Acta Papensia 2002 - A Pápai Református Gyűjtemények Közleményei 2. évfolyam (Pápa, 2002)
1-2. szám - Műhely - Horváth József: írásbeliség és végrendelkezési gyakorlat Győrben a XVII. században
Műhely found in the contemporary legal status of the town itself. At around this time, Győr was a market town under the jurisdiction of the seignorial cathedral chapter; and having testaments made was in the interest of the landowner for more reasons: testators bequathed some — often smaller — amounts to their landlord, and there was a pious legacy for the church of the chapter (perhaps to win their good intentions), and they were expected to pay some extra money for the confirmation of the testament — therefore every written testament meant an important source of income for the chapter; so it is hardly by mere chance that the copies of most of these testaments found their way into the testament book of the chapter. The inhabitants of the town were interested in having testaments made, because they could — pursuant to paragraph 30 of Part III in Werbőczy’s Tripartitum (a book of authority on Hungarian customary law from 1514) — freely dispose of the half of their goods acquired; and besides they could dispose of a substitution by will in case none of the minor beneficiaries would not live to see adulthood thus they could not dispose of the future fate of their own chattels. From the viewpoint of our topic the comparative analysis of the remaining sources at various archival stores can yield exciting results: especially the letters of testament or rather the thorough collation of the copies in testament books could serve some lesson what the relation between verbality and written records had been in the period's practice of the delivery of testaments in Győr. The second part of the study tried to collect the additional material in connection with the written practice of the contents of testaments. First of all, the manifestations referring to the role of written records were taken into account: testators often indicate the existence of some lists (register, catalogue), debentures, deeds of donation, confessions (fassio), or some similar documents, but mention is also made of records in calendars. We can also find data about books, education, and we can come across donations in favour of schools or students — some of the most interesting ones are mentioned in the study, the last chapter of which scrutinizes the signatures found in the sources, summarizing the factual results, but mentioning the major problems that arose during the investigation. All in all, we can state that the position of Győr in the 17th century made it desirable and necessary for both parties, namely the cathedral chapter and the burghers, that testaments be recorded and the careful protection in testamental books by copying them there; but, there had been the possible conditions — as witnessed by the contents of the testaments at around this time. 98 ActaPapensiaII. (2002) 1-2.
