Fejér Megyei Történeti Évkönyv 6. (Székesfehérvár, 1972)

Tanulmányok - Az Aranybulla. A hétszázötvenedik évfordulóján (Közzéteszi: Érszegi Géza) - The Golden Bull

THE GOLDEN BULL (on its seven hundred and fiftieth anniversary) Székesfehérvár, where St. Stephen, the first king of Hungary (1000—1038.) has been buried and where the Hungarian kings used to be crowned up to the sixteenth century, is called to our mind by (this significant source of Hungarian history. The Golden Bull that takes its name from the golden seal of solemn documents, contains Andrew II, King of Hungary's (1205—1235) decree of the royal assizes to be held at Székesfehérvár as well. All the seven originál copies of the Golden Bull (A) looked upon throughout centuries as the foundation-stone of the privileges of nobility of Hungary have been lost. The Golden Bull — as it seems — lapsed in the thirteenth century, King Andrew II renewed it namely in 1231 with some additions and omissions. The record inserting the Golden Bull (V) has survived not in the original but in transcript — or rather — in a copy of the document containing the transcript. In the following, i. e. in the fourteenth century it was still not the document renewed in 1231 but the one edited in 1222 presented to King Charles I (1310—1342.) for confirmation as a decision of the diet-held supposedly in 1318 in the King's absence-by four Hungarian prelates, who had had one of the seven copies literally engrossed and corroborated it with their seals. The King did not renew the Golden Bull. It is undeniable that the text transcribed in 1351 by Louis I King of Hungary (1342—1382.) (L) derives from one of the A copies. Since that time none of the seven issues edited by King Andrew II is to be found, and the Kings of Hungary have transcribed and confirmed the text of the Golden Bull inserted by King Louis I into his own solemn charter. The text of the Golden Bull having remained in a fair number of sources, it is difficult to publish it with all its reading versions. Figures and signs used for editing medieval documents are inexpedient on account of the innumerable reading versions: they are likely, as it were, to obscure the text itself. Thus, we should like to edit the text of the Golden Bull by availing ourselves of the method adapted by some editors: those words to be supplied with comments will be found under with their explanation together by the aid of the numeros of the lines. This method of working adapted seldom in text edition so far claims close attention from the reader according to some. I wonder, whether those text edited in the conventional way could be read carelessly. It is quite unlikely. In editing the text of the Golden Bull we have endeavoured to restitute verbatim the text of the seven issues edited in 1222 relying on the strength of the sources still extant, but it has not been worth while to aim at a restitution of ortography being it in the Middle Ages not uniform at all.