A restoration

Translated letter:

Elizabeth by the grace of God queen of Hungary to all the faithful of Christ who will peruse the present page, greetings in the Saviour of all.  Pious grants of vows adorned with gracious awards should be supported with stable firmness, so that the militant church of God through which kings rule, should be enhanced by the generous hands of princes and can deservedly be adorned with desired gifts on their part.  Hence we wish to make manifest to the notice of all present and future by the content of these, that when after the general assembly of our whole kingdom in Föveny in the thousand two hundred eightyninth year of the Lord celebrated around the feast of St. John the Baptist, we at the advice of lord Ladislaus, illustrious king of Hungary, our dearest consort, and of the prelates and nobles of our kingdom, we went to the regions of Somogy and Tolna; traversing those regions for a long time, we revoked and had revoked all the reginal lands occupied by whatever people, our conditionaries making them connect in their conditions to service owed to us, the lands and villages of the religious ladies of the Island of the Blessed Virgin, called Kosuh, Belch, Ráksi, and Dada in the counties of Somogy and Tolna, which master Mojs of good memory, when he was dying conferred on those ladies for the remedy and salvation of his soul with our permission and good will and public and clear instruments of approval.  At the suggestion of certain enemies of those ladies we harmed them, causing their official to be removed from them in a short space of time.  Since then, however, those ladies through their legal proctors had their documents and deeds exhibited to us with study of most assiduous labor and when these were inspected we found the gift of said master Mojs made of those four lands and villages, called Kosuh, Belch, Ráksi, and Dada, to be just, fitting, beneficial and honorable, we gave up, gave back, and restored by our officials, who had been removed and dismissed from those villages, with full plenitude and integrity of their rights, and had them restored to the church of the Blessed Virgin at the Island at Buda and the religious ladies living in that church and serving God perpetually, to be possessed irrevocably, peacefully, and by perpetual right, the grant of those possessions made firm by master Mojs of good memory, having it agreeable and accepted, renouncing by the authority of the presents every reginal right, so that what might happen in the present or future, we in whatever way in the matter of said possessions, called Kosuh, Belch, Ráksi, and Dada, hope to be favoured not unworthily by actions temporally and spiritually in donations to the churches of God, especially by those leading a religious life.  Therefore so that the content of this our donation and grant may have the force of pertual stability and may not in the course of time be withdrawn as invalid by anyone, we have granted the present letters strengthened by the protection of our double seal.  Dated by the hand of the venerable father lord Benedict, bishop of Veszprém, our faithful chancellor of our court, in the thousand twohundred ninetieth year of the Lord.

Original letter:

Elisabeth Dei gratia regina Hungarie universis Christi fidelibus presentem paginam intuentibus salutem in omnium Salvatore.  Pia votorum subsidia gratuitis decorata muneribus stabili firmitate debent esse subnixa, ut militans Dei ecclesia, per quam reges regnant, per principium manus largifluas augmentari valeat et munificentiis ex parte eorundem optentis possit merito decorari.  Proinde universorum presentium futurorumque notitie harum serie volumus fieri manifestum, quod cum post generalem congregationem totius regni nostri in Fuen anno Domini millesimo ducentesimo octogesimo nono circa festum beati Johannis Baptiste celebratam de consilio domini Ladislai, illustris regis Hungarie, consortis nostri carissimi, prelatorum et nobilium regni nostri, ad partes Symigienses et Tolnenses accessissemus, in eisdem partibus diutius peragrantes, revocassemusque et revocari fecissemus universas terras reginales per quoscunque occupatas, populos nostros conditionarios in eorum conditionibus ad servitium nobis debitum aplicari faciendo, terras seu villas devotarum dominarum de Insula Beate Virginis Kosuh, Belch, Rakusy et Dada vocatas in Symigiensi et Tolnensi comitatibus existentes, quas magister Moyus bone memorie eisdem dominabus cum ageret in extremis ob anime sue remedium et salutem cum puplicis et evidentibus instrumentis de conniventia, beneplacito et permissione nostra contulerat, ad suggestionem quorundam emulorum earundem dominarum inbrigari (sic) fecissemus, officiales ipsarum spatio exigui temporis removeri facientes ab eisdem.  Quia tamen eedem domine per procuratores suos legitimos cum studio sollertissimi laboris instrumenta et munimenta sua exhiberi fecerunt coram nobis et eisdem inspectis donationem per predictum magistrum Moyus factam in ipsis quatuor terris seu villis Kosuh, Belch, Rakusy et Dada vocatis comperimus esse iustam, decentem, salubrem et honestam, remotis et cassatis officialibus nostris ab eisdem villis cum omni integritate et plenitudine suorum iurium reliquimus, reddidimus, restituimus et restitui fecimus ecclesie Beate Virginis de Insula apud Budam et devotis dominabus in eadem ecclesia degentibus et Deo iugiter famulantibus iure perpetuo, pacifice et irrevocabiliter possidendas, collationem ipsarum possessionum per magistrum Moyus bone memorie factam ratam, gratam habentes et acceptam, renuntiantes auctoritate presentium omni iuri reginali, si quod nos quocunque modo in factis predictarum possessionum Kosuh, Belch, Rakusy et Dada vocatarum contingere posset ad presens vel etiam in futurum, cum in donationibus ecclesiis Dei, presertim religiosam vitam ducentibus factis et temporaliter et spiritualiter non immerito speremus gratulari.  Ut igitur huius nostre donationis seu collationis series robur optineat perpetue firmitatis, nec processu temporum valeat per quempiam in irritum retractari, presentes concessimus litteras dupplicis sigilli nostri munimine roboratas.  Datum per manus venerabilis patris domini Benedicti, episcopi Vesprimiensis, aule nostre cancellarii, fidelis nostri, anno Domini millesimo ducentesimo nonagessimo.

Historical context:

The queen restores lands she had given and then taken back from the sisters of the Island of Rabbits, as the result of an investigation undertaken after and at the suggestion of members of the general assembly at Föveny in 1289 (see Zsoldos, The Árpáds, 63).

Printed source:

Budapest történek okleveles emlékel.  Monumenta diplomatica civitatis Budapest, I (1148-1301), ed. D. Csánky (Budapest:  Gárdonyi, 1936)  251-52, #232.

Date: