| Colorful Folk Dress | 6. TRANSYLVANIAN SOCIETY UNDER ABSOLUTE PRINCELY RULE | The Versatile Villeins |
There is an obvious conclusion to be drawn from these changes in custom. Production of the new types of clothing was extraordinarily time-consuming. So was the very act of dressing: it was no easy task to decorate one's hair with rows of beads and ribbons or to assemble a garland. These tasks were self-fulfilling, for no one could expect to draw monetary gain from the exercise. The same could be said of gardens: there was no material profit to be made from nurturing new varieties of flowers or planting these in pots, yet both demanded time and expertise. The peasants who tended their gardens did so for no greater purpose than their pleasure.
This was a new phenomenon: man consciously devoting his labor to his own satisfaction and delight. It went beyond the working man's age-old proclivity to embellish his simple personal belongings with non-functional ornaments. In the event, Transylvanian peasants limited this activity to clothing and gardening. Village entertainment changed little from the Middle Ages to the 17th century. People danced in couples or in groups. Romanian men danced the roundelay to the triple-beat music of a shepherd's flute. One observer recorded that 'even Pan and all his sylvan deities would be hard put to match the beauty of the mountain shepherds' melodies'.[94]
The peasants' colorful and ornamented dress and their gardens testified to the capacity of the lower social orders to devote their efforts to pleasurable purposes of a higher order. At the same time, {2-193.} this glimpse of an alternative possibility threw into sharper focus the fact that their everyday labor was an onerous burden designed to serve the pleasure of others. It is no mere coincidence that this realization dawned in the Renaissance, when the upper social strata would indulge in unrestrained luxury.
János Szalárdi, the prince's archivist at Gyulafehérvár, was prompted by the sight of the Duke of Liechtenstein's park in Moravia to reflect on these questions. He noted all the devices of Renaissance landscape architecture: exotic plants, greenhouses with opening roofs, artificial fountains, ponds, fixed and mobile statues, a zoo, and beautiful summer palaces for entertaining guests. Deeply impressed by the beauty of the park, he wrote an account that was scarcely shorter than the one he devoted to all of the building projects of György Rákóczi I.
Yet Szalárdi's admiration was tempered by outrage at the waste of money and, even more, of human labor. In his view, the painting and mosaic decoration of a building was 'unspeakable tinkering', and it had taken 'an appalling amount of work' to do the fancy carving of a stone wall. He also notes examples of 'superb craftsmanship'. He wonders how some fountains were fed in the absence of suitable mountain springs nearby.[95] Being a keen observer, Szalárdi had drawn an obvious but seldom-expressed conclusion: that the glitter of the Renaissance was produced by the hard work of countless people.
In fact, appreciation of the virtues and hardships of craftsmanship was not absent in Transylvania. It could be found in popular literature of a certain quality, as well as in the verses of rural poets and preachers. Poems such as Az sónak dicsíretiről való magyar rythmusok [Hungarian rhymes in praise of salt] and Az malom és ácsmesterségnek dicsíretiről való ének [A song in praise of carpenters and mill-builders] evoked the dependence of lord and peasant alike on the product of labor. To be sure, there is no reason to believe that the respective authors — the preacher János {2-194.} Szentmártoni Bodó and one Mihály Oroszhegyi — or other, nameless, versifiers were inspired by some theoretical understanding of the value of labor. But they were clearly aware that the production of commodities was a complex task demanding great energy, and sang its praises in the same tone that poets adopted to laud their society's most honored virtue, heroic bravery. Oroszhegyi's poem Az fenyő fának hasznos voltáról [On the usefulness of the pine tree] ends as follows:
| Mivel malommester alsóknak hadnagyok, |
| Szárnyas madaraknak az sólyom az urok, |
| A fenevadaknak oroszlány királyok, |
| Az fáknak fenyőfa légyen az császárok.[96] |
| [Much as the miller is lieutenant to the lower orders, |
| The falcon is the lord of the birds, |
| And the lion is king of the beasts, |
| Let the pine tree be the emperor of all trees.] |
These poems in praise of labor and craftsmanship must have reached a wide audience. For one thing, there is no trace in them of the resentment that authors of more rarefied literature would commonly express at the public's indifference. For another, these poems were popular enough to be disseminated by mail order; and they must have earned profits, for some were even published by the Brewer printing house at Lőcse, one of the most successful business enterprises of the day. Presumably the poems owe some of their popularity to the authors' conscious effort at presenting them in clear, concise, and readable language. The themes, which celebrated the common man's labor, were also well suited to mass readership.
