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Thehistory of Christianity in Hungary started in theRoman province ofPannonia, centuries before the arrival of theMagyars, or Hungarians.
Celtic,Illyrian,Iranian andDacian tribes inhabited the lands now forming Hungary inclassical antiquity.[1] The Romans started the conquest of the tribes ofTransdanubia—the western region of present-day Hungary—in 35 BC.[2] The region was incorporated in theRoman province ofPannonia in 9 AD,[2] and split into two new provinces,Pannonia Prima andValeria, in the 290s.[3] The Pannonian natives' religion is poorly documented but the Romans erected shrines totheir gods.[4] A Christian presence can certainly be documented from the 2nd century.[5] A decorated casket-mount depicting themarriage at Cana and other scenes from theBible was unearthed in thecanabae, or civil settlement, at the fort of Intercisa (nowDunaújváros).[6] The first Christians were immigrants, particularly fromSyria,Italy andGreece. Most of them had Greek names. One of the earliest tombstones with a Christian inscription—"Live in God"—was erected for Aurelius Iodorus, "a Greekcitizen from Laodicea area", and his two children in thecolonia, or city, of Savaria (nowSzombathely).[7][8] No Christian churches dated before the 4th century have been unearthed, implying that Christian liturgy was celebrated in private homes.[9]
TheDiocletianic Persecution did not severely affect the Transdanubian Christian communities.[10] No localmartyrs are known, although BishopQuirinus of Sescia (nowSisak in Croatia) was publicly executed in Savaria in 303.[11][12] Shortly after the Roman emperorConstantine the Great (r. 306–337)legalised Christianity in 313,[11][13] Christian cemeteries, separated from the pagans' necropolises, were developing near the Roman towns and fortresses.[14] The use offibulae decorated withChristian symbols such as crosses or "Chi Rho"-monograms spread, although they do not necessarily evidence their owners' genuine Christian faith because Christianity became astate religion during this period.[15] Although none of the towns of Pannonia Prima and Valeria are documented asepiscopal sees, the historian András Mócsy emphasises that bishoprics must have existed in the provincial capitals, Sopianae and Savaria.[16]Ambrose (d. 397),Archbishop of Milan, writes thatArianism—a doctrine condemned asheresy at theFirst Council of Nicaea—was spreading in Pannonia Valeria in the 4th century.[17] The writerSulpicius Severus (d.c. 425) adds thatMartin of Tours (d. 397) who had been born to pagan parents in Savaria in 316 or 317 was expelled from the city by Arian clergy after he converted his mother toNicaean Christianity.[18]
TheHuns crossed theVolga River from the east and forced large groups ofAlans andGoths to abandon their homelands in thePontic steppes.[19] Hun, Alan and Goth troops pillaged Pannonia for the first time in the winter of 379–380.[20] The Romans allowed theMarcomannic queenFritigil and her people to settle in Pannonia Prima after she converted to Christianity and convinced her husband to surrender to imperial authority around 396.[20][21] In the early5th century, the westwardmigration of peoples resumed, and Pannonia was invaded by Goths andVandals.[22][23] The violent incursions forced parts of the Romanized population to flee from Pannonia.[23] Christians who fled from the town of Scarbantia (nowSopron) took Bishop Quirinus's relics from Savaria to Rome around 408.[24] The Huns' center of power was transferred to the lowlands along theMiddle Danube in the 420s,[19] but their empire collapsed due to arebellion by the subject peoples in 454.[25] Thereafter,Germanic peoples were fighting for hegemony along the Middle Danube.[26] By the early6th century, theGepids became the dominant power in the lands to the east of the riverTisza, and another Germanic group, theLombards seized Pannonia.[27] Native Christian groups survived the calamities.[28]Anthony the Hermit who was born to an aristocratic family in Valeria left the province only after his parents' death sometime in the5th century.[29] In the next century,Martin (d. 580), who would becomearchbishop of Braga (in present-day Portugal), was born in Pannonia.[29]
