Formations et cultures des officiers et de l’entourage des princes dans les territoires angevins (milieu XIIIe-fin XVe siècle)
| ,La culture des officiers et de l’entourage des princes
The knightly culture of the Hungarian barons of the Angevin period: ideals and practice
Texte intégral
The beginnings of knightly culture
- 1 D. Dercsényi, Nagy Lajos [The age of Louis the Great], Budapest, s.a.; Á. Kurcz, Lovagi kultúra Ma (...)
- 2 Gy. Kristó, Az Anjou-kor háborúi [The wars of the Angevin Age], Budapest, 1988, p. 181-186.
- 3 See e. g. the Chronicle of Küküllei, ch. 22, in E. Galántai, J. Kristó (ed.), Johannes de Thurocz, (...)
1It is a commonplace in Hungary to regard the Angevin age as one of the peaks of chivalric culture, but its surviving traces are not as abundant as one may expect1. The decades of the Angevin era were full of wars, till the 1320s mostly civil wars, and after the consolidation, especially after the 1330s, royal campaigns were launched almost every year, sometimes in the same year in different directions, as it happened in 1330 towards Poland and Wallachia. For the period of King Charles I altogether some forty-two major military events are registered, while for the period of Louis some thirty-five, and sixteen of them were led by King Louis I in person2. The king was named after the Angevin model saint, the bishop of Toulouse, but also bore the same name as King Louis IX, and he followed them in many respects. It is not impossible that he knew personally one or more written vitae of his mythical predecessor king, but it is sure that in the field and at the sieges he behaved himself like him: with bravery, temerity and high responsibility for his soldiers3. If the king fought in the first row and was present in the most dangerous situations, then the elite and the courtly entourage always had to be next to him.
- 4 D. Dercsényi, Nagy Lajos… cit, p. 26. J. Bleyer, Magyar vonatkozások Suchenwirt Péter költeményeib (...)
- 5 E. Mályusz, La chancellerie royale et la rédaction des chroniques dans la Hongrie médiévale, in Le (...)
- 6 The often cited passage is from a charter of King Louis (30 october 1350) issued to Stephen I Lack (...)
2The exceptional personality of King Louis attracted some famous foreign knights to his court, like Burkhard of Ellerbach or Ulrich of Cilli, who may have played a role in disseminating western chivalric ideals and patterns of behaviour4. The detailed events of the campaigns were documented in the narration part of dozens of royal charters, while in the arengas the philosophical and political patterns of the chivalric behaviour were channelled5. Obviously, the greatest importance of the charters was for the beneficiaries themselves. That was the only tool for the recipients to record their own history and hence promote the political future of their families. Their personal involvement in the wording was in most cases indispensable since only the sufferer knew how many teeth he had lost, which arm had been pierced by an arrow in a battle. The registration in Latin was an important reminder irrespective of the fact that only the greatest lords had the means to present their heroic deeds in the royal court in person. The wording sometime becomes schematic, but the king could have the possibility to personally witness the valiance of his people6.
- 7 Johannes de de Thurocz, Chronica Hungarorum... cit., p. 160.
- 8 S. Parsons, Making heroes out of crusaders : The literary afterlife of crusade participants in the (...)
3In the emergence of this practice, a contributory factor must have been the royal intention to mediate a certain value system towards the warring layers of society. The implied message was that valiance, the knightly service of the ruler may “ennoble” anybody, that is, one could rise to the immediate surroundings of the king, acquire landed property for battle merits. The Hungarian researches took these charters as a substitute of the missing pieces of the knightly literature, and even a certain system of virtues may be reconstructed from these charters, though the virtues and their wording did not change lot since the thirteenth century, that is fidelity, bravery, humanity and the thirst for fame. As John of Küküllő phrased in the preface to the chronicle of King Louis’ life: “It is the fame that is in the rulership mostly and for itself desired, because the rulership is desired not for itself, but because of the honoured fame”7. The lay elite proved its fidelity to the king and appeared as “valiant nobles” the same way as the “bons barons de France” in the Chanson d’Antioche (1: 23)8.
- 9 Aegidius Romanus, De regimine principum, ch. I, 7, and I, 10 (Vegetius), and I, 12. Johannes de Th (...)
