„Múltunk építőkövei...” - Tanulmánykötet (Székesfehérvár, 2001)

ÖSSZEGZÉS

We have been planning to appear with the unpublished lectures of the past few years' conferences for a long time. Today saluting the Millenium our institution has realized this desired plan and made a selection of the lectures held since then. Our town had and still has a significant role as a coronation town in Hungarian history that's why it is so important for us, inhabitants of the town, to remember the date of the foundation of the state with dignity. This publication has a double role; salutation to Hungarian history and to the history of the town. The book covers three groups of questions. The first group analyses the foundation of the Hungarian state. These lectures could be heard on 17th May 1997, at a conference about Prince Géza, the „ state dreamer" organized together with the local government and the millenial commemorative committee. The reader can find the extended versions of these lectures in the book. The studies evaluate Géza in Hungarian history and analyse his historical significance. The study by Géza Érszegi deals with the relationship between the Prince and Christianity. This study covers the stirring times of adopting Christianity, the connections between papacy and the imperial power. It shows the stages of evangelization and proves that the period of Prince Géza gave the fundament to Christianity and St. Stephen could build upon that. The second group of studies leads us to another period of Hungarian history proving the significance of a well-known source, the Golden Bull. This conference took place on 17th September 1997 under similar conditions. The Golden Bull is an important milestone in Hungarian history and is organically in the main stream of the European wave of legislation with special Hungarian characteristics as the circumstances of its origin determined the features of the answers given to the problems. The lectures of this topic study the social and economic problems and political changes of the period through the text of the Bull. They approach the period through concentrating on different questions and analyse it according to the text of the Bull. The study of Attila Zsoldos is about the 17th Article and on the basis of this he writes about how the king's lands were donated and could be inherited. These measures were among those which could hardly be executed and gave rise to conflicts later when the king wanted to get back his possession. Taking into account the antecedents and the consequences of the Bull as an act he describes the changes of contemporary customs of granting lands and the kings' attempts to lessen this practice. He wants to make the term „true service" clear mentioned in the text of the Bull. He gives examples concerning lands granted in the 13th century in order to show the different cliques' influence on donation. He also describes how the above mentioned article determined the