Ságvári Ágnes (szerk.): Budapest. The History of a Capital (Budapest, 1975)
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citizens shall be presented to the Royal Majesty or to the Lord Chief Treasurer or to the Castellan of Buda Castle in sign of their great fidelity. Over and above this, we will and do firmly ordain that the Commune shall at no time whatsoever and in no case and in no matter whatsoever meet, nor shall be obliged to meet without the knowledge or against the consent of the magistrate and the aldermen, without prejudice to the authority of the king or the Lord Chief Treasurer or the Castellan of Buda Castle; and should they nonetheless do so, and should they attempt anything against this command, they shall be amerced of a hundred marks of pure and refined silver and they shall pay it at once without remission. And therefore let none have the temerity or presumption to meet in counsel in secret or in public, in a tavern or in the street, in a hidden or obscure or in open place in any matter or in any event within, or beyond the Council of the magistrate and the aldermen, under penalty of a fine of hundred marks denarii, which will be exacted in full from the presumptuous man by the Royal Majesty. And we will and confirm that propertyless men shall have no voice and part in the election of the magistrate and the aldermen. Further we will and declare that it is our present pleasure that over and above the twelve aldermen who are lawfully elected with every year in our aforesaid city of Buda, the twenty-four men whom certain men of poor condition have in recent times begun to elect over and above the twelve, shall no longer be elected. Furthermore if a tax be imposed by the Royal Majesty and by the city out of necessity or for profit, for any reason or out of any consideration in the city itself, over and above the tax named collecta due to the king annually from said city, such tax shall be assessed by prudent and suitable men elected by the Commune for this purpose and shall be levied and gathered by these men, and they shall deliver the tax gathered to the aldermen in order that the aldermen themselves shall deliver the tax to the royal court or devote it to the needs or benefit of the city, and they shall render account of it with the receipts of the court and other necessary documents before Saint George’s Day upon resigning their office. And that these several rulings shall acquire binding and perpetual force we have given orders that our present charter be issued to these same citizens, confirmed with our secret seal, in which we have inserted the names of the prelates, the barons and the notables of our kingdom who were with us at the time of such decisions and resolutions, and the regulation and increase of such liberties. The names of the aforesaid prelates, barons and notables are these: the Most Reverend Fathers, Valentine, Cardinal of Pécs, Andrew, Archbishop of Spalato, John, Bishop of Győr; as well as Nicholas Marcali and Nicholas Csáki, formerly Vaivodes of Transylvania, Stephen Kanizsai, formerly the Grand Master of the gaolers, Jacob Laczkfi, Vaivode of Transylvania, Charles, count of Corbavia, Castellan of Visegrád Castle, and Zoeltus Kassis, Castellan of Buda Castle. Present were numerous other notables and knights of our kingdom who hold the lordlieutenancies and offices of our kingdom. Given at Buda, on the Sunday following the Feast of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the year of our Lord one thousand and four hundred and three. The Latin original is missing. The transcript of 1498 is in the Kolozsvár (Cluj) section of the Rumanian Academy of Sciences: Archives of the Macskássy Family, Tinkova, No. 894. 82
