The Hungarian Royal Family and the Delegated Papal Jurisdiction from the Mongol Invasion to the late Thirteenth Century. Specimina Nova Pars Prima Sectio Mediaevalis XII (2023), 87-100. (original) (raw)
Related papers
The paper discusses a special aspect of the papal-Hungarian relations, namely the operation of delegated jurisdiction after the Mongol invasion of 1241-42. The focus of the study is on the revival of the system in the 1240s, and on certain measures of Pope Innocent IV in 1252 and 1254. The first measure of this kind is traditionally considered to be the papal allowance granted to King Béla IV in order to avoid his ecclesiastical and lay subjects being cited outside of the realm. This prohibition, according to the opinion of the Hungarian legal historian György Bónis, was annulled as early as 1259. In the present study, we argue that, although the charters of Innocent IV and Alexander IV are indeed of great importance, their impact should not be overrated. The number of known cases supervised by the papal judges dropped significantly in the 1250s. However, the reason behind this decrease cannot be solely explained by the above-mentioned papal charter; other factors should also be considered in investigating this question.
In the past decade the focus of the author’s research has been on various aspects of the relations of the Hungarian Kingdom with the Papacy in the thirteenth century. Among other things the following topics have been dealt with: the activities of papal legates sent to the Realm of St Stephen, the operation of papal delegated jurisdiction in the church of Hungary, and the role that certain members of the royal family played in this era All but one of the studies presented in this book have already been published. Nevertheless, the papers are updated based on comments received since their original publications. The texts of several studies were altered, new parts were added, certain passages were removed, and the references were completed with recent, or previously missing works. Hopefully, this collection – of somewhat overlapping studies – off ers new aspects on the research of the history of the Papacy and the Kingdom of Hungary in the High Middle Ages.
In this book a specific aspect of the Kingdom of Hungary in the Arpadian age and of Hungarian ecclesiastical history is explored, the emergence and operation of the system of delegated papal jurisdiction and its interaction with local conditions from the beginnings in the late twelfth century until the end of the Arpadian age. Due to the reforms of the medieval papacy, which began in the late eleventh century, the popes acquired several new practical and conceptual tools that could be used both to restructure or reshape the Church and its various regions and to receive feedback from the local churches. Perhaps the best example of the latter (sending feedback tied to representation) is the work of the papal judges-delegate. The system of papal delegated jurisdiction on one hand supported the claims of the Apostolic See for the primacy in the Church, on the other hand the litigants played a role in shaping the legal frames and the practice of papal delegations as well. The author offers in his book an insight into the general tendencies of the system, meanwhile the Hun garian situation and the individual cases are analysed in detail as well. Gábor Barabás is an As so ciate Professor of the Institute of History at the University of Pécs (Hun gary). His main fields of in terest are several aspects of medieval Church history.
Throughout the thirteenth century, papal legates intervened in Hungary on numerous occasions and for a multitude of reasons. As the instruments of papal authority, they had to deal with various internal and external conflicts, such as the fight against the heresy in the Balkans, foster relations with the neighbouring orthodox churches, and improve the state of the Hungarian clergy. The present study explores the manifestation, deployment and limitations of papal authority in the person of the legate so as to assess the nature of the papacy’s plenitudo potestatis, or fullness of power, in its relations with the kings of Hungary in this period.
MA thesis, 2015
This thesis examines the intricate connections between the popes, the prelates, and the pretenders while considering the roles they played during the succession crises for the Hungarian throne at the beginning and the end of the fourteenth century. The focus is on two succession crisis periods. The first (1290-1310) was a successful attempt by Charles Robert, backed by the Apostolic See, especially Pope Boniface VIII, to claim the throne. The second crisis (1382-1409) was a failed effort of Boniface IX and King Ladislas of Naples to take the throne from King Sigismund. In both cases it was the high clergy that found themselves confronted between their obedience to the pope, and their fealty to the king. Therefore the primary research focus was on the relationship between the pretenders and ecclesiastical structures, but particularly of the prelates of the dioceses of medieval Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia and their roles, functions and loyalties that have not been thoroughly researched before. By dividing my work into three chapters I contextualized the connections between the Apostolic See and the various pretenders it supported or confronted, while showing how the development of the election process and the possibilities for papal or royal intervention were used for political purposes, as well as analyzing the position and the role of the prelates within their dioceses. The thesis has revealed that during both aforementioned periods a crisis of the central government occurred which helped spread the papal influence to inner Hungary. The main weapon of controlling the Church was the appointment of the prelate. This development happened within the Church, where the pope came to influence the election process, and very soon after that used it for political purposes. Yet during the first succession crisis the pope was able to achieve a better control over the prelate and his actions, while during the second crisis this control shifted in favour of the rulers. One key aspect was the formulation of the legitimacy of the pretender the Apostolic See and the prelates supported. During the first period, the legitimacy was successfully disseminated from a single center, enabled by a coordinated effort from Pope Boniface VIII, Charles Robert and the prelates. Yet during the second one, it mostly rested on the individual actions of the prelates, which proved to be unsuccessful. During the succession wars the prelate’s position was weakened because it was shown that to effectively rule his diocese in the times of crises; a prelate had to rely on the help from either the king or the pope. This help mostly arrived with a price. The appendix contains the archontology of prelates of the researched dioceses and gives their short biographies together with the respective sources.
Specimina Nova Pars Prima Sectio Mediaevalis XII, 2023
The Papacy became the supreme authority of the Latin Christianity at least at the turn of the twelfth-thirteenth centuries. Papal delegates, especially legati a latere were the "long arm" of the popes to settle and negotiate both ecclesiastical and political issues. In theory, papal representatives should have been given a warm welcome in the places where they were sent, however, as the examples in the paper show, this was by no means always the case. The paper aims to discuss this process by analysing the activities of the papal legates in the Kingdom if Hungary, the form of representation and the procedures of the negotiation (cooperation, contestation, refusal) of this authority in the context of the Hungarian Kingdom in thirteenthfourteenth centuries.