Besides its main tasks – judiciary and executive, the town administration fulfilled a variety of functions ranging from economic production through defence and protection of its citizens, to the development of culture and education. This required oversight and stewardship by municipal dignitaries and extensive system of urban employees. The paper deals with the management of urban employees and town dignitaries responsible for major sectors of town economy, security, health care, culture and other areas of urban living. The author analyses the position of urban employees and contracts made by town. The management of urban facilities belonged to the main duties of the elected members of the municipal court. Economic facilities (mills, granary), supervision of wine trade, linen weaving or patronage of hospitals represented the main areas of their functions. An important place among municipal employees belonged to servants in judiciary, diplomacy and urban defence. The specific field, financed by the town council, represented the area of art and culture, where painters, masons, organists and trumpeters were employed.
The medieval towns of Bardejov, Prešov, Sabinov and Veľký Šariš, which were situated in the northeast of the former Kingdom of Hungary (Šariš County) and which acquired their fundamental privileges in 1299 and 1320, have been given considerable attention in historiography to date. Nevertheless, a serious diversity of opinions still persists, accompanied by inconsistent terminology for some essential issues, particularly with regards to the extent of jurisdictional rights and the urban status of these settlements in the first century after the granting of their privileges. The aim of this study is, therefore, to arrive at clearer conclusions on the question of when the four towns were endowed with full judicial autonomy (i.e. an upper judiciary) and how to classify them at all in the fourteenth century.
JavaScript jest wyłączony w Twojej przeglądarce internetowej. Włącz go, a następnie odśwież stronę, aby móc w pełni z niej korzystać.