FUN LEARNING WITH HUNGARICANA #1 : CHARTERS : A WILL in ABAUJ CIRCA YEAR 1438

What does the term "Charter" mean? Modern definition: A charter is a legal document granted to an individual or corporation. It outlines the purpose and structure for the creation of a colony, city, or organization, as well as the rights each organization will have.

Charters in the National Archives of Hungary, or found through the databases of Hungaricana, are decisions made by the King or other authorities such as Princes, Nobles, land-owners/ Barons (including churches), or local authorities, about property rights, and may include information about grants, repossessions, and who is who. They also document wills, such as the one we will look at here.

Charters may not apply to your family or personal research, but it can be some fun to look into them anyway to see if any of the places your ancestors lived are included in the Hungaricana databases. It can be thrilling to find someone with your surname mentioned in a very old Charter, even if you'll never be able to prove they are related to you. With these Charters you can get a feel for the way of life and mentality of a time and place. 

The Charters are from pre-printing press days when a scribe had the specialized skills of writing and reading. Nobles often remained illiterate and allowed the scribe - a servant - to do his work. Religious people - priests, monks, nuns - were more learned than most people, who were unable to read or write. As a note, sometimes just being able to handwrite your name was considered literate. Instead of a handwritten signature, some people, including notaries, used wax seals, often with the family heraldry, to indicate their presence or approval.

Using the Google (or another translator) can be extremely helpful when you don't know the Hungarian language. This is because the old, handwritten Hungarian (which might differ from more current Hungarian) of the Charters can be difficult but HUNGARICANA's modern language abstracts are sometimes close to word for word. You can go to the original document (some of which are in tatters, other pristine) and see if there is more information if intrigued by the abstract.

In the example below, we also encounter Latin of the early Medieval period.

Let's take a look!

I chose to search for Gonc (In Abauj County) because the now small settlement, which got bypassed when the railroad was built, was once an important  "hustle-bustle" administrative center in Hungary and many Charters were entered there.  

TITLE and TRANSLATION THAT WILL COME UP IN HUNGARICANA
DIPLOMATIKAI LEVÉLTÁR (Q szekció) • Kincstári levéltárból (E) • MKA, Acta Paulinorum (Q 312) • 13191

THE DATE ON THIS CHARTER IS May 22,1438 (!)

Diplomatic Archive section Q  From the treasury archive (E)  MKA, acta Paulinorum (Q312) / 13191

Issuers of the charter Mihály gönci plébános

Mihály alesperes

György telkibányai plébános

Antal deruskai plébános   (de Ruskai indicates the settlement Goncruszka a few miles from Gonc.)

TRANSLATION : Milahly is the parish priest from Gonc (which today is named Saint Emerics) and he is a deputy. Gyorgy is a parish priest from Telkibanya (which is a settlement around the mountain from Gonc.) Antal is a parish priest from Deruska. (Goncruska)

végrendelet - this is a will

ABSTRACT TEXT
The parish priests of Mihaly- Gonc, Gyorgy -Telkibanya and Anta -Deruska prove that GYORGY CUPRAR, citizen of Telkibanya, bequeathed his vineyard and mill, which grinds various products and wood, to SZUZ MARIA, monastery in Gonc. (MONESTARY OF THE VIRGIN MARY) Fragment of three green imprinted seals. (These are the official wax seals of the three priests.)
....

ABSTACT TEXT CONTINUES:

Parish priest and deacon Mihaly of Gwnch (Gonc), parish priest Gyorgy of Telkybania, and parish priest Antal of Ruska testify that on the Monday before the feast of the Ascension of the Lord (May 19) in the parish priest Mihaly's house (dota), citizen GYORGY CUPRAR of Telkibania appeared before them and made a will to leave the village of Chechuz in the territory of Telkibania with all its benefits, with the exception of one plot of land, which he will keep for himself during his lifetime, to the monastery of the Virgin Mary near Gwnch, also to this monastery he leaves his vineyard in Sancho on the Chater Mountain with the stipulation that the monks of the monetary cultivate the vineyard and give him half the yield of the vineyard as long as he lives. At the head of the village and the vineyard should say a mas de quinque vulneribus Christi.(Translation from Latin: Mass of the Five Wounds of Christ) every day, with the exception of Saturday, and a mas de assuncione Maria viginis glorios (Mass of the Glorious Assumption of Mary). He also leaves the mill for grinding cereals and pulses located in the territory of Telkybania to the monastery, with the stipulation that as long as he, his wife and her sister are alive, they will use the mill, and only after their death will it be fully transferred to the monastery.

GO TO THIS LINK TO SEE THE ORIGINAL including the three seals of the priests.

https://archives.hungaricana.hu/en/charters/LINK TO 13191

We know that in the 1400's the village may have been called or written GWNCH so I also searched for Chater Mountain and also the village Chechuz - none of which are coming up on the Internet...  Maybe you can find them?

