B. Halász Eva - Suzana Miljan (szerk.): Diplomatarium comitum terrestrium Crisiensium (1274-1439) (Subsidia ad historiam medii aevi Hungariae inquirendam 6. Budapest - Zagreb 2014)
Előszó
PREFACE The focus of this work revolves around the charters issued by the comites terrestres Crisienses, that is the heads of the local lesser noble autonomy of the castle-district of Križevci, a castle situated in the north-western part of the medieval regnum of Slavonia (a constitutive unit of the medieval kingdom of Hungary-Croatia). In the earlier period, the castle-district was a basic territorial unit of Slavonia, which was later, during the fourteenth century, integrated into the greater County of Križevci (see below, section Térképek / Karte / Maps). It was not a specific feature of Križevci, or only medieval Slavonia, but similar structures existed all over the kingdom, and other akin units may be found in other regions of medieval Europe (such as organisations of the milites and ministeriales in medieval Germany, hidalgos in medieval Iberia or lesser gentry in English shires). The earlier district was characteristic organisational structure developed around a castle and manned by a special group of privileged population called castle-warriors (iobagiones castri), from which evolved the lowest echelons of the lesser nobility in the course of the thirteenth century. However, they retained their separate position and bodies of local autonomy headed by an individual with the title of comes terrestris until the mid-fifteenth century. This book provides a collection of all extant charters issued by them, in order to enable good ground for further research of this important social layer within the medieval society. The charters published in this book date from between c. 1274-1439. These charters, which were issued by the individual who was at the head of the castle-district of Križevci, have survived in various forms; as originals, as transcripts inserted into other chapters, as summaries in other charters and sometimes some are known only by mention. Out of the 65 charters available to study, only 41 survive as originals. The majority of the originals are kept in the Croatian State Archive in Zagreb (Hrvatski državni arhiv u Zagrebu), while 17 are spread across the various collections of the Archdiocesan Archive of Zagreb (Nadbiskupijski arhiv u Zagrebu). The Archive of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Arhiv Hrvatske akademije znanosti i umjetnosti) keeps 14 charters issued by the heads of the castle-district of Križevci, which are extant in their original version. In the collections of the Hungarian State Archive (Magyar Nemzeti Levéltár Országos Levéltára) ten charters can be found. 15
