The National Archives of Hungary (Budapest, 2006)

NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL ARCHIVES OF NATIONAL COLLECTION - Hungarian National Archives by Géza Érszegi and István G. Vass

Although each entity arranged into the sections (archives, fond, holdings) of the Hungarian National Archives each entity possesses its own unique value. They can be delineated as follows: The Hungarian Chancellery Archives- (1526-1848, Section A), maintains the documents of head offices of the Hungarian administration called the Hungarian Court Chancellery. In the royal court in Vienna (between 1576 and 1612 in Prague) it worked on the foundation formed in the Middle Ages. Important matters relating to the Hungarian affairs were submitted to the ruler by the Chancellery and passed the decrees on behalf of the king who was in correspondence with the court authorities by imperial jurisdiction. Finance, military and military affairs did not belong to his competence because he had a subordinate role in them. Its archives were delivered from Vienna to Pest in 1872. We know about its operation between 1527 and 1690 from the documents of the Hungarian Council which used to work in coordination with the chancellery. The whole series of the chancellery presentations have been preserved for us from the reorganization of the year of 1690. According to the official reform the affairs were arranged by four councillors and two secretaries. The causes were discussed at board-meetings. The series of average documents of different affairs discussed at the chancellery board-meetings have been preserved since the reorganization of the year of 1770. One of the most important series is the Royal Books maintained through the Middle Ages and there after. The texts of the most important monarchiái donations were registered here. They also include not only the pictures of the coat-of-arms, but also the texts of the royal donation of the coat-of-arms from the middle of the 18

th century. The Transylvanian Chancellery Archives ( 1686 - 1867 B section ) involves the archives of the Transylvanian Court Chancellery, which was organized after Transylvania was subjected to Hapsburg reign. ( 1693 ) It began its regular operation in Vienna in 1695. It forwarded the directions of the court to Transylvanian government offices and it forwarded their reports and proposals to the court. Its activity was similar to that of the Hungarian Chancellery but its competence was smaller. The material of the Archives of the Council of governor-general came into being during the work of Hungarian Royal Council of governor-general ,the main operating office in Hungary, first in Pozsony (today Bratislava) then in Buda and which was organised in 1723. The leader of the office was the palatine. Its competence spread all over Hungary. The military frontiers and Transylvania were not subordinated to it. Everything from economical life to culture came