The city of Jászberény is located in the Northern Great Plain region, in Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county; the center of the Jászberény district. It is often referred to as the capital of Jászság. It had a population of 27,439 on January 1, 2019, making it the second most populous settlement in the county.
It is located in the northern part of the Danube-Tisza, in the north-western part of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county, in Jászság, on the two banks of the river Zagyva, 79 km east of Budapest. The county seat, Szolnok is approx. It is 45 km away. Neighboring settlements: Pusztamonostor, Jászárokszállás, Jászdózsa, Jászjákóhalma, Jásztelek, Farmos, Nagykáta, Jászboldogháza, Jászfelsőszentgyörgy.
Jászberény railway
station can be approached on the electrified Hatvan – Szolnok
railway line No. 82. With the exception of 1 in the morning, there
is an hourly schedule on weekdays, 2 hours on weekends, and the
Campus Express, which runs from Szeged to Miskolc on Fridays and
from Miskolc to Szeged on Sundays during the teaching period. The
city’s other railway station (Portelek Railway Station) is located
southeast of the city, 2 km from the eponymous Portelek.
It
can be reached by road from Budapest on the main road 31 and on the
main road 32 connecting Hatvant to Szolnok. There are several other
inferior routes to the city: Jászárokszállás, Jászfelsőszentgyörgy,
Farmos.
Long-distance and local public transport is provided by
Volánbusz, with flights to Budapest, Eger, Kecskemét, Miskolc,
Nagykáta, Szeged and Szolnok, among others.
The
area around the town was already inhabited in the Stone Age, as
indicated by the remains of the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age)
settlement found in the vicinity of Jászberény. Archaeological
relics also refer to the Celts who lived here in the Iron Age and
later to the Sarmatian and Avar presence. The route of the Csörsz
ditch connecting the Danube with the Tisza, built by the Sarmatians
between 324 and 337, passes north of the settlement. The settlement
was probably founded in the time of the Árpád House, but it was
destroyed by the Tartar invasion.
The region, inhabited by
the Jász in the 13th century, is the economic, spiritual and
religious center of Jászság from the beginning, Jászberény, which is
first mentioned in 1357 in the form “Beren”.
The origin and
meaning of the Berény form are unknown. It was previously associated
with the Beren brand name Kabar or Besenyő, which means who gave
himself, others say the root of the word is ber or bere, which means
as much as a market place or commodity market. And according to
another theory, it comes from the word beri of Manchu-tunguz, which
means bow. According to the explanation at the end of the word,
there is, according to the explanation, a so-called denominator that
forms an occupation and tribal name. The berin that can be
reconstructed in this way means an archer tribe, an archer genus.
Since their settlement, the Jászis have enjoyed various
privileges (exemption from taxes and duties, life independent of the
counties, independent administration, Pallos law), in return for
which they owed the king military service. In the 15th century,
Franciscan monks settled in the town and built a monastery to
convert the Jász to the Christian faith. In 1550 it was already an
urban settlement, although it was considered so before, and it was
the administrative seat both in Turkish times and during the
existence of the Jászkun Triple District.
In the early modern
era, the city was subjected to great shocks, it was plundered in
1526 and then in 1536 as well. With the takeover of Buda by the
Turks, the settlement came to the border and the raids became
permanent. At first the Hungarians wanted to build a castle here,
but finally in 1566 the Turks built a palisade castle around a
Franciscan monastery. Shortly afterwards, in 1594, the Turks set it
on fire and left the plank, fleeing from the emperors. At the same
time, the population of the settlement fled and presumably did not
live until 1618. The city then began to develop again, which was
temporarily hindered by the fact that it was looted again in 1637 by
the soldiers of the frontier castle. Finally, in 1685, the city was
liberated from Turkish rule and allowed to start developing again.
Administratively, in Turkish times, it was the center of the
Nashhi of Jászberini, which belonged to the Sandzak of Hatvan. In
Turkish times, the city belonged to the Sultan's private treasury,
which was considered favorable given the circumstances. The
privileges of the Jász were endangered in 1702, when Leopold I sold
the Jászság to the German Order of Knights, into which they did not
rest and in 1745 they redeemed them with their own money. This was
Redemptio, self-redemption in Hungarian.
Description of the
settlement at the end of the 18th century:
BERÉNY: Jász Berény. It is a populous Hungarian Field City in
‘Jászság, the residence of the Captain of the Jászok, its
inhabitants are Catholics and Reformed, its buildings are low, its
school is notable compared to those in the‘ Jászság ’. Its
boundaries are especially fertile for its assets, and it 's not
possible for non-first-graders to be counted. "
(András Vályi:
Description of the Hungarian Country, 1796–1799)
The town
also took part in the War of Independence in 1848-49, and the Lehel
hussar regiment was formed in Jászberény from the volunteers
recruited from the Jászber, the 3rd century of which did not lay
down its arms even at Világos. Many soldiers of the 12th Nádori
Regiment, consisting of Jász and Kuno, also fled from their station
in the Czech Republic. In the spring of 1849, Lajos Kossuth, Artúr
Görgei and János Damjanich, as well as the I., II. and III. body.
Here is one of the oldest museums in the country, the Jász
Museum, founded in 1874, where you can see the city of Jászberény
and the symbol of the Jászság, the horn of our national relic,
Lehel.
The Teacher Training College was founded in the city
in 1917, which currently operates as a faculty of the Károly
Eszterháy University.
After World War II, the first
large-scale industrial plants, such as the Lehel Refrigerator
Factory and the Shredder Factory, were established, providing the
population with more job opportunities and better livelihood
security. In the decades of socialism, Jászberény was a particularly
prosperous city. The city owed a lot to Ignác Gorjanc, the director
of the Lehel Refrigeration Factory, who used his influence to keep
the factory's resources in the city several times. Thanks to him,
Jászberény has developed a lot in recent decades.
The period
after the change of regime was particularly well-tolerated, which
can be explained by the favorable privatization partners. The
corporate acquisitions, which also deal with northern (Swedish,
Finnish) stakeholders, were not followed by factory closures, only
by organizational changes. From a company theory point of view, the
period is the golden age of outsourcing. The operating companies
were present as significant customers, which enabled the formation
of supplier companies. Jász-Plasztik Kft., Which is now becoming one
of the largest family companies in Hungary, was also such a
supplier. As a result of the favorable conditions, instead of the
unemployment typical of the country at that time, there was a
shortage of labor in the city already in the early 2000s. Although
the further development envisioned at that time did not materialize,
the city and, more broadly, Upper Jászság are still the economic
center of the county near Szolnok.
Curiosities
In 2012,
the lowest annual precipitation was measured here. This year, only
324.5 mm of precipitation fell. In the summer of 2016, the "JÁSZOK"
historical dance game was presented, which processes the history of
the Jászzs.