A letter of reward

Translated letter:

Elizabeth by the grace of God queen of Hungary to all the faithful of Christ who will look at the present writing, eternal greetings in the Lord.  Loyalty and merits of subjects draw and invite royal highness to increase grace to subjects, so that by this example the loyal may much more strongly approach the desire of seeking favor.  Thus we wish these contents to reach the notice of all in the present and future; that since count Stephen, faithful brother of our [master of] revenues* Zsidó, served from the time of his earliest youth lord Stephen formerly illustrious king of Hungary of pious memory and lord king Ladislaus our dearest consort, and the kingdom and royal crown and us, carried out excellent works of loyalty, functions deserving of merit and most faithful service in different matters and affairs of the kingdom, mostly and especially in the conflict which that king our lord had against the treachery of the Cumans, who persecuted him unduly, we have understood from that king our lord as from other of our barons reporting to us, assisting constantly up to the happy completion of the whole business, committing to the accidents of fortune to various dangers of things and person, from the ardor of loyalty so laudably and loyally and devotedly.  We, because of virtues of this and other kinds of that count Stephen, which we did not wish to enumerate separately in the present [writing], we have given, donated, and conferred a certain land of our sanctifers called Thos in the county of Pest with all its uses and all its appurtenances, to be possessed perpetually and irrevocably by him and his heirs and successors of his heirs.  The boundaries of that land which we acquired as evidenced in the charter of that king our lord are defined in this manner:  the first boundary begins from the north between the land of the provost of Zsidó called Lugos and the land Thos, and by measure extends seven old marks next to which they erected seven new marks, to a certain mountain towards the east rising to the place called Frigetarka, which is contained for a boundary on the great road that goes towards Pástzó, where the land of the aforesaid provost ends; after that the land Thos shares a boundary with the land of nobles of the Ákos kindred; thence descending on the right there are two trees called oak (thuulfa) in an old boundary, next to which they have erected a new one; here towards the south Thuulgwelg descends and there is the boundary of Chepan son of Hiden; thence it rises to Monorofeu, and there are two ancient markers and two newly erected; thence it climbs the mountain and there is an ancient marker and a new one newly erected and from the mountain it descends to the great road which goes to Hotuon, where there is an ancient marker and a new one newly erected, Zumoryn on the right, and it descends to the water Kalgria, which separates the land of said Chepan from the land of said count Stephen; thence toward the west it crosses said water to Futrodfew, and there is an ancient marker and a new one newly erected; thence it ascends to Chamba haraztha, where there is an ancient marker on the lower part and a new one newly erected and on the mountain under a great tree are two markers, one ancient, the other new newly erected and there it is separated from the land of said Chepan and shares a boundary with the land of Stephen and his relatives on the paternal side called Liguet.  And thus the boundaries of the said land of Thos are fixed.  So that the content of this donation or grant of ours may obtain the strength of perpetual stability, and not be revoked in the course of time by any invalidation, we have had the present letters strengthened by the protection of our double seal.  Dated by the hand of Master Thomas bishop of Waciens our faithful chancellor of our court in the thousand twohundred eightyfourth year.

Original letter:

