HISTORICAL BACKGROUND DIOSIG

The name of the village appeared at first in the pontifical calendar between 1332 and 1337. Its first owner was the branch “Dorogi” of the Gutkeled family. The Dorogies had a castle here in the place of the reformed church. The Zolyomi family also had here an estate. In 1551 it was the place where the archbishop Fr á ter György and King Ferdinánd had an agreement that the empire of King János should be given to the Habsburg family. In the 16 th century it belonged to the Forgách and the Makó family. In the beginning of the 1800s lord Sternberg Ádám and count Zichy Ferenc were the owners of the land. With the cooperation of the latest was founded the Hungarian kingly vinedresser school. In 1795 there was a press in Di ószeg . In the margin of the parish there were several villages which were perished in time.

In 1886 the parish had 5458 inhabitants: 4741 Hungarian, 484 Romanian, 23 German, - 4295 reformed, 403 orthodox, 371 Roman Catholic, 424 Hebrew, 150 Greek Catholic.

According to the folk traditions and the scientific explanation, the name Diószeg reffers to a corner with nut-tree, this is also supported by the seals of the village from the years 1608 and 1691. It was mentioned for the first time in 1278 (Gyozyk), in line with its first owners (the Dorog family of the Gutkeled nation) and the monastery of the all saints of Egyed. It was the center of the property beside Székelyhíd, thus it became a countrytown very quickly (thanks to its vine-arbour on its mountain which has already been valuable in the 16th century). It was also called Ér-Diószeg, Mező-Diószeg; in 1910 it got the name of Bihardiószeg. Its Romanian name is Diosig, from the year 1925.

It became the property of the Zólyomy family from Albis in 1393, then of Pöstyényi Gergely – with the help of his marriage – and of the Varkucs family, of the members from Gács of the Forgács family from Ghymes (and through them the Gyulaffy, Zerdahelyi, Imreffy, Sennyei families) and of other families, too (Bajomy, Makó, Lónyay families). The legation of the reformed church which exists also today was started in Diószeg by Zólyomy Dávid in 1630. The powerful Rákóczy family owed the village between 1633 and 1660, which was an important settlement in the rim of Transylvania (patents from Báthory Gábor in 1609, from Bethlen Gábor in 1614, from the two princes called both of them Rákóczy György in 1638 and in 1652, from Apaffy Mihály I. in 1670, mentioned sepparately in the „athname”-s given by the sultans to Báthory and Bethlen).

The Romanian refugee leaders has also been the owners of the settlement, Gavrila ş Movilă got it throughout his marriage and Constantin Şerban got it as an escrow. Fráter György negotiated here with the deputies of Ferdinánd V. About the transmission of Transylvania in 1551; according to the records, on the 15th of October, 1604 Bocskay István fought with the germans victoriously for the first time in the valley of Nyúzó; in the summer of 1611 the army of Nagy András beat the supporters of Forgács in this place, saving the throne of Báthory Gábor; it was attacked by the Tartars in 1658 and by the Turks in 1660 (our legend entitled The Island of Women appeared that time was edited by Lengyel Dénes and it was adapted by Beke György in his roman entitled Stilt). It was the property of the emperor and the prince of Transylvania between 1660 and 1686, thus in 1692 it was the second biggest settlement of the county (the rival of Debrecen). Thököly Imre frequented the village with the accord of the emperor, and it had a negative impact upon the economic life of the settlement. Here took place the union of the armies of Apaffy I., Thököly and the pasha of Nagyvárad in 1681.

Its famous reformed school became later the branch boarding school of the Boarding School from Debrecen .

After the liberation of Nagyvárad the village became the property of the chamber of Szepes, Heisler Donath, count Grünsfeld Franz Johann and Breuner Miksa. As a result of the huge number of the people called „kuruc” who settled down here, many inhabitants of Diószeg took part in the revolt of Hegyalja and then it became the nest of the revolution lead by Rákóczy, after Tarpa (there were some conflicts between the „kuruc” and the „labanc” people in the years: 1703, 1704, 1709). The 18th century was characterized by multinationality: the guilds appeared (tailors, shoemakers in 1714, furriers in 1733, a greek commercial company in 1735), there were more and more Romanians in the village, the Hungarians multiplied by deployment, the authority of the noblemen and the serfdom began in 1740, the authority of Szőlőhegy was sepparated and the Dietrichstein family got the right of self-judgement. Our promonotoriums were recognized, the tobacco-culture was famous in the whole country, our fish were fed in Vienna, too. It became the property of the Sternberg family through inheritance in 1783, and from them bought it a member of the Zichy family from Oroszvár in 1810.

In the revolution of 1848-49 took part many natives as soldiers (famous fighters: jankafalvi Csizmadia József, general Kiss Pál). After the liberation of the serfs began the evolution of the social-economic life: the modern production of the Zichy estate (model farm, famous vinery and wine-cellars, cognac factory, etc.), the Jewry that settled down here, the Vine-Dresser School (1870), the industrial corporation formed by the guilds, the abolition of the noble privileges, etc. contributed to the quick appearance of the burgeoisie. The desease called „filoxera” made huge damages in our vinery but in the year 1908 there was no trace of it.

The events of the 20th century had a negative impact on the social-economic life of our village (the two World Wars, the modification of the border-lines, the relocations in 1927, 1940 and 1945, the agrarian reform in 1920, the liquidation of the Zichy estate, the agrarian reform in 1945, the collectivization and the communism and the tranzition till 1989).

The variegation of our village (together with Jankafalva) is assured by three nations (hungarian, romanian, gipsy) and five religions (6 congregations, 8 churches and tabernacles, 9 churchyards). The oldest religion is the Roman-catholic which was abolished by the time of the reformation, it was renewed in 1725, their chapel has been in the castle till 1930, from 1930 they had their own church. The most popular religion is the reformed one. Their church from today was built in 1604, it was rebuilt in 1667, widened in 1795 and 1808, and his present shape was built in 1864. The orthodox religion has two churches: the older one in the village called Román, from the year 1830 (with a valuable greek Bible), the new one is placed in the area called Telep and it was built in 1935. The Baptist church exists here from 1888 (it was one of the three missionary centers), their tabernacle was built in 1906, as the biggest tabernacle in Eastern-Europe of that time.