Kujbusné Mecsei Éva - Mykhailo Mishuk (szerk.): Bereg vármegye pecsétjei - A Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg Megyei Levéltár Kiadványai II. Közlemények 47. (Nyíregyháza, 2017)
At the request of Bereg county made own county seal, by the king authority. “On the county seal this appearance of progress was temporary, when the prefect or the viceprefect not yet use signet ring with his own coat of arms, but sealed the charters with signet ring with the county seal or sealed with little tipdrium. At the same time this step did not supersede the sealing by the sheriffs.” 14 The common practice for the introduction of county seals was that the county assembly requested the king to issue a permission, which the king did in an official royal charter. Upon receiving the royal charter, the county assembly decided upon the form of the signets. The seal of the county was stored in a chest made for that specific purpose. The chest was closed with the seals of the vice-prefect, the sheriffs and the jurors. 15 The county seal was only removed from the chest when there was a trial or other occasion when the great seal was needed for the verification of official documents. Before the seal was attached to a paper, the notary and the literate officials present still signed it.16 * The seal of the county was determined by the orders of the county. 17 ’’The illustrations and heraldic images on the seals of the counties were often influenced by the coat of arms of the eternal prefect of the county concerned, some important historical events, the geographical-natural features of the counties, the major castles and towns, agricultural produce, minerals, and sometimes even the rivers. Also, the larger region a county belonged to and the ethnic composition of the local population were usually taken into consideration when the figures illustrating a seal were selected. ”18 * At the time of the tax collection of 1567, Bereg county still did not have a seal. The county assembly only accepted a resolution a few years later, in 1571, declaring that ’’no objection should be raised against the lack of seals any more”14 and together with the duly authorized signatures, only one single seal is to be attached to the documents. The documents then ’’shall be stored until the due date of the next assembly in a chest, sealed and locked by the judges and jurors, signed by the vice-prefect, jurors and judges who are able to read and write, and shall be released from the chest to individuals with appropriate authorization.”20 There were, however, still objections to the use of the county seal, since the old tradition had been closing the documents with the seals of the officials present on the occasion. The 14 15 16 Iván Borsa: Somogy vármegye címere és pecsétje 1498. http://library.hungaricana.hu/hu/view/SOMM_ sk_116/?pg=13Sdayout=s (accessed 2 March 2016) The royal charter issued on the 12 of February 1550 stipulated that each county should have a seal, a coat-of-arms and an emblem. During the same session ol the parliament, the counties of Zala, Zemplén, Nvitra and Hont requested and received a royal charter dealing with the seals. Imre Odor: Baranya vármegye címer-pecsétjének évszázados viszontagságai. Baranya, 1988. 1-2. sz. 36. Imre Csáky: A Ludovika Akadémia vármegyecímerei. Budapest, 2014. . http://ludovika-campus.hu/uploads/ media_items/aTudovika-akademia-varmegye-cimerei.original.pdf (accessed 2 March 2016) Lehoczky, 1881. 308. Ibid; Kárpátaljai Állami Levéltár [State Archives ofTranscarpatia] (henceforth KÁL), Fond 10. Opisz 3. jkv. 1.223. 34
