CONNECTION WITH THE HOLY SEE
CHURCH SOCIETY
CHURCH AND SOCIETY

CONNECTION WITH THE HOLY SEE

The Papacy prospered in the 13th century, but it was a period of slow disintegration for the Hungarian royal power, especially during the second half of the century. After 1301 Hungary was a state without a centralised power, it was a country divided and destroyed by the barons. The idea of kingdom was represented by the strict institutions and disciplines of the Catholic church and the material reality of the Holy Crown, originating from the state-founder St Stephen. The central power was re-established by Charles I's 'uniting' policy. He left a well-organised country - which was considered a great power in the region in respect of its foreign policy - to his son, Louis the Great. However, the "Avignon exile" - following the model of the Babylon exile of the Jews - is an apt remark for the reign of the Papacy between 1305-1377. The Popes lost their political strength under the guardianship of the French kings.

Accession to the Hungarian throne and the legates

According to the philosophy of the Holy See, Hungary owes a debt of Christian obedience to them and also belongs under their authority. However, under the reign of Andrew III the members of the bishopric board and the majority of the barons believed that the country was independent of the papacy in worldly respect. They considered Hungary as the Virgin Mary's legacy (that is, not of St Peter's) and the defence of the sovereignty of the country was more important than obedience to the Pope. In their opinion an elected candidate should have mounted the vacant throne, but the Pope tried to force the Hungarian to accept his candidate, Charles Anjou - as the legal successor of the Árpád dynasty. He sent his legates, Boccasini, then Bishop Gentilis to Hungary to convince the bishops that they should elect Charles as king.

Charles I and the church

After stabilising his power, Charles - who was helped to the throne by the papacy - soon had to face the opposition of the Hungarian prelates. They were dissatisfied with their new king, because they thought he was ruling in an absolutist way, without convoking a diet, after defeating the governors of provinces he kept the church estates - which were previously taken by the governors - for himself, and he appointed secular persons to vacant prelate positions. Prelates had to set up their banderys, and ecclesiastic persons were often summoned to secular law courts. The king appointed his own men as bishops, if needed by ignoring the canonic election of chapters. The letter the bishops sent to the Pope in their despair in 1338 contained these and some similar accusations. The Papal warning had no result, the ruler did not change his church policy at all.

Charles tried hard to assert the interests of the country, even when he had to oppose the papal power that helped him to the throne: he used his advowee's right, which he inherited from the Árpáds. He even laid tax on the so-called papal tithe, which was collected between 1332-37. Foreign tax collectors could start their work after the Pope had offered one third of the tax to the benefit of the king. However, Charles's measures taken for the good of the monasteries are very significant. He reconfirmed the old privileges of the monasteries, and the political influence of the monastic orders (especially that of the begging orders) had increased during his reign. He appointed several monks as bishops.

King Louis the Great, the champion of the church

From among the wars only his unsuccessful fight for the throne of Naples was against the interests of Avignon. Their following campaigns "in every directions" (for example, against the Greek Catholic Serbs, the heretic Bosnians and pagan Lithuanians and Tartars) are in close connection with the political and converting ambitions of the Holy See. Louis the Great often provided military help in the inner fight of Ecclesiastic State of the Popes. Hungarian troops protected the Pope on his return from Avignon to Rome. In 1356 a letter from the Pope called him "Christ's shield, the Lord's athlete". In the meantime Louis the Great continued his father's policy in banning the collection of papal tithe and asserting royal interest in filling church positions.

During the fight for the throne of Naples there was an intensive exchange of ministers between the Papal and the Hungarian court. After this period Papal legates visited Hungary only on very important occasions. Their duties included converting in the East, settling the Balkan situation, mediating in peace treaties. Bishop Guido's legation in 1349 was a very important one. The Popes recognised the Turkish danger early and in this matter Pope Orban V sent his minister to Buda. In 1371 a papal legate came to Hungary to settle the dispute between King Louis and Emperor Charles IV. At the same time Hungarian legates spent months in Avignon, where - besides settling public matters - they forwarded the requests of their relatives or familiares to the Pope in the form of so-called papal requests (supplicatio).

Hungary and the Western split of the church

After the death of Pope Gregory XI - who moved back to Rome - in 1378 the different groups of cardinals chose two popes, one of whom went back to Avignon. Hungary was one of those countries which accepted and supported the "legal" Roman pope. This fact exceeded the level of diplomatic politeness, because at that time the Pope's power was quite significant concerning the governing of the church in Hungary. By this time the tradition, that the popes reserved their rights to fill up vacancies in Hungarian church positions (reservatio), was widely accepted in the country. So the foreign, so-called edict-people fulfilled not only bishopric duties, but also the positions of main deans, canons and other benefices. Hungarian intellectual middle layers also wanted these positions for themselves. At first King Sigismund and Pope Bonifac IX solved this problem with compromises.

King Sigismund's church governing

The good relationship between the Pope and the Hungarian king lasted till 1403. Then Pope Bonifac IX together with some of the Hungarian prelates and aristocrats supported the anti-king, Ladislaus of Naples, against Sigismund. He even sent a legate to help him. After Sigismund had defeated him, he had the estates of the rebelling prelates seized and removed some of the leading prelates from their positions. He appointed secular governors to the lead of church districts. The king gave up his obedience to Pope Bonifac IX, but did not accept the anti-pope, Benedict XIII either. He tried to keep away the church matters of the country from the authority of the Holy See and intended to solve them himself. For the sake of the cause he issued a decree on 6 April 1404, which contained the so-called royal discretional right. This situation lasted till 1410, when Sigismund entered into diplomatic relationship with Pope John XXIII, who was elected by the reform synod of Pisa.

Sigismund - as German king and the presumptive of the emperor's throne, convoked the synod of Constanz in 1414, the most significant congress of the late Middle Ages, where he was chairman. Its most important aims were to put an end to the split of the western church, which divided the continent since 1378, elect a new pope, accepted by everyone, and reform the secularising church. After long diplomatic negotiations, Sigismund's activity was partly successful, as two popes were willing to retire, and he deprived the third one of his supporters. The cause of the reform failed, but before the new pope, Martin V, was elected Sigismund forced the cardinals to issue a charter, the so-called "Constanz bull". Later Hungarian kings referred to this document when they wanted to assert their advowee's right.

After the synod Sigismund's relation with the papacy was well-balanced, in spite of the fact that Pope Martin V asserted his and his successors' right to be in command of church possessions right at the beginning of his reign. In practice, however, the king's role became more significant, as for vacant positions the Pope usually appointed the person who was previously recommended by the king. Sigismund's other important decision was that he restricted the appeals of church persons to Rome - it was important for the Hungarian clergy because of the costs of the lawsuits - and the power of ecclesiastic courts (so-called holy chairs) for the advantage of secular courts.

CHURCH SOCIETY

The prelates, who were the heads of church society, left the governing of their church districts to their vicars, because the major part of their duties included performing political activities. Officially archbishops and bishops were members of the royal council, chancellors - leading the written administration of the government - were recruited from among them, though there were some secular secret chancellors as well, during King Sigismund's reign. As they could write and speak languages, they often were in charge of diplomatic duties. In time of war it was also their duty to banderies under their own banner. At that time they usually came from one of the aristocratic families. The provost of Székesfehérvár and the Johannite prior of Vrána also belonged to the uppermost layer of the clergy.

The middle layer

If a prelate died or was removed from his office, the appointment of the new bishops was a long procession, and three major factors played an important role in it. The right of the residence chapters to elect bishops - which was widely practised in the 13th century - was pushed back now for the advantage of the two other factors. The Pope usually appointed the bishop after the king had presented the person to him (praesentatio). From the 14th century the middle layer of the church, the canons, did not perform their liturgic duties themselves, but they left those to their substitutes, called prebendaries - they were named after their regular income, the prebenda. Concerning the financial situation of these prebendaries, they belonged to the lower level of church people. The regular income of canons - there were 600 stallums for canons in 50 residence and communal chapters - enabled them to constitute a significant part of medieval Hungarian intellectuals.

In church hierarchy the church district of bishops was divided into dean districts, which were usually the same as castle districts. They were directed by the archdeacons, who moved into the residence chapters and were members of the board of canons. These archdeacons practised their rights to control parish priest, who belonged under their juristic authority, in the form of church visits (visitatio). Their annual visits were quite expensive for the village priests, so the size of revenue was strictly regulated by law. At the beginning of the 14th century parish priests were the priest of royal towns, or market towns, who were removed from the juristic authority of the archdeacons or sometimes even the bishop. These priests could keep the whole of the collected tithe. These distinguished church positions and the due income were sometimes received by persons who had nothing to do with the church. That is how Charles I's court doctor received the parish of Patak. In the majority of the cases, however, parish priests were elected by the people of cities and market towns. Royal appointments were quite exceptional.

The lower layer of priests

By the end of the 14th century priests of smaller religious communities, who did not have the above mentioned privileges, were also called parish priests (earlier they were called chaplains). In concert with the system of advowees, inherited from a previous period of time, they were employed by landlords for a definite time and definite salary. Their task was to deliver sacraments, to celebrate masses and to preach. Most of them received their basic theological and practical skills at the chapter school. From the tithe their legal due was the one sixteenth part. Chaplains, appointed and supported by parish priests, belonged to the lower layer of church society. Besides them, altar- and chapel masters - who were paid from the mass foundations - prayed for the salvation of the donators. There were poor altar masters in bishopric cathedrals as well, they belonged to the choir.

