Levéltári Közlemények, 77. (2006)
Levéltári Közlemények, 77. (2006) 3. - Varga János: A királyi serviens / 1–103. o.
A 13. század második évtizedétől forrásainkban növekvő gyakorisággal használt serviens regis tartalmának megfejtésére elsőnek Erdélyi László tett átfogó kísérletet. Két tanulmányban is formát öltő elmélete az alábbiakban összegezhető: a serviens szó az első esztergomi zsinat határozatainak szövegében bukkan fel és eredetileg olyan néposztályt jelöl, amely nem azonos ugyan a servusok, azaz a rabszolgák rendjével, amelynek tagjai azonban uruktól — annak akarata ellenére — mégsem idegeníthetőek el. Ezek az általa szabadosoknak minősítet serviensek szerint két kategóriára bonthatók. Egyik a magánbirtokos földjére települő vagy esetleg saját jószágukon annak elvesztése után is megmaradó magánseru/ensek csoportja. A másik, amely a serviens regis ősének tekinthető, a királyi, illetőleg várbirtokon formálódott ki. Itt a hajdani „fegyveres" és szabad magyarok ivadékai, meg a várjobbágynál alacsonyabb — a civilisek-castrensisekéhez közelálló — Pótfüzet a Levéltári Közlemények 77. évfolyamához VARGA JÁNOS A KIRÁLYI SERVIENS Csetri Elek köszöntésére THE ROYAL SERVIENS: Regarding historical science, it is still a dominant view that the nobility and the servientes regis represented social classes of different origin and legal status at the beginning: the nobility was regarded as the higher class. According to the supporters of this view, only after a hard struggle could the servientes obtain those privileges what the nobility had always held. This way, the uniting of the two groups was completed by the last third of the 13 th century. The study attempts to prove that the servientes and noblemen never indeed formed separate social categories. The title "noble", which the high-born, wealthiest landowners and royal servants possessed apparently from the reign of King Stephen I, was also born by the Hungarian conquerors' descendants who could keep the original quarters and /or their newly acquired lands, as well as the enlarged circle of privileges. After the 12 th century, personal and estate independence of the less wealthy circle of this group was endangered by secular big landowners trying to obtain the lands of the related social group and forcing the original possessors of the lands to enter into their service, i.e. reducing them to the level of servientes all over the country. Presumably, the concerned noblemen - protecting themselves against the landlords' efforts - started to name themselves as servientes regis in order to emphasize that they served only the king and nobody else. This way, the terms "nobility" and "servientes regis" were identical in meaning from the beginning. Both expressions refer to certain relations but to different contents. Considering legal status, they involved the same social class. Their parallel existence was possible by the diverse directions of their relations. The title "nobleman" was used if it had to be emphasized that he did not belong to the stratum of the ignobility. The term "servientes regis" was applied when it referred to a relation associated with the king. Therefore, when the Golden Bull was issued, the servientes regis did not want to acquire noble privileges, instead, they wanted to hold the privileges further on. Consequently, we cannot speak about unification in connection with them because the same social stratum is involved, however, it is referred to in two different ways.
