HUNGARY-L Archives

Archiver > HUNGARY > 1998-12 > 0912885760


From: "Felix G. Game" <>
Subject: [HUNGARY-L] Florin, Gulden and Bavarians in Hungary
Date: Sat, 05 Dec 1998 14:22:40 -0500


Response to Tom's questions:

>"Florin" was a monetary unit used in a number of countries:
You are quite correct, but off the top of my head I could not provide a
good list of all the countries involved. Since I work mostly Austria and
Hungary, I do know that the currency colloquially called the "Gulden" was
officially known as the Florin. I think the Netherland coin was a Guilder.

>designation throughout the German Confederation? And when did the DM come
into
>use?
If by DM you mean "Deutschmark", I think it was created after 1945. Before
it was a Reichsmark, and before then it was quite confusing the farther
back one went, and it requires in depth study to get a handle on it.

>Also, I have not seen the book Shelley extracted the text from, so I do not
>know why the entries she cites would report a sum of money. Do you know why
>these amounts are reported?
Even immigrants coming to North America were asked at the border how much
money they had with them - probably for the authorities to see if the
person could make it to his/her destination without assistance. There may
have been some minimum amounts required for admission.
In Europe during the period in question there was the other reason also,
that the sovereign who was losing good, healthy citizens wanted to extract
his pound of flesh. Emigrants were required by some jurisdictions to pay
5-15% of their "wealth" in what amounts to a manumission fee before the
emigrant was allowed to leave.

>Beyond that, I was a bit confused by the fact that a post about Baden was on
>the Hungary list, so I was even less willing to commit to an answer. Was the
>Florin used in Hungary while it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire?

Don't be confused by that. Hungary was left practically de-populated after
the Turks finally left, and the Habsburgs (Maria Theresia), large land
holders (e.g. the Eszterházy, and various bishops) were actively recruiting
colonists. Because of the Roman Catholic orientation of the House of
Habsburg, their first choice were Germans from Catholic countries such as
neighboring Austria, and Bavaria. Only later, when these places dried up,
did the recruiters move up along the Rhine and the Danube to invited people
from the Black Forest, Baden Württemberg, Elsaß Lothringen.
It is impossible to pursue Hungarian families without running into Germans
sooner than later.

<felix>

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