Levéltári Közlemények, 63. (1992)

Levéltári Közlemények, 63. (1992) 1–2. - Solymosi László: Az egri káptalan dékánválasztási statútumai a XV. századból / 137–156. o.

156 , Solymosi László THE FIFTEENTH-CENTURY STATUTES FOR THE ELECTION OF DEANS OF THE CHARTER OF EGER László Solymosi Statutes (statuta, constitutiones) regulating the everyday life and Operation of prebendary canonry bodies in Hungary since the fourteenth Century have been preserved. From this period we know only the Statutes of the cathedral chapters of Zagrab (today: Zagreb), Várad (today: Oradea), and Esztergom, yet the fourteenth Century was undeniably the era of the creation of major Statutes. Later, only the joint chapter of Pozsony (today: Bratislava) composed a comparably thorough Statute. But countless Statutes arose to regulate individual cases or kinds of questions. Among these is the Statute issued by the chapter of Eger in 1478 because the office of dean had been unoccupied for a few years. The Statute had 29 articles; at the order of the provost five more articles were added in 1480. The 34 articles determined the procedure for the election of deans, the duties and the rights of the deans. The dean was the administrator of the chapter's estates, and he collected and distributed among the canons the ecclesiastic and seigneurial revenue. For his tireless work he received two canonry shares from this revenue, and received other income as well. The careful definition of the activities of the dean, the guarantee of significant income, and the threat of heavy punishment in the event that the candidate rejected his election, all had the desired effect. After a short transitional period, the institution of the deanery in Eger was stabilized.