L. Zubanych. Private correspondence as a historical source of early modern times – on the example of letters of Janos (X) Drugeth and Anna Yakushich

Abstract

In this study we are dealing with a personal correspondence that happened during the first half of the 17th century. We are analyzing the correspondence of the representatives of the Drugeth family (János Drugeth and his wife Anna Jakusith) by paying particular attention to the analysis of the people, events and background-information appearing in these letters. The detailed examination of the contents of the given letters shows that if we are familiar with the contemporary events and personal relations and have access to some necessary additional sources, we can make appropriate conclusions even from relatively sparse information. The archives of the Homonnai Drugeth family could not be saved as a complex document through different historical hardships. Its smaller parts can be found in the archives of the ducal branch of Esterházi family at the Presov Archives. Thanks to their personal relationship with Ádám Batthyány several letters of János Drugeth and Anna Jakusith survived in the Batthyány archives. The family archives of the different correspondences serve as particularly important sources and documents of the given ages since they contain social historical, economic and political information in addition to local/personal data. Without them no historian could write the history of a family or a landlord and of a county. In his doctoral thesis on the actual period, historian Zoltán Borbély writes the following words: „With families having better resources such as the Batthyány-, the Nádasdy- or the Esterházi families there are researches dealing with a deeper focus on court, estate, art and cultural history many times within the framework of an interdisciplinary research group. In addition to the processing of a certain family history a complex examination of the noble society of the Western Transdanubian region has also begun. Within this examination in parallel with the study of the stratification of the noble society, some inspiring results were obtained in connection with the regional role of a noble family, their role in the administrative system of the county and millitary affairs, their family relations and last but not least, about their lands. One of the aims of this study is to show the event and family history aspects related to their textual parts via two personal letters and to illustrate the style of the contemporary aristocratic correspondence. In our view the study has once again contributed to learn about a small piece of the Drugeth family’s history and to clarify some historical «rumors».