IMC 2006: Sessions

Abstract paper -a: During the 13th century, the succession to the ducal throne of Krakow became subject to baronial approval. A close reading of contemporary chronicles and charters reveals a complex process of negotiations defining the power of the hierarchical church and the noble oligarchy. The reasons governing the choice of a particular duke include concrete political expectations, family connections and ideological traditions popular among current elites. The post-Gregorian notion of church liberties, the incipient signs of ecclesiastical lordship and economic expansion were particularly dynamic agents affecting power relations in the province.

Abstract paper -b: The paper concerns bishops of the church province of Gniezno in the 13th to the 15th centuries. The episcopacy is presented as a small social and occupational group through the illustration of the issue of bishops' origin, and the pattern of career leading to their promotion, as well as the structural characteristics of this group. The group is characterised with important elements of social bonds, i.e. identification with the group, predefined leadership, precedence of members, communication and solidarity. The sociographic description shows in dynamic way transformations which happened during the mentioned period.

Abstract paper -c: In the history of public education in Hungary during the age of the Árpáds, the cathedral schools played a primary role. Those schools were set up according to the rule of St Chrodegang of the Carolingian period. The Venetian-born Gerard, a trusted advisor of King Stephen I (d. 1038; canonized 1083), and the first bishop of Csanád (d. 1046; canonized 1083), established a cathedral school at his episcopal see. Already in the 1030s-early 1040s, the first graduates of the school, together with western clerics arriving, and Slav priests living, in the land performed public church functions and deepened religious life among the population. In the 1230s, some cathedral chapters, adjacent to the schools, became loci credibles, performing the role of a notary public.

Chronicle entries, official documents that referred to cathedral schools enable one to survey the background of public education provided by Church in the realm. Thus, an entry in Gerard of Csanád's Vita, c. 10, recorded the founding of the school by the bishop, while a record of about 1030 noted that the monks and young clerics in Esztergom knew and sang the antiphonale prepared by Arnold, a monk from Bavaria. A writ of 1111, issud by King Coloman the Learned (d. 1116), mentioned a certain Willermus grammaticus on the faculty of the cathedral school at Nyitra. Another official write, dated 1205, referred to a school master 'A' at Esztergom, while an entry, dated 1251, noted that Bódog, son Nemhisz Babay, attended the cathedral school in Kalocsa.

In 1254, Pope Innocent IV wanted the clergy in Hungary to pursue studies in, and deepen their knowledge of, philosophy and theology. In Hungary, clerics without degrees in Canon law could not be advanced to higher ecclesiastical rank. The writs issued in 1276 and 1277 by King Ladislas IV the Cuman (d. 1290), referred to the cathedral school at Veszprém famous for its Canon law faculty, and provided financial aid and donated books for the library (located in the sacristry of the cathedral). In the letter Archbishop Ladomer of Esztergom sent to Pope Nicholas IV, he reminisced that in his youth he grew acquainted with Proteus, and reading Horatius he recalled the tooth of Theon, '...si vitam Theonino dente dilanias, verbis exculteret virulentis'.

On the other hand, one is to remember that, according to the legend of St Margaret, the daughter of King Béla IV of Hungary, the Saint know no Latin, participated only seldomly in liturgical services, as she rather listened to spiritual books read to her.