A letter of reward

Translated letter:

Elizabeth, by the grace of God senior/dowager queen of Hungary to all the faithful of Christ present and future who will look at the present page, greetings in the bestower of salvation.  The prudence and careful benevolence of reginal piety admonishes and induces us that we meet with grateful spirit the loyalties and services expended opportunely for us by anyone, responding favorably with worthy retribution to their merits, since when we offer favor and consent to their labors and honest services, when we grant what they deserve, we invite others to wider works of loyalty more ardently and give back more readily to their readiness.  Therefore we wish to bring to the notice of all by the content of the presents that master Lawrence, son of count/ispán Lawrence of the Aba family, our dearest relative, from the first years of his boyhood gave us agreeable and faithful service, not fearing to expose himself and his things for the honor of the royal crown in various kinds of dangers and many accidents of fate, of which the duke of Austria who did not wish to adhere to his fellowship to give loyalty to the royal crown, occupied three castra of master Lawrence, and took away innumerable goods that no one can justly assess.  And since also when he helped in our legation with chosen horses, he endured loss of two hundred marks, and whom we brought to us through loyalty, by reason of proximity and in recompense for services, also in some satisfaction for his losses in things taken away, though it seems little in respect to his losses, the village of St. Martin in the county of Veröce with the certain knowledge and will of lord Ladislaus the king our dearest son and the consent of his barons and ours, with all its uses, namely vineyards, woods, meadows, surroundings and all appurtenances from the time of lady queen Maria our beloved mother of happy memory held through different lords and possessed and lost by their faults and often passed into our hands, we have given, granted, and conferred on that master Lawrence and through him on his heirs and their successor heirs under those boundaries and terms by which it had before been limited and possessed, to be possessed peacefully and irrevocably, breaking, invalidating, withdrawing, and pronouncing invalid documents and charters which came out through us or anyone on the deed of that village.  In memory and desired stability of which thing we have granted the present letters to master Lawrence strengthened by the protection of the double seal.  Dated by the hand of the prudent man master Lawrence provost of Pozsega our faithful chancellor of our court in the one thousand two hundred ninetieth year of the lord.

Original letter:

Elizabeth dei gracia maior regina Hungarie omnibus Christi fidelibus tam presentibus quam futuris presentem inspecturis salutem in salutis largitore.  Reginalis pietatis circumspeccio et benignitas circumspecta nos ammonet et inducit, vt quorumlibet fidelitatibus et seruiciis comode nobis inpensis gratanti animo occurramus condigna retribucione meritis eorundem fauorabiliter respondentes, quia dum eorum lab[ori]bus et honestis seruiciis fauorem prebemus et assensum, dum concedimus quod merentur, ceteros ad ampliora fidelitatis opera ardencius inuitamus et de promptis reddimus prompciores.  Ad vniuersorum igitur noticiam tenore presencium volumus peruenire, quod magister Laurencius [filius] comitis Laurencii de genere Aba cognatus noster karissimus a primeuis sue puericie temporibus gratos nobis et fideles inpenderit famulatus se et sua pro honore regie corone variis periculorum generibus et multis fortuitis casibus exponere non verendo, cuius quidem magistri Laurencii dux Austrie, quia eius consorcio noluit adherere, propter inpendendam fidelitatem corone regali tria castra occupauit et innumerabilia bona abstulit, que nullus hominum iusto modo posset computare.  Et quia eciam cum in nostris legacionibus iuerat in electis equis, dampnum contra valorem ducentarum marcarum est perpessus et quem ad nos mediante fide nostra duxeramus, tum racione proximitatis, tum in recompensacionem seruiciorum, tum eciam in aliqualem satisfaccionem dampnorum eius in rebus illatorum, licet eidem minimum quid respectu dampnorum suorum videatur, vyznicatum sancti Martini in comitatu de Wereuche existentem ex certa sciencia et voluntate domini Ladislai regis filii nostri karissimi et consensu baronum suorum ac nostrorum cum omnibus vtilitatibus suis vineis scilicet, siluis, pratis, circumstanciis et pertinenciis vniuersis a tempore domine M[arie] regine matris nostre predilecte felicis recordacionis per diuersos dominos habitam et possessam ei ab eis culpis suis amissam et ad nostras manus sepius deuolutam, ipsi magistro Laurencio et per eum suis heredibus heredumque suorum successoribus sub eisdem metis et terminis, quibus antea extitit limitata et possessa, dedimus, donauimus et contulimus iure perpetuo pacifice et irreuocabiliter possidendum, cassantes, irritantes, retractantes, et irrita pronunciantes instrumenta seu priuilegi, que per nos uel per quempiam super facto ipsius vyznicatus cuique essent emanata.  In cuius rei memoriam optatamque firmitatem presentes magistro Laurencio concessimus litteras dupplicis sigilli muniminue roboratas.  Datum per manus discreti viri magistri Laurencii prepositi de Posoga aule nostre cancellarii fidelis nostri anno domini MoCCo nonagesimo.

Historical context:

The queen grants a village to one of her men who had served her faithfully many years and who had lost three castra to the duke of Austria.  Duke Albert of Austria occupied various territories in the western part of Hungary in the last years of Ladislaus’s reign, which were restored by a peace treaty in 1291.  A castrum is an administrative unit with a castle at the center.

Printed source:

Codex diplomaticus regni Croatiae, Dalmatiae et Slavoniae, ed. T. Smiciklas (Zagreb, 1904-34), 7.9-10, #10.  

Date: