The "nobles of the Church" (Hungarian: egyházi nemesek, prediális nemesek; Latin: nobilis ecclesiæ, prædiales) were a group of privileged people in the Kingdom of Hungary who possessed lands on the domains of wealthier prelates and were obliged to provide military and other services to their lords.
By the 13th century, the retinue of several prelates[1] consisted mainly or partly of people who were obliged to provide military service to them in exchange for the possessions they had been granted.
In the beginning, most of the soldiers in the prelates' retinues were serfs who served their lords not only as horsemen but who were employed also in their household.
Several freemen joined voluntarily to the prelates' army and offered their possessions to them in order to enjoy the protection of the Church.
In the first decades of the 13th century, the kings of Hungary granted the higher legal status of "horsmen serf" (Hungarian: lovasjobbágy, Latin: iobagio equites) to people serving in the household of the prelates or authorized royal servants to join to the prelates' household.