Elysabeth Dei gracia Regina Vngarie vniuersis Christi fidelibus presens scriptum inspecturis salutem in Domino sempiternam.  Fidelitas et merita subjectorum ad ampliandam Regalem graciam in subditis Celsidutinem Regiam non immerito attrahunt et inuitant, vt hoc exemplo fideles ad inquirende gracie cupiditatem multo forcius accedant.  Proinde ad universorum noticiam tam presencium quam futurorum harum serie volumus pervenire; quod cum Stephanus Comes tawarnicorum nostrorum frater Sydo fidelis noster a primeuis puericie sue temporibus domino Stephano quondam Illustri Regi Vngarie pie recordacionis, et Domino Ladislao Regi consorti nostro charissimo, Regno et Corone Regie ac nobis eximie fidelitatis opera, meritoria obsequia et fidelissimos famulatus in diuersis articulis et negociis Regni, maxime et specialiter in conflictu, quem idem dominus noster Rex habuit contra perfidiam Cumanorum ipsum indebite persequencium, eidem domino nostro Regi, prout aliis Baronibus nostris referentibus intelleximus, vsque ad felicem expedicionem tocius negocii sui constanter assistens, committendo ac casibus fortune, periculis variis rerum et persone, pro fidelitatis ardore impendisset sicut laudabiliter et fideliter sic devote.  Nos pro hujusmodi et aliis virtutibus ejusdem Comitis Stephani, quas ad presens singillatim exprimere non volumus, quandam terram sanctiferorum nostrorum Thos vocatam in Comitatu Pestiensi existentem cum omnibus utilitatibus suis et pertinenciis vniversis dedimus, donavimus et contulimus eidem, et per eum suis heredibus heredumque suorum successoribus perpetuo et irrevocabiliter possidendam.  Mete autem ipsius terre, quemadmodum in priuilegio ejusdem domini nostri Regis comperimus evidenter, hoc ordine distinquuntur.  Incipit enim prima meta a parte septentrionali inter terram Prepositi de Sydo Lugos vocatam, et inter terram Thos, et metatim protenditur septem metis veteribus, juxta quas septem novas metas erexerunt, ad quendam montem versus orientem ascendendo ad locum Frigetarka vocatum, qui habetur pro meta in magna via, que vadit versus Pazthuh, vbi terminatur terra Propositi prenotati; conterminat postmodum ipsa terra Thos terre nobilium de genere Akus; deinde descendendo a parte dextra sunt due arbores thuulfa vocate in una meta antiqua, juxta quam aliam novam erexerunt; hinc versus partem meridionalem descendit Thuulgwelg, et ibi est meta Chepani filii Hiden; deinde ascendit ad Monorofeu, et ibi sunt due meta antique, et alie due noviter erecte; inde ascendit montem, et ibi est una antiqua meta, et alia nova noviter erecta, et de monte descendit ad magnam viam, que vadit ad Hotuon, ubi est una antiqua meta, et alia nova noviter erecta a dextra parte Zumoryn, et descendit ad aquam Kalgria, que separat terram dicti Chepani a terra Comitis Stephani supradicti; inde versus partem occidentalem transit dictam aquam ad Futrodfew, et ibi est una antiqua meta, et alia noua nouiter erecta; inde ascendit ad Chamba haraztha, vbi in parte inferiori est una antiqua meta, et alia noua nouiter erecta, et in monte sub una magna arbore sunt due mete, una antiqua, alia nova noviter erecta, et ibi separatur a terra Chepani supradicti et conterminatur terre Stephani et suorum agnatorum Liguet vocate.  Et sic mete terre Thos predicte terminantur.  Ut igitur hujus nostre donacionis seu collacionis series robur obtineat perpetue firmitatis, nec processu temporum valeat per quempiam in irritum reuocari, presentes concessimus litteras duplicis sigilli nostri munimine roboratas.  Datum per manus Magistri Thome Episcopi Waciensis aule nostre Cancellarii, fidelis nostri, anno Domini MoCCo octuagensimo quarto.

Historical context:

In gratitude for his service to her father-in-law, Stephen V, and her husband Ladislaus IV, the queen bestows the land of Thos in Pest on an official in her service.

Scholarly notes:

* Magister tavarnicorum is an official in the queen’s court.  Zsoldos does not translate the term, but does say that “his chief responsibility was … at least at the outset, to ensure the supervision of the reginal revenues,” The Árpáds and Their Wives, Queenship in Early Medieval Hungary 1000-1301 (Rome:  Viella, 2019), 106.

Printed source:

Árpádkori új okmánytár:  Codex diplomaticus Arpadianus continuatus, vols. I-XII, G. Wenzel ed. (Pest-Budapest: 1860-74), 4.264-5, #164.

Date: