The settlement and it surroundings were already inhabited in the ancient times which is proved by Roman Era findings. Magyarbóly’s name probably comes from „Bója”, or „Bójta” Hungarian tribesman, who at the time of the Hungarian conquest (896—898), crossed the Danube at Dunaszekcső with his fellow leader – Ete – and he conquered and ruled this region which was named Pannonia at that time. The name of Magyarbóly first appears officially in 1287 in charters and was written like Boyad. The village belonged to the Bólyai family for a long time then the Kórógy family ruled it and during their reign a Franciscan monastery was built here and operated for long decades. In the year of 1380, according to archival records from Baranya County, Bóli István and Bóli András were negotiating here about a property. In the Bóli property several villages were established which were named after their inhabitants Magyarbóly, Németbóly and Rácbóly (Hungarian Bóly, German Bóly and Serbian Bóly). These settlements have kept their names until today. Our settlement used to be situated between the Karassa brook and the road and it was a watery land.
In the 15th century the area was famous for its wines and commerce, but the boom was broken by the Turk invasion. Not far from the village on the left side of the Németmárok road the former dominical forest area is still called „Türken Schanze”, „Turkish fortification” by the villagers. The first inhabitants of Magyarbóly were Hungarians, who perished during the Turkish fighting. The catastrophic battle of Mohács was not far away from here, about 30 kilometres Lots of Hungarian soldiers died there on the 29th of August 1526. Hungary languished under the Turkish yoke for more than 150 years. Finally in 1687 the Hungarian won the battle near Nagyharsány and the Turks were finally expelled from the country. Eugene of Savoy was one of the victorious leaders of these battles who received the Bellye property for his bravery from the emperor (1699), and Count Gyula Weieráni colonel also who received the Dárda estate (1700). Magyarbóly belonged to the latter as well. The next thriving Hungarian villages were wiped out during the Turkish wars around Magyarbóly: Csipőtelek (at Idamajor) Henye (at Illocska), White Village, Cruciferous (Keresztes) and Perecske at the Magyarbóly farm states area where the Franciscan monastery was as well. Swabian settlers from Tolna arrived in the village between 1755 and 1830. They built the first school and church in the village. The settlement was the centre of the evangelical community for a long time.
Severe ordeal has occurred in Hungary and the region alike from 31 October 1918. State of emergency was proclaimed in Magyarbóly on 7 November 1918. The enemy on all sides invaded the country after the Hungarian army was disbanded and there was no one to defend the border. The Serbian army arrived to Magyarbóly on the 18th of November 1918 and it occupied this part of our county up to the Pécs-Abaliget line for nearly three years.
To counterweight the nearby Swabian majority of the population in 1939-40 settlers arrived to the village from the areas of eastern Hungary, Szabolcs County, Vaja village, so by the middle of the first half of the 1900s Magyarbóly became a multi-ethnic village. Magyarbóly’s name is inseparable from the settlement of Vaja. Before the outbreak of World War Two the responsible Hungarian government made a decision about 36 – predominantly Calvinist – Vaja families’ relocation. The measure had several objectives: the most important of those that the people from Szabolcs, who were landless or had little land – not enough to ensure the livelihood of the family – could have a sufficiently large land possession and its benefits. It also had the national economic and social purposes to populate the “egykés” (one child) Baranya regions.
Political purposes were served by the will of reducing German-speaking population thus decreasing their political influence. A whole new town part was built in the place in November 1939 where there were still fields in the summer. This part of the village was named after the name of Regent Miklos Horthy, who was the main instigator of the installation and it is still called “Horthy site”. The families moving into paid back the price of the houses to the state in cash and crop in the coming years. Since most of the settlers were Calvinist, Pastor Géza Bács from Vaja also came with them. Upon arrival, they founded a new congregation in Magyarbóly, and they soon planned to build a church. Magyarbóly former natives considered the incomers as “intruders” and they revealed their feeling towards them. The flood next spring brought the local residents and ‘Horthy settlers’ close to each other, experiencing the aliens’ sacrificial activities in the village and the rescue of human lives. The homeless were accommodated and considered as family members by the helping people from Vaja. This disaster brought a radical change in the lives of the two town communities in the coming years and decades. They built a school together and a church was built. The well-intentioned ‘settlers’ community building began.
The sights of the settlement
The Lutheran church
The Lutheran church was built in 1854 in romantic style. Its longitudinal axis is parallel to the street line, the entrance opens to north. The most valuable work is the altarpiece of Last Supper painted by the famous painter Viktor Madarász.
Its construction lasted too long, from 1943 to 1993. The building itself was ready pretty soon, but the community was not able for the completion because of the lack of resources. For decades, they conducted worship in the church while the walls were not plastered up and the church members were placed in tree stumps and planks. The situation changed after the change of regime in the early 1990s when the opportunity arose to finish construction. Finally they plastered the walls, and made the benches. The church was consecrated in 1993 by Lorant Hegedüs Protestant bishop 50 years after the foundation stone was laid. The building would originally have had two towers, but ultimately only one tower was finished. The pulpit was built by the minister Ferenc Bajusz with his own hands during the toughest years of the communist dictatorship in the early 1950s. He worked in the position of industrial workers later, than later on he was rehabilitated and became a professor of theology in Budapest. Unfortunately, the church does not have a pipe organ and the acquisition of a smaller bell is among the short-term plans. Meanwhile, the congregation of the church has changed, as beside the people from Vaja another group of people were forced to move from the Debrecen region. Currently, a small but enthusiastic community forms the core of our local protestant congregation. Another seven villages belong to the Magyarbóly parish where they do not have protestant church: Lapáncsa, Illocska, Kislippó, Lippó, Bezedek, Ivándárda and Sárok.
The Roman Catholic Church
They converted a residential house to catholic chapel next to the old bell tower in 1969.
The Serbian Orthodox Churc
The church is in poor condition, was built between 1813 and 1814. The longitudinal axis is perpendicular to the line of the street; the entrance opens to the west.
István Iglódi Kossuth Prize-winning actor and director (29/4/1944 Magyarbóly – 3/12/2009 Budapest) was born here. He played in several well-known films but he was also the director of the famous Márai’s novel, the ‘Candles burn to stab’.