Vácrátót is a village and commune in the comitatus of Pest in Hungary .
66-516: The village of Vácrátót, since its first mention, has belonged to Pest-Pilis-Solt , and the Vác district of Pest County . During the archaeological explorations here, some prehistoric earthenware and chipped flint implements representing the culture of Zselíz were found, as well as crock from the Bronze and Iron Ages, which suggested an already permanently settled population. The area was also populated in
132-532: A continuous basis, and reached five-hundred by the turn of the century. Scientific research has not yet confirmed the hypothesis according to which the earlier original Hungarian population remained in a relatively large number in Rátót. But the place was mostly inhabited by Hungarians, while the adjacent villages were dominated by the Slovaks . Due to the mixing by way of marriages, Rátót also started to be dominated by
198-419: A number of persons appointed ad hoc from among the present nobles. From the 15th century onwards, permanent jurors were elected from among the nobles of the county. The sedria served as the court of first instance for minor disputes of the nobles and as the appeal instance for village courts and patrimonial courts ( sedes dominialis ). From the beginning of their existence, the noble judges were
264-427: A result, by royal decrees of 1267, 1290, and 1298, the king could only confirm that the royal counties had turned into noble ones. Nobles (mostly former royal servant families) became quasi-rulers in the counties. The change from a royal to a noble county, however, took place at different times in each county. In the 15th century, the borders of the counties stabilised and basically remained unchanged until 1920. Between
330-573: A safe market for the people of Rátót, who earned their living from agriculture. From time to time, however, they also shared the sad destiny of their bigger neighbour. After 1541, Rátót became an area under Turkish rule , and its inhabitants had to pay double taxes: both to the Turks and the Hungarians. During the almost two centuries of the Turkish rule, the name of the settlement always appeared in
396-649: A similar sense, and seems to have meant, initially, the border of a county in the Hungarian language. Hungarian has another word ( mezsgye ) of the same origin meaning borderland. The Hungarian word ispán (county head) is derived from the Southern Slavic word župan ( жупан ), which was used by the Slavs living in the Carpathian Basin before the arrival of the Hungarians and stood for
462-507: Is lower): After about 1897, the subdivisions of Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun were: Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary) A county ( Hungarian : vármegye or megye ; the earlier refers to the counties of the Kingdom of Hungary ) is the name of a type of administrative unit in Hungary . This article deals with counties in the former Kingdom of Hungary from the 10th century until
528-411: Is of international fame. It receives a hundred-thousand visitors each year in the earlier Vigyázó manor-house and its park. This is the only place in the country to boast a phyto-taxonomic collection, but there are also some exotic plants to be admired here in the green-house and the rockery. It has an outstanding collection of trees and shrubs, as well as a garden to present some Biblical plants. There
594-640: The Austrian Habsburgs established a military dictatorship in the Kingdom of Hungary and the counties were turned into simple state administration entities and authorities. A provisional centralised administration started to be created by the Austrians in February 1849, Alexander Bach issued a decree on provisional organisation of the Kingdom of Hungary in early August 1849 and a regulation on
660-519: The Carpathian Basin in 895. The first counties were probably the counties situated in present-day northern Pannonia (Transdanubia); they arose before or around 1000. The exact time of the creation of many other counties is disputed, many of them, however, arose not later than during the rule of King Stephen I (1000/01–1038). Initially there were also several small frontier counties (Latin: marchiae ), established for military purposes only (e. g. comitatus of Bolondus), which however ceased to exist in
726-451: The Kingdom of Hungary . Its territory is now in central Hungary , comprising roughly the territory of the present Hungarian county Pest and the northern part of present Bács-Kiskun county. The capital of the county was Budapest . The Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun county shared borders with the counties Komárom , Esztergom , Hont , Nógrád , Heves , Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok , Csongrád , Bács-Bodrog , Tolna and Fejér . Its territory covered
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#1732772566905792-529: The Treaty of Trianon of 1920. For lists of individual counties, see: Administrative divisions of the Kingdom of Hungary . For counties of Hungary since 1950, see: Counties of Hungary . The Latin word comitatus is derived from the word comes , which originally stood for companion or retinue member. In the Early and High Middle Ages , the title comes was a noble title used in various meanings, in
858-465: The noble judges (see below), and the courts of the servientes regis - the so-called sedes iudiciaria or sedria - developed into the county court (the Latin name remained sedria ). The sedria meetings were led by the county head, later de facto by his deputy (see below). Until the 15th century, the county head's co-judges were his deputy county head , the (usually four) noble judges , and