4The question of knightly and courtly culture is still a much debated topic, first of all because its social base was totally different from that of Western Europe, and the written sources about its cultural achievements are almost totally missing. The royal court definitely played a crucial role in this process and disseminated ideals, practices, rituals to the top aristocratic groupings and even to wider layers of the noble world. It is again a telling sign that the chronicler John of Küküllő mentioned the Epitome of military science of Vegetius, but he did not quote it directly, instead he read about it in the king’s mirror of Giles of Rome9.
- 10 M. Slíz, Személynévadás az Anjou-korban [Naming in the Angevin age], Budapest, 2011; Id., Anjou-ko (...)
- 11 P. Engel, Magyarország világi archontológiája 1301–1457 [Secular archontology of Hungary, 1301-145 (...)
- 12 E. Madas, Les origines et les motifs principaux de la légende du chevalier Nicolas Toldi, in N. Co (...)
5In western courts the most promising way to have a glimpse into the courtly culture is an overview of what was read and written in Latin or vernacular. As there are neither vernacular lay sources before the end of the XVth century (The siege of Šabac, after 1476) nor Latin ones except the chronicles, the name-giving practice came into the limelight, supposing that behind the literary names there were literary manuscripts and orally transmitted stories. The analyses of the name-giving patterns seemed at a first sight very promising. Really, the names from the Troi, Alexander the Great, Roland stories – like Roland/Lorand – Olivier/Olivant/Elefánt – often appeared in Hungary from the turn of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, like in the case of the Rátót kindred originating from South Italy10. Of course, it is difficult to decide whether they were inspired by a literary background or it was just a fashion and a simple superficial imitation. Surprisingly in the XIVth century among the barons only one person, the Master of the Treasury Olivier Paksi († 1360) from the Rátót kindred represented this fashion11, while altogether we have twenty cases for Isolde between 1301 and 1342. Sure, orality played a decisive role as the geste of Nicholas Toldi was written down only in the XVIth century though he was a rewarded military member of the court of Kings Louis and Sigismund a century earlier. Edit Madas recently summarized the research on Nicolas Toldi, referring to the heterogeneous mixture of its western sources, motives from the stories of Moniage Rainouart, Parsifal, Tristan and Boccaccio, stories from which some names were borrowed into the local name-giving practice12.
Tournaments and knightly ceremonies
- 13 Z. Tóth, La boucle de Kígyóspuszta, in Archaeologiai Értesítő, 71, 1943, p. 174-184. I. Bertényi, (...)
- 14 I. Vásáry, Cumans and Tartars. Oriental Military in the Pre-Ottoman Balkans, 1185-1365. Cambridge, (...)
- 15 I. Szathmáry, Rovásjeles címer egy régi kardon [Runic coat of arms on an old sword], in Tisicum. A (...)
- 16 D.C. Nicolle, Arms and armour of the crusading era, 1050-1350, White Plains NY, 1998, I, p. 544, a (...)
6Even till now the most exciting knightly object is a gold buckle of a sword-belt, with four buttons, found in Kígyóspuszta in the middle of the puszta (Great Hungarian Lowlands) in 181613. The year suggests that the find was without documentation and in fact survived only in fragments. On the buckle one can see a tournament scene with knights in flat-topped great helms and mail hauberks, with musicians. It is not astonishing that it turned up in the grave of a Cuman nobleman, as the Cumans preserved their heathen burial practices for at least a century following their migration to Hungary, till the middle of the fourteenth century. We even have parallels to this belt from two other Cuman graves; all are Western and partly Byzantine artefacts, and not nomadic products14. Just from these objects, belts and swords possessed by the Cuman elite and warriors we may have some ideas about the material culture of the royal and baronial centres whose heritage disappeared without any trace. Most probably these objects were royal presents to Cuman warlords, like the Western type double-edged sword with a dynastical coat of arms, found in Kunszentmárton15. Unfortunately the renowned researcher, David Nicolle was not right when he identified the Kígyóspuszta belt in his handbook of 1996 as a genuine Hungarian product16. This belt may be dated to the late thirteenth century, as the parallels of the tournament scenes in the contemporary French and Northern Italian manuscript illuminations. The heraldic devices on the standards and shields are not identified, but they are certainly not Hungarian. On the four buttons there are short Latin orations to Saints Bartholomew, Marguerite, Jacob, and Stephen the Protomartyr, etched with fourteenth-century letters.
- 17 Zs. Jékely, A Lackfi család pálos temploma Csáktornya mellett [The Pauline church of the Lackfi fa (...)
