Bocicoia Mare/Nagy Bochksa, Romania

Veliky Bockov/Nagy Bochksa, Ukraine

History of Bocicoia Mare/Nagy Bochksa and Romania

By Leslie Gyi

The town is actually split into two

halves by

the Tisa river; one half is in Romania, the other half in the

Ukraine. (Dolph Klein)

Nagy (Hungarian) means 'BIG' and the Romanian equivalent is Mare. Bocska is the name of the landowner

which has been changed to Bocicoiou, a Romanian transliteration on Bocska.

Romanians were Latin soldiers marrying the local women who were Slavs, hence the Romanian language

which mixes both languages and cultures. Romans never made it into the Carpathian mountains, due to fierce

Hungarian fighting, so there was no impact on the country, culture, or language by Romansfor either Hungary

or Transylvania.

1st Migration:

Volk Germans primarily Saxons and Bavarians were invited into Hungary in 1300. Galatia (was Prussian,

now Polish) did not trickle in during the first migration. Tartar hordes decimated the Hungarians from millions

to thousands of people. After the Turks left taking half the Hungarian children, the Hungarians again invited

German trades people into Hungarian for their artisan skills like carpentry, painting, etc. They were allowed to

build schools, either Lutheran or Jewish. They could speak their own language and own land.

They only had to pay taxes, and serve in the army during attacks on a voluntary basis choosing

the landowner they would follow into battle.

Nagy Bocska Land was not owned by the state but by the Bocska family.

The land was very poor. You can't grow wheat, only rye for bread, corn and potatoes.

They also practiced handicrafts like gold and silver smith, smiths, etc and

traded with Transylvanians to the south living in the breadbasket.

Turks never occupied Transylvania and left around 15-16th century. People immigrated into the southern

regions near Banat and Sibiu the breadbasket area, and only went north to poorer lands as land ran out. Since

Transylvania was never occupied by tartars or Turks they were granted their freedom to operate as a

separate state with their own legal system, which is why they had laws that attracted German immigrants.

2nd Migration :

After the Turks, primarily Saxons and Bavarians, but Galatians filter through for protection

from feudal lords, since Hungary did not have this problem. The Military was voluntary, not drafted, in

transylvania. This was different from Hungarian and other European nations. Landlords from who

they rented and sharecropped, they pay rent, but the people weren't owned like Galatia, cause Transylvania

prohibited ownership of people. Under attack, you could choose who you would follow into battle, and the

landowner had to provide horse, armor, 1 year food for soldier and family.