Conditional noble
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A conditional noble or predialistSegeš 2002, p. 286. ( hu, prédiális nemes; la, nobilis praedialis; hr, predijalci) was a landowner in the
Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coronation of the Hungarian monarch, c ...
who was obliged to render specific services to his lord in return for his landholding, in contrast with a " true nobleman of the realm" who held his estates free of such services. Most conditional nobles lived in the border territories of the kingdom, including
Slavonia Slavonia (; hr, Slavonija) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria, one of the four historical regions of Croatia. Taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with five Croatian counties: Brod-Posavina, Osijek-Bar ...
and
Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the A ...
, but some of their groups possessed lands in estates of
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pre ...
s. Certain groups of conditional nobility, including the " ecclesiastic nobles" and the " nobles of Turopolje" preserved their specific status until the 19th century.


History

Society in the
early medieval The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...
Kingdom of Hungary was basically split into the two major groups: "freemen" ''(liberi)'' and "servants" ''(servi)''.Kontler 1999, p. 69. Although legislation sharply distinguished these two categories (for instance, by prohibiting intermarriage),Rady 2000, p. 21. a wide group of "semi-free" people also existed. Furthermore, a man's legal status did not determine his economic position or occupation. Accordingly, it was not unusual for a freeman to serve in a lord's household without owning landed property nor for a servant to render military services to his lord in return for the lands he had received from him. Distinctions between freemen and servants started to disappear in the 12th century, but in the early 13th century new borders were formed between those who rendered military services and those who only "did peasant work" (Pál Engel) . In the former group, " castle warriors" were those who served under the command of the ''
ispán The ispánRady 2000, p. 19.''Stephen Werbőczy: The Customary Law of the Renowned Kingdom of Hungary in Three Parts (1517)'', p. 450. or countEngel 2001, p. 40.Curta 2006, p. 355. ( hu, ispán, la, comes or comes parochialis, and sk, župan)Kirs ...
'' or head of a castle district in return for the lands they held in the royal estates attached to the castle, while " royal servants" were those who owed military service directly to the
monarch A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority ...
. Royal servants enforced the confirmation of their liberties in 1222 when King
Andrew II of Hungary Andrew II ( hu, II. András, hr, Andrija II., sk, Ondrej II., uk, Андрій II; 117721 September 1235), also known as Andrew of Jerusalem, was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1205 and 1235. He ruled the Principality of Halych from 11 ...
issued his Golden Bull. One of the principal provisions of the document stipulated that royal servants were no longer obliged to accompany the king in a military campaign abroad "unless it be at his expense".Engel 2001, p. 94. The emerging self-consciousness of the royal servants is demonstrated by their adoption of the "noble" denomination from the 1250s, in a period when the "exact nature of noble status and the basic privileges of the noble order were definitely laid down" (Pál Engel). Their newly confirmed status distinguished "true nobleman of the realm" from those who owned their estates in return for services to be rendered to the monarch or other lords. On the other hand, some groups of castle warriors began to call themselves "the freemen of the Holy King" ''(liberi Sancti Regis)'', suggesting that their liberties could be traced back to the time of
St Stephen Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ''Stéphanos'', meaning "wreath, crown" and by extension "reward, honor, renown, fame", often given as a title rather than as a name; c. 5 – c. 34 AD) is traditionally venerated as the protomartyr or first ...
, the first king of Hungary Furthermore, certain groups of landowners who were obliged to render services to their lords received collective liberties in the second half of the 13th century. Even new groups of landowners with similar obligations appeared in the northern Carpathian regions and other border territories of the kingdom in the same period or some decades later. The "nobility" of conditional nobles was rather local, which is demonstrated by such denominations as "nobles of Turóc" (Turiec,
Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...
) or "nobles of Szepes" (Spiš, Slovakia) ( Martyn Rady). Accordingly, they usually had their own administrative units, local meetings and courts, separate from the counties and their general assemblies.Rady 2000, p. 84. For instance, the "predialists" of the archbishopric of Esztergom had a "
seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair, a chair ...
" in
Vajka Vojka nad Dunajom ( hu, Vajka, ) is a village and municipality in the Dunajská Streda District in the Trnava Region of south-west Slovakia. History In the 9th century, the territory of Vojka nad Dunajom became part of the Kingdom of Hungary. In ...
(Vojka nad Dunajom, Slovakia) and later in Verebély (Vráble, Slovakia). Although conditional nobles were sometimes invited to the general assemblies, their court cases were usually heard at a separate meeting. For instance,
Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania ** Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditiona ...
''kenezes'' attended the general meetings of the
Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the A ...
n noblemen,
Saxons The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
and
Székelys The Székelys (, Székely runes: 𐳥𐳋𐳓𐳉𐳗), also referred to as Szeklers,; ro, secui; german: Szekler; la, Siculi; sr, Секељи, Sekelji; sk, Sikuli are a Hungarian subgroup living mostly in the Székely Land in Romania. ...
in 1291 and 1355, but otherwise a separate meeting was convoked for them by the deputy of the
voivode of Transylvania The Voivode of Transylvania (german: Vojwode von Siebenbürgen;Fallenbüchl 1988, p. 77. hu, erdélyi vajda;Zsoldos 2011, p. 36. la, voivoda Transsylvaniae; ro, voievodul Transilvaniei) was the highest-ranking official in Transylvania wit ...
. Conditional nobles were legally distinguished from '' familiares'', that is, from noblemen who served a secular lord or a prelate (usually in exchange for a salary), but preserved their direct connection to the monarch. Nevertheless, in some cases ''familiares'' resigned from their "true noble" status in order to receive protection from more powerful lords, such as the ancestors of some nobles living on the estates of the bishops of Veszprém. On the other hand, conditional nobles whose estate was liberated from the obligations formerly attached to it acquired the status of "true noblemen".Rady 2000, p. 81.


