Piti Ferenc - C. Tóth Norbert - Neumann Tibor: Szatmár megye hatóságának oklevelei (1284-1524) - A nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum kiadványai 65. (Nyíregyháza, 2010)
Előszó
The disappearance of the ispán from the county had a double effect. On the one hand, the respect enjoyed by the county authorities became more restricted, which is clearly reflected by the emergence of the petty nobility among the noble judges. Whereas until the middle of the 14th century, the office had been assumed by well-to-do local lords, thereafter it was increasingly monopolised by noblemen with had at most a few tenants or none at all.15 On the other hand, the absence of the ispán from his county launched an opposite process as well: the local prestige of the alispán increased, and the county nobility sometimes even managed to force the ispán to appoint his deputy from their own ranks. And although the post of noble judge was less and less attractive, we can observe all over the country that the persons who did assume the office functioned for several years and sometimes for more than a decade. In terms of its personnel the office had become as stable as the central courts, and changes made only slowly and gradually.16 Naturally, the organisation of the noble county no more assumed a permanently stable form than any other institution; sometimes new offices appeared alongside the “classical” arrangement. Although in the county of Szatmár noble jurors (iurati assessores) can be proved to have participated to the work of the sedria in only one year (1433) during Sigismund’s reign - they appear in Bereg county in 1401,17 and in Szabolcs between 1410 and 142218 -, many of the charters issued by the county authorities referred to role of the local nobility in passing judgements.19 In 1486 the institution of elected jurors (electi iurati nobiles), 8 to 12 depending on the individual counties, was officially set up. They took over the charges of the royal men, took part in the judicial work of the county courts and carried out other occasional commissions (connected with tax collection and county affairs).20 Alongside the counties of Sopron and Szabolcs, that of Szatmár was one of the counties where the locality hosting the sedria most frequently changed.21 It was eventually fixed at the end of the Angevin period, when Csenger became the seat of the county court. The reasons for these frequent changes should be established by dtailed research for which the present volume can be a useful starting point. Finally, yet another thing must briefly be addressed in relation with the county: the assemblies. As in the neighbouring counties of Bereg and Szabolcs, there existed two types of assembly in that of Szatmár, although they were referred to by the same Latin name (congregatio generalis). One of them was convoked by the ispán, and it probably took place almost yearly. This forum of justice, however, ceased at the end of the Angevin 15 Vö. Engel Pál: A nemesi társadalom a középkori Ung megyében. Budapest, 1998. (Társadalom- és művelődéstörténeti tanulmányok 25.) 109 and C. Tóth: Szabolcs megye működése 67 16 Vö. Szakály Ferenc: Tolna vármegye középkori szolgabtrái (Esettanulmány). Történelmi Szemle 39. (1997) 411-424, with further examples from Bereg, Győr, Sopron, Ugocsa, Vas and Veszprém Counties, C. Tóth: Szabolcs megye működése 64-66 17 Neumann: Bereg 61/120 18 C. Tóth: Szabolcs megye működése 74. 19 E.g. in 1425: „unacum universis nobilibus extunc in sede nostra ... nobiscum consedentibus.” 20 Neumann Tibor: Választott nemesi esküdtek Nyitra megyében (Az 1486. évi 8. te. végrehajtása) Századok 139. (2005)261-289 21 On the topic see Csukovits Enikő: Sedriahelyek - megyeszékhelyek a középkorban. Történelmi Szemle 39. (1997) 363-386., especially 383 19
