The ''udvornici'', also ''udvarniks'' or royal serving people ( hu, udvarnokok,
Slovak: ''dvorníci''), was a class of half-free people who were obliged to provide well-specified services to the royal court in the medieval
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 first king Stephen ...
. They seem to have been descended from the
Slavic population which was subjugated during the
Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin
The Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin, also known as the Hungarian conquest or the Hungarian land-taking (), was a series of historical events ending with the settlement of the Hungarians in Central Europe in the late 9th and early 10t ...
. Word ''udvornici'' is derived from slavic "U dvora", meaning "at/near the (royal) court". Their lord was the monarch, but they were administered by the
Palatine
A palatine or palatinus (in Latin; plural ''palatini''; cf. derivative spellings below) is a high-level official attached to imperial or royal courts in Europe since Roman times. .
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Medieval Kingdom of Hungary
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