A letter of confirmation

Translated letter:

Elizabeth, by the grace of God queen of Hungary to all the faithful of Christ present and future to whom the present writing will come, greetings in the bestower of salvation to all.  It is pious and just and reasonable that the height of royal and reginal benevolence protect and confirm the grants and donations that were made according to custom and law by the protection of their charters.  Therefore we wish it to be made known to the notice of all present and future that when the rule of the province of Szepes came to us from the grace and favor of the lord king Ladislaus our dearest son and, with the consent of all his barons, that lord king requested that we learn by diligent investigation the rights of anyone who possessed the lands in that province of Szepes so that we might restore lands unduly alienated and return them to their proper state with full right, a man, namely the faithful Aba brother of John warden of the church of St. Martin of Szepes, showed us letters of our lord and dearest consort king Stephen of pious memory and lord Ladislaus our son asserting that those kings conferred the land pertaining to the cultivation of one plowing from the land of the lord in Szepes, which had long been exempt, for his [Aba’s] loyalties and services, on him and his heirs to be possessed perpetually, asking with urgency that we deign to hold that conferring valid and confirm it by our letters. 

So we, aware particularly of the services of that Aba which he praiseworthily gave, to our knowledge, in the fervor of pure loyalty to the lord king Ladislaus our son and also to us, since in the siege of Szepes castle, which Roland persisting in disloyalty mounted against royal majesty, he [Aba] endured a lethal wound, shot and pierced by the cross of a crossbow, and since his son long suffered miseries and penury from imprisonment in the captivity of that Roland, whom he redeemed with twenty five marks from him.  Considering also that he was expelled from his possession called Ebulgen in the county/ispánate of Zala which was destroyed by the disloyal barons because of the loyalty he showed the royal crown, in recompense for his services and damages, favorably inclined also by the prayers of said warden, his brother, we gave, donated, and conferred said piece of land of one ploughing on that Aba and his heirs and successors of his heirs, with their appurtenances; rather we left what was already conferred a while ago to be possessed peacefully and perpetually.  Whose boundaries are defined in this way:  the first begins from the eastern land next to a field in a certain road and there is an earthen marker, thence it rises higher to the south part in arable land, in the middle of which is a marker and on the top of the mountain is a similar marker, whence it crosses a certain valley and rises southward, where there are certain reddish shrubs and there in a rise (berch) is an earthen marker; thence it descends to markers of the town of Elenbach, then comes higher northward and turns back through that valley to the summit of said mountain, where there is a marker, thence it descends directly to a certain road and against the road is a marker, thence it descends into the midst of said land and there is a marker, thence it descends to a marker which is beside the road and enters a water called Chunuk, and descending through that water it comes to the previous markers and there it ends.  In memory and perpetual stability of which thing we have granted the present letters to that Aba strengthened by the protection of our double seal.  Dated in the 1279th year of the Lord.

Original letter:

Elysabeth Dei gratia regina Hungarie universis Christi fidelibus tam presentibus, quam futuris, ad quos presens scriptum pervenerit, salutem in salutis omnium largitore. Pium est et iustum ac consentaneum rationi, ut regalis atque reginalis benignitatis sublimitas collationes seu donationes rite et legitime factas suorum privilegiorum patrocinio muniat et confirmet. Proinde universorum presentium futurorumque notitie fieri volumus manifestum, quod cum dominium provincie Scypus de gratia et favore domini regis Ladyzlai filii nostri karissimi et omnium baronum suorum consensu ad nos fuisset devolutum et ad petitionem eiusdem domini regis iura uniuscuiusque, quibus [!] terras in ipsa provincia Scypus possident, experiremur investigatione diligenti, ut perinde terras indebite alienatas restaurare et ad directum statum reducere possemus pleno iure, vir utique fidelis Aba frater Johannis custodis ecclesie Sancti Martini de Scypus litteras domini et karissimi consortis nostri Stephani regis pie memorie et domini Ladyzlay regis filii nostri nobis exhibuit continentes, quod terram cultui unius aratri pertinentem, de terra dominii in Scypus olim exemptam pro fidelitatibus et servitiis suis sibi et suis heredibus iidem reges contulissent perpetuo possidendam, petens cum instantia, ut ipsam collationem ratam habere et nostris dignaremur litteris confirmare. Nos itaque servitia ipsius Aba, que nobis scientibus in fervore mere fidelitatis domino regi Ladyzlao filio nostro et tandem nobis laudabiliter exhibuit, attendentes presertim, quia in expugnatione castri Scypus, quod Rolandus in infidelitate persistens contra regiam detinebat maiestatem, letale vulnus pertulit cruce suo iaculo baliste transiecto et transfosso et quia filius eius in captivitate eiusdem Rolandi miserias et peniurias [!] carceris diutius subportavit, quem demum cum viginti quinque marcis redemit ab eodem. Considerantes etiam, quod de possessione sua Ebulgen nomine in comitatu de Zala existente per infideles barones destructa pro fidelitate corone regie observata exulavit, in recompensationem servitiorum et dampnorum suorum, precibus etiam predicti custodis, fratris sui favorabiliter inclinate dictam particulam terre unius aratri eidem Aba et suis heredibus heredumque suorum successoribus cum suis pertinentiis dedimus, donavimus et contulimus, ymo iam dudum collatam reliquimus pacifice et perpetuo possidendam. Cuius mete hoc ordine distinguntur: prima meta incipit a plaga orientali iuxta pratum in quadam via et est ibi meta terrea, deinde ascendit superius ad partem meridionalem in terra arabili, in cuius medietate est meta et in vertice montis est similiter meta, deinde transit quandam vallem et ascendit versus meridiem, ubi sunt frutices quidam rubei et ibi in berch est meta terrea, deinde descendit ad metas ville de Elenbach, deinde venit superius versus aquilonem et per eandem vallem reflectitur ad verticem predicti montis, ubi est meta, deinde descendit directe ad quandam viam et secus viam est meta, deinde descendit in medium terre predicte et ibi est meta, deinde descendit ad metam, que est iuxta viam et intrat in aquam Cheunuk vocatam et per eandem aquam descendendo venit ad priores metas et ibi terminatur. In cuius rei memoriam firmitatemque perpetuam presentes ipsi Aba concessimus litteras duplicis sigilli nostri munimine roboratas. Datum anno Domini Mo ducentesimo septuagesimo nono.

Historical context:

The queen, who has been delegated by her son to investigate claims of alienated lands in Szepes, finds for one Aba, whose land had been destroyed in the rebellion of Roland (see Zsoldos, The Árpáds, 158), and defines the boundaries of his land.  Aba himself had been wounded and his son captured in the king’s service.

Printed source:

Az Árpád-házi hercegek, hercegnök és a királnék okleveleinek kritikai jegyzéke, Regesta ducum, ducissarum stirpis Arpadiana, ed. E. Szentpétery, A. Zsoldos (Budapest 2008), 81-82, #118.

Date: