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

Catalogue

of Ladislaus’ majority the Rákos Diet by the Rákos Diet. The goldsmith who engraved the matrix was already employed by the court in 1272, when he made Queen Isabella’s seal. The matching style of the two seals can be explained by their having the same maker.

On the front, a two-line legend without punctuation between beaded lines, outer circle:

S(IGILLUM) LAD IS LAI DEI GRACIA VNGARIE DALMACIE CROVACIE RAME SE inner circle:

RVIE GALICIE LODOM / ERIE CUMANIEQ(UE) REGIS On the reverse, framed in beaded lines:

SIGILLVM LADISLAI TERGII QVINTI STEPHANI REGIS FILII

Originals:

Esztergom, Primatical Archives, Q 10 (seal subsequently attached to a document dated 1274), T 5, T 8.

Budapest, Hungarian National Archives, DL 628, 952, 256, 978.

Eger, Heves County Archives, ME 837.

Copies:

Budapest, Hungarian National Archives, VI 40-41.

Budapest, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Art History, inv. no. 66.1905.

Szentpétery 1923, pp. 314-316; Szcntpétery 1930, fig. 10; RegApr, II, pp. 2-3, 170-171; Kovács 1984, pp. 409, 411,420-421, fig. 6; Árpád-kori oklevelek a Heves Megyei Levéltárban. Ed.: Kondomé Látkóczki Erzsébet. Eger 1997, IX; Kovács 1998, p. 343, fig. 96; Megpecsételt történelem, p. 32; Bodor 2001, p. 8; Királylányok messzi földről 2009, p. 268; Takács 2011, p. 91, fig. 6b.

42.

Ladislaus IV (1272-1290)

Third double seal mid-1286 - early 1287

fragment: 65 x 45 mm

Only one fragmentary impression is known, reduced to the heraldic shield on the reverse. Found by András Hegedűs in the Esztergom Primatical Archives, it was previously unknown in the literature of diplomatics and sigillography. The image on the reverse is the earliest adoption of the composition of Stephen V’s seal (corona et crux). The king figure on the front, of which only a fragment survives, is the work of a goldsmith of outstanding ability with a thorough knowledge of the stylistic devices of late Gothic figurái art. The seal clauses of two documents made after 8 May 1286 may be linked to its manufacture. These note the introduction of a new seal to improve and reform the status of the kingdom: ... sub impressione novi siffilli nostri rejyalis, quod de prelatorum etbaronum nostrorum consiliopro meliomtionestatusregni nostrifecimusinnovari... (HOVI, p. 320; cf. Szentpétery 1923, p. 315). The new seal referred to cannot have been used until 1288, as Szentpétery thought; it could only have lasted for less than a year, between mid-1286 and early 1287. The direct causes for its introduction were probably decisions made at the Rákos Diet of late June and early July 1286, and its period of use was cut short by the defeat of the King’s army at Zsitvatorok at the hands of the Kőszegis and the Borsas in early 1287.

The legend is missing from the fragment.

Original:

Esztergom, Cathedral Chapter Archives, Lad. 76.

Kovács 1998, p. 343, n. 10; Megpecsételt történelem, p. 33; Bodor 2001, p. 9; Takács 2011, p. 91, fig. 7b.

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