Alice M. Choyke and Katalin Szende Submitted to the Medieval Studies
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Doctoral Dissertation WHO STOLE THE WATER? THE CONTROL AND APPROPRIATION OF WATER RESOURCES IN MEDIEVAL HUNGARY by András Vadas Supervisors: Alice M. Choyke and Katalin Szende Submitted to the Medieval Studies Department, Central European University, Budapest in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Medieval Studies CEU eTD Collection Budapest, Hungary Budapest, 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures and Tables ......................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................... viii A Note on Names ....................................................................................................................... x 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 1 1.1. Riverine Landscapes as Conflict Environments in Pre-Modern Europe – Some Historiographic Reflections ....................................................................................................... 3 1.1.1. New Directions in Research – Where Environmental, Social, and Technological History Meet ........................................................................................................................................... 9 1.1.2. Hungary and Central Europe – Research traditions and recent results .......................... 17 1.2. The Goals of this Work ..................................................................................................... 28 1.2.1. The Time and the Space ................................................................................................. 31 1.2.2. About the Sources .......................................................................................................... 32 1.3. The Structure of the Dissertation ...................................................................................... 36 2. THE SPREAD OF WATER MILLS IN MEDIEVAL HUNGARY WITH A CENTRAL EUROPEAN OVERVIEW.................................................................................................... 38 2.1. Mills and Benedictines – Some Preliminary Considerations ............................................ 40 2.2. The First Water Mills in the Region – Historical Evidence, Linguistics and (the lack of) Archaeological Data ................................................................................................................. 42 2.3. Conclusions ....................................................................................................................... 53 3. WATERSCAPES AS CONFLICT ENVIRONMENTS IN MEDIEVAL HUNGARY – ARE THERE ANY PATTERNS? ........................................................................................ 55 3.1. Legal Regulations and Practice surrounding Mill Construction in Medieval Hungary .... 57 3.1.1. Locus molendini – A Place, a Right, a Claim?............................................................... 61 CEU eTD Collection 3.1.2. Locus Molendini in Early Literacy – First References and Terminological Unifications63 3.1.3. Terminological Uniformity – Uniformity in Meaning? ................................................. 70 3.1.4. Mills and Mill-places – How Do They Relate to Each Other? ...................................... 77 3.2. Rivers in Urban Landscapes – Rivers, Streams, Moats and Disputes .............................. 80 3.2.1. Major Waterways and Mills – the example of Buda, Óbuda and Pest .......................... 81 3.2.2. Streams and Water – Use of Mills in Urban Environments – the Cases of Zagreb and Budafelhévíz ............................................................................................................................ 88 ii 3.2.2.1. Budafelhévíz and its Hot Springs................................................................................ 95 3.2.3. Urban Moats and Water-Use........................................................................................ 102 3.2.3.1. Building Moats, Using its Waters – A Short Overview ............................................ 105 3.2.3.2. The Case of Sopron ................................................................................................... 109 3.2.3.3. The Case of Prešov ................................................................................................... 113 3.2.3.4. Moats, Urban Topographies and Mills – Some Conclusions.................................... 122 3.3 Rivers in Mining Areas - Abundance of Water versus Lack of Access? ......................... 123 3.3.1. Mining Town Privileges and Water-Use ..................................................................... 126 3.3.2. Early Urban Privileges and Water Use ........................................................................ 136 3.3.3. Kremnica and Its Water Mills ...................................................................................... 141 3.3.4. The Foundation of Nová Baňa and its Water Mills ..................................................... 150 3.3.5. Mills in Mining Towns: Who Was Entitled to What? ................................................. 152 3.4. Rivers as Borders – Another Minefield?......................................................................... 153 3.4.1. The Border between Ľubotín and Orlov – What Can a Single Case Reveal? ............. 159 3.4.2. Riverbed Changes and Estate Borders – Was There a Medieval Customary Law in Hungary? ................................................................................................................................ 162 3.4.3. Riverbeds and Borders – Some Conclusions ............................................................... 172 3.5. Conclusions ..................................................................................................................... 177 4. THE MEN BEHIND THE WHEEL… BUILDING ON WATER IN THE MIDDLE AGES ..................................................................................................................................... 182 4.1. The Renovation of the Moat of Sopron in 1540 – A Unique Source .............................. 183 4.1.1. The Expenditures on the Work .................................................................................... 189 4.1.2. The Labor Organization ............................................................................................... 191 4.2. Millers ............................................................................................................................. 194 4.3. Ditch and Pond Diggers and Pond Masters .................................................................... 201 4.4. Conclusions ..................................................................................................................... 208 5. CONCLUSIONS AND OUTLOOK ............................................................................... 209 5.2. The Politics of Water – An Epilogue .............................................................................. 212 CEU eTD Collection Appendices ............................................................................................................................. 216 Bibliography........................................................................................................................... 234 iii List of Figures and Tables Fig. 1. Areas covered by water and wetlands before river regulation in the Carpathian Basin (after Woldemár Lászlóffy) Fig. 2. Major geographical units in the Carpathian Basin (by Béla Nagy) Fig. 3. Gombaszög with the location of the Pauline abbey (marked with the red cross and the water mills along the artificial riverbed of the Hernád (First Military Survey) Fig. 4. The surroundings of Pukanec with the Büksavnica (the one running west-east) and Verence Streams (running north-south) on the First Military Survey with the two mill- places on the latter Fig. 5. Pest, Buda, and Óbuda and their surroundings in ca. 1300 (drawn by Béla Nagy) Fig. 6. Gradec, Kaptol, and the Medveščak Stream with the mill race on the manuscript map by Nicholas Angielini Fig. 7. The mills of Zagreb in the Middle Ages (after Igor Karaman) Fig. 8. Felhévíz and the Malomtó (Millpond) represented on two late seventeenth-century illustrations (by H. Bredekow) Fig. 9. The town of Sopron in the late medieval period with the urban moat, the fish ponds and the approximate location of the mills Fig. 10. Zacharias Michel’s Bird’s eye view of Sopron in 1700 (after Jankó, Kücsán, and Szende, Sopron, Plate C.4) Fig. 11a. View of the town of Prešov from 1768 by Gaspar Caspar Fig. 11b. Detail of the view of the town of Prešov with the Upper Mill (no. 23) from 1768 by Gaspar Caspar Fig. 12. Topography of Prešov in the late medieval period with the relocation of the mills and the probable direction of the western section of the urban moat before and after 1435 Fig. 13. Mining towns in medieval Hungary Fig. 14. The so-called Saint Anne altar at the Virgin Mary Cathedral at Rožňava (detail) Fig. 15. The mills and the urban topography of Kreminca in the mid-fourteenth century (after György Györffy) Fig. 16. The mills of Kremnica and their ownership (1331–1519) Fig 17. The surrounding of Ľubotín and Orlov on a sheet from the First Military Survey Fig. 18. Čoltovo and Lekeňa on a sheet from of the First Military Survey Fig. 19. Szentmárton and Kóród on a sheet of the First Military Survey