Szentgyörgyvölgy Summary
Szentgyörgyvölgy
Summary
Summary
Szentgyörgyvölgy lies in the varied geographic environment of the Lenti-basin bordering on Hetés, Göcsej, and the Őrség region, in the Western border-area of the country. The Kerka–stream, running across a gently-sloping plain, and its vicinity offered favourable conditions for man settling here in Ancient Times. There is evidence provided by archaeological findings that this region was inhabited continuously from the Neolithic age until the V century A.D. By the end of the VI century, when the first Avar tribes arrived in Transdanubia, the Lenti basin, and the hills around it were outside their settlement area. This region was uninhabited from these times on until the end of the Hungarian Settlement, and it was even kept uninhabited artificially. This region might have been a kind of border lane between the Avars settled East from it, and the inhabitants living in the Eastern part of the Caroline Empire, lying to the West.
The South-West border of the new homeland basically followed the line that at the end of the XI century, separated the Veszprém diocese from the Zagreb diocese, founded by Saint Ladislas. The meeting border-lines of the two areas, starting from Letenye on the Mura, turned to the North-East – up to Magyarszerdahely –, and then turned to North-West, and crossed over Berzence, Szentpéterföld, Hernyék and Zalabaksa to reach the waters of the Kerka, which it followed via Csesztreg and Ramocsa up to the border of Vas county.
Those living in this area – as can be read in the II. Act by Saint Ladislas – were undoubtedly free people, and their only task was to protect their march-land with arms. We have some written evidence about the guards of the lands around the Kerka from the times after the Mongolian invasion. Kuppán, Hada and László confessed before Csák, the prefect of Zala county that they together with their lands joined the guards of Zala along the Kerka for their fear of the Tatars, and wanted to be separated again after the menace came to an end. During an inspection of the lands at the time, it turned out that their lands lay next to Szentgyörgyegyháza, near the Kerka, where there were the lands of the guards of Zala. This Szentgyörgyegyháza was probably the same settlement as today’s Szentgyörgyvölgy.
This border-line area lost its significance in the XII-XIII centuries. The guards, however, stayed in the Kerka-region, because the Western border was close, and therefore, they were still needed. The ancestors of yore of the inhabitants of the settlement had to suffer several – not any more military – attacks after the XIV century. The Bánffy family – having significant power at the time – tried to extend the borders of their estates – similarly to many of their contemporaries. They forcefully occupied the Radna land of the Bakács dynasty sometimes before 1314. This Radna lay in the vicinity of or was neighbouring on today’s Szentgyörgyvölgy. It was mentioned by some charters at the end of the XIV century as Radnaülése and Dédtelke. There was an almost one century long litigation between the Bakács and the Lendvai families. In 1393, János Lindvai had to admit that he did not have an entitlement to these estates, because they had been always owned by the Bakács dynasty as a noble right. (This charter did not only acknowledge the nobility of the Bakács dynasty, but indirectly also that of the earlier guards).
The Bakács dynasty could attain the highest rank from the descendants of the previous guards. Its wealth and power were founded by Sándor Bakács, who participated in the rueful Mohács battle together with his lord, János Lindvai Bánffy, and made the self-sacrifice to give his horse to his lord. As a reward, he was granted several estates in Zala county in 1529, and in Vas county in 1531. He managed to increase his wealth until his death in 1553.
His descendants reinforced their manor-house in Szentgyörgyvölgy, but it could not resist the attacks of the Turks. Lukács Bakács fell during such an attack sometimes between 1576 and 1578. The descendants of the dynasty did not any more live in the village in the XVII century. The last offspring of this dynasty, which had played such an important role in the XVI-XVII centuries, was Benedek Bakács, a cavalry captain, who died in September 6, 1743.
Almost all the offspring of the earlier guards received letters of nobility during the XV-XVI centuries. This concerned 33 families between 1368 and 1541. Nineteen families only had one plot of land, or an even smaller estate in 1513. By 1542, the number of noble families grew to 49. The number of noble families, and together with it, the number of inhabitants of the village showed a relative stability between 1542 and 1626. A massive development could be witnessed during the following one hundred years. A census counted already 82 noble families in 1725.
There was a burst-like growth in the number of the population during the XVIII century, and it amounted to 1242, the highest number in the history of the village by 1900. There were 1235 people living in the village in 1949. Due to the continuing stormy political and economic changes, a drastic change took place within less than half a century, and it left the village with hardly 530 inhabitants in 1990.
In the second half of the XVI century, the inhabitants of the village – similarly to other settlements in the vicinity – became followers of the reformed faith. Their first known vicar was István Farkasi, who served here in 1596. The local people could freely practice their religion until 1717, when the military force of the comitat, instructed by the bishop of Zagreb, cast off Péter Peleskei, the then preacher, and forcefully took the church. For the following 65 years, the reformed congregation was served by the pastor from Becsvölgye. After the edict of tolerance, issued in 1781, the village again had a reformed vicar after 1783. The church was built in 1787, without a tower then, during the times of pastor János Szalay. Its tower was erected in 1805. The furnishing and paintings of the church, and its famous cloudy-coffered ceiling was made in the first third of the XIX century.
The religious and social image of the village was modified after the re-organisation of the Catholic parish in the XVIII century. The vicars settled serfs in the land of the parish in the middle of the century. There were four or five serf families living here continuously from these times.
The settlement was characterised by a slow but even growth in the second half of the XIX century. The tenant and farm buildings so typical of the village, to forcefully advocate wealth and well-being, were built at the end of the XIX century, and the beginning of the XX century. This development, however, was halted after the first World War. In December 1918, the Serbs invaded Muraköz, and Muravidék (the regions of the Mura river), and thus, they also invaded part of the land belonging to the village. When the border was drawn between Yugoslavia and Hungary, the Serbs wanted to acquire our village, as well. Their demand, however, could not be acknowledged, and the village remained on the Hungarian side. The people living here could only feel the disadvantage of their special position after the second World War. Due to the closeness of the Yugoslavian border, those living here had to bear increased sufferings during the Rákosi era. More than fifty farmers were declared to be kulaks (wealthy peasants) in the summer of 1949. A cooperative was established on the land areas taken away from these peasants. These people, and their families, considered to be enemies, were removed within just a few hours in June 23, 1950. Part of them came back to their home-village in 1953, but most of them could only return after 1956.
Szentgyörgyvölgy retained its mainly agricultural character until our days. After the 1960-ies, – in addition to the traditional folk pottery – large-scale ceramics production took place in the ancillary plant of the co-operative. The only plant of the village has been operated by a Slovenian owner since 1998. The earlier disadvantage became an advantage after the 1990-ies. Tourist are attracted by the closeness of the Western border, and the beauty of the village and its surrounding landscape. This can also be felt in the way the village changes externally. Old manor-houses are renovated one by one, two panzios have opened, a new school has been built, monuments, and sculptures have been erected in public areas.
