Über die mittelalterliche Kirchengerichtsbarkeit des Königreichs Ungarn: Das Beispiel der Tätigkeit des Graner Kirchengerichts unter dem Generalvikar Matthäus de Vicedominis (1399–1428)

Abstract

Abstract On medieval church legislation in the Kingdom of Hungary - the diocesan law tribunal of Esztergom under the vicar Matteo di Vicedomini di Piacenza (1399-1428). In this paper the authors present the organization and work of medieval ecclesiastical courts of the Hungarian Kingdom in the 14th and 15th centuries in general, and on the other hand they examine this in detail by evaluation of a single court’s activity. The diocesan law courts were tribunals of first instance led by an officialis who was called in Hungary vicarius generalis, usually a doctor of canon law helped by assessores and staff. The seats of the archbishops of Esztergom and Kalocsa were tribunals of second instance, and the former was, as a primate, also a third degree forum since 1394/95. In comparison to Hungarian secular courts, literacy played a major role, although none of the judiciary registres have survived from the territory of Hungary before 1525. The jurisdiction of ecclesiastical courts was probably the broadest at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries (cases of clergy, matrimonial and quarta puellaris lawsuits, hereditary cases, questions of oaths, benefices, wills and purity of the faith). This was constricted by the jurisdiction of secular courts already in the 15th century. - These phenomena can be explored and analyzed also through the activity of the Esztergom Tribunal under the vicar Matteo di Vicedomini di Piacenza, who served there as a judicial vicar between 1399-1403, 1411-1423 and 1425-1428. According to the charters we know he dealt with various types of cases. It can be observed how the tribunal and its members worked even in the absence of the vicar, how the charters were sealed and which were the tasks of the assessores, the notars and scribes.