Dva reverzy k zemi ve fondu Úřad desk zemských

Two years ago, the paper about four so-called “undertakings to the land” from the beginning of the 16th century, which are concentrated now in National Archive, fund Archive of the Bohemian Crown, was published in this periodical. From that time, two another parchements of this type were found in another fund, Office of Land Books. It is not clear, why they were not (as well as four previous) handed over to Bohemian Land Archive in the 2nd half of the 19th century and why they were not deposited to the special fund, which contains hundreds of other undertakings. The charters were issued by John Sigismund Paugar of Reiztenschlag (1589) and Paul Kraus of Krauseneck (1610). The first one was all in all unimportant knight, who held only small estates and finally lived in Old Town of Prague. On the other hand, Krauseneck was a really important person on the court of Emperor Rudolph II. He raised monarch’s illegitimate children and held some important administrative posts – first of all, he was appointed President of the Court Chamber in the year 1608. It is not clear yet, why he made an effort to get Bohemian residential right (so-called “inkolat”): he only bought the house near Prague Castle, but he sold it again in the year 1607 and did not show further interest in acquiring Bohemian land estates. Probably he reacted to the decision of the Land Diet about the foregners, which was passed just in the year 1610. The comparison of the texts of both undertakings shows few differences, some of them quite remarkable. The main reason is, that John Sigismund and Paul were not in the same legal position. The first one was the resident of some of so-called subsidiary Lands of the Bohemian Crown (although it is not clear, which one), the second one had to be perceived as complete stranger. Although in both cases it was necessary to seal the parchement undertaking to the land, the process of gaining the residential right was rather different. The question is, whether John Sigismund’s undertaking was really finalized with the hanging seal. It is possible that it is only fair copy which did not come into force. The seal is not preserved until today anyway.