeared at the end of the 18th century. All
these justify the attempt to describe the Greek merchants’ activities, their
integration into the special local society and their gradual Magyarization
within one settlement in the Jászkunság.