Section "Q" – Pre-Mohács Archives

(Archives of Diplomatics)

Find registry information (e-Archivum) here.

3 linear metres of copy collections

Every official document which was created before the battle of Mohács (29 August 1526) and got into the custody of the National Archives of Hungary were placed into the pre-Mohács collection (by its former name the "Archives of Diplomatics") irrespective of whether it survived in its original form, in transcript or a later copy. In the first place the originals and their medieval transcripts were transferred to the collection and only in the absence of such primary pieces were later copies added.

The collection mainly consists of diplomas and charters written in Latin, partly in German, Hungarian etc. Their research requires not only the mastery of the above languages but appropriate experience in the reading of medieval texts. In accordance with the principle of the protection of irreplaceable originals the pieces of the collection can only be accessed by means of photocopies available in the Photo Collection. Orders for the copies can be placed by the reference numbers of the originals. The group of codices and codex fragments form a special part of the collection.

Finding aids: For the research of the more than 100 000 medieval charters several series of finding aids are available. Inventories, numeral books, registers, chronological card-index (the most detailed conventional catalogue which contains the date, issuer, original archival reference code as well as the current reference number of all charter texts), index of issuers, elenchi, Óváry registers, concordance index. The computer data base of the collection, facilitating research work by advanced search and listing options, is also at the researchers’ disposal.