The Gepids' conversion to Arian Christianity started in the second half of the 4th century. The 6th-century Gothic historianJordanes attributes their conversion to the efforts of the Arian Roman emperorValens (r. 364–378). Archaeological finds proving the survival ofGermanic paganism among the Gepids abound,[A] but their leaders were buried withreliquiaries, indicating the veneration of saints.[31] The Lombards came into contact with Arian missionaries in the 490s, but their pagan funerary rites survived.[B] Arianism became their dominant religion in the 560s, which separated them from the natives who adhered tomainstream Christianity.Nicetius (d.c. 566),Bishop of Trier, addresseda letter toChlothsind (d.c. 568), the Frankish wife of the Lombard kingAlboin (r. 560–572) in the winter of 565–566, urging her to convert her Arian husband.[33] TheAvars—a powerful coalition of steppe peoples—invaded the Gepids' land and forced them into submission in 567.[27][34] A year later, the Lombards voluntarily left Pannonia for Italy, accompanied by other groups such as Gepids and Romanized natives as well.[35] The Avars were pagans who placed large quantities ofgrave goods in the graves, and buried their warriorstogether with their horse or its parts. The 6th-centuryByzantine historianMenander Protector writes that the Avars swore by "God in heavens", whom the historianWalter Pohl associates with the Turkic supreme godTengri.[36] The Avars encouraged theSlavs to settle on the fringes of their empire, contributing to the Slavs' expansion in Central Europe.[37]
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A Christian community, the bearers of theKeszthely culture, flourished in the region of a former Roman fortress atKeszthely in theAvar Khaganate.[38] The local basilica with three apses was used and possibly reconstructed in the second half of the 6th century.[38][39] The community leaders were buried in the basilica or in the nearby cemetery.[38] A wealthy woman buried in the cemetery wore a silver garment pin with the inscription BONOSA, tentatively identified as her name.[38] The origin of the community is uncertain, with some scholars regarding them as the descendants of the local Romanized population,[39] others identifying them as Byzantine prisoners of war,[40][41] or a mixed population of local Christians and immigrants from various lands. Although the Keszthely fortress and the basilica were destroyed, most probably during an Avar civil war around 630, the community survived, developing new cemeteries in the region, but their distinctive culture quickly disappeared.[42]
Columbanus (d. 615) was the first known missionary to be contemplating proselytizing among the Avars and the Slavs around 610. He quickly abandoned the idea after realizing that "progress in faith for this people was not ready to hand", according to his biographerJonas of Bobbio (d. after 659). Around 700, BishopEmmeram of Regensburg (d. 652) was planning to visit the Avars, butBavarian officials dissuaded him from crossing the border.[43] The Avars supported the opponents of the Frankish kingCharlemagne (r. 768–814), provoking aFrankish military campaign in 791.[44] A civil war broke out in the khaganate, and a high-ranking Avar dignitary, thetudun, converted to Christianity in the hope of Frankish support.[45][46] In 796, Charlemagne's son,Pepin the Hunchback (d. 811) launched a successful military campaign against the Avars. The bishops who accompanied him held a synod on the Danube in 796, presided over by PatriarchPaulinus II of Aquileia (d. 802/804). They discussed the methods of the Avars' conversion, describing them as an illiterate and irrational people,[47] and concluding that they could not be converted by force.[48] The missionary territories were distributed between thesees of Aquilea andSalzburg along the riverDráva, with the lands to the north of the river coming under the jurisdiction of Salzburg.[49]
Slavic tribes began raiding the Avar territories, forcing one of the Avar leaders, thekapkhan Theodore, who was Christian, to seek assistance from the Franks.[45][50] He and his people were settled in the lands between Savaria andCarnuntum.[50][51] The Avarkhagan also converted to Christianity near Carnuntum on 21 September 805, receiving the name Abraham.[50][51] A Byzantine list of bishoprics, compiled probably between 806 and 815, mentions the Avars among the Christian peoples under the jurisdiction of thepapacy.[52] The Avars' power quickly disintegrated and no Avar dignitaries were mentioned after 821.[53] Cemeteries testify to the survival of the traditional Avar burial rites in southwest Transdanubia until around the middle of the9th century.[54]
