A Békés Megyei Múzeumok Közleményei 28. (Békéscsaba, 2006)

Kávássy Sándor: St. Stephen’s law concerning the churches – in addition to the interpretation of a source

Kávássy Sándor St. Stephen's law concerning the churches - in addition to the interpretation of a source - Sándor Kávássy Resume Two codes of law survived from the time of St. Stephen - founder of the Hungarian Kingdom, who was the reigning prince between 997-1000, king between 1000-1038. The laws that can be read in these codes give identical proof that the sacred king did his best to establish and deepen the christian faith, church and the christian way of life among his people. Among the laws aimed at achieving this the one concerning church building is the most significant. It's the first chapter of the second code and its first sentence in the latin original is: „Decern ville ecclesiam edificent, quam duobus mansis totidemque mancipiis dotent equo et iumento, sex bobus et duabus vaccis, xxx minutis bestiis". (Levente Závodszky: Sources of laws and decisions of the council from the time of St. Stephen, St. László and Kálmán, Budapest, 1904. 153.) This quoted sentence has been studied and translated into Hungarian since 1899 by outstanding scholars, such as Gyula Nagy, Emma Bartoniek, Lóránd Szilágyi, György Györffy, Gyula Kristó. But regarding the details there are fundamental differences among the single translations. The present study examines the foregoing translations and tries to find the answer to the question: What could the correct and at the same time historically valid Hungarian translation of the sentence under discussion be? The study - after carefully examining the translations and comparing them with other sources considers the following translation authentic: 10 villages shall build one church, provide it with 2 allotments and with just as many slaves, horses and draught animals, 6 oxen, 2 cows and 30 small cattle. Kávássy Sándor H-4954 Sonkád, Bocskai и. 23. 198