freemen, denariuses of the free, court of justice, warrior

Coin with the representation of St Stephen on it 2
Coin with the representation of Ladislaus I on it
Initiation into feudal tenure
Bishop at a patronal festival
Double-edged sword
Three knights
the freemen

The Latin equivalent of the the Slav word was liber. Originally it referred to persons who did not belong under anyone's authority, independent of their social or financial situation. From the last quarter of the 11th century people who had limited freedom within dependance on the owner were also called liber, for example, castle villeins were ocassionally called "the freemen of the saint king [St Stephen]", and the villeins of equeries were called "the freemen of the equerry", while the meaning "common freemen" also survived. With the emergence of the nobility and peasant-villeins, liber as a social category disappeared by the end of the 13th century, the usage of the word changed. It referred to peasants who had to perform lighter duties than the average.

ZSA


the denariuses of the free

A kind of state tax. Presumably it was first collected by St Stephen. After its name it must have put burdens on the freemen, but at the turn of the 11-12th centuries certain groups of the limited free and royal servants were also forced to pay it. After King Coloman's reforms the common freemen who had their own land possessions were exempt from paying this tax. By the middle of the 13th century it was gradually neglected. By referring to its value it was also called the eight-denarius tax.

ZSA


noble court of justice

The court of justice of the landowner, which had its authority over people living on the estate (peasant-villeins and servants). Its origin is rather doubtful; in theory it might be derived from the power of the landowner over his servants, but in practice a certain royal privilege brought about the possibility of the existence of the noble court of justice, which exempted the landowner's people from appearing at lower royal courts (immunitas). According to some opinions, ecclesiastic landowners had already had this immunitas in the 11th century, while others say that the institute of immunitas appeared only after 1200. In the 13th century several charters are known, in which judical immunitas were given - to both ecclesiastic and secular landowners -, but the practice of noble court of justice became general only in the 14th century, when its forms also became fixed.

ZSA


warrior

A Slav loan word, its Latin equivalent was miles [= fighter, soldier, knight]. 11th century laws use the word miles partly in general sense, partly as a social category. In the case of the latter one it referred to the middle layer of the free, in between the dignitary comeses and the commons. According to the references of the laws such miles were partly independent landowners, and partly served for the king, churches and private persons as armed soldiers. Their first group can be identified with the landowner common freemen, while the latter one - after losing their freedom in the second half of the 11th century - joined the layer of soldiers of royal and ecclesiastic estates (e.g.: castle villeins, ecclesiastic villeins), and had limited freedom. During the 12th century the word miles lost its meaning of a social category and it was used only in its general sense.

ZSA