Hungarian Genealogy and History Tips in this series can be viewed together by clicking on the tab Hungaricana Fun

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CHAPEL OF OUR LADY - QUEEN OF THE HUNGARIANS at THE VATICAN in ROME : HUNGARIAN ARTISTS

SAINT PETER'S BASILICA = CHAPEL OF OUR LADY - QUEEN OF THE HUNGARIANS 

Quite a majestic project!

Excerpt: The walls are faced with travertine slabs and decorated with 20 white limestone panels representing the scenes from the lives of the Hungarian saints, who form a processon proceeding toward the Madonna.  The panels were made by Hungarian artists.  The figures of St.Adalbert, St Gerard, and Belssed Eusebius are by the sculptor Pal Ko.  St Elizabeth, st Margaret of Hungary and Blessed Gisela are by Sandor Kiss Blessed Kunegunde, Blessed Prisca and St Ladislaus the King, are by Andras Kiss Nagy.  Blessed Iolanda, Blessed Salomea, Moses of Hungary and St. Luis of Touluse are by Laszlo Marton.  St Isabel, St Emeric and St Margaret of Scotland are by Gyula Kiss Kovacs.  Blessed Elizebeth, Blessed Hedvig, and Blessed Giovanni Dominici are by Robert Czikszentmihalyi.  The same artist made the panel with Blessed Apor Vilmos, the Bishop and Maertyr, in 2001.

THE POPE VISITS THE YOUNG PEOPLE - GIFTED A BOTTLE OF WINE and a RUBIK'S CUBE : YOUTH GATHERING

I do realize that some people think Pope Francis I is too liberal and that Hungary is undergoing a conservative outlook. But who or what can be labeled 'liberal' or 'conservative' changes all the time. At this distance, since I live in the United States, it's my feeling that Hungary needs stability and is seeking a national identity that is always entwined with the founding of the nation as a Roman Catholic country - a Christian country. 

The message for peace and harmony is International and not dependent on religious beliefs. In recent weeks I've tried to familiarize myself with all the military actions and wars in the region of the past. I watched the Oliver Stone documentary that came out in 2018 and wonder what he thinks now that Russia has gone into Ukraine. There were and are peaceful ways to go about this, especially when you consider the economic costs as well as the horrible toll on the psyche's of the citizens.

My observations watching this : The modern Christian music feels like what is more common in Christian - Protestant churches in America, including some that consider themselves to be Bible Based Fundamentalist. It also feels a bit like what we call a "revival." The testimonial aspect also feels Christian - Protestant to me.

That said, I respect the program and the people who are testifying and the outreach to the young people, whose parents or grandparents likely lived in the Communist times.

I respect the inclusion of the Greek Catholics.

SAINT STEPHEN'S DAY

ANCESTRY.COM HUNGARIAN RECORDS THAT ARE USELESS IF YOU'RE CHRISTIAN

I took the time to check ANCESTRY.COM for Hungarian records to see if some of the most common surnames in Hungary would come up... When they did not and I saw that Ancestry.com was crediting Jewishgen as the source, I realized what was happening here. 

I tried HUNGARY ALL CITIZEN CENSUS  1869.   WHAT AN TOTALLY MISLEADING TITLE!  Source JewishGen?!  It's clear that this TITLE SHOULD BE CHANGED TO "JEWS OUR JEWISH VOLUNTEERS DECIDED TO INDEX."

I also tried HUNGARY ASSORTED CENSUS RECORDS 1781-1850

AGAIN THE COMMON HUNGARIAN SURNAMES DID NOT COME UP.

I hate when a database is called "Assorted." THIS SHOULD BE RETITLED TO "JEWS ON THE CENSUS RECORDS THAT OUR JEWISH VOLUNTEERS DECIDED TO TRANSPOSE."

You may not think of it as I do, but basically these FALSE and MISLEADING TITLES are like BAIT and SWITCH.

Why does JewishGen think that if they are going to turn over all their records to Ancestry.com that they should continue to run their own web site and plead constantly for more volunteers and more donations?

You can always use FAMILYSEARCH on the INTERNET FOR FREE.

THE DOG STOLE THE SAUSAGE FROM THE EASTER BASKET AFTER IT WAS BLESSED

We often got our Easter Baskets blessed on Easter Saturday, not at the parish we belonged to, which didn't offer this, but another parish a few miles away.  Inside each basket there were home baked breads and rolls, and other items that were intended for our Easter Day lunch, things like boiled eggs, celery, salt, butter, meats like ham, and - of course - for the children, Chocolate Easter bunnies, jelly beans, and marshmallow chicks.  We rarely got candy so these were really special. 