Transdanubia was integrated in the administrative system of theCarolingian Empire between 796 and 828.[55] The see of Salzburg ceded the lands to the west of the riverRába to thebishopric of Passau. Both prelates appointed evangelising bishops to direct proselytising missions in the region, but few archaeological finds indicate the existence of Christian communities during the first half of the9th century.[C][57] A pagan aristocrat,Pribina (d. 861), whom theMoravians had expelled from his lands across the Danube, sought refuge in the Carolingian Empire in 833.[58][59] He was baptised on the order of KingLouis the German (r. 843–876) who also granted him estates on the riverZala. Pribina built a fortress, Mosapurc, in the swamps nearLake Balaton (at present-dayZalavár), and settled Slavic, Bavarian andSwabian colonists in his estates.[60][61] Abaptistery existed in Mosapurc already in the late 840s;Liupramm (d. 859), Archbishop of Salzburg, consecrated a church in the town on 24 January 850. The Saxon wandering priest,Gottschalk (d. 868), visited Pannonia in early 848, shortly before his teaching aboutpredestination was condemned as heresy at a synod inMainz.[60][62] A three-aisled basilica, dedicated toSt Adrian (d. 306), was built in Mosapurc around 855.[60]
Pribina died fighting against the Moravians, and his son,Kocel (d. 874), succeeded him.[63]Adalwin (d. 873), Archbishop of Salzburg, did not appoint evangelising bishops to Pannonia from around 863, likely as a consequence of a conflict with the last of the bishops, Osbald who twice approached directly the papacy for advice.[64] Kocel met the Byzantine missionary brothers,Constantine (d. 869) and Methodius (d. 885), during their journey from Moravia to Rome in 867.[63] Constantine—the future St Cyril—had constructed aspecial alphabet for the Slavic languages and developed a Slavic liturgy.[65] Kocel learnt the new script and entrusted the brothers with the education of50 disciples.[66] In Rome,Pope Hadrian II (d. 872) approved the Slavic liturgy, and Methodius returned to Mosapurc in 869.[67]
Kocel persuaded the Pope to appoint Methodius as bishop of the"see of St Andronicus" in Pannonia, which limited the jurisdiction of the archbishopric of Salzburg and the bishopric of Passau.[68][69] Around 870, an unidentified cleric compiled a historical work, theConversion of the Bavarians and the Carantanians to defend the interests of the Salzburg see.[69] When Methodius left Pannonia for Moravia in early 870, BishopErmanrich of Passau (d. 874) arrested him, and a synod of the Bavarian prelates ordered Methodius' imprisonment for his interference in church affairs in Transdanubia.[70] After Methodius's arrest, his pupils had to flee from Kocel's domains.[69]Pope John VIII (d. 882) achieved Methodius' release early in 873, but Methodius could not return to Mosapurc because Kocel feared of the Bavarian bishops' revenge.[71] After Kocel died around 875,Arnulf of Carinthia (d. 899) seized his domains. During his rule, the St Adrian Basilica was rebuilt in Mosapurc.[71]
By the time theConversion was completed, more than30 churches had been consecrated by the archbishops of Salzburg in Pannonia.[72] Cemeteries display the traits of Christianization of Transdanubia from the 830s. Commoners were still buried near sacred groves, but the orientation of their graves was consequently west–east. The offerings of food and drink almost disappeared from the commoners' graves in the 860s. The rulers' retainers were buried in new cemeteries near churches.[73] TheConversion also refers to Christian Avars who paid tax to the royal treasury.[74]
Coming from the region of theUral Mountains, the Magyars settled in the Pontic steppes before the late 830s.[75] They were among the subject peoples of theKhazar Khaganate for an uncertain period, but from the mid-9th-century they acted as an independent power.[76]Ahmad ibn Rustah,Abu Sa'id Gardezi and other medieval Muslim geographers who preserved earlier scholars' records of the 9th-century Magyars described them asstar- andfire-worshipers.[77][78]Al-Bakri added that the 10th-century Magyars worshipped the "Lord of the Sky" whom modern historians associate with Tengri.[79] Later prohibitions in Christian legislation indicate that sacrifices made atsacred groves andsprings were important elements of the pagan Magyars' cult.[77] The mutilation of corpses is well-documented in pre-Christian cemeteries, implying a fear of the return of spirits.[80]
