„IN NUMERUM PROSCRIPTORUM MALEFACTORUM ASSIGNATI“. PROSCRIPTION IN BANAT AND TRANSYLVANIA IN THE MIDDLE AGES (14TH–15TH CENTURY)
Jan. 22, 2024
Keywords:
Banat
Transylvania
general congregations
crime
proscription
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Abstract
An important part of medieval Hungarian justice was the proscription. It was a legal procedure taken at special
assemblies of regional aristocracy held upon the order of the king and presided by the palatine or a person in the
dignity of baron (e. g. duke of Transylvania). At these judicial assemblies people accused of crime were listed in
registers. When they did not attend the assembly the county authorities found them guilty in absentia, proclaimed
as public malefactors and the palatine outlawed them, which meant sentencing to death and confiscation of their
property. In comparison with other parts of the kingdom of Hungary only one proscription register from the
voivodate of Transylvania and its seven counties and from the territory of modern Banat has been preserved. From
this and from other medieval documents we know that also in these parts of kingdom, the general congregations
dealt with criminals, who had been summoned before their courts and recorded in proscription lists. Several documents
about the proscribed persons and their destinies have been preserved, the data of which are discussed in
this papers.