All these would be laid upon a bed of artificial cellophane grass, most often green, but sometimes pink or yellow, and an old cloth doily would be placed over the top of the precious basket.  We would go into the church and arrange our baskets an the kneeler along the communion rail.  (As I write this I wonder if all my readers will know what I mean.  In our churches it was common to separate the altar area with a metal rail. These days in many churches people stand in line for Holy Communion and do not kneel.)  We would expose the contents of the basket to the upcoming rain of Holy Water by folding the doily aside.  Then go to sit in the pews to listen to a brief  but sincere Easter prayer lead by the priest and the blessing.

One year my mother's picnic sized hamper included a large sausage.
That year one of the priests at this parish had a pet - a large dog.

As the parishioners settled back into a moment of fervent prayer, the priest's dog came down the center isle of the church.  Before anyone could imagine what he might be up to, the dog snatched the large sausage and ran out of the church with it.  Smart dog!

The serious Easter prayer was punctuated by the wild suppression of laughter, as everyone attempted to avoid laughing out loud or running out of the church after the dog - who was long gone.  Their shoulders shook in glee.

My mom took it well.

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HUNGARIAN WOMEN : SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS : RELIGION AND STATUS : GENEALOGY TIP #2

HUNGARIAN WOMEN : SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS: RELIGION AND STATUS : GENEALOGY TIP #2

In 1711 churches in the countries and counties ruled by the Austrians by law began taking notes like these below. The listings are often in LATIN the universal language of the Roman Catholic Church.  The notes may also be in German, Slovak, Hungarian, Polish - Russian, reflecting the education and ethnicity of the local priest. 

You may find some churches have listings for people who are not Roman Catholic included depending on how small a town or how far it was that people had to travel to go to their Jewish temple or Greek Catholic church.  This was the closest thing they had to a civil registration and be careful when reading their religious information to realize that they are listed not because they actually go to this church but because they live near it! But since Hungary declared itself to be a Christian country after overcoming the domination by Moslem Turks and aligned itself with Roman Catholicism, I'll start there.

CONSIDER THESE SAMPLE LISTINGS.

Maria, daughter of Janos Nagy.  1715  (no mother's name at all.  A fairly worthless listing because of the common names.  Maybe if the person is a noble and has a name like Maria Elizabeta Julietta Szalia (I'm making this up but I've noticed that the more names given the higher the rank of the noble with an average of four names for say the equivalent of a count/graf) the record becomes valuable.

better is:

Maria, daughter of Janos Nagy, Baptised August 1, 1715 (But it's as if the man gave birth!)

better is

Maria, daughter of Janos Nagy, Born July 28, 1715, Baptised August 1, 1715
priest's note : father is farmer.

better is

Maria, daughter of Janos Nagy, Born July 28th, 1715 Baptised August 1, 1725
priest's note : father is farmer.  Mother Maria Toth.  Mother is nobilis.

(You may be convinced that nobilis could only marry nobilis but I've found MANY marriages of mixed status and even mixed religions particularly in towns. As I understand it, the children's status was dictated by their father.  So a noble woman would keep her own status marrying a common person but the issue was that her children lost their noble heritage because of this unequal marriage.  On the other hand some noble women preferred to marry a wealthy commoner rather than a poor noble!  Also today we tend to think that a couple marries in the BRIDE'S church but I've come to believe by reading)

NOW YOU CAN LOOK THROUGH THE CHURCH REGISTER FOR OTHER CHILDREN BORN TO A JANOS NAGY AND A MARIA TOTH, assembling a family group.

NOW YOU CAN ALSO LOOK FOR A MARRIAGE OF THIS COUPLE, based on the oldest child born to them (give it a year or two.)  You may find something like this:

Marriage of the widow Janos Nagy, 45 and the virgin Maria Toth,  18, April 15, 1720.  Husband is a farmer - land owner.

Maria, daughter of Janos Nagy and Maria Nagyne, still born.  December 22, 1721. Baptised by midwife.

Maria, daughter of farmer - landowner Janos Nagy and the nobilis Maria Toth,  Born July 28th, 1715, Baptised August 1, 1725 by Priest Andras Szabo.  (It is common for a couple to name a newly born child the same as a deceased child!)

Janos, son of farmer - landowner from Zemplen, Janos Nagy and the nobilis Maria Toth who was born in Budapest,  Janos Born August 15, 1726, Baptised August 16, 1726 ...

I would like to say that all the records get more informative as they years go by but that hasn't been my experience. 

Priest's notations about status are common even after 1848 and there always seems to be great concern about the father's profession, after all most women didn't work for money.  They were either supported or inherited or became sisters or nuns supported in convents by the Church.

Posts from this series can be brought up by clicking on the label GenTips - Hungary Women

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POPE FRANCIS NEWS AND MORE STRAIGHT FROM THE VATICAN

THE VATICAN OFFICIAL WEB SITE in many languages.  Click around a bit and you can find all kinds of interesting information including a calandar of services.