The transformation of monastic orders

By the 14th century monastic orders had lost their important positions. The number of their monasteries decreased, there were fewer monks in the cloisters and the disciplines also slackened. The reason for the slow but continuous decline was the fact that they could not meet the new demands of the society, where religion had also undergone a great change. The believers demanded a more active spiritual care, preaching and looking after the poor. There was another reason as well: medieval popes and kings - in the lack of financial means for this purpose - paid their dependants who performed church governing and diplomatic duties by giving away richer abbacies. Such abbots were usually secular persons, called commendators/gubernators, or members of a different order. They did not live in the monastery of their abbacy and they did not deal with the interests and discipline of the monks either. Ulaslo, Polish prince, was such a gubernator in Pannonhalma in 1376.

Monastic and canon orders and orders of knighthood

The number of abbacies of the Benedictine order, which owned 81 monasteries originally, was only 64 by 1400. During the 15th century 27 of them fell into the hands of commendators. For the advantage of an inner renewal, there were reform movements, which ordered the convening of the annual national monastic meetings, the so-called chapters. The Cistercias had only one quarter of their monasteries, and the head of the order was warned by King Louis the Great to stop the misuse of authority. The Premontreans, who had 33 monasteries, had managed to keep their importance and popularity, partly because they functioned as credible places, too. The community of monks of a certain monastic orders was called the convent. Orders of knighthood had only a few monasteries. After the dissolution of the order of the knights of the Temple in 1312 their possessions were given to the Johannites, just like the prior district of Vrána. King Sigismund also tried to settle the German order of Knighthood in Transylvania, but he was unsuccessful. The decline of the Stephanite order - which was founded in Hungary - started in the 14th century and they stopped functioning by the middle of the 15th century.

Hermit orders

Hermit orders were highly appreciated by society at that time. The "mute brothers" (Karthaus hermits), who were famous for their strict disciplines, had 4 monasteries. The other monastic order, which was founded in Hungary, the Pauline order was prospering in the 14-15th centuries. It received St Augustine's regulations from the legate of Gentilis in 1308. In 1327 they had 30 monasteries, by the age of Sigismund this number had doubled. In 1367, at Louis the Great's request the order was accepted by the Pope, which enabled them to be independent of the bishop. Louis the Great obtained Hermit St Paul's earthly remains from Venice in 1381, and the relics were placed into the center of the Pauline order, at Budaszentlőrinc. In 1418 they received a permission from the Pope to preach. At the lead of the monasteries was the prior, who was appointed by the head of the Hungarian order at the annual chapter meeting at Budaszentlőrinc.

Begging orders

In contrast with the Paulines, who escaped from the noisy world, the begging orders lived in busy regions. At the beginning of the 14th century, the members of the Augustine order, who had about 25 monasteries, were called hermits, but in fact it was a begging order. The Carmelites managed to settle down at Buda in 1372, but they were not very popular: they had 4 monasteries altogether. Not so the Dominicans, who had at least 40 cloisters, mainly in towns. Besides preaching, they were engaged in studying. The Franciscans were even more successful. In 1316 the Hungarian Franciscan province was divided into eight custodies with 43 monasteries, and this number raised to 50 by 1379. Charles I appointed Franciscan monks at the lead of bishoprics, and his ministers were often chosen from among the Franciscans. Begging orders played an important role: they were missionaries on the Balkans.

CHURCH AND SOCIETY

The everyday life of Christians

The everyday life of people was restricted by the church. The rhythm of the change of time was defined by the proportional division of weekdays spent working and the Sundays and holidays of the church year. Church holidays were often the days when the villeins of the villages had to present their different products or services to the landlords. Holidays in the calendar were connected to the cult of saints. The day of the patron saint of a certain church community was also celebrated. The popularity of the saints of the Árpád dynasty ("saint kings"), especially of King St Ladislaus, was encouraged by the Angevine kings and Sigismund, who was buried at Várad near St Ladislaus's tomb.

Pagans, heretics

The liturgic ceremonies performed by priests were in Latin, but the vulgar linguistic vocabulary of the church must have been used very early, which was connected to the preaching of the mass, and the confession of sins. There were non-Christian, or non-Catholic ethnic groups in the territory of Hungary. Tendencies to convert these pagan, heretic people were important in the second half of the 14th century, since King Louis considered this his first and most important duty. He also tried to convert the Jews, but after his failure around 1360, he expelled them from the country. Although he withdrew his order in 1364, the majority of the those who escaped never returned. The closed communities of Jewish settlers coming from the West - who lived in bigger cities - could keep their religious independence, though at the beginning of the 15th century there were anti-Jewish rebels.

The converting and assimilation of the Cumans was not an easy process, even after the 1279 laws. They were addicted to their pagan lifestyle and ancient traditions. The Jasz-s, who followed the Byzantine rite, received their privileges in return to their military services, but converting them to the Catholic religion - with the mediation of begging orders - was a very long procedure, which was finished in the second half of the 15th century. They refused to pay the tithe, which is why their conversion lasted so long. In the 14th century the settlement of the borderline with Greek Catholic ethnic groups was continued. The Ruthenians, who settled down in the North-East, and the Rumanians, who settled down in Transylvania (they were around 150.000), were converted with the help of Franciscans.

After uniting the Orthodox people with the Catholic church in 1366, only those could become noble who adopted Catholicism. When the union came to an end in 1386, Sigismund tried to continue Louis's policy in 1428. In contrast to this the number of Orthodox churches and monasteries gradually increased. Part of the settled Rumanian kenéz-s became Catholic, and not under pressure but rather for reasons of prestige, as the difference of religion was a burden for marriages to Hungarian noble families. The Greek Catholic Serbs - who escaped from the Turks from the end of the 14th century and settled down in the Szerémség and Keve county - were also considered heretics by the Catholic church. However, the royal power and the landlords provided the possibility of the freedom of religion to them, too - first of all because of economic interests.

The growth of the church

The Hungarian church reached its biggest size during the reign of the Angevine kings. Royal policy, which wanted to establish its vassal states along the eastern and southern borders, met the converting activities of the Catholic church, which were performed by Franciscan monks. The leaders of missionary bishoprics were often recruited from among the members of begging orders. Charles I renewed the missionary bishopric of Nándorfehérvár in 1322, which was founded at the end of the 13th century, but Louis I's attempt to reorganise the one at Milko in 1354 failed. The oldest Hungarian missionary bishopric was founded by Louis I in 1365 in Bodony (Vidin, Bulgaria), which had a very short life, similarly to the bishopric of Argyas, founded in 1382 (they were closed in 1386). The bishopric of Szeret, which was founded in 1371 (it functioned till the end of the 15th century) to convert the Rumanians beyond the Carpathians, belonged directly under the authority of the Holy See, so it did not belong to the Hungarian church organisation. The Dalmatian and Croatian prelates were mentioned in royal charters and were highly respected, though they did not belong to the Hungarian church either.

Heretics

The fight against heretics in the 14th century was against the Flagellants and Valdens, and the Pataren trends in Bosnia. The latter one was the aim of King Louis's southern campaigns many times. From the 15th century the southern heretics got into contact with Hussitism, which spread from the Highland. Sigismund started a crusade against the Czech Hussites from 1420, who in return launched destructive campaigns against Hungary after 1428. Finally at the reform synod of Basel the king managed to make an agreement with the Chalice branch, and together they destroyed their camps in 1434. The spread of Hussite teachings played an important role in the preparations of the 1437 peasants' revolt in Transylvania. Thoma of Kamanc and clerk Valentine, the translators of the Hussite Bible (fragment) escaped from the activity of the Franciscan Jacob of Marchia, whose power extended over some southern and eastern church districts. Finally they found shelter in Moldavia.

Education, schools, universities

The church played an important role in spreading culture. Monastic and chapter (cathedral) schools were first of all the institution for providing priests, but besides the seven free arts some of them taught law as well (to save the laws of the country) and prepared students for a secular career (chancelleries, credible places). The Buda college of the Dominicans (studium generale) functioned continuously from the beginning of the 14th century in the Middle Ages, though it never became a real university.

The first Hungarian university was founded by Louis the Great at Pécs in 1367. Pope Orban V gave his permission to this school with the exception of the faculty of theology. Unfortunately the university was closed at the end of the 14th century. The Óbuda university, founded by Sigismund in 1395, had an even shorter life, but it was reorganised by the king, with the help of the papal legate, Branda Castiglione in 1410 because of the Hussite danger. The representatives of the school took part in the synod of Constanz, but the institution was not mentioned by sources in the 1420s. So Hungarian students had to go to foreign universities, such as the university of Vienna or Krakow.

Besides going to universities abroad, pilgrimages provided a possibility to travel for a much wider audience since the 14th century. The most popular place of pilgrimage of the Hungarians was Aachen in Germany, since Louis the Great founded a chapel here in 1367, where the relics of the saint kings were placed (Stephen, Emeric and Ladislaus). Apart from this place, Hungarian pilgrims travelled to Jerusalem, Rome and Compostella.