924-418: The 13th-14th century onwards, the deputy county heads , and not the county head himself, were the real administrators of the county. This development was emphasised by the fact that the county heads were also higher dignitaries of the state or of the court at the same time ( palatine , treasurer , etc.), so that they did not have much time for the management of the county. The deputy county head ' s role
990-436: The 14th century when royal counties were transformed into noble ones. Initially, there were also some small special castle districts, which ceased to exist in the 13th century. Each county was the responsibility of a county head , whose seat was a castle – a quasi-capital of the county. The county head was the representative of the king , the judge, and the chief law enforcement officer in his respective territory. He collected
1056-402: The 1840s (with an exception in 1785-1790), the official language of county administration was Latin . In 1840, the deputy county head ( alispán , Ger. Vicegespann or Vizegespan ) was described as "the personage of the most importance in the county", having duties similar to an English sheriff but also presiding over the county court of justice. (The Obergespann , theoretically his superior,
1122-593: The 1870 Act, and other types of territorial municipalities (3 in Hungary proper and 18 in Transylvania), including privileged districts, the so-called seats of the Székely Land and Transylvanian Saxons and others. Thus, the total number of municipal entities was 175 under direct control of the central Hungarian government, of which about a third was a county. The main effect of the 1870 Municipalities Act
1188-685: The Kingdom of Hungary especially (but not exclusively) in the meaning "county head". The Hungarian word megye is likely derived from Southern Slavic medja ( međa , међа ) meaning approximately territorial border. The Slavic word in turn is related to Latin medius (middle) through a common Indo-European root. The original word is still used in present-day Slavic languages, i.e. in Slovak (as medza ), in Slovenian (as meja ), in Serbo-Croatian (as međa , међа ), in
1254-497: The Kingdom of Hungary proper, and the town and district of Rijeka declared autonomous. In 1869, the counties lost the jurisdiction powers (the courts) as royal courts were organized. Modernization of the counties was then realized in two steps. First, an 1870 act of parliament unified the legal status and internal administrative structures of the various municipal (self-governing) administrative units, abolishing almost all historical privileges. However, this Municipalities Act retained
1320-851: The Pásztói and the Tari families, but the Nézsaies also owned some parts of the land. They sold and purchased their estates, and waged a constant fight for the watermills placed on the stream with its abundantly waters. The road cutting through the village connected the Great Hungarian Plain, and thus the salt-mines in Transylvania beyond, with the part of Transdanubia with the help the ferry at Vác . There were not only peaceful merchants and carriers using this main road, but troops marched on it in almost every century. The nearby Vác ensured
1386-603: The Roman Age – as proven by the large number of Sarmatian relics – but records of the age of the Hungarian Settlement and the early Arpadian Age were also found in the fields around the village. The medieval village was built in the North-Western part of today's settlement, at a distance of about four-hundred meters from the centre of the settlement. It received its name – in line with the habits of
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#17327725669051452-499: The Slovaks, although the majority of the population considered themselves as Hungarians, but lived and spoke in a Slovakian way. This unique ethnic duality of the people of Vácrátót could be seen in their way of clothing, habits and the use of the language until the recent decades. The population of Rátót is characteristically catholic , and they have preserved their faith until today. The church built by landowner János Mágóchy in 1746
1518-549: The Turkish and Hungarian tax registers, which means that it was a continuously inhabited place. It, however, could not survive the devastation of the liberating fights against the Turks. In 1690, it was registered as an uninhabited place. Later, we could again meet the people of Rátót and their landowners. The two largest land-owning families in the 18th century were the Mágóchy and the Róth. The number of its population kept growing on
1584-499: The administrative system of the Kingdom of Hungary followed on October 24. Under this regulation: Under a regulation on provisional political administration of the Kingdom of Hungary issued on September 13, 1850, the territory was divided into the above 5 districts (called civil districts now), which in turn consisted of counties and the counties of districts. The territories of some counties changed, some counties were newly created. The districts were led by main district county heads ,
1650-529: The counties by a chairman (German: Vorstand ) and the districts by noble judges (German: Stuhlrichter ). Only slight changes were made to the previous arrangement. Each district was formally turned to an administrative territory of a governorship department (since July 1, 1860: administrative territory of the branche-offices of the governorship ). Some county territories were slightly modified and they were led by commissioners . The only responsibilities of these state counties were political administration and
1716-425: The counties corresponded to the traditional one, but in 1786 many of them were merged and the counties became pure units of state administration – the main county heads were abolished, the county clerks became employees of the state, the courts became the responsibility of the state etc. The capitals of the districts were chosen so as to be situated right in the middle of the district. The number of processus districts
