My essay is on the development of autonomy of the country-towns and the changes of their relationship with the Hungarian county, the land lords, and the Turks. My research is based on the analysis of original account books of Debrecen and Nagykőrös. The situation of these towns was special in the 17th century, among other things, because of their geographical location. Debrecen situated at the border of the three big powers and Nagykőrös placed inside of the Turkish Empire. Later the country-town leaders were able to pay the cost of autonomy. The county administration system disappeared in the Turkish territory, but the functions of it were continued. For example the assembly of Pest county was hold in Fülek which was outside of the county. The administrative bodies of the counties worked according to the old Hungarian regulations. Turkish ruling was considered temporary. It was hard to keep contact between the county and the towns. It was one of the reasons of establishing municipal self government. These towns regularly paid tax to the Hungarian land lords and a higher amount to the Turks. The land lords who escaped from the Turkish territory were still in power. The towns paid the tax to the lords in a lump sum. The lords didn’t exercise their power. The town leaders recognized this situation and reached economical and later political autonomy that was very expensive. After the end of Turkish ruling the counties (re)expanded but the local self governing system was maintained.