Hatvan is the seat of the Hatvan district in the southwestern part of Heves county. It is the third most populated settlement in the county after the county seat. It is realistic to derive his name from the chatwan / chatman of Besenyo-Turkish origin instead of the obvious plant name; "Meaning fragmentary people, subpopulations: the Pechenegs in Hungary were settled in different parts of the country, who maintained their identity and belonging together in their new homeland by the place name Hatvan."
Location
Sixty lies on the banks of the Zagyva. Its average
altitude is 105 m. The river already flows between water protection
facilities, so the thickening of the area is no longer typical. In
terms of climate, the Mátra, from which light air comes in, and the
valley, which reduces the strength of the wind, have a great
influence. Its annual rainfall is lower than the national average.
Parts
It consists of sixty, well-separable parts of the
settlement. Óhatvan, the actual center of the city, is located on
the eastern shore of the Zagyva. It is connected to the west by the
installation of a smaller industrial area in Újhatvan, where the
Hatvan railway station and the new bus station are also located.
Nagygombos is located north of Óhatvant.
History
The
earliest finds from the territory of Sixty date back to the
Neolithic. Even then, it can be observed that both sides of the
Zagyva were inhabited. However, a really important settlement
developed only in the Copper Age, its flowering lasted until the
Early Bronze Age.
At the beginning of the Bronze Age
(1900–900 BC), steppe shepherd tribes invaded the Carpathian Basin
from the east, beyond the Carpathians, where they agreed. One of the
two great Hungarian educations of the Bronze Age was named after
Hatvan. First József Sperlágh, a pharmacist and amateur
archaeologist, found cremation graves on Calvary Hill below
Strázsahegy, and then next to the Kishatvani inn on the southeastern
edge of the city - their finds were placed in the Hungarian National
Museum. In 1934-35, Ferenc Tompa discovered a housing estate on
Strázsahegy: an ornate copper plate and a gold object of national
significance found there. The colony was inhabited by large families
in large houses that included several smaller families. The columned
houses were covered with a gable roof; the wicker houses were
experienced inside and out.
After the Bronze Age, no
significant permanent settlement was re-established in the territory
of Hatvan, but the Scythians, Celts, Roxolans, Sarmatians and Avars,
and then the conquering Hungarians, also left traces here.
In
the 1170s, monks from Premontre settled in what is now the city. The
monastery based here slowly became significant in a smaller area
(there was already a provost in the 13th century), and the first
written mention of the settlement from 1235. A significant
achievement of the monks was the drainage of the surrounding swamps
and the introduction of modern forms of farming. With the advent of
good living conditions in the 13th century, more and more people
migrated to Hatvan, the most significant owners of which became the
Hatvans.
After 1335, after the Visegrád royal meeting, the
importance of the settlement increased greatly, as the Buda – Kraków
trade route stretched here, and the Losonc – Fülek – Pásztó road
joined it. In the time of Louis I (the Great), the significance of
the road only increased as the king's armies marched to Lithuania.
Hatvan, who gave the king accommodation several times, finally won
the title of market town in 1406. They came to the national fair -
where the most significant commodity was the large quantity of
Hatvan wine - came from all over.
After Pasha Mohamed Buda's
campaign against the fortifications north and east of Buda in 1544,
and Visegrád and Nógrád had already fallen, the captains of Hatvan's
newly built castle (between 1523 and 1544) believed they did not
risk the siege, but set fire to the castle and the soldiers.
together they fled to Eger, abandoning the civilian population,
which from 1544 was taxed by the Turks. The towns were made by the
Turks as the center of the Sandzak region of Gyöngyös, Pásztó and
Jászberény, so that more and more Turks became in the city, and by
the 17th century the Hungarian indigenous population was already in
the minority.
The Turkish city was surrounded by a serious
castle system. According to Sebestyén Lantos of Tinódi, the strength
was started by the first Turkish city commander, Deli Kurt. The
eight-basted palisade may have been roughly on the site of what is
now Grassalkovich Castle, and the city was protected by another
outer pile wall: according to the tradition of lowland castle
architecture, the densely piled wooden piles were filled with clay
soil (Because the wood rotted quickly, these types of defenses often
had to be repaired.
According to the surviving mercenary
lists, in 1560 there were 113 infantry, 295 cavalry, 13 gunners and
32 South Slavic marauders in the garrison.
For the first time
in the Fifteen Years' War, there was a chance to recapture the
castle and the town in 1594, but the German mercenaries of Košice
Chief Captain Christoph Teuffenbach, who commanded the troops of
Upper Hungary, abandoned the siege due to the harsh weather. In
1596, after three weeks of siege, Archduke Miksa's troops broke into
the castle and concentrated not only the defenders but also the
women and children. 3 large and 22 smaller caliber cannons were
looted in the castle. However, the success proved to be temporary:
the Austrian armies did not take up the fight in III. Mehmed with
his main army marching towards Eger, but they abandoned the castle
and retreated towards Esztergom.
The fortifications were restored by the Turks, but in November
1603 they were occupied again by the troops of Imperial General
Christoph von Rusworm, but again only for a short time.
Turkish rule ended in 1686, when, after Buda was locked in a siege
ring, the defenders fled the armies of Imperial Generals Heissler
and Mercy to the more defensible Eger without a fight.
In the
17th and 18th centuries, most serfs from the rest of the country
settled in Sixty. Their main task was to repair lands degraded in
Turkish times. Therefore, mainly animals were bred, but viticulture
was also restarted. The organization of the town was also revived:
in 1687 the provostship was reorganized, in 1689 a post office, in
1693 a customs office was established, and in 1700 the parish was
already functioning again.
