„...eundo in nuncium regis versus regem Hungariae...” Egy diplomáciai utazás és költségei 1346-ban
„…eundo in nuncium regis versus regem Hungariae…” – A diplomatic journey and what it cost in 1346

Summary/Abstract: King Louis the Great of Hungary managed to include the King of England among his allies to support his campaign against Naples. Invaluable on account of its rarity, the statement of accounts of the trip by the envoy of Edward III in connection with these diplomatic preparations, for all its brevity and economy, brings to life not only a section of a mediaeval diplomatic journey but that of life in those days in general as well. After identifying the placenames, determining the points of time the envoy spent in various villages and towns, and resolving the financial abbreviations all one had to do was to unfold the information hidden in the mere accounts. First I reconstructed the trip that lasted 110 days and included crossing seas, rivers, and land, trying to find the reasons why the English envoy picked that route. P. Walter de Mora started from London, transversed Europe, journeyed down to Zagreb and back, indeed, having got back to London he had to continue down to the Isle of Wight to report to King Edward on his trip. I discuss in a separate chapter the comparison of daily velocities, the expenses concerning the horses, the cost of food and accommodation, and the problems concerning the financial accounts of the diplomatic mission. The promise of the King of England remained a promise, no military support resulted from the mission, the Hundred Years’ War engaging to a considerable extent the forces of Edward. The source under discussion is really less interesting from a political historical view, than for the information it contains on everyday life in the Middle Ages.

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