A nádori hivatal működése Lackfi István tisztségviselése alatt : (1387-1392)

Abstract

In a previous study I've already stated that the secular chief judges only rarely if at all took part in the work of the courts nominally headed by them. Since the presence or absence of these j udges at the courts is a crucial element of the history of the central courts and of Hungarian legal history in general, the analysis of an individual case seemed highly profitable. With the help of the register of the Hungarian National Archives I examined all the charters issued during the palatinate of István Lackfi (27 January 1387- 13 November 1392) and put them in three groups. The first group is formed by those charters and letters which were surely issued by István Lackfi. The second is made up of those which were drafted in the name of the palatine by his prothonotary, Márton Uzsai. The charters issued in the course of palatinal or judicial congregations were also put in this group, since the personal presence at these assemblies is very improbable. And finally, in the third group I put all those charters which were issued by the palatinal presence in different cases. Upon the basis of these it is possible to examine the functioning of the palatinal office. Although the three groups certainly overlap each other, it cannot be proved for the time being. It was not my intention to draw long-term consequences from the working of the palatinal office under István Lackfi, for this effort would surely be futile until the period of his successors was not subjected to a similar analysis. The basic aim of the present study was to emphasise that already by the beginning of the reign of King Sigismund the holder of a given office had largely been separated by the function inherent in his office, and, parallelly, the bulk of his burdens had been assumed by his prothonotary. A further proof of it is furnished by the itinerary of the palatine. The making of the itinerary of secular judges (palatine, judge royal), however, is more difficult than that of other officeholders, for it is very often only upon the basis of the seal that the person of its user (the palatine, his prothonotary or a simple notary) can be identified. On the charters of István Lackfi three seals can be distinguished upon the basis of size. The smallest among them (20 mm of diametre) can be found on his letters, and was most frequently pushed into green wax. The bigger or judicial seal was 30 mm in diametre. The third seal, attached to privileges, was 54 mm in diametre without the nest. All three seals represent the dragon, family emblem of the Lackfi. The pictures of the seals can be found in the study.