In the summer of 2026, the Hungarian Heritage Archives Foundation acquired four original documents through purchase: charters issued by the Chapter of Zagreb in 1457, 1582, and 1589, together with a letter of command issued in 1607 by Thomas Erdődy, Judge of the Royal Cities. All four documents concern the village of Mikulics (today Mikulići, now part of Zagreb) and its landowners. The same noble family from Zagreb County also appears in a charter dated 1472, which entered the collection of the Hungarian National Archives in December 2025 (reference: HU-MNL-OL-DL 109022). Besides their closely related contents, the documents are linked by identical early modern archival shelfmarks and handwriting preserved on their versos, strongly suggesting that they once belonged to the same family archive. Although the original archive cannot yet be identified with certainty, there is a strong possibility that all five documents originated from the archive of the Sztolnikovics (Ztolnikovich, Bornemissza-Sztolnikovich) family, who were native to Mikulics and remained landowners there for centuries.
The two medieval charters reveal that the local landholding family became extinct in the male line during the mid-fifteenth century. The descendants through the female line—children of a certain John Sztolnik (“Steward”)—struggled to preserve their hereditary rights. Their estate, perhaps because of its proximity to Zagreb and Medvedgrad Castle, attracted the attention of several influential figures, including Henning of Susedgrad (Szomszédvár), Royal Master of the Horse, Benedek Turóci, Count of Varaždin County, and later Gregory Bradács, Captain of Belgrade (Nándorfehérvár). Until now, Bradács’s tenure as captain had only been documented between 1469 and 1471; the newly discovered charter extends this evidence into early 1472. The later documents, dating from the turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, also preserve valuable information. In 1582, the young nobleman John of Mikulics, an orphan, intended to travel to neighbouring Styria to enter service—presumably also to learn German—and therefore entrusted the family estate to his sisters until he reached legal adulthood and returned home. The charter of 1589 further reveals that John’s uncle, the late Michael of Mikulics, served as a royal pizetarius (official supervising the royal mint) at Kremnica (Körmöcbánya). By this period, the family had already established close ties with the civic elite of the Royal Free City of Zagreb. John’s sisters married noblemen who were simultaneously citizens of Zagreb, while his younger brother Christopher appears in 1607 explicitly as a citizen of Zagreb. That year he became embroiled in a dispute with the city’s judge, whom he accused of unlawfully depriving him of both his civic rights and his property within the city.
The Hungarian Heritage Archives Foundation has donated these four documents to the Hungarian National Archives, thereby reuniting them with the related charter already preserved in the collection.
Regesta of the Charters
30 May 1457 (f. II. p. Ascensionis) Before the Chapter of Zagreb, Blasius, son of the late Gregory of Dymytrowcz, from the Zagorje district of Varaždin County, acting on behalf of George, Barbara, Margaret, Helena, and Agnes, the children of the late Paul and the noblewoman Ursula[1] of Mykwlych,[2] formally protested after learning that Henning Czernyn of Zomzedwar (Szomszédvár), Royal Master of the Horse, and Benedek of Thwrocz (Turóc), Count of Varaždin County, had obtained from King Ladislaus a new royal grant of the estate of Mykwlych,[3] together with its appurtenances in Zagreb County lying beneath Medwe (Medvedgrad) Castle, and intended to take possession of it. Acting in the heirs’ name, Blasius prohibited the King from making the grant and forbade the beneficiaries from entering, possessing, or enjoying the estate.
Paper charter, torn, with fragments of the seal preserved on the reverse. Hungarian National Archives, awaiting accession. Former shelfmark: [No.] 4, Fasc. 1.
20 January 1472 (in Fabiani et Sebastiani) Before the Chapter of Zagreb, George, son of John Ztholnik of Mikulich, born to the late noblewoman Ursula, daughter of the late Paul of Mikulich, acting on behalf of himself and his children Albert, Dorothy, and Elizabeth, protested after learning that Sigismund Mordws of Pesethek intended to sell, mortgage, or otherwise alienate their estate of Mikulich in Zagreb County to Gregory Bradach, Captain of Belgrade, and to John Lobokos, familiaris of the magnate John Túz, for a certain sum of money. George therefore prohibited King Matthias from issuing any royal grant, forbade Sigismund Mordws from selling or mortgaging the estate, and prohibited Gregory Bradach and John Lobokos from accepting, purchasing, occupying, or enjoying it.
