FORMS OF REPRESENTATION OF POWER ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE PERENI FAMILY IN THE 14TH–15TH CENTURIES

There are many historical tools available to researchers to help them understand the past. In addition to the classical subjects (heraldry, sphragistics, insignology, genealogy, archontology, etc.), a number of new, modern auxiliary sciences (historical psychology, network analysis, etc.) have recently been introduced into the methodology of historiography. Family history research has played an important role in Hungarian history since the 19th century, while the digitisation of the Hungarian National Archives has led to a renewed interest in researching the history of families with a significant historical heritage (and archival material). The archival collection of the Perényi family in Nyaláb and the baron Perényi family archives at the State Archives of Transcarpathia County provide researchers with a relatively accurate picture of the family's history in the 14th and 19th centuries. This may be important, since the public (and scientific) scholarship in Transcarpathia has so far focused mainly on only a fraction of the family's history and its prominent personalities. In our research, we will focus on an early period of the history of the Perényi, the Luxembourg period (1387 – 1437). The members of the Perényi family, who originated in the Abaúj county and rose to the rank of noblemen, rose to the highest echelons of power thanks to their personal talents and loyalty to the ruler, becoming some of the richest landowners in the country. During their European tours (accompanied by the king or on diplomatic missions), the Perényi’s, who were part of King Sigismund's immediate entourage, were able to learn about the various forms of power representation, which they used in their everyday lives and in their wider environment. Some of these have survived to this day, illustrating the Perényi family's cultural patronage. The coats of arms used by the Perényi, for example, adorned church and secular buildings, seals and tombstones, showing the place of the bearer in the social hierarchy. As a result of archaeological research, in addition to the previously known tombstones at Trebišov and Rudabánya, new ones have recently been discovered in Abaújvár and Királyháza.