1782-409: The country after the war. The imposed economic policy of the fifties, with its limitations put on private farming, actually, forced the population to escape from the village. The social structure of Vácrátót has basically changed over the last fifty years. The two- or more-breadwinner type family model has been created, in which one member of the family works on the farm at home, while the others – mostly
1848-687: The county assembly constituted the county's local legislation. The county legislation was subordinate only to the laws of the parliament. Latin: iudices nobilium / iudlium , Hungarian (pl) szolgabírák , Slovak (pl) slúžni , German Schöffen / Stuhlrichter (later Stuhlrichter only) iurati assessores / iurassores , Hungarian: esküdtek , Slovak: súdni prísažní , German Geschworene Latin: viceiudex , Hungarian: alszolgabírák , Slovak: podslúžni , German: Unterstuhlrichter(?) . Hungarian: törvényhatósági jogú város , Slovak: municipálne mesto , German: Munizipalstadt/ Munizipium The Hungarians settled in
1914-419: The county could not influence the appointment of the deputy county head, but in the early 15th century, they managed to put through a rule that only a noble from the same county can become the deputy county head (see below). Initially, in the 13th century, influence of nobles made itself felt only in the judicial sphere . The judges of the servientes regis - the so-called iudices servientium - developed into
1980-404: The county head. Originally, this body was created and served only as a judicial body, which comprised the judge, the sedria members and 8 elected noble jurors , and which was usually convened once a year. At the same time, the inquisitio communis (hearing of a witness) enabled the nobles to influence the proceedings conducted at the royal curia . Gradually, judicial affairs were excluded from
2046-414: The county was composed of the following religious communities: Total: In 1910, the county had a population of 1,978,041 people and was composed of the following linguistic communities: According to the census of 1910, the county was composed of the following religious communities: Total: Before approx. 1897, the subdivisions of Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun were (felső is upper, közép is middle, alsó
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2112-471: The county, except for inhabitants of free royal towns ( liberae regiae civitate ), mining towns, free districts, and at the time of the Anjou kings also of royal castle domains. Until 1486, some members of the supreme nobility were exempt from the jurisdiction of the county, too. The most important body of self-government of the county was the congregatio generalis , i. e. the county assembly convened and led by
2178-551: The course of the Revolution of 1848 by legal articles III–V and XVI/ 1848. In 1785, king Joseph II decided to abolish the counties as entities of noble autonomy (self-governance) and tried to introduce a new system of absolutist centralized state administration in the Kingdom of Hungary. The kingdom, including Croatia and Slavonia , was primarily divided into 10 newly created military/administrative districts, each of which consisted of four to seven counties. The territory of
2244-455: The deputy county head's appointment had to be approved by the nobles (congregatio generalis -see below), so that the deputy county head definitively became the de facto leader of the county. The county head, appointed by the king from the oligarchs (supreme nobility), was only the formal representative of the county. The county authorities were very powerful and administered all spheres of public life. They were responsible for all inhabitants of
2310-429: The districts were usually located in small towns. Latin: comes (supremus) , Hungarian: főispán , Slovak: hlavný župan , German: Obergespan Latin: congregatio generali , Hungarian: közgyűlés , Slovak: generálna kongregácia / stoličné zhromaždenie , German: Komitatsgeneralversammlung Its decrees and decisions are binding on all county officials. The county regulations were enacted by
2376-416: The earlier seigniorial vineyard was also distributed. The farmers mostly produced rye, barley and maize in the sandy soil in the generally used three-course rotation. In 1895, more than half of the farms were arable land, while the proportion of meadow and pasture was close to one third of the whole area, which made it possible to spread the profitable cattle breeding on the pastures fed with abundant waters. At
2442-605: The early 16th century and the late 17th century, however, most of the counties ceased to exist once they became part of the Ottoman Empire (the Turks ) or of the Principality of Transylvania . After the final defeat of the Turks in 1718, the three southern counties Temesiensis , Torontaliensis and Krassoviensis created the special administrative district Banatus Temesiensis (Temeswar Banate ). This district
2508-462: The eastern bank of the river Danube from Visegrád in the north to (excluding) Baja in the south, stretching to the river Tisza in the east. A part of the county ( Pilis ) was on the west bank of the Danube, near Budapest . Its area was 12,228 km around 1910. It was the largest and by far the most populous county of Hungary. The counties Pest and Pilis were formed in the 11th century. Pest
2574-472: The farmers of Vácrátót further continued to break up into smaller plots: in 1941, only seventy-five percent of its total population could earn a living from agriculture, fifteen percent of them found jobs outside the village – mainly in the industrial plants of Vác and Újpest . The land structure did not change significantly even after the distribution of the large estate, and the Communist transformation of
