Noble Comitats (Noble Counties) of the Kingdom of Hungary during the Fifteen Years’ War (1593—1606): the Limits of Possibilities

Abstract

The article studies the daily activity of the noble comitats of the Kingdom of Hungary during the Fifteen Years’, or Long, War (1593—1606) i.e. the war between the Austrian Habsburgs and the Ottoman Empire, which erupted on the territory of what was then Hungary. The period was not selected at random. The tension and concentration of the social forces were most noticeable in the conditions of war and, first of all, at the local level, because the local population suffered from the war and bore all its burdens: military operations, mobilization, growing taxes, lawlessness and irreparable damage caused by their own and other troops, forced gratuitous labour, military supplies, etc. In that difficult situation, society had to self-organize. The functioning and interaction of the central and local authorities became the key factor in the country resistance to the Ottomans. The noble community, united locally in a self-governing corporation, was aware of its obligations to the country when it came to its defence and tried to comply with them. But such possibilities also had limits that the population could not physically overcome, and local authorities, in dialogue with the central authorities, marked these limitations in various ways. Comitat statutes, as well as minutes of noble assemblies, contain extensive material on this issue. In combination with the laws of state assemblies, they provide an objective and fairly complete picture of this interaction.