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Nobility, Land and Service in Medieval Hungary Martyn Rady Senior Lecturer in Central European History School of Slavonic and East European Studies University College London in association with Palgrave Macmillan
Martyn Rady 2000 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2000 978-0-333-80085-0 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 0LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2000 by PALGRAVE Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE is the new global academic imprint of St. Martin s Press LLC Scholarly and Reference Division and Palgrave Publishers Ltd (formerly Macmillan Press Ltd). ISBN 978-1-349-42076-6 DOI 10.1057/9780333985342 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rady, Martyn C. Nobility, land and service in medieval Hungary / Martyn Rady. p. cm. (Studies in Russia and East Europe) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Hungary History 1000 1699. 2. Nobility Hungary History To 1500. 3. Feudalism Hungary History To 1500. I. University College, London. School of Slavonic and East European Studies. II. Title. III. Series. DB930.5 R33 2000 943.9 dc21 00 041491 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 ISBN 978-0-333-98534-2 (ebook)
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vii D a n u b S a v a H O L Y R O M A N D A L M A T ADRIATIC SEA D e r B O H E M AUSTRIA ZAGREB Modrus C R O A T I A I A a v a E M Vienna Koszeg KORÖS Zagreb P I R E ZALA ^ Vodica I A SOPRON Pozsony Gyor S L A V O N I A Banate of Jajce M O R Székesfehérvár Veszprém SOMOGY BOSNIA Trencsén POZSEGA A V I A Nyitra Esztergom Pécs Banate of Srebrenik BARS Buda VALKÓ S I ÁRVA LIPTÓ Vác Pest Kalocsa BÁCS Bács L E Banate of Macsó Zólyom Cumans S I A SZEPESSÉG GÖMÖR ABAÚJ Gönc Diósgyor Eger Csanád Belgrade O T T O M A T s i z a SZABOLCS Keve P O L A Arad KRASSÓ Haram BIHAR Várad Munkács HUNYAD Temesvár TEMES Romanians N MÁRAMAROS Kolozsvár Szörény N D T R A N S Y E M D a M a r os Gyulafehérvár FEHÉR Saxons WALLACHIA n u b e L V Szekels A N I A MOLDAVIA P I R E 0 50 100 200 300 kms Map 1: Hungary in the fifteenth century
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Contents Acknowledgements Abbreviations used for Commonly Cited Sources List of Maps xi xiii xv Introduction 1 1. Werb oczy and the Hungarian nobility 1 2. A note on sources 8 1 The Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries 11 1.1. The work of the early Árpád kings 11 1.2. Households 16 1.3. Distinctions of men 20 1.4. Inheritance and the kindred 22 2 Origins of the Hungarian Nobility 28 2.1. The aristocracy and landownership 28 2.2. From servientes to nobles 35 2.3. Nobles and counties 39 3 Territorial Lordship 45 3.1. Dividing the land 45 3.2. Castle and lordship 48 3.3. Immunity and jurisdiction 54 3.4. Land and status 58 4 Authentication 62 4.1. Oral testimony and the pristaldus 62 4.2. Loca credibilia 66 4.3. The loca credibilia and inquisitions 70 4.4. Language and authentication 74 5 Conditional Nobles 79 5.1. Praediales and nobiles iobagiones 79 5.2. Landholding in the Highlands 85 5.3. Szörény and the Southern Danube 90 6 The Kindred and the Quarter 96 6.1. The solidarity of the kindred 96 ix
x Contents 6.2. Inheritance law and the new donation 97 6.3. The daughters quarter 103 6.4. Prefection 107 7 Familiaritas 110 7.1. Public and private power 110 7.2. Familiares and their duties 112 7.3. Lordship and its obligations 120 7.4. Land and service 123 7.5. The royal aula and the ethos of chivalry 126 8 Offices and Honores 132 8.1. Definition and significance 132 8.2. Castles and honores 133 8.3. Revenues and distribution 137 8.4. Honores as fiefs 142 9 Military Obligation 144 9.1. Personal service and noble taxation 144 9.2. Banderia 146 9.3. Reform and differentiation of service 149 9.4. A note on numbers 156 10 Counties and Corporations 158 10.1. Crown and estates 158 10.2. Counties and the settlement of disputes 162 10.3. The counties and the regnum 169 10.4. The counties and familiaritas 173 Conclusion 179 Notes 183 Works Cited 213 Index 225
