Köcski Sándor királyi országbíró működésének okleveles adatai : 1324-1328

The reunification of the Hungarian Kingdom fragmented in the early 14. Century completed successfully by 1323. In addition to the introduction of numerous reforms, King Charles I. (Charles of Anjou) re-organized the government in the country which included the significant element of restoring the order of royal jurisdiction. The foundations of the above were laid down by the kindred Hermán, Royal Lord Chief Justice, and following his death in 1324 his successor, Sándor Lord Chief Justice, who came from Köcsk village Vasvár County, consolidated the organization and operating practices of the highest level of jurisdiction that concentrated in the royal court in Visegrád. The present study seeks to present the life and work of Sándor Lord Chief Justice, which initially proved to be successful in the military area. He rose to the dignity of becoming a member of the country’s first line leadership; however, his relationship ties with the similarly ambitious, socially recently advanced members and families of the renewed social elite might have assisted in this process in the days of Charles I. The years of the activities of Sándor Lord Chief Justice are documented by certificates of which survival was continuous and consistent. On the basis of their examination, the distinctive characteristic of his judicial practice was the continued consolidation of the role of certificates in the taking of evidence. Court cases were less frequently resolved by duels, and although sentences were often brought after taking the oath, the judge’s assessment sought to rely mainly on the content of the presented conclusive documents in the investigation of the state of affairs. The trend in more serious cases shows that particularly when churches, prestigious families and people close to the king were the interested parties of trials, the documents of the Lord Chief Justice listed fellow judges by their names in almost all cases. This practice might have aimed at sharing the judge’s responsibility; however, the persons of contributors to legislation clearly represented a body of in-depth understanding of law and proficiency in legal administration

A Szádeczky-Kardoss család Árpád-kori oklevelei

The documents of the Szadeczky archives are collected basically from the 16th- 19th centuries but a few records originating from the times before 1526 can also been found there. There are only five documents, which deriving from the Pre-Mohacs Collection. But the researchers can find some records connected with the areas and persons mentioned in the documents of the Szadeczky archives in other collections. Of these four charters are relevant to the Arpadian period. The oldest one is from 1259, issued by King Bela IV. Therefore, despite some earlier objections to the dating of the above-mentioned charter of privilege, researchers have not doubted its authenticity, because its irregularities can be explained. Studying the particulars of the set of documents from the Arpadian period, it can be stated that they show some contradictions as to their contents. So the authenticity of the royal deed from 1259 is doubtful. As regards the conclusions of this paper, the above-mentioned charter should be regarded as a record of uncertain authenticity rather than a real royal charter from the age of King Bela IV

Megjegyzések Nagymartoni Pál királyi országbíró pályájához és működéséhez, 1328-1349

Pál Nagymartoni played a crucial role in the royal system of jurisdiction in the 14. Century. Once King Charles I. had eliminated the fragmentation of his country by force of arms, he implemented institutional reforms in the 1320s. To this end, he restored the single royal jurisdiction lead by the Lord Chief Justice (iudex curiae regiae), who replaced the Ruler. In the first phase of consolidation in the country, Sándor Köcski held this office and after his death, his brother-in-law, Pál Nagymartoni was handed this honour. He fulfilled his position for 21 years, and during this period the institutional structure of the Lord Chief Justice Office gained strength. He developed a court of justice capable of taking measures in the whole territory of the kingdom in an effective, coherent and balanced way, which had jurisdiction primarily over land-related issues of noblemen. Regarding evidence forms, material evidence came into prominence as opposed to formal ones and an especially great focus was given to considering the certifying force of certificates. In the period under discussion, the rules of procedural law became a lot more sophisticated, and their consistent application was rigorously supervised in legal procedures. In increasingly complicated legal proceedings the administration focused more and more on formality, and legal formalism became explicitly and substantially far-reaching. A substantial amount of legal documents, more than three thousand certificates remained from the period when Pál Nagymartoni fulfilled the role of Lord Chief Justice. The study seeks to discuss the working life of the Lord Chief Justice and gives full details about the establishment of his family of Aragon origin in Hungary, the date and circumstances of Pál’s entering into office, and his political role occasionally manifested in addition to his activities as the judge. To present his judicial practice, the present study introduces the summary of a complex lawsuit that remained from 1332 and is merely available in a manuscript form. It also publishes the version of the Latin text of the certificate prepared for the purpose of the present study. This source is of utmost historiographic significance not only for the accurate illustration of the applied rules of procedure, but because it includes specific information regarding the estates of the castle of data-poor Borsod, which fell into decay early, and that of the contemporary administrative centre

Az 1329. évi "residentia exercitus regis"

In 13-14 centuries there used to be a dating method in Hungary not applied in anywhere else in Europe. The dates of legal cases suspended because of royal military campaigns would be set by determining a particular period following the disbandment after which the parties had to appear in court. The phrase residentia exercitus regis refers to the day of disbandment. There ara several documents dated according to the day of residentia. The fact that the correspondence between the day of a certain disbandments and its exact calender day is generally not known makes the chronological registration difficult. I will examine each reference to any residentia exercitus regis and will come to the conclusion that the former assumption which dated the day of residentia exercitus regis of 1329 after 1 August is inaccurate. The data clearly show that the day in question is 13 January 1329 when the army taking part in the military campaign against Austria was disbanded