Horváth Richárd: Itineraria regis Matthiae Corvini et reginae Beatricis de Aragonia, 1458-[1476]-1490 - Subsidia ad historiam medii aevi Hungariae inquirendam 2. (Budapest, 2011)
9. Summary
ITINERARIA REGUM ET REGINARIUM REGNI HUNGÁRIÁÉ What has been said so far has serious consequences for the database of the itinerary, however. If the major part of the charters issued under the judicial and secret seals fail the test of critical examination, almost fourteen thousand charters would be lost for the itinerary. Thus, the number of undubious points of reference is dramatically reduced. 3. The appearance of the so-called smaller or auxiliary seals is of crucial importance. They are especially relevant in the period between 1468 and 1473, for the circumstances and time of their emergence reflect in each case the king's personal will, and accordingly accompany him for all of his journeys. And, when Matthias stays at Buda, they stay with him as well. Yet, whatever their importance, they only concern a mere six years within the long reign of the king. 4. It is in this respect that the annular seals, of which there were four, but are found on only some hundred charters, are of crucial importance. Their appearance, apart from some years in the 1470s and the last decade of the reign, is rather sporadic. Indeed, in the 1480s two annual seals were used apparently simultaneously, which again involves an element of risk with regard to the itinerary. Luckily for the historian, the hierarchical relationship between the two seals can be determined relatively easily. Whereas one of them has survived on only a few charters, the other can be inspected on dozens of well identifiable imprints. 5. Beyond any doubt, the most solid elements of the itinerary are the charters which bear the king's manu propria. Although their number is less than a hundred, their temporal distribution over a long time span makes them suitable to serve as a sort of spinal column for the itinerary. For the time being, no doubt can be cast on them, for all signs seem to attest that they were indeed subscribed by Matthias himself. The only question that can be raised in this respect is whether it was done at the time and place indicated in the dating of the charter. So much about the relationship between the seals and the person of the king. What has become evident is that the sequence of localities arranged in chronological order according to the dating of the charters will not, in itself, faithfully reflect the spacial movement of the ruler. This brief summary should be concluded by reference to two further methodological considerations. One of them concerns the so-called datum et actum problem. The expression will certainly be familiar to anyone who reads handbooks of diplomatics or political history, or expert literature on the making of itineraries, in any language. This phenomenon, which has been known and described since the middle of the 19th century, hides another pitfall for the makers of itineraries. The basic problem is whether the dating of the charter corresponds to the time when the charter itself was drafted or to the time when the act which constitutes the subject matter of the charter really happened. It goes without saying that the two were not necessarily identical, and this can again be a source of error. The phenomenon can be documented from the reign of Matthias as well, although in only a handful of cases from 1460, 1466 and 1482. Yet all of these differ from the "classical" form of datum et actum in at least one crucial aspect. By the second half of the 15th century the production of charters had assumed a 172
