A vajdai oktavális ítélőszék a középkori Erdélyben
The Octave Tribunal of the Voivode in Medieval Transylvania

Summary/Abstract: Since the second half of the 13th century, the voivode, the high royal ruler appointed to rule Transylvania, and his deputy, the vice-voivode, held a judicial court in Sântimbru, a settlement in the county of Alba, on the right bank of the Mureș River. During the Árpád dynasty, the voivodes of Transylvania were several times also counts (comites) of the Alba County, and the judgment of the two here can be linked to this function. In the beginning, occasionally, the voivode also sat in judgment at Sântimbru, but after 1339, almost exclusively the vice-voivode presided the judicial court there. In the 14th century, the hearings of the cases at the court began on the octaves of more important religious feasts. The octave could mean either the eighth day of the feast or a longer period. In the 14th and early 15th centuries, the octaval court was held on the octaves of some notable feasts, but from the second decade of the 15th century onwards, only on the octaves of four of them: Epiphany, St George’s Day, the Nativity of St. John the Baptist and Michaelmas, most likely with the personal participation of the vicevoivode. After 1412 there were no more voivodes’ assemblies (congregations) held in Turda (Turda county; a judicial forum that operated at irregular intervals), and between 1431 and 1440 the octaval court of the vicevoivodes moved to Turda. After 1421, the congregations were gradually resumed. Afterwards, until 1464, the two voivodal tribunals, the octaval court and the congregations, were occasions when almost exclusively the vicevoivode sat in judgment. After 1465 the documents of the octaval court were issued in the names of the voivodes (except for the period 1477–1479, when again the vicevoivodes appeared in the superscriptions of the documents). After the period between 1442 and 1464, when Magister Nicholas, the protonotary of Transylvania, was active, we do not find such an official in Transylvania. Until 1464, the Transylvanian protonotaries were primarily involved in chancellery-related activities and did not participate in judicial activities. Between 1465 and 1515, the voivodes no longer had a permanent Transylvanian protonotary. Between 1473 and 1478, the protonotary Michael Debrétei, a native from outside Transylvania, worked in the court seats that were held, and in the following period, protonotaries from the royal court were sent. Their participation in the octaval tribunal is attested from 1493 onwards: Adam Liszkai (1493–1496), protonotary of the royal personal presence, Francis Marócsai (1499– 1501), formerly protonotary of the vicepalatine, and Stephen Verbőci, protonotary of the judge royal (1502–1515). They, respectively their subordinates, performed judicial work at the octaval tribunal, not the voivodes. The protonotaries sent from the royal court were accompanied on their Transylvanian journeys by notaries also sent from there. All this indicates that the justice of the province was subject to central control. Protonotaries and notaries were sent to Transylvania not only at the octaval courts, but sometimes also at the general assemblies of the voivodes and for the settlement of important matters (e.g. introductions into some important domains, settlement of border disputes). Octaval courts became much rarer after 1465, for example between 1466 and 1472 they did not take place at all. On a few occasions (1482, 1487) the octaval court was held in Târgu Mureș (seat of Mureș), and from 1493 onwards it was held in Cluj (Cluj county) and remained there. (In 1494, on the occasion of the king’s visit to Transylvania, the octaval court was held, exceptionally at Sibiu (Sibiu seat). In the period up to 1526, the last voivodal octaval court was held in 1519. This court was presided over by the protonotary of Transylvania, Paul Barcsai, who had been active in this capacity since 1516. At the end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th century, the vice-voivod and 11 other prominent Transylvanian nobles attended the octaval tribunal as assessors (1499, 1514, 1519). Due to the work of the protonotaries and notaries sent to Transylvania, the same chancery notes appeared in the voivode’s acts issued on the occasion of the octaval sessions of the court, especially after 1493 (starting with Liszkai’s work), as in the issues of the courts of the royal court. At the beginning of the 16th century a new official appeared in the voivode’s documents, the secretary, the head of the voivode’s chancellery. It was only after the appointment of the first Transylvanian protonotary that he was able to free himself from judicial work. Summonses were issued for a long time for the nearest octave, then the trials were postponed from one octave to another. In 1458, in Hungary, the short summons was introduced on the 32nd day (one month) in cases of violent trespasses, but in Transylvania, in the absence of a permanent court and a protonotary, this practice did not spread. Short-term summonses were issued for various terms, and in addition to cases of violent trespasses, there were also cases of renewed lawsuits, of landed possessions and of the possessions of heirless nobles, which reverted to the king. Cases judged at the octaval courts could be appealed to the royal court. In the second half of the 15th century, the lawsuit usually reached the court of the king’s personal presence, and after 1500 to that of the judge royal. The above study is supplemented by the archontology of the voivodal chancellery, the list of notaries who participated in the octaval courts, and a table containing the dates and venues of the octaval court sessions (1465–1526).

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