The Magyars came into contact with Muslims, Jews and Christians, but all theories on their influence on the Magyars' religious life are speculative.[81] ThehagiographicLife of Constantine mentions that the future St Cyril run into a band of Magyar warriors in theCrimea in 860.[81][82] They wanted to kill him, but his prayers allegedly convinced them to spare his life.[81]
The Magyars were regularly hired by their neighbors to intervene in their conflicts.[76] TheByzantine emperorLeo the Wise incited them to invade Bulgaria in 894, but the Bulgarians made an alliance with thePechenegs.[76] The Pechenegs attacked the Magyars from the east, forcing them to abandon the Pontic steppes.[76] They crossed theCarpathian Mountains and settled in the plains along the Middle Danube around 895.[83] They conquered Pannonia, destroyed Moravia and defeated the Bavarians between 900 and 907.[84]Theotmar,Archbishop of Salzburg, recorded that they destroyed Christian churches in Pannonia.[39]
Part of the local population survived theMagyar conquest and the Magyars captured Christians duringtheir raids in Europe, but the Christian natives' and prisoners' influence on the Magyars' religious life is almost undetectable.[85] Although significant elements of the Christian vocabulary of theHungarian language are Slavic loanwords, these were not necessarily borrowed from local Christians as they may have also been learnt from Slavic priests during the period of the Magyars' conversion at the turn of the 10th and11th centuries.[D][86] Asabretache decorated by aGreek cross, mythical animals andpalmettes, found in a warriors' grave atTiszabezdéd, may reflect Christian influence orreligious syncretism, but the dead was put in the grave together with his horse, in accordance with pagan practices.[39] The historian Attila Zsoldos concludes that the Christian natives and prisoners could hardly play a significant role in the conquerors' conversion.[87]
A paramount chieftain (orgrand prince), always a member of theÁrpád dynasty,[E] ruled the Magyars in the 10th century,[89] but central authority was weak and the heads of theMagyar tribes pursued independent foreign policy.[90] At least two of the Magyar chieftains started negotiations with the Byzantines and converted to Christianity. The first of them, theharkaBulcsú (d. 955) received baptism in 948,[91] but he never became a devout Christian.[92] ThegyulaGeula was baptised around 950.[91] On this occasion,PatriarchTheophylact of Constantinople (d. 956) consecrated the monkHierotheos asbishop of Tourkia (or Hungary) to accompany thegyula back to his domains in eastern Hungary. The Byzantine historianJohn Skylitzes (d. after 1101) claims that Hierotheos converted many Hungarians, but archaeological finds do not substantiate a mass conversion toEastern Orthodoxy.[93]
The Magyars' last pillaging raid to the west ended with their total defeatnear Augsburg in Bavaria in 955. The defeat weakened the tribes which had been involved in the western raids, allowing the Árpáds to reinforce their position. A Byzantine victory over a coalition ofRus' and Magyar invadersat Adrianople in 970 also put an end to the Magyar raids against theBalkan Peninsula.[94][95] Grand PrinceGéza (r. c. 972 – 997) decided to establish close relationships with Hungary's western neighbors in the early 970s.[96][97] According to modern historians, he either wanted to stabilize Hungary's position in a period of Byzantine–Germanrapprochement, or he realised that he could only be second in the Byzantine court behind thegyula.[98]Pope John XII (d. 964) had already sent a missionary bishop, Zacheus, to Hungary in the early 960s, but the Pope's opponent, theHoly Roman EmperorOtto I (r. 962–973) captured Zacheus atCapua.[96][99] ABenedictine monk,Wolfgang (d. 994), left theEinsiedeln Abbey to proselytize among the Hungarians in 972, butPiligrim (d. 991), Bishop of Passau, forbade him to leave his diocese, which may indicate a rivalry for the leadership of the missions in Hungary.[96] In the same year, Emperor Otto I dispatched one Bishop Bruno to Hungary.[96] Modern historians tentatively associate Bruno with "Bishop Prunwart" whom the necrology of theAbbey of Saint Gall credited with the baptism of Géza and many of his subjects.[96][99] BishopAdalbert of Prague (d. 997) also come to Hungary, but his mission was not successful, according to his nearly contemporaneousLife.[100]
