A Historical and Archival Guide to Székesfehérvár (Székesfehérvár, 2003)

A SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY OF SZÉKESFEHÉRVÁR

Besides the town being a sanctified centre it was also a place of culture during these centuries. The provosts of Székesfehérvár left numerous excellent works for us. Akos, who completed the H un-Hungarian Chronicle was custos of Székesfehérvár. Márk Kálti the author of the Illustrated Chronicle of Hungary held the same position. Domonkos Kálmáncsehi the provost of Saint Nicolas chapter also worked here ( 1474-1495), later he became the Bishop of Várad, then that of Transvlvania, finally he was made the Archbishop of Kalocsa. He was an outstanding humanist, the confidant and a diplomat of King Matthias. Kálmáncsehi placed a memorial tablet in the street where Prince Saint Emeric had been born. (The tablet was found in 1734, however it disappeared later on). The provost of the Saint Nicolas collegiate church, which was outside of the town walls, was the humanist Orbán Dóczi ofNagylucse who later became the Bishop of Vienna. Custos Miklós Oláh, the humanist of distinction and the author of Hungária also worked here. First, the princely town was guarded by a palisade. The earliest certain data about the settlement being a castle are from King Peter's, then from the first years of Béla I's reign; in 1061 the noblemen and the dignitaries of the church took shelter in the castle when a pagan revolt broke out during the national assembly. Fehérvár was known as the "metropolis", the capital of the country. Further constructions of the castle were carried out during the period of Charles Anjou, the renovation of the fortification was done during the reign of King Matthias, according to historical sources. The castle was rebuilt in 1473 and in 1485. The royal place was built in King Stephen's time, tradition has it that Prince Emeric was born here in 1007. Later the new royal palace and the citadel was finished during the reign of Béla IV, in the northern part of the castle near the Buda Gate. It is assumed that King Stephen I, the founder of the state introduced the Royal assizes. The administration of justice was originally held on the dav of the Virgin Mary in the presence of the king, it was also the day of King Saint Stephen's death. Later on it was moved to 20 August, the day of King Stephen's canonisation. Keeping the royal assizes was also enacted by the Golden Bull. The royal assizes later