Acknowledgements My first thanks are due to the Council of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London, for granting me a year s study leave in the session 1997 8. The School s Research Policy and Funding Committee also provided generous support for several visits to Budapest in the autumn of 1998. Earlier drafts of this text were read by Professor János Bak of the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University in Budapest, by Damir Karbić of the Croatian Academy of Sciences in Zagreb, and by Professor Pál Engel of the Institute of History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Professor Engel was also kind enough to let me read a preliminary version of his new history of medieval Hungary. Throughout the writing of the present book, my former supervisor, Professor László Péter of the University of London, has maintained a critical and watchful eye, and has given most generously of his time. I continue to be indebted to his scholarly advice and example. I have also benefited from discussions with my colleagues at the School, Professor Dennis Deletant, Professor Robert Pynsent, Dr Daniel Abondolo, Peter Sherwood, Dr Kieran Williams, Dr Wendy Bracewell and Tim Beasley-Murray, as well as from much earlier conversations in Budapest with the now late Professors Elemér Mályusz, Jen o Sz ucs and Erik Fügedi. It was the last of these who, more than fifteen years ago, first alerted me to some of the opportunities for research on the medieval Hungarian nobility. Previous versions of parts of the present book were delivered as papers at the School s annual Romanian Studies Day, to the School s Centre for the Study of Central Europe, and to the Medieval Nobility Workshop organized by the Department of Medieval Studies of the Central European University in Budapest. I am most grateful for the comments and advice received on all these occasions. MARTYN RADY School of Slavonic and East European Studies University College London xi
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List of Abbreviations Used for Commonly Cited Sources Árpád-kori történeti földrajz: György Györffy, Az Árpád-kori Magyarország történeti földrajza, 4 vols, 1963 98. AO: Anjou-kori okmánytár (Codex Diplomaticus Hungaricus Andegavensis), (ed), Imre Nagy, Gyula Nagy, 7 vols, Budapest, 1878 1920. AUO: Árpád-kori új okmánytár (Codex Diplomaticus Arpadianus Continuatus), (ed) Gusztáv Wenzel, 12 vols, Pest-Budapest, 1860 78. Blágay család oklevéltára: A Blágay család oklevéltára 1260 1578 (Codex diplomaticus Comitum de Blagay), (Monumenta Hungarica Historica, 28), (eds) Lajos Thallóczy, Samu Barabás, Budapest, 1897. CJH, i: Corpus Juris Hungaricae (Magyar törvénytár), (ed.) Dezs o Márkus, i, 1899. Diplomata Hungariae Antiquissima: Diplomata Hungariae Antiquissima, i, (ed.) György Györffy, Budapest, 1992. Dl: Hungarian National Archive, Budapest, Collectio Ante-Mohácsiana. DRH 1301 1457: Decreta Regni Hungariae (Gesetze und Verordnungen Ungarns) 1301 1457, (eds) Ferenc Döry, György Bónis, Vera Bácskai, Budapest, 1976. DRH 1458 1490: Decreta Regni Hungariae (Gesetze und Verordnungen Ungarns) 1458 1490, (eds) György Bónis, Ferenc Döry, Géza Érszegi, Zsuzsa Teke, Budapest, 1989. DRMH: Laws of the Medieval Kingdom of Hungary (Decreta Regni Mediaevalis Hungariae) 1000 1490, (eds) János M. Bak, György Bónis, James Ross Sweeney, Leslie S. Domokos, Paul B. Harvey, 3 vols, Los Angeles, 1989 96. Krassó vármegye története: Krassó vármegye története, (ed.) Frigyes Pesty, vols iii iv (Oklevéltár), Budapest, 1882 3. Lexikon: Korai magyar történeti lexikon (9 14. sz.), (eds) Gyula Kristó, Pál Engel, Ferenc Makk, Budapest, 1994. Mon. Strig.: Monumenta Ecclesiae Strigoniensis, (eds) N. Knauz, L.C. Dedek, 3 vols, Esztergom, 1874 1924. Oklevelek Temesvármegye: Oklevelek Temesvármegye és Temesvár város történetéhez, iv (Oklevelek, i), (ed) Tivadar Ortvay, Pozsony, 1896. PRT: A pannonhalmi Szent-Benedek-rend története, (eds) László Érdelyi, Pongrác Sörös, 12 vols, Budapest, 1902 16. xiii
xiv List of Abbreviations Used for Commonly Cited Sources RR: Regesta regum stirpis Arpadianae critico-diplomatica (Az Árpád-házi királyok okleveleinek kritikai jegyzéke), (eds) Imre Szentpétery, Iván Borsa, vol 1 (3 parts), vol 2 (4 parts), Budapest, 1923 87. Smičiklas: Smičiklas, T. (ed.), Codex Diplomaticus Regni Croatiae, Dalmatiae et Slavoniae, vols ii xix, Zagreb, 1904 16. Tripartitum: Werb oczy, István. Tripartitum operis juris, (eds) Sándor Kolozsvári, Kelemen Óvári, Budapest, 1897. Zimmermann-Werner: Urkundenbuch zur Geschichte der Deutschen in Siebenbürgen, (eds) Franz Zimmermann, Carl Werner, G. Müller, G. Gündisch, 5 vols, Hermannstadt Bucharest, 1892 1975. ZsO: Zsigmondkori oklevéltár, (eds) Elemér Mályusz, Iván Borsa, 4 vols, Budapest, 1951 94.
List of Maps 1 Hungary in the fifteenth century vii 3.1 Kindreds and landholding in Bihar County in the early fourteenth century (Source: György Györffy, Az Árpád-kori Magyarország történeti földrajza, second edn, i, Budapest, 1987, pp. 580 1) 52 xv