Géza stabilized central authority and promoted Christianity in parallel through warring against pagan chieftains,[101][102] but contemporary sources indicate that he and his wifeSarolt (d. after 997), remained half-pagans.[F] The chroniclerThietmar of Merseburg (d. 1018) states that Géza offered sacrifices to pagan gods even after his baptism; and the missionaryBruno of Querfurt (d. 1009) accuses Sarolt of mixing Christian and heathen practices.[100] The development of the church structure during Géza's reign is unknown. The earliest charter of grant to the BenedictinePannonhalma Abbey states that Géza ordered its establishment.[104] The question of jurisdiction over the nascent Hungarian church system led to a heated debate between the archbishopric of Salzburg and Piligrim of Passau.[105]
Géza died in 997, leaving Hungary to his son,Stephen (r. 997–1038). Born into paganism as Vajk, Stephen was baptised at the latest before he married, on his father's initiative,Gisela of Bavaria (d. 1065), a relative of the Holy Roman EmperorOtto III (r. 996–1002).[97][106] Stephen's kinsman,Koppány, challenged his right to rule, but his army, mainly German knights, overcame Koppány.[106][107] After his victory, Stephen requested a royal crown from Emperor Otto orPope Sylvester II (d. 1003).[G] His request was granted and he was crowned the firstking of Hungary on25 December 1000 or1 January 1001.[106][109] During his reign, the Christianisation of Hungary accelerated, and the influence of Eastern Orthodoxy declined as he preferred western clergy.[105]
Stephen established at least eightRoman Catholic bishoprics and six Benedictine monasteries.[H] Thietmar of Merseburg writes that the first bishoprics had been set up already before Stephen's coronation.[111] According to Thoroczkay, thedioceses of Veszprém andGyőr are the most likely candidates.[I][112] The Hungarian Church gained independence of the German prelates with the establishment of theArchbishopric of Esztergom in 1001.[113] By the end of Stephen's reign, further bishoprics were foundedat Kalocsa, inTransylvania,at Pécs,Eger andCsanád (present-dayCenad in Romania). The establishment of the dioceses sometimes reflected Stephen expansion: the Bishopric of Transylvania was founded after he annexed the lands ruled by his maternal uncleGeula the Younger, whereas the Diocese of Csanád was set up after his troops defeatedAjtony, the ruler of the lands now known as theBanat (now mainly in Serbia and Romania).[114] By 1050,Kalocsa was the seat of a second archbishopric, but it is unclear whether Kalocsa was originally established as a bishopric, or an archbishopric withoutsuffragan bishops.[115][116] Stephen issued the foundation charter of Pannonhalma Abbey, and established the abbeysat Pécsvárad,Zalavár,Bakonybél,Somlóvásárhely, andZobor (now inNitra in Slovakia).[117]
The Christianisation of the population required the application of violence. Bruno of Querfurt witnessed how Christian soldiers blindedBlack Hungarians—an ethnic group in southern Hungary—to enforce their baptism. Stephen's first laws ordered the observation offeast days andfasts and the punishment of those who disturbed themass by murmuring. The pagans were regularly baptized before their formal education of the Christian doctrines began.[118] According to early-11th-century sources, Slavic, German and Italian priests were proselytizing among the pagan Hungarians. Bruno of Querfurt met with Adalbert of Prague's tutor,Radla (d. after 1000), and one of Adalbert's disciples,Astrik (d.c. 1030/1040), in Hungary.[119] A Venetian monk,Gerard (d. 1046), who was consecrated the first bishop of Csanád in 1030, proselytized in the Banat. The longer version of hisLife describes him preaching among the pagan Hungarians who were brought to him by royal officials, with seven monks acting as his interpreters.[120][121] The first priests were foreigners.Bonipert (d. after 1036), the first bishop of Pécs, came from France or Lombardy; one of his priests, Hilduin, was a Frenchman; the hermitsZoerard (d.c. 1009) andBenedict (d.c. 1012) were born in Poland orIstria. The first native cleric known by name,Maurus (d.c. 1075), was consecrated as bishop of Pécs in 1036.[122] Hungarian liturgy followed German, Lotharingian and northern Italian patterns.[123]