This growing recognition of the value of work coincided with a rapidly rising demand for manpower. Changes in lifestyle enhanced the importance of those who produced the necessary {2-195.} goods. These changes reached down to the peasantry, for there was little difference between the material circumstances of the lowest strata of the ruling class and those of the more prosperous peasants. It is not surprising if the nobles who lived in villages had houses, farm buildings, and furnishings similar to those of the better-off peasants, for all drew on the same local craftsmen. The diffusion of the Renaissance among the ruling class coincided with the consolidation of the second serfdom, and there was thus a link between the changes in noble and peasant lifestyles.
The owners of manorial estates tried to maximize their independence from the market by relying on socage service. Evidence of this tendency is found in the exemption of village craftsmen from the feudal services demanded of ordinary villeins; instead, their obligations were tailored to the specific craft. This was the case, for example, with Tódor Szőcs, a furrier at Örményes, and János Mester, a carpenter at Viszolya. It was recorded with regard to György, a blacksmith at Kórodszentmárton, that 'he was to apply his craft to the mill, and was exempt from other services, taxes, and tithes'.[97]
György Rákóczi I had specified that only those who 'brought benefit to the landowner and contributed to the growth of his assets' could be exempt; 'unprofitable' craftsmen could not be employ-ed.[98] Despite this qualification, villages had numerous villein craftsmen who paid dues exclusively with their skilled work. Most of the craftsmen who served the landowner were engaged in the building trade: sawyers, shingle makers, lumber millers, carpenters, brick makers, construction foremen, stonemasons, and lime makers. Some trades provided foodstuffs. Most villages had a butcher; there were many millers as well as oil-pressers, brandy distillers, bakers, and cooks. Viniculture required coopers, and there were of course many blacksmiths. Tailors, furriers, and bootmakers — whose crafts were more closely identified with towns — were also found on some domains, as were furniture makers, who were rare {2-196.} even in the towns. The more exclusive needs of the upper class were served by crab-catchers, birdmen, gamekeepers, and gardeners. The nobles' Renaissance style of dress included much fur, and thus the villeins in mountain districts were required to deliver a great quantity of fox furs; in the Middle Ages, by contrast, land-owners had tried to discourage villeins from entering the forests.
Villein craftsmen performed socage service for the high and mighty, and notably for Gabriel Bethlen at his palatial residences. From the princely palace to the local manor, demand grew for their services. It is likely that the large, multi-storeyed castles were also built by villein craftsmen, for the techniques were the same as for lesser buildings. The work of village carpenters and other villein craftsmen is found in the new mansions, spacious, comfortable, and well-lit, of the nobility, and in the {2-197.} furnishings of these homes. It is noteworthy that even the wealthiest followers of the Renaissance fashion for decorative textiles would have some locally-woven tapestries on their walls and tables. To be sure, oriental carpets and manufactured tapestries were favored at the upper end of the social scale, but only the products of village craftsmen were found in the local manor houses.
The furniture in the nobility's houses also bore the mark of Renaissance fashion. It acquired a more architectural character and layered decoration. Sources indicate that it was normally was varnished or painted black, white, or green, and grouped by color for decorative effect. In the larger castles, some rooms would be named after the color of their furnishings. Inlaid or carved furniture was more the exception than the rule. In more modest houses, the occasional piece had a bit of shallow carved decoration or bore painted designs.
'Peasant' furnishings, which included couches, tables, benches, doors, and locks, were found everywhere; the qualifier referred presumably to a simpler mode of production, for the villein craftsmen's output was far from limited to such items. With regard to the furnishings of noble residences, it is no longer possible to distinguish between the products of urban guild craftsmen and those of a more rural, folk origin. The reason is that hardly any of these 17th century objects have survived; what is known about them comes from inventories that offer little detailed information. This much is clear: the guild craftsmen's products often ended up in the homes of the nobility, and some of the villein craftsmen's products matched the best of these. Evidence for this can be found in patrician homes, where the furnishings reflect the same Renaissance tastes present in the homes of the nobility. Since the burghers had less access to the products of villein craftsmen, it follows that the guild craftsmen were fully able to meets the demands of Renaissance fashion. And while 17th century landowners did their best to avoid paying cash for anything, they had little choice but to obtain certain items in the town's workshops and stores.
Thus the urban craftsmen, like the villeins, were faced with a growing demand for their products, and for greater variety than in the past. Although this demand may have been burdensome at times, it had a generally favorable impact on their circumstances. Even at an economic low point, in 1625, the wages of craftsmen kept up with price inflation.
| Colorful Folk Dress | 6. TRANSYLVANIAN SOCIETY UNDER ABSOLUTE PRINCELY RULE | The Versatile Villeins |