Servientes regis

The servientes regis (-Latin, Hungarian: királyi szerviensek, Slovak: kráľovskí servienti) were a class of nobles in the Kingdom of Hungary in the 13th and 14th century. They were obliged to fight for the king in exchange for royal land and exemption from the jurisdiction of the county head.

They arose at the time of the Golden Bull of Hungary (1222) from the royal servants (which were - in the 9th - 12th century -members of certain professions, esp. craftsmen, who were settled in special villages and served the king with their respective skills) and from soldiers.

The servientes regis were those who caused the counties to turn from royal entities to noble ones (see Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary)). They started to organise themselves in the 13th century when the persons from which this class arose got huge properties from the kings of the Kingdom of Hungary. The first reference to their organisations at the county level, called "congregationen servientum", dates from 1232.