- 18 E. Marosi, Der Heilige Ladislaus als ungarischer Nationalheiliger. Bemerkungen zu seiner Ikonograp (...)
- 19 J. Zsombor, Narrative structure of the painted cycle of a Hungarian holy ruler: the Legend of Sain (...)
7Of the above-mentioned saints perhaps Saint Marguerite’s fight with the dragon has some common traits with the knightly culture. The baron Stephen II Lackfi († 1397) founded a Pauline monastery in Vághely, next to Čakovec, with the frescoes of the votive saints of his family, identical with the holy kings of Hungary Saints Stephen, Ladislas and Emeric, and further Saint Marguerite with the dragon type coat of arms of the Lackfi family17. Anyway, it was King Saint Ladislas I who became the typical knightly saint strongly sponsored by the Angevin dynasty18. The first fresco cycles of the king may be dated to the beginning of the Angevin rule, and according the Zsombor Jékely they may be interpreted as an innovation in the courtly propaganda, originating in the French crusader art, transferred via Naples to Hungary19.
- 20 E. Szentpétery (ed.), Scriptores rerum Hungaricarum tempore ducum regumque stirpis Arpadianae gest (...)
- 21 Ibid., t. 1, p. 496-500 (ch. 209.); R. Lupescu, Walachia, Battle, in C.J. Rogers (ed.), The Oxford (...)
- 22 See the facsimile edition, Képes Krónika, Chronicon Pictum, I-II, Budapest, 1964, accessible also (...)
- 23 R.W. Jones, Bloodied Banners, Martial Display on the Medieval Battlefield, Woodbridge, Rochester, (...)
8Even the fantastic story of the exchange of arms between King Charles and one of his court knights in a disastrous ambush during the Wallachian campaign of 1330 may be a literary imitation of the Saint Ladislas chronicle cycle where the saintly king appeared in battle in disguise twice20. King Charles survived the death trap in the South Carpathian Mountains, but in a strange way this self-sacrificing feat was never mentioned again in the charters or in the narrative sources, contrary to the cases of dozens of other persons who died or were injured in the same battle21. Anyway, this is the most spectacular description of a knightly heroic fight in favour of their liege lord in the medieval Hungarian narrative sources, a reason why three illuminations were dedicated to this story in the Illuminated chronicle (Chronicon pictum, ca. 1358). It is a more delicate question why this battle scene depicting the king’s miraculous escape from the battle, surrounded and defended by his noble warriors, was inserted twice – with slight differences – into the manuscript. Perhaps the answer is very simple: this is how the faithful nobles and barons should behave towards a king in jeopardy22. On the other hand to fight in disguise is not unprecedented in the medieval European narrative texts, so this topic may refer to a deeper acculturation of the Hungarian noble elite by that time23.
- 24 Societas fraternalis militiae sancti Georgii. On the order, see L. Veszprémy, L’ordine di San Gior (...)
- 25 E. Fügedi, Turniere im mittelalterlichen Ungarn, in J. Fleckenstein (ed.), Das ritterliche Turnier (...)
- 26 Gy. Kristó (ed.), Anjou-kori oklevéltár, vol. 5, 1318-1321, Budapest-Szeged, 1998, p. 190 (nr. 481 (...)
- 27 For the 1364 meeting see S.K. Kuczyński, Les hérauts d’armes dans la Pologne médiévale, in Revue d (...)
- 28 Kraków, Museum Skarbca Katedralnego im. Jana Pawla II, WKW/eIII/05. J. Szymczak, Knightly Tourname (...)
9King Charles founded a lay chivalric order, named Saint George, not later than in 1326, and in the statutes, among the obligations of the members, we can read that “first of all they should follow the king in every kind of entertainments and knightly games”24. The development of tournaments in Central European kingdoms was slightly different25. The courtly feasts and tournaments were essential representation spheres for the upper layers, they were sure to take place regularly, but – contrary to Western Europe – are very sporadically mentioned in the sources. In Hungary they were much more often recorded in the thirteenth century than in the fourteenth. Altogether we have only a few recorded cases; one happened in 1319 when King Charles knocked out three teeth of a courtly page (aulae iuvenis) in hastiludio, and recompensed him26. We may suppose that on the Cracow congress of 1364 King Louis – together with Ladislas of Opole – personally witnessed the famous tournament in which the Bohemian king, Charles IV also took part27. A unique proof of the royal patronage is a small ivory box, a Parisian product from the mid-fourteenth century, kept in the treasury of the Wawel cathedral. It is decorated with a scene of a tournament, based on the romance Roman de la Rose, and is traditionally connected with the person of Jadwiga, daughter of Louis I and queen of Poland28.
