Takács Imre: Az Árpád-házi királyok pecsétjei (Corpus sigillorum hungariae mediaevalis 1. Budapest, 2012)

Catalogue

Legend of dense, thin-lined, high letters without punctuation or spaces, using ligatures (OA) and enclaves (DA, Cl), between beaded lines:

BELA DEI GRACIA [GEI]SE REGIS FILIVS HVNGARIE DALMACIE CRHOACIE RAME REX

Original:

Budapest, Hungarian National Archives, V4 3. (probably from the charter of grant of Borsmonostor issued around 1190:

MOL DL 36)

Copies:

Budapest History Museum, inv. no. 66.1876.

Budapest, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Art History, inv. no. 1144.

Pray, VII/3; Marczali 1896, fig. p. 335; Forster 1900, p. 149; Bartoniek 1924, p. 18, p. 26; Gerevich 1938, pp. 210-211, fig. CCXXXIII/2; Domanovszky 1939, p. 129; Makkni -Mezey I960, fig. 11/a; 111. Béla emlékezete 1981, fig. 5; MTII, fig. 237;

Bodor 2001, p. 5, fig. 16.

18.

Béla III (1172-1196)

Signet ring

diam: 13-11 mm

Irregularly-shaped impression as counterseal of royal seal. Probably a gem seal. Severely blurred, carved image: horse and rider galloping to the right, behind the figure a shape which may be interpreted as a fluttering cloak. Use of the royal signet ring together with the royal seal is mentioned in an 1181 charter of Béla III granting Topusko to the Bishopric of Zagreb: ... regali sigillo et emuli mei inpressione roboraui (CAH, n. 41, p. 81). The custom demonstrably goes back to Stephen Ill’s chancellery, and it continued in the reign of Béla Ill’s son Emeric. The ring itself was probably the same royal heirloom in all three cases. Stephen Ill’s great seal only retains the place of the signet impression, but the carved image can be discerned on Béla III and Emeric’s seals.

Original:

Budapest, Hungarian National Archives, V4 3. (the broken-off seal probably comes from the charter of grant of Borsmonostor issued around 1190: MOL DL 36)

Copies:

Budapest History Museum, inv. no. 66.1876.

Budapest, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Art History, inv. no. 1144.

Gesztelyi - Rdcz 2006, p. 70.

19.

Béla III (1172-1196)

Gold bulla

gold, pressed from Wo plates; diam: 26-27 mm; 6.60 gr

Round disc pressed from two dies with designs on both sides. Metal bullae with multiple legends on the reverse were an old type from the eleventh and twelfth centuries (Peter, Solomon, Géza II). Béla Ill’s successor Emeric broke the tradition by introducing the first Hungarian royal seal which bore a coat of arms. A charter of Béla III

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