Golden Bull of 1222

The Golden Bull of 1222 was a golden bull, or edict, issued by King Andrew II of Hungary. The law established the rights of Hungary's noblemen, including the right to disobey the King when he acted contrary to law ("jus resistendi"). The nobles and the church were freed from all taxes and could not be forced to go to war outside of Hungary and were not obligated financing it. This was also a historically important document because it set down the principles of equality for all of the nation's nobility [http://www.hunsor.se/magyar1000ev/golden_bull1222.htm] . The edict created in seven copies, one for each of the following institutions: to the Pope, to the Knights Templar, to the Knights Hospitaller, to the Hungarian king itself, to the chapters of Esztergom and Kalocsa and to the palatine.

The charter's creation was influenced by the emergence of a nobility middle class, unusual in the nation's feudal system. As a regular gesture of generosity, King Andrew often donated property to particularly faithful servants, who thereafter gained new economic and class power. With the nation's class system and economic state changing, King Andrew found himself coerced into decreeing the Golden Bull of 1222 to calm the waters between hereditary nobles and the budding middle class nobility. [Molnar 2001, p.32-33]

The Golden Bull is often compared to the Magna Carta; the Bull was the first constitutional document of the nation of Hungary, while the Magna Carta was the first constitutional charter of the nation of England [http://www.hunsor.se/magyar1000ev/golden_bull1222.htm] .

Notes

References

*Kormos, Laszlo. [http://www.hunsor.se/magyar1000ev/golden_bull1222.htm "HUNSOR ~ Hungary - more than 1000 year old state in the heart of Europe"] , October 4, 2005. Accessed February 19, 2008.
*Molnar, Miklos (2001). "A Concise History of Hungary", Cambridge Press.

External links

* [http://www.bartaloslink.com/hungnobil_specaspect.htm Special Aspects of Hungarian Nobility]
* [http://www.talkingcities.co.uk/budapest_pages/history1.htm Hungarian History Page on TalkingCities]
* [http://www.1000ev.hu/index.php?a=2&k=1&f=504 The Full Text of the Laws (in Hungarian)]