Kujbusné Mecsei Éva - Mykhailo Mishuk (szerk.): Bereg vármegye pecsétjei - A Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg Megyei Levéltár Kiadványai II. Közlemények 47. (Nyíregyháza, 2017)

Introduction

In Bereg county, established in the 13th century, official documents were verified by the granger and the sheriffs, who not only signed the papers, but also sealed it with their own personal signet rings. The county only received its first official seal as late as 1371. That seal has not survived. The county received its second seal from Ferenc Rákóczi I in 1637. This seal was replaced by a new one with a Latin inscription in 1726. The face of this signet was a shield divided into four fields. The first quarter contained a bunch of grapes with a leaf, the second a twig of an oak with three acorns and a leaf facing left, the third quarter a bear in an erect position facing left, and the fourth one contained two fish, swimming side by side to the right.

During the reign of Joseph II, the counties were merged into districts, and the districts received new seals for the verification of their documents. After the death of the monarch, the counties used their original seals. The same happened in Bereg county as well where, with the permission of the king, the Latin inscription of the seal was replaced with a Hungarian one in 1836. That seal that had been used before 1849 and then again from 1861, was placed in the National Museum of Hungary after World War II. That was done by the notary-in-chief who succeeded the vice-prefect as the official responsible for the golden seal.

In addition to the essay devoted to the history of the seal, representing the authority of Bereg county, the volume contains a replica of the charter of privilege from 1836. The charter is found at the Beregszász Archives, that are a part of the State Archives of Subcarpathia in the Ukraine. The charter authorized the county to manufacture and use a seal with the ancient symbols but with a new, Hungarian inscription.

The volume is published by the Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County Archives of the National Archives of Hungary with the professional support of the Transcarpathian National Archives of the Ukraine. The volume contains the text of the royal charter in Latin, and the introductory essay in Hungarian, Ukrainian and English.

Redactors