Searching for Archival Records
In this place I
wish to mention archives known, believed or suspected to possess material
relating to the Bartalos Family. In historical
As we
traced back our ancestors over some eight hundred years, we found the largest
number of the old documents in the Hungarian National Archives in
For
sake of completeness below the reader is provided with the addresses of the
principal archives where documents generated in the Csallokoz are expected to
be found
1.
Regional state archive in
STATNY OBLASTNY
ARCHIV V BRATISLAVE,
81104
Krizkova c. 7,
2.
Regional state archive in Gyor ,
GYORI MEGYEI JOGU
VAROS LEVELTARA,
9022
Rakoczi Ferenc ut 1.
Telephone: (011) 36-96-312 288,
Fax: (011) 36-96-518-743,
web site: http://www.vleveltar.gyor.hu/
e-mail:leveltar@enternet.hu
3.
Archive(s) in Komarom (
4.
National archives in
MAGYAR ORSZAGOS
LEVELTAR,
1014
Becsi kapu ter 2-4,
Telephone: (011)36-1-356-5811,
Fax: (011) 36-1-212-1619,
website: www.natarch.hu ,
e-mail: info@natarch.hu
5.
National state archive in
SLOVENSKY NARODNY
ARCHIV,
Among
these places, we found the National Archives in
CONDUCTING
FAMILY RESEARCH IN THE M.O.L.
Address: Magyar Orszagos Leveltar
1014
Becsi
kapu ter 2-4
Phone
- info: (+36 1)356-58-11
(+36
1) 356-58-116
e-mail:
info@natarch.hu
webpage
www.natarch.hu
The most likely
source of information on a Hungarian noble family is the National Archives of
Databases.(CDs, books and archival collections) The Bartalos family is mentioned in several books on
Hungarian nobility (see compiled list of books) and members of the family are
listed in the conscriptions of nobles held in 1724, 1754-1756 and 1842. It is
present in such databases as the socalled "Illesy Gyujtemeny" and "Daroczy Gyujtemeny".
Such data can help to establish the nobility of a family and to indicate
he geographical distribution of its members as a function of time. Among published works the single most
complete database on Hungarian nobility was compiled by Bela Kempelen which appeared in some 12
volumes beginning in 1911 and continuing into the 1930s. It is entitled "Magyar nemes csaladok" (in English:
"Hungarian noble families") and provides information on close to
120,000 families. It is now available also on CD and can be ordered from www.arcanum.hu. Other data bases from the MOL made available
by Arcanum on CD include the "Kiralyi Konyvek" 1527-1683 (in
English: Royal Books), which is a collection of documents issued by the Royal
Office, the "Illesy Gyujtemeny" (see above),and "Magyar kozepkori adattar"
(Hungarian Medieval Database) by Pal Engel. As new titles are added constantly,
it is worth checking the Arcanum web site periodically.
The single most
complete and thereby most valuable work for family researchers is a DVD
published by Arcanum and entitled “DVD Konyvtar IV. Csaladtortenet – heraldika
–honismeret.(In English: DVD Library No. 4, Family History – Heraldry –
Homeland Privity”).
Granting documents.
Data like these, however, give little information about the origin and mode of
continuity of the family, the lives and achievements of individual family
members, and how people were affected by and reacted to rapid and drastic
changes in their environment. Indeed, it would be very satisfying to discover
diaries or at least letters from long lived family members recording their
thoughts, emotions and contemplated actions in response to the happenings
around them. Or to have an ancestor with artistic bent who recorded events in
his/her life in poems, short stories or illustrations. Since the opportunity to such intimacy with
one’s ancestors is rarely given, we need to discover other aspects of their
life that might be recorded and thus
could provide indirect evidence about the way they looked at life and
lived it.
The document from
the king or his representative which announced the elevation of a subject or
subjects to the status of nobility almost always gave the reason for such
promotion. If the reason is spelled out in some details that can be the source
of important information on the life of the rewarded and, at times, his entire
family.
Records of land transactions. The
designation of "landed nobility (“Kurialis nemes” in Hungarian) refers to
nobles who possessed a noble's estate with a manor house. (In Hungarian “Kuria”
is thedesignation for a noble's manor house). In those days the owing and thus
selling and buying real estate was a privilege of the nobles and the church. In
medieval
Records of legal proceedings, minutes of the general assembly
of nobles (held in each
county yearly), and the records of the collectors
of taxes and assessments represent still other potential sources. For more recent data records of military recruitment might also be
consulted with benefit. One can search for such data in regional archives and
in the national archive,
Family archives.
Records on paper are fragile and are easily destroyed by such calamities as
fire, floods, rodents and other pests and by improper storage and handling. Until very recently beside paper, only the
much more expensive parchment was available to record important information.
Because of the high rate of loss of such documents, the chapters
(ecclesiastical land offices), courts and administrative offices kept a copy of
the records they issued. When land ownership was challenged the burden of proof
was on the challenged. The challenged had to prove ownership by certificates.
If his certificate was lost or destroyed and the pertinent records in the
Chapter's office were likewise unavailable, he might have to give up the
ownership of the disputed land. Thus the landed nobles had an incentive to
preserve those papers that allow to trace the ownership of their land. Thus the
explanation for the origin and persistence of family archives in the Middle
Ages. If such a family archive is discovered in your family, it can be an
invaluable source of information on the land of the family and indirectly on
the members of the family.
