Letters From the Baia Mare Archives: The Debt Collection Case of Miklós Bethlen

The paper presents a group of letters written and received by Miklós Bethlen, preserved in the State Archives of the town of Baia Mare, containing a full history of one of the financial matters of the Chancellor of Transylvania. The story revolves around a sum of money lent to the town of Baia Mare by Anna Hátszegi, widow of János Sombori, who was captured by the Tatars in 1660. The woman then left this money to the Bethlen family in her last will. The story begins for Bethlen in the 1680s, the attempts to collect the debt can be traced in five years’ correspondence, written by Bethlen and his brothers, and also other dignitaries of Transylvania and the Kingdom of Hungary.

Full Text