- 29 L. Veszprémy, Az Anjou-kori lovagság egyes kérdései [Some problems of the Angevin chivalry in Hung (...)
- 30 I. Miskolczy, Nagy Lajos nápolyi hadjáratai [The campaigns of Louis the Great in Naples], in Hadtö (...)
- 31 Gy. Kristó, Az Anjou-kor háborúi... cit., p. 185. In general see W. Goez, Fürstenzweikämpfe im Spä (...)
- 32 D. Dercsényi, Nagy Lajos… cit. p. 27. Giovanni Villani, Cronica (XII, 111), Mattei Villani, Cronic (...)
- 33 Johannes de Thurocz, Chronica... cit., p. 156-157, ch. 128 (… unus armis tormentalibus regie excel (...)
- 34 J. Macek, Das Turnier im mittelalterlichen Böhmen in Das ritterliche Turnier im Mittelalter... cit (...)
- 35 G. Kline (ed.), The Voyage d’Outremer by Bertrandon de la Broquière, New York-Berne, 1988, p. 151- (...)
10We are very scarcely informed about the use of a knighting ceremony; we can even suppose that a dubbing performed by the king himself was a special privilege and not an everyday practice. I could find only one case when in Hungary the king was personally involved in such a ceremony. It was the dubbing of John, son of Paul Himfi in 1347 and 1348, (per dominum regem consecratus), who later appeared as a courtly knight29. During the Italian campaign we have a few cases when the king and even Stephen I Lackfi participated in such ceremonies30. It is highly interesting that King Louis, while on his campaign against Naples, accepted the challenge for a duel in Italy by Louis of Taranto, which, as usual, never took place31. Perhaps it is not by chance that we have more information about knightly ceremonies like royal dubbings in Italy than in Hungary: the king knew very well that he could not escape these ceremonies in a western society32. The important place that the tournament armoury of King Charles played in his funerary ceremony is described by the Hungarian chronicle33. According to the chronicler three knights on horseback in different suits of armour represented the late ruler. Perhaps not only the king, but the political elite as well had at their disposal armours for different public occasions. On the other hand, contrary to the Czech vernacular tournament vocabulary (turnaj/turnej for turnametium, burdovati for buhurtiren), we can find no parallels for them in Hungarian – a circumstance that may refer to a limited popularity34. It is well-known that in the 1430s the Burgundian traveller, Bertrandon de la Brocquière described the peculiarities of the Hungarian tournament customs – it is important that they existed at all – compared to the Bohemian distinguished for their long and thick lances, mentioned as hasta spissa Bohemicalis, already a century earlier35.
- 36 I. Hajnik, A magyar bírósági szervezet és perjog az Árpád- és vegyesházi királyok alatt [The Hunga (...)
11The foundation charter of the Hungarian order also mentioned the formation of a separate court of justice of honour for the members. This opened the way to speculations whether the curia militaris of the fifteenth century may be traced back to Charles’s decision, but there is no hint in charters about its existence36.
Knightly orders, courtly knights and crusading
- 37 J.D. Boulton D'Arcy , The knights of the crown: the monarchical orders of knighthood in later medi (...)
- 38 I. Takács (ed.), Sigismundus rex et imperator :Art et culture au temps de Sigismond de Luxembourg (...)
- 39 Sz. Vajay, A sisakdísz megjelenése a magyar heraldikában [Appearance of the crest in the heraldry (...)
12King Charles founded the above-mentioned lay chivalric order, named Saint George. This type of order, modelled after the Italian fraternal societies, was a total novelty not only in Hungary, but in Europe as well37. But this order didn’t have a long activity, in spite of the fact that we possess a transcript of the foundation charter with a fine Saint George equestrian seal. Perhaps a ceremonial sword with a dragon-like cross-bar and with the name of Bishop Coloman, the king’s natural son, may have had some connection with the order38. It is highly probable that the seat of the order was in the Saint George chapel of the Visegrád royal residence. Probably not independently from the order, the spread of the coat of arms was intensified just in these years; the first crest donation is dated for 1326, a motif that dominated the heraldry of the whole century39. The Angevin kings gave a new impetus to the battle representation, partly during the long civil war, partly later in the regular – almost yearly – foreign expeditions, and with the activity of Hungarian mercenary companies in Italy.
