Századok – 2017

2017 / 5. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Szőcs Tibor: Miből lett az országbíró? Az udvarispáni tisztségek kialakulása

MIBŐL LETT AZ ORSZÁGBÍRÓ?

1088

WHAT WAS THE ORIGIN OF THE JUDGE ROYAL? On the emergence of the office of court ispán

by Tibor Szőcs

SUMMARY

The study explores the origins of the high office of the judge royal (at first, curialis comes

, later iudex curiae;

in Hungarian országbíró

) in Hungary. The office of judge royal devel

oped from that of the court ispán, who from the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries was head of the judicial forum of the royal court. The author argues that all the court ispáns who appeared in different layers of the administration have common institutional origins. The office was established by king Coloman after his coronation as king of Croatia by adopting a Croatian model. This claim is proved by the fact that both the Latin name (curialis comes

) and the administrative duties of the 11th-century tepči were exactly the same as those of the Hungarian royal court ispán in the earliest period. Unlike in Croatia, however, the administrative competence of royal and comital court ispáns expanded rapidly in Hungary, being transformed into a judicial office from the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries.