Horváth M. Ferenc (szerk.): Vác The heart of the Danube Bend. A historical guide for residents and globetrotters (Vác, 2009)
Tartalom
72 VÁC'S REMAINS FROM THE LATE MIDDLE AGES (1 301 -1 526) iiiiimiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiimiiimiiiiiimiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiii; separated on ethnic lines is quite rare in the history of Hungarian towns. There were some towns where the original German population had gradually been supplanted and the immigrant Hungarians demanded a balanced share of the posts and offices on ethnic basis. This happened in Buda and Kolozsvár (present-day Romania) for instance, but the unity of these towns was not doubted. These towns had one single judge elected for one year from among the Hungarian inhabitants and for the other year from the Germans. Esztergom was an example of another type of coexistence, where two communities of different legal status lived side by side: some of them were the subjects of their landlord, while others were the citizens of the royal free city. However, there was only one town with the same arrangement as Vác: Visegrád under royal authority. It included both a German and a Hungarian town with independent territory and administration. The“double"town of Visegrád was established only in the 14th century, but it does not seem to be likely that Vác served as an example. Similar conditions may have resulted in similar situations. The number one representative of both towns was the judge. He might have been elected in the same way as we can read in the 1284 letters patent of Nógrád. The council was made up of the judge and some elected and sworn-in citizens. The number of the town counsellors was permanent, but we do not know this number in the case of Vác. The Document issued in Vác-German Town on 25 January 1503 about the sale of a vineyard, with the great seal of the town (National Archives of Hungary) judge and the councillors together formed the town authorities. The charters of the town were issued in the name of “the judge and the sworn-in principal councillors of the town", not that of "the community of the town". Both towns had a seal of their own. We know the seal of the German Town very well. In Hungary town seals and coat-of-arms were of two characteristic types: one with the patron saint of the parish of the town, the other with the town walls on it. The great seal of Vác-German Town unified the two motifs. In the middle we can see St Michael Archangel standing with a sword in his right hand, with a pair of scales in his left hand and a dragon under his feet. The sword symbolized the punishing and protecting power, while the scales represented justice. The saint is flanked by a tower on both sides. There was also a smaller seal in use with only St Michael, the sword, the scales and the dragon. No seal of the Hungarian town has survived. At the end of the Middle Ages Vác had two landlords: the bishop and the chapter. By that time The small seals of Vác-German Town (National Archives of Hungary) iiiHiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiHiiiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiimimiiHiiiiiimimmimiiimiiiiMiiiiiiiiii
