A letter of donation

Translated letter:

Elizabeth by the grace of God senior/dowager queen of Hungary, commending to memory we signify to all to whom it reaches by the content of the presents.  When we had the lands of our people pertaining to the castrum of Szepes measured and among other things we ordered the land of our village called Kurtueles (Kürtvéles) to be walked and measured by Dominic master of our doorkeepers; and that same master Dominic in said land of Kurtueles found the free land free sufficient to twenty ploughings, beyond the number of those ploughings for which those people were accustomed to give us rent, land-tax, or service; for the land of said ploughings for which those people showed us no debt, we gave, donated and conferred a certain parcel of land sufficient to one ploughing, called Zedlyska, next to the land of nobles Zalauk and Wyth, to Philip, son-in-law of that Zalauk, archer of Saduar, to be possessed by hereditary right perpetually and irrevocably, with that right, freedom, and service by which other nobles of Szepes are favored; and we had that land assigned to that Philip by said master Dominic.  So that this grant of ours remain safe always and undisturbed, we have granted him the present letters strengthened by the protection of ou seal; and when the present are brought back to us [fair copy] or displayed, we grant our charter on this.  Dated in the castle of Szepes, on the octave of St. Nicholas.  In the thousand two hundred seventyninth year of the Lord.

Original letter:

Elisabetha, Dei gratia maior Regina Hungariae, memoriae commendantes significamus vniuersis, quibus expedit, presencium per tenorem.  Quod cum nos terras populorum nostrorum, ad castrum Scepus pertinentium mensurare fecissemus, et inter ceteras terram ville nostre, Kürtvéles vocate, per Dominicum Magistrum Ianitorum nostrorum, reambulare et mensurare precepissemus; et idem Magister Dominicus in predicta terra Kürtvéles terram liberam ad viginti aratra sufficientem, vltra numerum illorum aratrorum, de quibus iidem populi nobis censum, terragium, seu seruicium exhibere consueuerunt, inuenisset; nos de terra predictorum aratrorum, de quibus nobis iidem populi nullum debitum exhibuerunt, quamdam particulam terrae, vni aratro sufficientem, Zedlyska vocatam, terre Zalauk et Wyth Nobilium contiguam, Philippo, genero ipsius Zalauk, Sagittario de Saduar, dedimus, donauimus, et contulimus iure hereditario perpetuo et irreuocabiliter possidendam, eo iure, libertate, ac seruicio, quibus alii Nobiles de Scepus gratulantur; et ipsam terram eidem Philippo per predictum Magistrum Dominicum fecimus assignari. Vt igitur haec nostra collacio salua semper et inconcussa permaneat, presentes eidem concedimus litteras, sigilli nostri munimine roboratas; et cum presentes nobis fuerint reportate, vel exhibite, nostrum super hoc priuilegium concedemus.  Datum in castro Scepusiensi, in Octauis S. Nycolai.  Anno Domini Millesimo, ducentesimo, septuagesimo nono.

Historical context:

The queen gives a piece of land to the son-in-law of a noble, land which was found to be not included among her taxed estates.  Zsoldos, The Árpáds and Their Wives, 64, says the queen had a large-scale survey of landed estates done when she took over the county of Szepes, at the request of her son king Ladislaus.  A castrum is an administrative unit with a castle at the center.

Printed source:

Codex Diplomaticus Hungariae ecclesiasticus ac civilis, ed. G. Fejér (Budae, Regiae Vniversitatis Vngariae, 1829—44),  5.2.583-84.  Also in Az Árpád-házi hercegek, hercegnök és a királnék okleveleinek kritikai jegyzéke, Regesta ducum, ducissarum stirpis Arpadiana, ed. E. Szentpétery, A. Zsoldos (Budapest 2008), 79-80, #116.

Date: