Ernő Szabó, as a teacher of history and citizenship, mentors numismatics as a co-science of history.
The present presentation is part of the innovation project named “From the Ringing Gold Forints to the Silent Banknotes”, utilizing the cooperative intent supported by the Csányi Foundation and the Municipality of the Town of Nagybajom, and concludes with a visit to the Money Museum.
The topic of the presentation was titled The Rákóczi War of Independence in the Light of Numismatics.
“Pecunia regit mundum.”
(Money governs (rules) the world.) Along these and similar wisdoms, the picture of the war of independence unfolded before our eyes.
We could hear about the causes leading to the war of independence, the unfolding of the movement, and the power relations characterizing Europe at that time. We could also examine the comparison of the profitability of precious metal mines back then.
We learned that the era was also a period of great wars: 1701 – 1714 War of the Spanish Succession (Höchstadt-Blenheim Aug. 13, 1704); 1700 – 1721 Great Northern War (Poltava June 27, 1709); 1703 – 1711 Rákóczi War of Independence (Trencsén Aug. 3, 1708)
In 1705, at the Diet of Szécsény, the organization into a state was brought to life. Rákóczi was elected as the ruling prince by the confederation of estates. Following this, at the Diet of Ónod, our ancestors dealt with the devaluation of money, proportionate sharing of taxation, and, among other things, the freedom of the Hajdús.
We got to know the detailed components of polturas, libertases, ducats, and gold forints. We examined the symbolism of commemorative coins, and then saw the use of fading and devaluing money as it proclaimed the glorious memory of our war of independence, first as cannons, then as bells.