I

  Contents  

  Contents  I

  List of Abbreviations  II

1  Introduction  1

2.  The first Migration of Swabians under Karl VI  3

2.1  The Conquest of the Banat through Prince Eugen  4

2.2  Count Claudius Florimund Mercy and the Colonisation in the Banat  5

3  The second Migration of Swabians under Maria Theresa  7

4  The third Migration of the Swabians under Joseph II  9

5  Concluding Remarks  11

  List of References  13

II

List of Abbreviations

AD Anno Domini

BC Before Christ

Cf. Confer

ed. edited by

e.g. exampli gratia

f. and following page

ff. and following pages

p. Page

1 Introduction

This paper deals with the German immigration to the Danube region in the 17 th and 18 th centuries. Special attention will be paid to the Swabian migration under Karl VI, Maria Theresa and Joseph II.

In Hungary four different settlement regions developed in the last centuries. The first three: 1. the middle part of the country (County Pest, Veszprém, Gran) with the Centre Budapest, 2. the south-eastern Transdanubia (Counties Tolna, Baranya, Somogy – the so called Swabian Turkey), 3. Eastern Hungary (County Szatmár) were regions of private, grand settlement ventures, which were regular but where methodicalness was restricted in its validity due to minority interests. The fourth big settlement area, South Hungary (Bácska, Bánság) was a result of public colonisation politics.

This paper focuses on the Banat at the south-eastern periphery of the Great Plain (Álföld) between the rivers Danube, Tisza and Maros and the foothills of the South Carpathians.

In Hungary and South Slaw a Bán was a high government official. His sphere of influence extended of a Banat (Bánság), which is comparable with a principality or duchy. During the middle ages there were several Banats in the South- eastern European region, but only the Banat of Temesvár lasted under its original name. As a part of the spread of the Hungarian power in eastern and South-Estern directions this area was annexed to the Hungarian Kingdom in the first part of the 11 th century.

After the defeat of Mohács in 1526 the lower Hungarian regions fell to the hands of the Ottoman Empire.

The failed Ottoman attempt to conquer Vienna and therefore extend there supremacy to Middle Europe in 1683 led to a considerable territorial expansion of the Habsburg Monarchy.

Since the peace settlement of Pozarevac in 1718 the Banat of Temesvár was put in charge under the imperial demesne of the governmental power of Vienna. This area was independent of Hungary in an administrative and political sense. The central public decision makers – so called Hofkriegsrat and Hofkammer – introduced measures concerning the fields of administrative, population and regional planning which affected the cultural structure and the lifestyle of the inhabitants. Especially the Hofkammer of Vienna pursued intensive settlement politics in this province with the goal of economic recovery and the consolidation of power. Demographic and political stability was to be managed by affluent taxpayers in the south-eastern periphery of the Habsburg Empire.

During the 18 th century the Banat developed into the most important migration area of the modern age on the Continent; where migration streams, from neighbouring regions of the West and Middle Europe under Ottoman power, congregated. The public immigration and refugee politics strengthened the multiethnic character of this region. The Court of Vienna pursued the re- settlement of the destroyed and depopulated province. Affluent settlers which were willing to work were brought to strengthen the economic power of the country and therefore stabilize the political circumstances. The re-settlement of the Banat took place in three steps, the so called three Swabian Migrations.

Karl VI instituted the Habsburg settlement plans in the Banat, the main focus of the first migration period (1717-1726) was the military-politically important Danube line.

Maria Theresa continued the colonisation after the end of the Seven Years War on a larger scale. The pinnacle of the movement was during the second Swabian Migration (1763-1772). As a result of Joseph II decision to divide the large regions into smaller estates and sell them to private landlords the Banat was incorporated into Hungary in 1778. Only the military borderline, which functioned as a protection against Ottoman attacks and as a measure of epidemic control was under surveillance of the Court of Vienna until its cancellation in 1872/73. 1

1 Cf. Paikert, G. (1967), p. 13 - 18