“Habent sua fata…” Stories and Sources of the Castles of Somogy County from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Century

Abstract

The author gives a taste of the results of his research into the history of the castles and mansions in Somogy county. He introduces the sources (documents in the archives, newspapers, books) he used during his research, and makes frequent reference to them.

The author writes about building and estate inventories which remain in the possession of the families that owned them, as well as personal documents, maps, military surveys and cadastral maps. He notes that the original plans of the castles and mansions of Somogy county have generally been lost, but that we can find some planning documents from the second half of the twentieth century.

The author writes in particular about sources from the period of the Hungarian Soviet Republic (1919), because at that time the authorities enacted a policy of land redistribution from large estates, including castles and mansions.

During the Second World War, military hospitals were established in these buildings, or they used them to quarter soldiers or refugees. We can find some documents about this in the archives.

The 1945 law on the abolition of the estates was a determining moment in the history castles and mansions in Hungary, because it entailed the confiscation of these buildings. Thereafter, the castles and mansions were used by various organizations (soviets, ministries, economic organizations), and we can find sources referencing the buildings in the papers of these organizations and in the newspapers.

Between the late 1940s and the 1980s, several lists of the castles and mansions of Somogy county were made, for a variety of purposes (education, hygiene, protection of monuments) which are remarkably informative, and so the author analyses them also.