Stephen's second law book prescribed that every ten villages were to build a church, but the development of the parish system lasted for centuries. In addition tosecular clerics, monks were allowed to publicly preach and confer sacraments to the people. The earliest churches, often made of wood or wattle-and-daub, were built in or near fortresses.[124] Stone churches mainly followed Italian patterns as it is demonstrated by theAcanthus spinosa carved on thechapiters of the columns in the RomanesqueVeszprém Cathedral.[125][126] Latin literacy started in Hungary during Stephen's reign.[127] BishopFulbert of Chartres sent a copy ofPriscian'sInstitutes of Grammar—a popular handbook of Latin—to Bonipert of Pécs around 1020.[128] An unidentified foreign cleric wrote aking's mirror, known asAdmonitions, for Stephen's son and heir,Emeric, in the 1020s.[129][130] Gerard of Csanád completed his Biblical commentary entitledDeliberatio supra hymnum trium puerorum ('Meditation of the Hymn of Three Young Men') in Hungary.[131]
Orthodox communities existed in Stephen's kingdom.[132] He (or his father) established a monastery for Byzantine nuns in Veszprémvölgy. One of his opponents,Ajtony, who ruled theBanat, converted to Orthodoxy and established a monastery for Greek monks at his seat.[133][134] After Stephen's troops conquered Ajtony's domains, the monks were transferred to a new monastery, built for them.[135] Archaeologists assume thatpectoral crosses found in graves reflect the dead's Orthodox faith, although such objects may have also been worn as jewellry.[132][136] Byzantine documents made sporadic references to "metropolitan bishops of Tourkia" till the end of the11th century.[136] TheAdmonitions and Gerard'sDeliberatio mentionanti-Trinitarian groups, presenting them as a serious problem for Catholic missions in Hungary. Gerard described them as heretics who denied theresurrection of the dead and threatened the Church's position with the assistance of the "followers of Methodius". Modern historians propose that these "heretics" wereBogumil refugees from Bulgaria or local Christians converted by non-Catholic missionaries.[137]
Stephen I who survived his son appointed his sister's son, the VenetianPeter Orseolo as his heir.[138][139] To secure Peter's position, Stephen ordered the mutilation of his cousin,Vazul, who inclined towards paganism.[139] Vazul's three sons,Levente,Andrew andBéla, were forced into exile.[139] Peter succeeded Stephen in 1038.[138] He distrusted the native aristocrats and replaced them with Germans and Italians.[140] The neglected lords dethroned him and elected one of their number,Samuel Aba, king,[138] but the Holy Roman Emperor,Henry III, invaded Hungary and restored Peter.[138] Peter swore fealty to the Emperor and introduced Bavarian laws.[141]
Peter remained unpopular and a group of discontented aristocrats offered the throne to Vazul's exiled sons in 1046.[142] Before the three dukes returned to Hungary, apopular uprising began.[142] TheAnnales Altahenses described the rebels as pagans who murdered clerics and foreigners.[143][144] Bishop Gerald of Csanád, thrown from thehill now bearing his name to the Danube, was one of their victims.[144] They captured and blinded the King, paving the way for Vazul's sons.[143][144] The eldest of them, Levente, whom the Hungarian chronicles described as a pagan, died unexpectedly.[145] The three bishops who survived the uprising crowned his Christian younger brother, Andrew, king.[145] TheAnnales Altahenses accused him of anti-Christian acts during the revolt,[143] but as king he restored Stephen I's decrees, outlawing paganism.[145] Andrew I was dethroned by his brother, Béla.[144][146] Béla I held a general assembly, summoning two elders from each village to Székesfehérvár in 1061.[144][146] The assembled commoners put pressure on him to expel the priests from the country, but he dissolved the meeting by force.[147]
