Communication between the Towns and the County Authority: The Free Royal Towns and Šariš County at the Beginning of the 16th Century
Communication between the Towns and the County Authority: The Free Royal Towns and Šariš County at the Beginning of the 16th Century

Summary/Abstract: In this paper, I focus on the channels of communication between the free royal towns of Šariš and the county authority at the beginning of the 16th century. In this period, the towns of Bardejov and Prešov became feudal landowners in the county and, as a result, they had to develop a close relationship with the county nobility. Alongside the official documents of the county authority, the noble judges also often wrote letters to the towns, in which they often mixed official and private matters. There were also verbal lines of communication; the noble community of Šariš county frequently sent emissaries to the town, and these elected envoys were often chosen from the former or acting noble judges who lived in the villages neighbouring the towns. This had the added advantage, for the towns, that they could draw upon the legal experience of these former officeholders. Both Bardejov and Prešov employed former noble judges as town lawyers.

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