Urbs - Magyar várostörténeti évkönyv 1. (Budapest, 2006)

Abstracts

Werbőczy, who was active in the royal jurisdiction, described the difference between towns on the basis of procedural law. He interpreted the freedom of towns according to their appeal body. He collocated the towns into two groups; the citizens of the old royal towns, whose citizens could directly appeal to the royal court. Other free royal towns had an intermediate appeal, the tavernical court. Consequently, urban freedom was based on the self-government in the inner affairs of the community. The flourishing period of urban development came to an end in the sixteenth century, particularly after the seizure of Buda by the Ottoman army in 1541. Most of the inhabitants escaped to the Hungarian royal towns staying under Habsburg rule, because their integration was cased by the same legal structure. However, Buda remained an administrational centre throughout the Turkish rule, although it was situated at the periphery of the realm. However, the townscape suffered a considerable damage due to a number of natural disasters and fires. The over-regional commerce and handicraft decreased to the supply of local demands. The wars of liberation against the Turks (1686) caused additional damages. After the Turkish rule new coming settlers established themselves in Buda and Pest. At the diet of 1687 the new inhabitants got informed about the "free royal town" status possessed previously by both towns. It took one and a half decades until the burghers of Buda and Pest managed to enforce their right to self-government against the Viennese government. The confirmation of the privileged legal status was signed by the king in 1703 - exactly 300 years ago. A few decades ago civitas was overshadowed by urban history and by the village research trend initiated by the University of Szeged. Ferenc Erdei's work contributed to this as well. Since then, the settlement structure in the Great Hungarian Plain stood in the centre of interest, and free royal towns were only the objects of local historical research. It is therefore especially pleasing that the conference organised on the occasion of the third centenary brought civitates in the centre of the interest once again. LÁSZLÓ BLAZOVICH The Law Book of Buda and the Hungarian Law Books Town law was not completely uniform in Middle Age Hungary. Buda town law - codified in the Law Book of Buda and in the Tavernical law - was adopted in most parts of the country: southwards the line Pozsony (Bratislava, Slovakia), Buda and Kassa (Kosicc, Slovakia). This is also indicated by the fact that the copies of the Law Book of Buda were found in Pozsony, Kassa and Nagybánya (Baia Mare, Rumania); the latter one being probably copied for Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca, Rumania). Interestingly enough, the manuscript versions of the fundamental source of the Law Book, the