Urbs - Magyar várostörténeti évkönyv 7. (Budapest, 2012)
Recenziók
Abstracts 599 ZSÓFIA SZIRTES „Ipsum populi eligant, qui melius videbitur expedire.” The Urban Policy Questions of János Szász’ Election, the Royal Magistrate from Szeben The vacancy of the Szeben royal magistrate office created a special situation for the Transylvanian Saxon capital, Nagyszeben. Given the fact that the independent Prince of Transylvania wounded up and the extension of the Habsburg Empire was still going on, the city of Nagyszeben tried to make a profit out of the transitional period. By referring to its medieval charter the Andreanum the city wished to reserve the right to elect its own free royal magistrate. Because the office of the Szeben royal magistrate was the office of the Saxon overseer at the same time, this offered a position in the Gubernium (Transylvanian Royal Government), which was essential because of urban, feudal and national interests. In 1697, the election of János Szász (Johannes Zabanius Sachs von Harteneck) launched a debate between the city of Nagyszeben and the Gubernium (Transylvanian Royal Government), which tried to rig the election. The debate was characterized by intentional distortion of facts and misunderstandings. Meanwhile many Transylvanian-Saxon legal historical sources were written, many of which might be related to the debates over the royal magistrate election: the 1698 Szeben royal charters, Johannes Kinder’s book about the Saxon overseers written in 1697, and finally the declaration of the Saxon Government in 1698, which was about the sphere of authority of the Szeben royal magistrate and the mayor. The Vienna Court commanded the Gubernium (Transylvanian Royal Government) to launch an enquiry about the circumstances of the Szeben royal magistrate election and the sphere of authority of the Szeben field-officiers in the Saxon local authority in 1698. The enquiry pointed out that other Saxon local authorities also supported Szeben to have its own royal magistrate election right. However, the sphere of authority of the Szeben mayor and the extramural sphere of authority of the royal magistrate created conflicts between Szeben and several free royal cities (Brassó, Beszterce, Medgyes) of the Saxon Goverment. The Szeben royal magistrate office was especially important for János Szász, who also wished to became the councellor of Transylvanian Royal Government, and in order to be the head of the Szeben royal magistrate office he used his Vienna Court connections. On the other hand, the Gubernium also took steps to prevent János Szászs’ attempts to become the councellor of the Transylanian Royal Government and to exclude him from national politics. The debate over the election of the Szeben royal magistrate office might be interpreted as a case study to understand the urban policy changes in Transylvania in the end of the 17,h century. It also points to - in contrast to the changes in the Hungarian Kingdom - that the Szeben re-election of official was not seriously influenced by the urban policy of the Court Chamber.
