Original scientific paper
HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE ESTABLISHMENT AND ACTIVITY OF THE ALJMAŠ SHRINE IN THE 18TH CENTUR
Zlata Živaković-Kerže
Abstract
Aljmaš, a village situated on the slopes of the Mount Dalj on the right bank of the Danube, only began its recovery from the destructive effects of war, primarily in demographic and economic sense, at the time when the Aljmaš shrine became active in the 18th century. Namely, as the Turkish danger was completely eliminated after repeated victories of the Habsburg Monarchy over the Ottoman Empire, life gradually started to return to the almost deserted village that Emperor Leopold I (1658 – 1705) granted to the Society of Jesus from Osijek on February 17th, 1702. Count Caraffa invested the Jesuits with this large land property on March 23rd the same year. In the following decades of the 18th century, the Jesuits were going to organize the property as a late-feudal manorial estate. This was a time of general desolation, ruined economy, neglected and uncultivated land, crop failure and destroyed cattle fund. General legal insecurity and insecurity of property were a bitter reality that struck almost everyone in the Empire. Starting from 1820s, however, the economic circumstances in Aljmaš began improving on account of the return of the peacetime way of life to Slavonia, the establishment of the eastern border between the Habsburg Monarchy and the Ottoman Empire, the incorporation of Slavonia into Croatia and the separation of civilian and military administration. Complex historical and social circumstances at the time when the Aljmaš shrine became active were therefore characterized by a dynamic development of economic and demographic life.
Keywords
Aljmaš; shrine; Slavonia; manorial estate; Society of Jesus; economy; demography; 18th century
Hrčak ID:
26119
URI
Publication date:
20.9.2007.
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