Szabolcs-Szatmár-Beregi levéltári évkönyv 14. (Nyíregyháza, 2000)

Rezümék (angol, német)

collected and preserved since 1550, whereas the first documents from Szatmár County are dated 1590. Historians also made efforts to improve the situation of the national and county archives so that the preservation of documents stored there should be ensured in the long run. Historians wanted national, county and town archives with carefully selected and processed documents, serving as a convenient resource for researchers. The issue of the archives was raised between the two World Wars again. The renewed interest is well exemplified by the high number of studies and essays on the history of archives. These work greatly contributed to the history of Hungarian literacy, the legal history of Hungary, the emergence of the central, national administration and its local branches, the feudal county system, their social and economic background. The legislative system of medieval Hungary was also abundantly discussed through a wide variety of documents. The measures introduced in order to preserve and maintain the archives were described. Somewhat less attention was, however, focussed on the development and internal operation of the organizations producing, collecting, processing and storing the documents. In the paper an effort is made, based upon surviving documents, to provide a view into the birth of the Archives of Szabolcs County, and also abut its present state. The present situation of the archives is largely the result of the precautious measures made in the 18th century. The first reference to the administrative activities of land stewards is found in a charter issued between 1319 and 1321. The sentence made by a certain Master István and four marshalls survived in the archives of the Kállays, one of the most ancient families of the county. The archives of the Kállays are our primary source of information regarding the early phase of the medieval county system in the 14th-l 5th centuries. The county as a unit of administration had been freely and independently governed by the local aristocracy until the 15th century. National laws were gradually introduced in the 15th and 16th century. Our archives contain the complete series of documents of the administration and jurisdiction of the county from the mid-16th century (1550), including the records of the metings (prothocollum) and other documents (acta). As the central government and the national system of jurisdiction became more and more powerful in the first third of the 18th century (1723) it was indispensable to organize and arrange the formerly not very well organized documents of the county. As a result of a resolution of the central government, the general assembly of the county assigned Ferenc Schemberger, former keeper of the registers of the convent, to prepare a list of approximately 70 linear meters of documents in 1767. Ferenc Schemberger was probably one of the most experienced person in this field in the 18th century. He spent twenty years with the work, and the meticulous care he took has been unparallelled ever since. His registers (elenchus) and the auxiliary indices (index) contain all subjects, places and names mentioned in the documents. Ferenc Schemberger's guidelines were used to arrange the archives of Ung County, and he consolidated the archives of Szatmár County after 1789. He died in Nagykároly before 1801.