Groups of conditional nobles

Ecclesiastic nobles who owned landed property in the estates of the
archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdio ...
s,
bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...
s and other prelates of the realm emerged as a distinct group in the second half of the 13th century. They primarily owed military service to their lords. Ecclesiastic nobles in Slavonia sometime owned one or more villages, but those north of the river cultivated their "dwarf-holdings" themselves (Martyn Rady). The institution was abolished by decree in 1853. The nobles of Turopolje descended from castle warriors
Zagreb County Zagreb County ( hr, Zagrebačka županija) is a county in Northern Croatia. It surrounds, but does not contain, the nation's capital Zagreb, which is a separate territorial unit. For that reason, the county is often nicknamed "Zagreb ring" ( hr, ...
in Slavonia acquired special privileges, including the right to elect their judges in the 1270s. They were also exempt from taxation. The "noble castle warriors" of Gorica and
Rovišće Rovišće is a village and a municipality in Bjelovar-Bilogora County, Croatia. There are 4,822 inhabitants, 1,196 in the village itself, of which 97% are Croats The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a comm ...
were granted the right to be heard at the court of the ''ispán'' of the castle only when the monarch's envoy was also present, but they were to make an annual payment to the same ''ispán''. The "nobles of Dubica" had to pay an in-kind tax (primarily
marten A marten is a weasel-like mammal in the genus ''Martes'' within the subfamily Guloninae, in the family Mustelidae. They have bushy tails and large paws with partially retractile claws. The fur varies from yellowish to dark brown, depending on ...
fur) to the prior of the
Knights Templar , colors = White mantle with a red cross , colors_label = Attire , march = , mascot = Two knights riding a single horse , equipment ...
(later of the
Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...
) who received the county from King
Béla IV of Hungary Béla IV (1206 – 3 May 1270) was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1235 and 1270, and Duke of Styria from 1254 to 1258. As the oldest son of King Andrew II, he was crowned upon the initiative of a group of influential noblemen in his fath ...
in 1269. "Sons of noble castle warriors" ''(filii iobagionum)'' was the denomination of conditional nobles in many counties in
Upper Hungary Upper Hungary is the usual English translation of ''Felvidék'' (literally: "Upland"), the Hungarian term for the area that was historically the northern part of the Kingdom of Hungary, now mostly present-day Slovakia. The region has also been ...
(now Slovakia and the Zakarpattia District of
Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...
), including Bereg (Berehovo, Ukraine), Gömör (Gemer, Slovakia), Sáros (Šariš, Slovakia) and Turóc (Turiec, Slovakia). Some of them were descendants of former border guards of possible
Kabar The Kabars ( el, Κάβαροι), also known as Qavars (Qabars) or Khavars were Khazar rebels who joined the Magyar confederation possibly in the 9th century as well as the Rus' Khaganate. Sources The Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII is the ...
origin, but others descended from udvarniks settled at newly erected castles under King Béla IV with the obligation to render services to the castle. Most of them had merged into the "true nobility" by the middle of the 14th century. In contrast with them, the " ten-lanced nobles of Szepes preserved their special status up until 1804. Romanian noble '' knezes'' also formed a group of conditional nobles, since they were to render exactly specified services to the castles of the lands on which their estate was situated.Rady 2000, p. 89. They owned quite large properties (some of them inhabited by hundreds of peasants), and were organized into self-governing districts. The boyars of Fogaras enjoyed a similar status in the land of
Fogaras Fogaras was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now in central Romania (south-eastern Transylvania). The county's capital was Fogaras (present-day Făgăraș). Geography Fogaras county shared border ...
(Făgăraș, Romania), held as a fief for decades at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries by the
princes of Wallachia This is a list of princes of Wallachia, from the first mention of a medieval polity situated between the Southern Carpathians and the Danube until the union with Moldavia in 1859, which unification of Moldavia and Wallachia, led to the creation of ...
. Finally, the status of the Orthodox Romanian noble
voivode Voivode (, also spelled ''voievod'', ''voevod'', ''voivoda'', ''vojvoda'' or ''wojewoda'') is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe since the Early Middle Ages. It primarily referred to the me ...
s who held landed property in the estates of the
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
bishops of Várad A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
(
Oradea Oradea (, , ; german: Großwardein ; hu, Nagyvárad ) is a city in Romania, located in Crișana, a sub-region of Transylvania. The county seat, seat of Bihor County, Oradea is one of the most important economic, social and cultural centers in the ...
, Romania) and
Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
was similar to that of ecclesiastic nobles.Makkai 1994, pp. 215, 218.