Paper charter, torn, with fragments of the seal preserved on the reverse. HU-MNL-OL-DL 109022. Former shelfmark: [No.] 9, Fasc. 1.
5 February 1582 (f. II. p. Purificationis) Before the Chapter of Zagreb, John, son of the late John Mykwlych, declared that, having lost both parents and still being a minor, he was unable to manage his property situated in the estate of Mykwlych in Zagreb County. Since he intended to travel to Styria to enter service, he entrusted the possession and administration of his share of the estate, together with all appurtenances and revenues, to his brother-in-law Serafin Brythwych, his wife Anna, and his unmarried sister Helena, until such time as he reached legal adulthood and returned from service.
Paper charter, damaged and lacking the lower right corner, with the impression of the seal preserved on the reverse. Hungarian National Archives, awaiting accession. Former shelfmark: [No.] 16, Fasc. 3.
After 16 April 1589 ([…] p. dom. Misericordia) Before the Chapter of Zagreb, John Dethkowych alias Barber and Christopher Loparych, noblemen and citizens of the Royal Free City of Zagreb, acting on behalf of John, Christopher, Anna (wife of Christopher Loparych), Dorothy (wife of John Dethkowych), and Helena (wife of James Czapalanych), children of the late John Mykwlych, who was the brother of the late Michael Mykwlych, royal pizetarius of the mining town of Kermeo[cz]banya (Kremnica), requested that the Chapter issue a certificate confirming this relationship. The Chapter certified that John, Christopher, Anna, Dorothy, and Helena were indeed the legitimate children of John, the younger full brother of Michael, and issued a sealed testimonial to that effect.
Paper charter damaged along the folds and lower margin, with an applied seal preserved on the reverse. Hungarian National Archives, awaiting accession. Former shelfmark: [No.] 11, Fasc. 1.
27 August 1607, Varaždin Castle (in arce nostra Varasdiensi, die 27. Aug.) Thomas Erdődy, hereditary Count of Monoszló and Varaždin County, hereditary Captain of Varaždin, Master of the Royal Cities, and Royal Councillor, addressed the Council of the Royal Free City of Zagreb. He reported that the citizen Christopher Mikulych had complained of an injustice arising from a dispute with the city’s judge, Matthias Poserlych, concerning a contract concluded with a foreign merchant for the purchase of iron goods. Christopher maintained that he had already paid the merchant in full, yet, because of remarks he had made during the dispute, the judge had summoned him contrary to the established customs of the city—without lawful citation and not through the dean and his officers, but by sending a crowd of people to compel his appearance. When Christopher requested that the matter be postponed until the following day, the judge nevertheless proceeded to render final judgment against him without observing the customary legal procedure. Christopher was fined 50 florins, the opposing parties were likewise awarded 50 florins, and he was deprived of his citizenship of Zagreb while all his property within the city was ordered confiscated. Christopher therefore petitioned Erdődy for protection against this unlawful treatment. Declaring that no one should be condemned without lawful summons and that no defendant is obliged to answer a claim unless properly cited, Erdődy ordered the municipal authorities that, should the facts be as stated, Christopher was not to be condemned in this manner. If anyone had a lawful claim against him, it was to be pursued through the ordinary course of justice. The present letter was to be returned to its bearer after presentation.
Paper charter with minor damage along the folds; beneath the text survives a damaged red wax seal. The document bears Erdődy’s autograph signature (“idem comes Thomas Erdeody”) on the left and the endorsement “Lecta et correcta” on the right. An endorsement on the reverse records that the letter was presented to the senators of Zagreb on 18 September 1607, who subsequently informed the Master of the Royal Cities of the matter. Hungarian National Archives, awaiting accession. Former shelfmark: [No.] 16, Fasc. 4.
Tibor Neumann
[1] The family relationships were likely misrepresented in the charter; see the following entry.
[2] The name Mikwlych could even refer to Paul, but here it follows Orsolya’s name.
[3] possessio possessionaria – hereinafter “possessio”