Megyetörténet. Egyház- és igazgatástörténeti tanulmányok a veszprémi püspökség 1009. évi adománylevele tiszteletére - A Veszprém Megyei Levéltár kiadványai 22. (Veszprém, 2010)

Tanulmányok a veszprémi egyházmegye történetéről - Bilkei Irén: Hiteleshelyek a veszprémi egyházmegyében a középkorban és a kora újkorban

Bilkei Irén

Loca credibilia were ecclesiastical bodies - chapters and convents - that issued authentic charters according to official queries or private writs. These unique institutions of the Hungarian legal system functioned from 1181 as long as their abolishment by a bill in 1874, mostly attending the roles of public notaries.

There were more than eighty chapters or convents in medieval Hungary that ministered activity of locus credibile. The author enlists the following ones in the territory of Veszprém diocese: the Veszprém cathedral chapter, the collegiate chapters in Székesfehérvár and Óbuda, the convent of the knights of St. John in Székesfehérvár and the Benedictine monasteries at Zalavár and Kapornak. Some loca credibilia functioned only for a shorter period (as long as 1351), such as the Stephanite convent at Budafelhévíz, the benedictine monasteries at Almád, Bakonybél, Csatár, Somogyvár, Tihany and the convents of the Praemonstra- tensian in Tűrje and that of the knights of St. John at Újudvar.

The very charter that scholars regard as the earliest evidence of activity of a locus credibile was issued in 1181, right in the territory of Veszprém diocese, in the chancellory of the Veszprém cathedral chapter.

The paper also reviews the activity of two major representatives of loca credibilia: the benedictine monasteries of Zalavár and Kapornak, and alludes other institutions as well.

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