Dynastic conflicts continued, but the position of Christianity consolidated in Hungary.[148] Archaeological finds reveal the general adoption of Christian customs by around 1100.[122] Grave goods disappeared and churches were built in pagan cemeteries.[149][150] New Benedictine[J] and Orthodox[K] monasteries were established by the monarchs.[151][134]Otto from theGyőr kindred was the first aristocrat to found a Benedictinefamily monastery atZselicszentjakab in 1061.[150]Cathedral chapters became important institutions of education.[117][152] The parishes in the dioceses were grouped intodeaneries, each headed by asenior cleric, by around 1100.[153]
Béla I's son,Ladislaus I, took Draconian measures for the protection of property rights, even ignoring the idea ofchurch asylum.[154] His laws also dealt with thelocal Muslim andJewish communities.[155] He forbade Muslims who had converted to Christianity to return to their old faith and ordered the Jews to abandon their Christian wives and to dismiss their Christian servants.[155] Ladislaus supportedPopes Victor III andUrban II againstAntipope Clement III during the first phase of theInvestiture Controversy.[156] He procured thecanonization of the first Hungarian saints—King Stephen I, Prince Emeric, Bishop Gerard and the hermits Zoerard and Benedict—in 1083.[157] He summoned the Hungarian prelates to synod atSzabolcs in 1091.[155] The synod forbade the village communities to abandon the land where their church stood, but authorized the villagers to elect one of their number to represent them at the Sunday mass if their village was far away from the church.[158] The synod allowed the married priests to live with their wives in clear contradiction with the idea ofclerical celibacy, promoted by theGregorian Reform.[155]
Ladislaus I's nephew and successor,Coloman the Learned, had to deal with the problems that the armies of theFirst Crusade caused during their march across Hungary towards the Holy Land in 1096.[150] He defeated and massacredtwo crusader hordes to prevent their pillaging raids, but allowedGodfrey of Bouillon and his troops to cross Hungary after Godfrey offered his brother,Baldwin, as a hostage to guarantee his troops' good conduct.[150][159] Coloman renounced the right of appointing the bishops, but in practice the cathedral chapters continued to elect the monarchs' nominees as bishops.[160] His decrees toned down the harshness of his predecessors' laws.[161] The preamble to his law-code described Hungary as a fully converted Christian realm, but his decree ordering burials in graveyards shows that this was not a general practice.[150] He ordered the Muslims to build Christian churches, to eat pork and to marry off their daughters to Christians, showing his intention to assimilate the local Muslim communities.[162] The Esztergom synod of the Hungarian prelates prohibited the monks from preaching, baptizing and offeringabsolution to sinners.[163]
Burials outside churchyards disappeared early in the 12th century.[162] Large three-aisled basilicas with two towers were built at the episcopal sees.[164] Churches built at lay landowners' estates played an important role in the development of parishes.[165] They were either single-naved churches orrotundas.[166] The aristocrats regarded thesechurches as part of their patrimony and freely appointed their priests.[165]
Most churches were dedicated to the Virgin Mary,George of Lydda, theArchangel Michael, Martin of Tours,Nicholas of Myra, andPeter the Apostle, but the first Hungarian saints' cult quickly spread after their canonization.[157] The firstCistercian and thePremonstratensian monasteries were established in the 1140s.[167] The monarchs preferred the Cistercians,[L] but the aristocrats founded Premonstratensian[M] houses.[168][169]King Géza II settled theKnights Hospitaller andTemplar in the country and established a Hungarianorder of hospitaller canons in honor of King St Stephen.[170]
Hungarian clerics studied in theuniversities of Paris andOxford from the 1150s.[171][172] They were mostlycanons who financed their studies from the income of theirprebends in collegiate chapters.[173] The use of written records spread.[171] The collegiate chapters and major monasteries played an important role in the process as "places of authentication", providing notary services from around 1200.[171] The first extant religious text in Hungarian—aburial speech—was written around 1200.
