A letter of donation
Sender
Elizabeth of the CumansReceiver
PublicTranslated letter:
Elizabeth by the grace of god queen of Hungary, to all the faithful of Christ who will look at the present writing eternal salvation/greetings in the lord; we ought to give special care for the sollicitous provision of individuals towards mother church, and to adorn [it] with reginal generosity so that the use and comfort of those serving god may be increased, since we should employ more diligent attention and more attentive diligence principally to those by whom the remedy of the soul is guided and beneficially provided with ecclesiastical things. Therefore we wish it to be manifest to the notice of all present and future by the contents of these that since we are held to be watchful for the state of the church of Veszprém, which it is known to pertain directly to our favor/grace, we ought to enrich it from reginal generosity, adhering to the traces of our holy predecessors with possessions and other goods for the remedy and salvation of our soul, we have given, donated, conferred and handed over to that church and thus to its chapter to be possessed by perpetual right peacefully and irrevocably, a certain land of our conditionaries* in Chobya in Somogy county/ispánate, namely of our wine-givers, set within the hereditary possessions of that church of Veszprém, wishing and establishing by the authority of the presents that that chapter should now possess with the integrity with which they are known to have possessed their own hereditary land our said land enclosed in their land in Chobya, by the title of our gift. In memory and perpetual stability of which thing we have granted the present letters strengthened by the protection of our double seal. Dated by the hand of master Ladislaus provost of Vác, our faithful chancellor of our court. In the year of the lord 1279th.
Original letter:
Elisabeth dei gracia Regina Hungarie, Omnibus x[pi] fidelibus presens scriptum inspecturis salutem in domino sempiternam; De singulorum prouisione sollicite erga matrem ecclesiam, curam debemus inpendere specialem, et Reginalis munificencie, beneficio decorare, ut utilitas et comoditas deo famulancium augeatur; quia diligenciorem attencionem et attenciorem diligenciam in hys debemus principaliter adhibere, in quibus et anime remedium consulitur, et rebus ecclesiasticis salubriter prouidetur. Proinde, vniuersorum presencium futurorumque noticie harum serie uolumus fieri manifestum; quod quia bono statui ecclesie Wesprimiensis, eoque ad graciam nostram inmediate spectare dinoscitur in uigilare tenemur, de munificencia Reginali, uestigysque sanctorum predecessorum nostrorum inherentes possessionibus et alys bonis, eandem locupletare debemus in anime nostre remedium et salutem, quandam terram condicionariorum nostrorum in Chobya in Comitatu Symigiensi, inter possessiones ipsius ecclesie wesprimiensis hereditarias constitutam, vinidatorum uidelicet nostrorum, dedimus, donauimus, contulimus, et tradidimus ipsi ecclesie, et per consequens Capitulo, Jure perpetuo, pacifice, et in reuocabiliter possidendam, volentes et auctoritate presencium statuentes, vt ipsum Capitulum predictam terram nostram, terre ipsorum inclusam in Chobya, titulo donacionis nostre, amodo ea integritate possideant, qua terram eorundem propriam et hereditariam possedisse dinoscuntur. In cuius rei memoriam, et perpetuam firmitatem presentes concessimus litteras duplicis sigilli nostri munimine roboratas. Datum per manus magistri Ladizlai prepositi Waciensis, aule nostre Cancellary fidelis nostri. Anno domini. Mo CCo Septuagesimo nono.
Historical context:
The queen donates land to the church of Veszprém.
Scholarly notes:
* Condicionarii are people who belong to the estate and are obliged to perform certain unspecified services, see Attila Zsoldos, The Árpáds and Their Wives, Queenship in Early Medieval Hungary 1000-1301 (Rome: Viella, 2019), p.50.