Szőcs Tibor: A nádori intézmény korai története 1000-1342 - Subsidia ad historiam medii aevi Hungariae inquirendam 5. (Budapest, 2014)
Rövidítések és bibliográfia
An Early History of the Palatinal Institution: 1000-1342 (Abstract) The paper discusses the first 340 years of the history of the palatinal institution. The 'palatine' (Hungarian: nádorispán or nádor in short; Latin, until the beginning of the 13th century: comes palatinus, from the 1230s up to the end of the examined period simply: palatinus) was politically the highest non-dynastic secular dignity after the king in medieval Hungary. From the point of view of the history of institutions, the palatine was one of the heads of judicial administration. At first he acted when the king had to be replaced, but later the palatine acted as the head of an independent judicial forum, and as the head of the highest judicial organ after the royal court. The first three chapters deal with the introductory questions and the origins of the office, and survey the history of the first two centuries of palatinal institution, roughly until the time when the palatine got separated from the royal court and emerged as the head of an independent judicial forum. It is this part of the dissertation where the problems of terminology are discussed. There is only indirect evidence proving that the palatinal institution appeared already during the reign of St. Stephen (1000-1038), becouse the first person who held the office of the palatine was Samuel Aba. He appeared in 1041, during the reign of King Peter, but it can be excluded that it was Peter who had raised Samuel Aba to this important office, since Peter relied on a western power base. Consequenty, it can be taken for granted that the institution of the palatine was established in Hungary by St. Stephen, and that the first palatine was Samuel Aba. St. Stephen introduced the office of the palatine to the Hungarian institutional system as part of the Bavarian model that was combined with Carolingian antecedents. The Latin technical terms and the characteristics in the early scope of duties of this dignity unanimously verify this assertion. Nevertheless, the institution of the palatine soon had gone through alterations in the Hungarian situation. By the end of the 12th century the office of the palatine had become settled; it can be considered a special and unique Hungarian institution. Initially the palatine was the chief justice of the people who lived on royal landed estates ( udvornici), and he replaced the king in the royal court. It is highly probable that he also had other economic functions. The palatine did not have an independent judicial bench at the beginning of the 12th century, but he continued to replace the monarch, as he had done before. The palatinal bench, as such, was established during the reign of Bela III (most probably in 1192). It was then, that the comes curie took over, on behalf of the king, the administration of justice. The office of the palatine got i I