Géza II concluded aconcordat withPope Alexander III. Géza's right to dismiss bishops or transfer them from a see to another was abolished, but he was authorized to deliver thepallium to the archbishops and to control correspondence between the Hungarian prelates and the Holy See.[174] Géza's son and successor,Stephen III,renounced the right to appoint the abbots of the royal monasteries and to administer the goods of vacant bishoprics.[175] When Stephen died in 1172, his younger brother,Béla, succeeded him.Lucas, Archbishop of Esztergom, denied to crown him, but the Pope authorized the archbishop of Kalocsa to perform the ceremony.[176] Lucas referred to Béla's allegedsimony to explain his resistance, but he most probably feared of the influence of the Orthodox Church Béla who had grewn up in the Byzantine Empire.[160][177]Schism between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches had deepened.[178] Béla III could not introduce the cult of the Bulgarian hermitJohn of Rila in Hungary.[178]Job, Archbishop of Esztergom, entered into an unfriendly correspondence with the Byzantine EmperorIsaac II Angelos about the differences between Catholic and Orthodox theologies.[178] Béla's elder son and successor,Emeric, proposedPope Innocent III to appoint a Catholic bishop to administer the Greek monasteries in Hungary in 1204.[179] He did not achieve his goal, but the Greek monasteries disappeared during the following decades.[180]
Béla III and his successors adopted an active foreign policy, often in close alliance with the Papacy.[181] Emeric waged a war againstBan Kulin of Bosnia whom Pope Innocent III regarded as the Bogumils' main protector.[179][182] Emeric's brother,Andrew II,launched a crusade to the Holy Land in 1217–1218.[183] Andrew's son,Béla IV, supported theDominicans' missions among theCumans of the Pontic steppes.[184] Themendicant orders settled in Hungary in the 1220s.[185] In contrast with the traditional monastic orders, the mendicants willingly mingled with the common people to spread Christian ideas.[185] One of the eight initial provinces of the Dominicans was set up in Hungary. FriarPaulus Hungarus, who had taughtRoman law at the university of Bologna, returned to his homeland to found the first Dominicanpriories in 1221.[186] TheFranciscans came to Hungary in 1229.[185]
Andrew II made generous grants to the aristocrats, threatening the social position of theroyal servants andcastle warriors (small landholders who had been directly subject to the monarch or his officials).[183][187] The latter forced the monarch to summarize their liberties in aroyal charter, known as theGolden Bull of 1222.[183][187] The Golden Bull also confirmed the clerics' exemption of royal taxes, but limited the prelates' right to trade in salt and prohibited the collection of the tithe in cash.[188] Theclerics' liberties were summarized in a separate document, most probably around the end of 1222.[189] The King confirmed that onlyecclesiastical courts could sit in judgement on clerics, but it also prohibited the ordination of serfs as priests.[190]
Andrew II employed Jews and Muslims in the administration of royal revenues, outraging the prelates and Pope Honorius III.[191] The Pope authorizedRobert, Archbishop of Esztergom to applyecclesiastical sanctions against the King in 1231.[192] Andrew II was forced to re-issue the Golden Bull, but without the articles that prejudged the interests of the Church.[193] The new document exempted the prelates' estates of the jurisdiction of theispáns and established the monopoly ofecclesiastical courts in matters relating to marriage and dowry.[193] It also authorized the archbishop of Esztergom to excommunicate the monarch if he did not respect its articles.[193] Arcbhbishop Robert placed Hungary under interdict for the employment of Muslims in state administration and the Pope sent a legate to negotiate with Andrew II.[194] Their compromise was summarized in a treaty which obliged the King to dismiss his Muslim and Jewish officials and to enable the prelates to trade in salt.[195]
The DominicanFriar Julian learnt of theMongols' plan toinvade Europe during his mission among theEastern Magyars (a pagan people on the Volga) in 1236.[196][197] The Mongols forced thousands of paganCumans to seek refuge in Hungary in 1240.[196] The Mongols stormed into Hungary and defeated the royal army in theBattle of Mohi on 11 April 1241.[198][199] The Mongols devastated the country for a year, but they withdrew without leaving garrisons behind.[199][200] Hungary survived the Mongol occupation and Béla IV introduced measures to strengthen the defence system.[199] He urged the wealthiest landowners, both the laymen and the prelates, to build stone castles.[201]
The position of the archbishops of Esztergom strengthened.[202] Béla IV authorized the archbishop to superviseroyal coinage. He also enabled thenoblemen to will their estates to the archbishopric and to enter into the archbishop's service.[203] Béla's successor,Stephen V prevented the archbishop'snoble warriors from demanding the privileges of the "true nobles of the realm".[204] Stephen grantedEsztergom County to the archbishops, making them itsperpetualispán.[173]
Asceticism and the development of eremitical communities was an eminent feature of the spiritual life in the 13th century.[205] A canon of Esztergom,Eusebius, settled in the woods of thePilis Hills to live as a hermit in 1246.[205] Ascetics joined him and their community developed into the new order of hermits, known asPaulines during the following decades.[205] The Dominicans lost favour with Béla IV after his daughter,Margaret, who was a Dominican nun, refused to marry, ruining his plan of a marriage alliance.[186][206] Béla thereafter supported the Franciscans who established more than forty priories during the following decades.[186][206]
