Notarii publici în Transilvania medievală. Cazul Bistriței în perspectivă comparativă
Notaries Public in Medieval Transylvania. The Case of Bistrița in Comparative Terms

Summary/Abstract: The article seeks to shed light on the notarial activity in Bistrița in the early 16thcentury and to initiate an analysis of the archival sources that have largely remained unexploredin the studies of notaries public in medieval Transylvania. The documents reveal the profile andbackground of the jurists, their networks of relationships, and interactions with community members, elements that contribute to the reconstruction of Bistrița’s medieval history. Among the six notaries identified (of which four are originally from Bistrița, and two of them are from Brașov and Austria/Slovakia), Lucas Duerner stands out as a legal professional illustrative of the mobility of the era. From his outstanding activity of ca. 20 years in Transylvania there were preserved over 40 documents. While in 1520 we also find him in Bistrița, Lucas’s presence here raises questions about his professional career and the relationships he had in this urban centre. That being the case, the 10 notarial documents issued in Bistrița in the first three decades of the 16th century and now preserved in the same archival collection intrigues a research that goes beyond the legal sphere and attempts to reconstruct the past of a community through a type of source used in the Middle Ages especially in courts of law.

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