2640-579: The head of various territorial units. Title župan was also used as a ruling title in medieval Serbia. For centuries, the official written language of the Kingdom of Hungary was Latin. The Latin word for the English and Hungarian county, comitatus , is sometimes used in English. Latin: processus / reambulatio , Hungarian: (szolgabírói) járás , Slovak: slúžnovský obvod/slúžnovský okres , German: Stuhlbezirk A Typical county in Hungary are made up of several districts. The headquarters of
2706-477: The historical names and officials of the municipalities and did not touch their territories in general, so the territory and names of the counties still largely corresponded to those of the pre-1848 period. However, in addition to the 65 counties (49 in Hungary proper, 8 in Transylvania, and 8 in Croatia), there were 89 cities with municipal rights, including historical royal privileged towns and others, authorised by
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2772-599: The king, but a number of prelates (from the 15th century also seculars ) received the "eternal county leadership" of their diocese . Note that the formal title comes was also borne by some dignitaries of the Court (e. g. comes curiae ) and other nobles in the Early Middle Ages , and then by other members of middle nobility in the Late Middle Ages , and it did not mean count in these cases. From
2838-450: The kings Charles Robert and Louis I . From 1385 onwards, the counties were sending representatives to meetings of the Diet of the Kingdom of Hungary and they played a role in the collection and setting of taxes. But only in the early 15th century, the nobles managed to put through a rule that only a noble from the same county can become the deputy county head and a co-judge. From 1504 onwards
2904-406: The link between the king and the nobility. As a rule, the county heads (from the 15th /16th century onwards called main county head ) were the supreme feudal lords of the county. From the beginning of the 14th century, the county head was at the same time the castellan of the respective county castle in 13 counties. People became county heads for a limited period of time and could be recalled by
2970-549: The management of taxes. The courts were the responsibility of other entities. The situation prevailing before 1848 was restored in October 1860, both in terms of borders and in terms of noble autonomy. In 1863, however, the noble autonomy was replaced by an absolutist system of state administration again. After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 , in 1868 Transylvania was definitively reunited with
3036-399: The meetings of the congregatio generalis, which thus turned from a judicial body into an administrative body. All nobles of the county participated in person in the meetings of the congregatio and the congregatio decided on all important political, military and economic affairs. As from the beginning of the 15th century, the territory of each county was divided into processus each of which
3102-538: The men and the youngsters – have to take on living a double life: they commute to work. The society of the village again find themselves in a difficult position due to the changes of the system. The lives of the workers in Vácrátót have become insecure with the transformation and closing down of industrial plants, most of them have become unemployed. Due to their relatively low level of education, they have very little chances to find jobs. The botanical garden of Vácrátót
3168-555: The number of municipalities significantly and made counties the only territorial units by abolishing privileged districts, seats and other forms. 73 counties were organized in place of the 65 counties and 21 other units. However, historical identities were highly considered; in Hungary proper only minor corrections were made. Bigger changes came to Transylvania where the Székely Land and the Saxons' Land were completely "countified". At
3234-435: The real representatives of county autonomy. They were elected by the congregatio generalis (see below) and were not only judges, but also political administrators of their respective processus districts (see below). They formed the core of the newly arising class of squires . Later, the counties even turned to political entities representing the noble autonomy (noble self-government). This evolution started especially under
3300-637: The same time the total number of municipal towns was reduced from 89 to 30. After 1876 only minor changes were made to the system until 1918. The number of processus districts steadily increased over the next decades, growing from around 400 up to some 450 by 1918. The powers and responsibilities of the counties were constantly decreased and were transferred to ministries in different fields of special administration, like responsibilities in terms of construction, veterinary medicine and (overall) financial management. The ministries controlled these through their own regional and local agencies. The main county body
3366-428: The self-governments of the counties was reinstated in 1790. Only the duty to support the king militarily, the territorial unit and formally also the title of county head remained from the former royal counties. The new county was a self-governing (autonomous) entity of lower gentry. It was led by the county head ( comes ), appointed by the king, and by his deputy, appointed by the county head. These two persons were
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#17327725669053432-487: The taxes and payments in kind made by the subjects to the king, gave two thirds of them to the king and kept the rest. His castle had special fortifications and was able to withstand even long-term sieges. The sources mention deputy county heads in the 12th century for the first time. The royal county consisted of castle districts . In the late 13th century, the royal counties gradually turned into highly autonomous noble counties. The reasons for this development were: As
