Conventul de la Cluj-Mănăștur și orașul Cluj în timpul principatului Transilvaniei
The Convent of Cluj-Mănăștur and the City of Cluj during the Transylvanian Principality

Summary/Abstract: In the second half of the 16th century, the authentication places that functioned under the jurisdiction of the Transylvanian princes underwent a particular transformation. As a consequence of secularization, a specifically Transylvanian institution was created, that of the requisitors or letter-searchers, whose main task was to issue and preserve legal documents. In the case of the convent of Cluj-Mănăștur, its relocation to the city of Cluj gave a more „urban” character to the previously typically noble institution, which was essential for the preservation of the privileges and domains of the nobility. Following the reorganization that took place in 1575, the Convent of Cluj-Mănăștur once again became one of the most important institutions for issuing charters in Transylvania, together with the princely chancellery and the places of authentication in Alba Iulia and Oradea. These institutions’ charter-issuing and preserving activity was largely determined by the place where they functioned. Following the move of the Convent archive within the city walls, both the convent’s mode of functioning and its clientele underwent important changes, based on which, in the 17th-century sources, it is even sometimes referred to as the convent or chapter of Cluj. In the following, I would like to show how the urban character was manifested in the functioning of the place of authentication of Cluj-Mănăștur and how the community of the city used this institution, reorganized on a secular basis, to promote its own interests.

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