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''A fekete város'' (''The Black City'', or ''The Black Town'') is a Hungarian novel of
Thirsting for revenge the city embalms one of the dead magistrate's hands, and orders all citizens to wear black clothes until Kramler's death is revenged. To protect his daughter, Rozália Görgey, her father hides her in Lőcse in secret under the name of "Rozália Otrokócsy", hoping that she will not be sought for, being so close to home. Rozália falls in love with Antal Fabricius, the youngest senator of Lőcse.
The next magistrate is Nustkorb, who tries to catch Görgey but all his plans fail. He dies when the statue of the dead magistrate falls and kills him. The traumatized citizens now believe that Nustkorb was killed by Kramler's ghost, who took a revenge on his real murderer.
Antal Fabricius then becomes the magistrate. Fabricius makes a trap for Görgey, catches and executes him - but realises too late that he was Rozália’s father. He is shocked by this discovery; but on the streets all the folk of Lőcse are glad, singing, dancing and burning their black clothes now that the revenge has been completed.
Kálmán Mikszáth
Kálmán Mikszáth de Kiscsoltó (16 January 1847 – 28 May 1910) was a widely reputed Hungarians, Hungarian novelist, journalist, and politician. His work remains in print in Hungarian and still appears from time to time in other languages.
Bi ...
set in the town of Lőcse, today Levoča
Levoča (; ; )
is the principal town of Levoča District in the Prešov Region of eastern Slovakia, with a population of 14,256. The town has a historic center with a well-preserved town wall, a Gothic architecture, Gothic church with the talle ...
. It is based on real historical events, but the story and dialogue are fictional.
It was adapted for television in 1972, starring Ferenc Bessenyei
Ferenc Bessenyei (10 February 1919 – 27 December 2004) was a Hungarian actor and singer. He began his career in the choir at National Theatre of Szeged in 1940 and became one of Hungary's most respected stage performers. As singer he app ...
and Vera Venczel
Vera Venczel (born Veronika Venczel; 10 March 1946 – 22 October 2021Elhunyt Venczel Vera
) was a Hu ...
.
) was a Hu ...
Story
The murder
Before Rákóczi's war of liberty, during a hunting expedition, Pál Görgey, the arrogant but noble leader of the Hungarian county ofSzepes
Szepes (; , , ) was an administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary, called Scepusium before the late 19th century. Its territory today lies in northeastern Slovakia, with a very small area in southeastern Poland. For the current region, see S ...
, shoots Károly Kramler, Saxon
The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...
magistrate of Lőcse, for having killed Görgey’s favourite dog.
When their magistrate is fatally injured, his company, on the advice of one of their members, Nustkorb, takes the still-living body and marks with his blood the boundaries of a large field owned by Görgey. This was because during the conflict between king Róbert Károly
Charles I, also known as Charles Robert (; ; ; 128816 July 1342), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1308 to his death. He was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou and the only son of Charles Martel, Prince of Salerno. His father was the ...
and Máté Csák III
Mate may refer to:
Science
* Mate, one of a pair of animals involved in:
** Mate choice, intersexual selection
*** Mate choice in humans
** Mating
* Multi-antimicrobial extrusion protein, or MATE, an efflux transporter family of proteins
Per ...
, the ruler gave a special and bizarre privilege for the magistrate of Lőcse for his service in combat - "Let the magistrate of Lőcse have land-claiming-blood". Thus the field marked out by the magistrate's blood became a possession of the town Contract of Róbert Károly
Charles I, also known as Charles Robert (; ; ; 128816 July 1342), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1308 to his death. He was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou and the only son of Charles Martel, Prince of Salerno. His father was the ...
. See also: ''A Görgey-nemzetség története'' by István Görgey, quoted in Fekete Város (1988)
The revenge
Thirsting for revenge the city embalms one of the dead magistrate's hands, and orders all citizens to wear black clothes until Kramler's death is revenged. To protect his daughter, Rozália Görgey, her father hides her in Lőcse in secret under the name of "Rozália Otrokócsy", hoping that she will not be sought for, being so close to home. Rozália falls in love with Antal Fabricius, the youngest senator of Lőcse.
The next magistrate is Nustkorb, who tries to catch Görgey but all his plans fail. He dies when the statue of the dead magistrate falls and kills him. The traumatized citizens now believe that Nustkorb was killed by Kramler's ghost, who took a revenge on his real murderer.
Antal Fabricius then becomes the magistrate. Fabricius makes a trap for Görgey, catches and executes him - but realises too late that he was Rozália’s father. He is shocked by this discovery; but on the streets all the folk of Lőcse are glad, singing, dancing and burning their black clothes now that the revenge has been completed.
English translation
''The Town in Black'', translated by Bernard Adams. Budapest: Corvina, 2011Notes
20th-century Hungarian novels 1910 novels Novels set in Hungary Rákóczi's War of Independence Novels set in the 18th century {{1910s-hist-novel-stub