Ciubotă, Viorel (szerk.): Satu Mare. Studii şi comunicări. Seria istorie-etnografie-artă 25/2. (2008)
A. Istorie
Familiarity relation in Ugocea of the XVth century Abstract Gianina Diana Iegar Scholars have frequently connected the familiaritas relation with the theoretical debate referring to the existence or inexistence of the Hungarian Feudalism. This study is attempting the analysis of the social and concrete manifestations of this relation, using the documentary sources and based on a case study: the county of Ugocea in the 15th century. Based on mutual services and obligations and on a strong personal connection, usually between two nobles, the familiaritas relation manifests itself in every domain: social, economical, military, and on the level of almost every institution. Its origins coincide with the formation of the Hungarian nobility, along the 13lh century. In the first stage, every nobleman is a part of the king’s familia, but the personal connection between the multitude of noblemen and the king cannot function at a real level. Once the social status of the royal servientes is established, almost every nobleman organizes his court by the model of the royal one, forming the noble’s familia. The familiari's duties are numerous and diverse: he is participating in the battles with his contractor, he is administrating the noble domain, he is representing the nobleman as an advocate in the judiciary trials, but most of the documents are indicating the violent behavior of the, familiari, regulating by force the conflicts between contractors, stealing, occupying the land or conducting revenge expeditions ordered by the noblemen. The contractor also has obligations towards the familiari-, providing food, clothes and shelter, money, protection, functions in the county or state institutions, and rarely land. The hierarchy established by familiaritas sustains the apparently associative noble county. The mobility offered by the familiaritas relations for the small landholders is very important, in order to control the tendencies towards power that every nobleman manifests. For the greater noblemen, it is also important to have familiari, in order to assure the stability of the system, and to grow more powerful. The familiari don’t form a social group and don’t have a group identity, and this is one of the reasons why the medieval society of Hungary is controllable and stabile. 24