See also

*
Castle warrior A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
*
Nobility in the Kingdom of Hungary The Hungarian nobility consisted of a privileged group of individuals, most of whom owned landed property, in the Kingdom of Hungary. Initially, a diverse body of people were described as Nobility, noblemen, but from the late 12th century ...


Footnotes


References

* Bán, Péter (1989). Entry ''prédiális nemesek, egyházi nemesek'' in: Bán, Péter; ''Magyar történelmi fogalomtár, I. kötet: L–Zs'' Thesaurus of Terms of Hungarian History, Volume I: L–Zs Gondolat. . * Engel, Pál (2001). ''The Realm of St Stephen: A History of Medieval Hungary, 895-1526''. I.B. Tauris Publishers. . * Kontler, László (1999). ''Millennium in Central Europe: A History of Hungary''. Atlantisz Publishing House. . * Magaš, Branka (2008). ''Croatia through History: The Making of a European State''. Saqi Books. * Makkai, László (1994). ''The Emergence of the Estates (1172–1526)''. In: Köpeczi, Béla; Barta, Gábor; Bóna, István; Makkai, László; Szász, Zoltán; Borus, Judit; ''History of Transylvania''; Akadémiai Kiadó; . * Pop, Ioan-Aurel (2005). ''Romanians in the 14th–16th Centuries: From the "Christian Republic" to the "Restoration of Dacia"''. In: Pop, Ioan-Aurel; Bolovan, Ioan; ''History of Romania: Compendium''; Romanian Cultural Institute (Center for Transylvanian Studies). . * Rady, Martyn (2000). ''Nobility, Land and Service in Medieval Hungary''. Palgrave (in association with School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London). . * Segeš, Vladimír (2002). Entry ''Predialists'' in: Škvarna, Dušan; Bartl, Július; Čičaj, Viliam; Kohútová, Mária; Letz, Róbert; Segeš, Vladimír; ''Slovak History: Chronology & Lexicon''; Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers. Wauconda (Illinois); . * ''The Laws of the Medieval Kingdom of Hungary, 1000–1301'' (Translated and Edited by János M. Bak, György Bónis, James Ross Sweeney with an essay on previous editions by Andor Czizmadia, Second revised edition, In collaboration with Leslie S. Domonkos) (1999). Charles Schlacks, Jr. Publishers. . . . . {{OL, 12153527M. (ISBN may be misprinted in the book as 88445-29-2). Conditional nobility (Kingdom of Hungary)