A reconstructed copy of the Golden Bull

As the first important act limiting the powers of the monarch, Andrew II issued the Golden Bull, a charter with a golden suspended seal, in 1222. This act, forced upon the king, became the beginning of an unexpected process. The Golden Bull and its later ramifications gradually drew the wider strata of the nobility into the government; moreover, it invested the orders with the legal right to resist their king if he did not keep to agreements. The significance of the Golden Bull is demonstrated by the similarity of its structure and content to those of the famous Magna Carta, issued in England barely seven years before. There were seven copies made of the Bull, of which none have survived, but its text is known from other genuine copies and its formal characteristics can be seen in contemporaneous charters from the age of Andrew II, which are now preserved in the National Archives of Hungary.

The artefact presented at our exhibition is a reconstruction of the original made with help from the archives’ experts, and records the original appearance of the bull.