Sixty played a serious role during
the Rákóczi War of Independence, as II. Ferenc Rákóczi ordered the
fortification of the castle in 1703 in order to be able to resist
the imperial armies around Buda. However, the fortified castle did
not acquire any major significance, and the Kurucs finally gave up
in 1710 without a fight.
The defunct fortifications were
probably destroyed by the new landlord, Prince Thomas of Gundacker
Starhemberg - he bought the manor of Hatvan from the king in 1711,
but then had to negotiate with the old claimants for many years, so
it was not until 1729 that he got into the manor's possession.
Meanwhile, most of the old dwellings have been restored, much of the
arable land has been broken, serf plots have been set up, although
half of the population has survived married cellar living from
viticulture.
Prince Antal I Grassalkovich bought the estate
in Hatvan in 1734 for two hundred thousand forints. He settled
German craftsmen, viticultural celery, and even landowners in the
city, and gave them more discounts and exemptions than the
Hungarians. This led to Hungarian-German ethnic conflicts, because
after the tax-free years, the Germans did not want to bear the
public taxes and burdens. They, on the other hand, complained that
the leadership of the city remained in the hands of the Hungarians
even when the number of German serfs already exceeded that of the
Hungarians (in 1765 there were still 52 Hungarians and 45 German
farmers living in Hatvan). At the request of the Germans, in 1764
Grassalkovich appointed a German judge in addition to the Hungarian
judge. The conflicts were smoothed by the deterioration of the fate
of the Germans.
Antal Grassalkovich created a modern manor
around the city. A post-production manufactory was also established
in the town in 1762, but it was not competitive enough, so it soon
ceased to exist.
Population growth slowed towards the end of
the 18th century; their number:
In 1786 2108,
In 1821 2088,
In 1849 there were 2545 people;
In 1786, 439 families were
counted,
And in 1851 577.
The Grassalkovichs accumulated a
great deal of debt over time, so in 1827 the manor was placed under
custody.
The Grassalkovich family in 1841 Grassalkovich III.
Antalal is excited. With this, the fate of the estates became
utterly questionable. The Viennese castle and the Schönau an der
Triesting estate became privately owned. The Gödöllő and Hatvan
estates were inherited by his nephew, Mihály Viczay, but he could
not pay the terrible debts, so he sold them to a banker, Baron
György Sina. He later became the property of his son, Baron Sina
Simon, and later became the property of a Belgian consortium.
Before the Revolution and War of Independence of 1848-49, 423
houses were counted; of which 14 belonged to the lordship, 135 to
the landowners, 267 to the celery, and 7 to others.
Sixty
gained an important military role in the War of Independence of
1848-49. On April 2, 1849, one of the victorious battles of the
Spring Campaign was fought here, and after July 12, it became the
headquarters of the Russians.
The serious boom of Hatvan
began in 1867, when the Pest – Hatvan – Losonc – Zólyom – Banská
Bystrica – Ruttka railway (which later became the first line of MÁV
after its bankruptcy and nationalization) was built, and
capitalization began as a result of the compromise. As a result of
the construction of the railway, Ignác Deutsch bought the former
estate of the Grassalkovich family from the bank of Brussels in 1867
with the castle in a completely dilapidated state. In 1879, when the
king made his sons noble, this estate was given the first name
“Hatvani”.
Later, the railway importance of the city
increased further, after the Hatvan – Miskolc railway line was
opened in 1870, and in 1873 the Hatvan – Szolnok railway line. With
this, the city has become one of the major railway junctions in
Hungary, and it has become largely urbanized.
Sixty's first
savings bank was founded in 1873. In the 1870s, settlements
throughout the country were declassified as market towns. Sixty then
became a large village, and from 1886 the market town could no
longer be used as a title.
In 1889, the Deutsch family in
Hatvan founded the Hatvan Sugar Factory, which was one of the
largest sugar factories in Europe at the time. Növénynemesítő Rt.
Was founded by Sándor Hatvany-Deutsch at the beginning of the 20th
century. As a result of the economic boom of dualism, between 1867
and 1914 the population of the city almost tripled.
Many men fell in World War I. The sugar factory was nationalized
during the Soviet republic. On August 3, 1919, the invading Romanian
army executed fifty Red soldiers. After the consolidation of the
counter-revolutionary system, Hatvan's development slowed down, but
living standards improved slightly.
The establishment of the
Hatvan Tomato Cannery was initiated by Endre Hatvany in the late
1920s - the “Golden Pheasant” brand is still popular today.
World War II brought great changes in Hatvan's life. In 1939, Polish
refugees arrived in the city, including many Jews. From 1941, after
Hungary joined the war, many soldiers from Hatvan lost their lives
on the battlefields. A ghetto was set up in sixty, and then a
gathering camp was also set up in the sugar factory area. From here,
almost the entire Jewish population of Heves County was transported
to Auschwitz, an extermination camp. On September 20, 1944,
Anglo-American bombers destroyed hundreds of civilians and destroyed
the station and its surroundings to the ground. In November 1944,
the Red Army reached the city limits, and the fighting caused
another severe devastation. The city fell on November 25, 1944.
Much of the population of the city, which was essentially
destroyed to the ground, died or was taken prisoner of war. As part
of the reorganization, Sixty was transformed into a city. They
established a folk dormitory and established a temporary hospital.
With the consolidation of communist power, Sixty showed a
two-way development. On the one hand, the city was characterized by
large-scale industrialization and construction, and on the other
hand, the authorities removed a large number of people undesirable
to the system, including those protesting for religious freedom in
Újhatvan, so they sent many to the forced labor camps in Recsk and
Hortobágy. In 1956, the train station was rebuilt, and then schools
and other public institutions were established in the city.