Alexandru Stefan

The medieval heraldry of the town of Bistrița incorporates – in a very peculiar way when compared to other urban communities in Transylvania – symbols directly related to the Angevine royal dynasty of Hungary. Starting from the examination of the historical sources that record and use these specific attributes, both documentary (textual) and sigillographic (iconographic), the present paper pursues two main objectives: (1) to determine a more accurate chronology of the use of Bistrița’s urban seals, until around 1540, in relation to the relevant historiography of the subject; (2) to argue new hypotheses regarding the way Bistrița assumed the iconography of its first urban seal, particularly the way in which the crowned ostrich with a horseshoe in its beak came to be considered the main symbol of collective identity of this medieval Transylvanian town.

Stephan of Sânger, lay notary of the Cluj-Mănăştur convent between 1370-1383, took part, driven for surely by abbot Otto (1360-1383), in probably the largest institutional initiative of documentary forgery in Late Medieval Transylvania, in order to expand the estates of this very important and influent Benedictine monastery in the region. At the same time with this illegal activity, taking the model of his superior, it seems that Stephan developed his own immoral strategy, in order to increase the wealth and inheritance of his wife Elisabeth, the noble daughter of Kalach of Sânmărtin, not without forging documents. Therefore, the purpose of this approach is to follow the most detailed trail of this strategy, to record its mechanism and to capture its consequences, even after the tragic and violent death of Stephan. The paper ends with an appendix in which the most important documentary pieces of the subject are recovered.

Starting from several written sources associated with the parish priest Johannes Reudel, pastor of the community of Brașov for more than half a century (1446-1499), the present study aims to follow, as a case study, the sigillographic horizon of the secular clergy among the Transylvanian Saxons. The few identified original documents reveal that this parish priest used simultaneously at least two seals during his term of office. They distinguished themselves not only by shape (ogival / round), but also in functionality, being used alternatively, depending on the diplomatic category and type (charter / closed letter), thus determining the method of sealing and validating the act (pendant seal / seal of closer).

The present study aims to offer a more rigorous interpretation of the contents of one of the few well preserved seals of the medieval Saxon parish priests in Transylvania. Analysing a series of sigilographic details in combination with several clues regarding the presence of the cult of St. Thomas of Canterbury in Hungary and Transylvania, in fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the author tries to provide arguments for the idea that the seal of Thomas, the parish priest of Moșna (germ. Meschen, hung. Muzsna), preserved on a document from 1423, displays the holy representation of this saint. Adopted, most likely, as a personal patron saint due to the evident homonymy (patrocinia), especially since his parish church was dedicated to the Holy Virgin, the possible representation of Thomas Becket in the seal of this cleric offers new perspectives and sources for the dynamics of the cult of saints in Late Medieval Transylvania.

The present paper wishes to establish the chronologic and explanatory coordinates regarding the change of the first round seal belonging to the convent of Cluj-Mănăștur with one of a similar shape yet minimal differences, a procedure which took part during the year 1383. Determined by the discovery of several documentary falsification practices, the seal replacement took place fairly quickly, within only three and a half months, so that the activity of this place of authentication could be resumed with celerity. Starting from several original charters, kept in the collections of the national archives of Romania and Hungary, the present study marks therefore the temporal circumstances that determined this change, as well as the basis for the compositional structuring of the new conventual seal.

The present paper wishes to examine the possibility regarding the existence of an unknown seal of the convent of Cluj-Mănăştur, one of the two major places of authentication in Late Medieval Transylvania. Starting from original documents dating back to the first decades of the 14th century, preserved by the national archives systems of Hungary and Romania, after detailed analyses one could observe the presence of several sealing traces of an ogival form, in contrast to the two round seals known by the subject’s historiography and used successively up to the mid-16th century. Therefore, the purpose of the present work is to bring several clarifications regarding these seal fragments, which in the end reveal themselves as one of the fundamental characteristic from the beginnings of this place of authentication.

”Domus cruciferorum de Torda: a lesser known Transylvanian place of authentication”: This article scrutinizes the sole Transylvanian house of the Hospitaller Order. The Order’s activity in this region has been thoroughly investigated on the basis of the well-known 1247 charter. However, a small corpus of diplomatic sources reveals that the Order has founded a small preceptory at Turda, which functioned for a few decades as a place of authentication. Obviously, this institution was not as important or as large as the ones located at the convent of Cluj-Mănăştur or at the chapter of the Alba cathedral. However, the documents copied and authenticated by the Hospitaller preceptory at Turda provide an insightful view not only into this specific activity and into the connections between the different Transylvanian places of authentication, but also into the Order’s patrimony. In addition, this study suggests a more refined chronology of the Hospitaller’s preceptory in Turda.
(Studii și Materiale de Istorie Medie, vol. XXXIV, 2016, pp. 171-183)

Poster presented at "Hommes et travail du métal dans les villes médiévales : 35 ans après / Craftsmen and metalworking in medieval cities: 35 years later. Colloque international – International Symposium en hommage au – in honour of Professeur Paul Benoît" (Paris, 12-14 September 2019)

Product of a time characterized by an “intense emblematic fermentation” (M. Pastoureau), the seal articulated itself as an instrument specific to medieval pragmatic literacy, with the role of confirming to the recipient, nominated or not, that the charters to which it was affixed to reflected the will, findings or accomplishments of its owner, weather he represented an institution with an individual or collective projection. Usually composed of an image and a legend, both chosen by and linked to its possessor, the seal stated not only his identity and social status, but also his personality, aspirations and claims.  Multiplied mostly in wax, or in the form of metallic bullae, the seals of medieval documents were in fact serial representations of a single and unique matrix belonging to a certain owner. Paradoxically, the authenticity of letters was determined by the use of this particular piece, replicated again and again by its successive impression in a malleable material, which was previously attached to the same writings in order to guarantee their trustworthy. This study wishes to bring to attention these objects of medieval material culture, the seal matrices, made especially out of silver, but also of bronze or iron, with reference to a border region of Europe, Transylvania, nowadays part of Western Romania. As everywhere else in Central Europe or the Medieval West, seal matrices of Transylvanian origin were personalized products made by goldsmiths who carried out their activities in specific guilds in each of the very few urban centers of this region. According to their regulations, the technique of manufacturing seal matrices had to be mastered by each craftsman, the related written sources and preserved pieces suggesting their production not only for Transylvanian users (members of the clergy, town administrations, other guilds, or noblemen), but also for the neighboring principalities of Moldavia and Walachia, both attached to the cultural framework of Eastern Europe. Therefore, this research intends, starting from sources associated with Transylvanian goldsmiths’ guilds (statutes, registries or other written materials), to retrace the specificity of this manufacturing activity on a regional scale, as well as to analyze several seal matrices preserved in public or particular collections in contemporary Romania.