3498-516: The time – after its first owner. According to Simon Kézai 's Illustrated Chronicle, Olivér and Ratold knights, from the Italian province of Apulia , came to the country at the end of the 11th century where they received several estates. One of them was the village of Rátót in Pest county together with the territory of the neighbouring villages. The members of the family shared their property in 1283, and
3564-404: The turn of the century, eighty-seven percent of the total population lived directly from agriculture. Count Sándor Vigyázó bought the lands belonging to Rátót in 1873, and created a model farm here. Farming on this large estate was profitable, and made it possible to create and permanently smarten an ornamental garden on 28 hectares here. Next to the large estate and the manor-house, the lands of
3630-418: The village of Ratold – today's Rátót – was given to the sons of Leusták and Olivér, as well as the sons of István, Domokos (ancestor of the Pásztói family), and László (ancestor of the Tari family). The village must have been a significant settlement, it also had a church. We can already find several written sources about the history of the settlement in the 13th - 14th centuries. The two largest landowners were
3696-511: Was a castle here owned by the Vigyázó family. It has been destroyed in the 1940s. Only the manor house may be found today. It was built by the Debreczeny family. 47°42′39″N 19°14′07″E / 47.71083°N 19.23528°E / 47.71083; 19.23528 Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun County Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun is the name of an administrative county ( comitatus ) of
3762-418: Was added in 1876, creating Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun county. After World War II , the county was split into two roughly equal parts. The northern part became Pest county , the southern part merged with Bács-Bodrog county to form Bács-Kiskun county. In 1900, the county had a population of 1,615,729 people and was composed of the following linguistic communities: Total: According to the census of 1900,
3828-415: Was administered by one of the noble judges (there were therefore usually four in each county). The aim was to simplify the administration. The number of processus was increasing from the 18th century onwards, because the functions of the counties were increasing too. The processus, in turn, consisted of 2 to 6 circuits (Latin: circuli ), each of which was the responsibility of a deputy noble judge . Until
3894-593: Was dissolved again in 1779, but its southernmost part remained part of the Military Frontier ( Confiniaria militaria ) till the late 19th century. The bodies of the new counties considerably helped to defend the interests of lower and middle nobility with respect to the oligarchs , who were often the de facto rulers of the kingdom, and with respect to the absolutistic efforts of the Habsburg kings. The counties as noble institutions were abolished only in
3960-400: Was enlarged several times during the centuries. Its altars and main internal objects belong to the highest level Hungarian baroque wood sculpture. The serfs of Rátót village got rid of their socage in 1848. By this time, the cotter's system, and tiny pieces of the earlier fee estates became characteristic. After the abolishment of serfdom, only the pasture fields remained in common use, and
4026-466: Was reduced. The official language became German rather than Latin. The districts were headed by a commissioner appointed by the Austrian emperor , who was simultaneously also the king of Hungary . After the death of Emperor Joseph II, however, facing strong resistance against any kind of absolutist centralization in Hungary, the new king Leopold II had to repeal all the reforms and the old system of
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#17327725669054092-400: Was that it was no longer only the nobles and other privileged groups who could lead the municipalities (see Functioning). The system of districts (historically, in Latin, processus ) as administrative sub-divisions was affirmed in counties and extended to other areas. The second step of modernization was realized in another act of parliament in 1876. This Municipal Territories Act reduced
4158-518: Was the municipal committee , comprising 50% virilists (persons paying the highest direct taxes), and 50% elected persons fulfilling the prescribed census and ex officio members ( deputy county head , main notary and others). The county was led by the main county head , who was a government official subordinated to the Ministry of the Interior of the Kingdom of Hungary. The deputy county head
4224-405: Was the area on the left (east) bank of the Danube around present-day Budapest, Pilis was on the opposite bank. They were united and became the political, cultural and economical centre of Hungary. The Solt region (the left bank of the Danube south of Ráckeve ), which previously belonged to Fejér county , was incorporated into Pest-Pilis-Solt county in the 17th century. Kiskunság ( Little Cumania )
4290-407: Was to administer the county during the county head ' s absence. Originally, the deputy county head was a personal employee of the king and thus the main person through which the king exercised influence in the county. At the same time, the deputy was the castellan of the castle of the county head or an economic officer (Latin: provisor ) of the properties of the same. Initially, the nobles of
4356-567: Was usually a nobleman, who would commonly be in Vienna or Pesth and thus have little time for local affairs.) Furthermore, the Vicegespann presided over the county assembly, which had as late as 1840 a long list of powers, ranging from police regulations to tax, to improvements on bridges and roads. In 1849, in the course of and after the defeat of the Magyars in the 1848-1849 Revolution ,
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