Benedictine Monasticism Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Hungary was a large kingdom and the Arpads did not only stay in the medium regni but also traveled to the surrounding parts of the country. In addition to the main royal residences, bishoprics or monasteries, they also used their courts to stay. Royal castles along with palaces and farmyards were scattered throughout the country. The kings had residences - palaces in, for example, Székesfehérvár, Várkony, Pécs, Pannonhalma or Zadar. The Composition of the 14th century chroni¬cle mentions several sites, which are designated as curia, curtis, castellum, allodium or villa. These Latin terms indicate that these may have been royal (or princely) courts, for example, Pécsvádad, Kortó, Halom, Ikervár, Zirc, Csepel, Dömös, Bákonybel, Zámor, Megyer, Ikervár, Cinkota, Csór and others. The royal monasteries together with residences, castles and courts were very important places for the monarch in the sacral topography, where they regularly stopped on the roads around the country. Most of the monasteries were founded by the Arpads in the medium regni in popular places, not far from the bishops’ settlements or the royal forests – Pan¬nonhalma, Veszprémvölgyi, Pécsvarád, Zalavár, Bakonybél, Apácsavásárhely (Tor¬nowa), Tihány, St. Andrew near Visegrád, Szekszárd, Esztergom-sziget (Prímás Sziget), Somogyvár, Báta and Hahót. From the period 1000 – 1200, 192 documents were preserved. Of this number, there were approximately 48 counterfeits or not very reliable documents, and only 17 papers (including counterfeits) also men¬tion the place of issue. These were Győr, Sóly, Székesfehérvár (3x), Old Buda (2x), Pécs, Szeged, Somogy, Zadar, Vác, Nitra, Esztergom (2x), Eger, Veszprém and Cse¬pel-sziget. Non-royal documents issued in the presence of the ruling court of 1134, 1146 and 1152 mention sites such as the Oradea, Szentendre and Mezősomlyó. In all these cases, the King issued, confirmed or sealed the deed while staying in the main residences, bishops’ settlements, the county castles, the Dalmatian towns, where the collegiate chapter was, or in other popular places.