While I knew that
our family must have maintained a family archive, I never heard about one that
survived to our time. The area where
they lived served as a battle ground between the Muslim Turks and the Western
Christian forces for some 150 years resulting in much destruction to life and
property. We know of a fire in 1699 that destroyed the entire settlement of
Szap, including their church while Mad and its Calvinist church were destroyed
by another fire in 1847. In the early
1700s the Rakoczy Rebellion affected the area, in 1810s Napoleon's hostile
soldiers marched through the area , in 1848 some of the battles of the fight
for independence from Austria took place here, during World War II the Russian
Red Army advanced through it and, periodically, interspersed with human
destruction, the Danube river flooded the villages and their lands. Over the
centuries the people remained but their environment was repeatedly destroyed
and rebuild. In contrast to large cities in the area, such as Bratislava or
Gyor where even structures built by the Romans some 2000 years ago still do
exist, in the villages of lower Csallokoz the presence of buildings, other than
churches, which are more than 100 years old are a rarity. I made the assumption that between the numerous
man made calamities and natural catastrophes, the family papers, like the old
buildings and their contents, have been destroyed. In fact, the only artifact
known to me that have been preserved from any of my Bartalos ancestors is a
chalice in the Calvinist church of Szap engraved "…..the noble Judith
Szabo wife of the noble Mariny Bartalos…." and the year 1820. They were my
grandfather's grandparents.
Was I in for a
surprise!
In the Summer of
the year 2000, while in
Organization
of the Bogyay family archive
The news were good.
The Hungarian National Archives is an excellent custodian of the material
entrusted to it. The material deposited by the Bogyays with the Archive's
predecessor some 95 years ago has been
preserved in its entirety! The collection is housed at the Magyar Orszagos
Leveltar, (this is the official Hungarian name of the Hungarian National
Archives) and it is carried in their books as the archives of the Bogyay
family. Luckily this material escaped
damage both in 1945 and 1956!
In Hungarian
historical research the year 1526 is used to mark the end of the Middle Ages.
This was the year when the Turkish forces of Sulejman the Magnificant won a
deciding battle against the army of the Hungarian King Louis II near the city
of Mohacs where some 20,0000 Hungarian fighters lost their life, among them the
King himself. According to established practice the Hungarian National Archives
divides its material into two main categories, pre-1526 and post-1526.
Accordingly, the Bogyay family’s material has been partitioned into these two
divisions. In order to locate these documents you need to consult two
directories, as one lists the material in the pre-1526 collection and the other
the post-1526 collection. The desired documents need to be requested at least
one day in advance. The material received for study is delivered into a well
lit, quiet research room where several employees are present at all times to
provide assistance and supervision. Copies can be obtained of most archival
material for a fee.
The pre-1526
material, in general, is less numerous, more fragile and of greater historical
value than those produced later. For these reasons you are not allowed to
handle these records, but are supplied with good quality photographic pictures
of them for study. The pre-1526
documents are numbered individually, like books in a library, and are prefixed
by “DL”followed by several digits. If a certain document is desired, the system
in current use requires one to indicate on the request form the family’s name
and/or code (i.e. Q 46 for Bogyay) and to give the alphanumeric code for the
document(s) requested.
The post-1526
material however, needed a different approach to organize it due to the large
number of individual documents with many consisting only of a single sheet of
paper. The method adapted consists of grouping the documents into bundles (in
Hungarian “csomok”). Within each bundle there are file folders. The folders
contain documents originating from the same year. The file folders are kept in
chronological order within the bundle and the bundles are in chronological
order within the family’s collection. Thus a given post-1526 document cannot be
identified and referred to by a single alphanumeric code (although with
barcoding computer technology this too might change). Today, when desiring a
post-1526 document one has to identify the collection (i.e. P 61 - Bogyay,) and
the bundle number. Once you are provided with the requested bundle(s) you open
it and look for the folder marked with the year when the desired document was
produced. Inside that folder you will likely find your document. If you are
conducting an exploration, you can check what kind of documents are inside
certain folders or within an entire bundle. (This was the method I employed in
surveying the content of the Bogyay bundles.)
A few words are in
order about the nature of material preserved in these family archives. As it
was stated earlier, in the middle ages the family had the primary
responsibility to preserve and when needed to produce records of ownership to
their real properties. When land was sold, donated, inherited, pawned or
ownership was transferred by any legal means the papers documenting previous
ownership was given to the new owner. Thus the material in the Bogyay archives
included documents beginning in the 1200s dealing mostly with past transfers of
the lands they came to possess. The bulk of the documents in their collection
has to do with lands they received in Zala and neighboring counties. Many other
documents, however, reflected on the early history of the Bartalos family. In
the post-1526 collection only the first two “bundles” and the elenchus (list of
selected items from the contents) appeared to be of interest to someone who is
not researching the Bogyay family. All documents in the pre-1526 collection
were screened for their relevance to the Bartalos family and analyzed for
content as far as their condition permitted. A copy was obtained from the
Archives of the microfilm together with a set of photographic enlargement of
all material available. Among the post-1526 records all the material in bundles
one and two were checked individually and those with information on the
Barthalos family where analyzed, notes were taken and of several photocopies
were obtained. Professional help utilized in the translation of these documents
from Latin and in the case of several post-1526 documents from medieval
Hungarian into modern Hungarian. An English transcript was made of most of
these by me (Michael K. Bartalos).