1. Charter issued by the city of Eperjes.

... Document in Latin.
Eperjes records the appearance before the city authorities of András Both of Bajna and Miklós Bacskai (provost of St Peter’s Church in Eger), royal commissioners of King Louis II, who presented the decrees of Pope Clement VII and King Louis ordering the surrender, inspection, weighing, and valuation of the silver objects and liturgical treasures kept in the parish church of St Nicholas. At the town’s request, the royal commissioners left one gilt and one entirely silver monstrance in the church, while the remaining objects, valued at [?] twenty-five marks, were entrusted to the custody of the city until collected by them or by other royal agents. From the Carmelite monastery of the Holy Trinity in Eperjes, no objects were confiscated, as only items of little value were found there.
Unfortunately, due to lacunae in the document, the total appraised value cannot be determined; only the sum of twenty-five marks remains legible.
Historical scholarship is familiar with the letter issued by Pope Clement VII on 4 May 1526 to the archbishops of Esztergom and Kalocsa and to the other Hungarian prelates, authorising that, should the funds sent to the papal nuncio prove insufficient for the anti-Ottoman campaign, the “sacred vessels” kept in churches might be sold to other ecclesiastical institutions or melted down collectively in order to mint coin. Several entries survive in a royal account book concerning the objects gathered within the Archbishopric of Esztergom and the Bishopric of Várad. The same source also records that, in letters dated 30 June and 7 July, the king demanded an explanation from the chapter of Székesfehérvár as to why the inspection of ecclesiastical silver objects had been obstructed. Before 8 August 1526, the city of Eperjes informed the city of Bártfa that the municipal notary had been in Kassa when the commission charged with collecting church treasures for the Ottoman campaign arrived there bearing royal and papal authorisation, against which no opposition was possible. The commission reached Lőcse on 10 August 1526 (according to information kindly provided by the National Archives of Hungary).
Paper charter with a wax seal protected by paper. Slightly damaged, with losses along the folds affecting the text.
Dated: 16 August 1526.


Starting price: 2 000 000 Ft