- 40 Državni archiv Dubrovnik, Acta et diplomata, p. 34, see P. Lővei, I. Takács, Egy 1358. évi dubrovn (...)
- 41 I. Nagy (ed.), Anjoukori okmánytár (1333–1339), Budapest, 1883 (Codex diplomaticus Hungaricus Ande (...)
- 42 Á. Kurcz, Lovagi kultúra... cit., p. 103; A. Végh, Buda város középkori helyrajza [The medieval to (...)
13It is not impossible that the bloody attempt on the royal couple in 1330 had fatal consequences on the future of the order either because the members were not able to defend the king, or some of them may have been personally involved in the attempt. Though the king’s main objective may have been to reinforce the cohesion of the nobles, to encourage them to commit themselves to mutual assistance and loyalty to the order and the dynasty. It is not quite clear whether the order focused on the barons only or rather on a wider courtly nobility. The second option is more probable because the order’s statutes prescribed yearly fifty-five days for a sojourn at the court, and that would have been acceptable only for those who lived almost permanently there, and at the same time were not dignitaries. A telling proof for their longer sojourns at the court is a royal charter about the Hungarian suzerainty over Ragusa issued in Visegrád on 27 May 1358. Among the seals of the dignitaries the seal of a courtly knight turned up who probably by chance dwelled at the court, but as a matter of course he was not mentioned among the high-ranking witnesses in the charter40. Even the king’s favourite, Count Donch was donated the castle of Komárom in order to get closer to the royal seat41. A group of the barons possessed their own houses in the royal seats, that is Visegrád, and later Buda. After 1342 all but two palatines had their house in the castle of Buda. Perhaps the most luxurious was the palace of Nicholas Garai, who bought it in 1385. We have a unique detailed description of the inner house, letting an insight into the otherwise hidden material culture of this layer42.
14Traditionally the members of order were supposed to be found among the barons, but recently the historians realized the administrative and military importance of the courtly knights and pages. It is highly probable that these knights had good chances to be selected for this rank, because they could fulfil the arduous requirement of the statutes, that is staying for more than fifty days a year at the court. Unfortunately, one is reduced to a vague conjecture because not a single name of the knightly members survived in the charters.
- 43 Á. Kurcz, Lovagi kultúra… cit., p. 17-80. A. Zsoldos, Egy új II. András-kép felé [Towards the reev (...)
- 44 Nicholas since 1326 courtly page, since 1336 courtly knight, his father was a castellan, see P. En (...)
15The formation of courtly nobility was not an innovation at all, as the aulae juvenes were mentioned for the first time in the XIIIth century, instigated by the military reform of King Andrew II43. They soon became a group of faithful officers entrusted with administrative and military matters. They were the courtly knights who appeared in greater number for the first time in the Angevin period, just after the year of the order’s foundation. In 1328 e.g. four new pages and one knight were registered. This knight was the king’s relative Csenik Ugodi, whereas one of the pages was Nicholas, the son of Hector Laki – a rare example of the courtly name-giving patterns44.
- 45 For the person of Benedict Himfi, see E. Csukovits’s paper in this volume, and C. Popa-Gorjanu, Me (...)
16The hierarchy of the career of a courtly page (parvulus and iuvenis), knight (miles) and the officers of the realm, castellans, counts and barons was not rigid and formal, and persons prominent by birth could jump the stages and titles of the courtly service, they simply didn’t need them. But e.g. in the case of Benedict Himfi we find a normal career, mentioned for the first time in 1352 as a courtly knight, and finally appointed banus of Bulgaria and count of Temes45. It was typical that those in courtly service cumulated titles and offices. If at the same time they were counts, the title comes was used instead of miles in the charters, or they were more generally called magistri. The system of forming and selecting a reservoir for future office holders worked smoothly, even without the existence of a knightly order.
- 46 …Lodovicum regem in capite ictu letali cum malleo ligneo... concusserunt, et ipsum in terram deiec (...)
17The members of the court, that is the aula formed the core of the royal battalion, often they were responsible for organizing and mobilizing lesser detachments. The sources explicitly mention the presence of the barons and knights during the royal campaigns, fulfilling the role of body guards as well, like at the castle of Belz in Lithuania where one of them lifted the wounded king from the ground46, or they served as hostages when needed.
- 47 For Simon († 1375), see P. Engel, Archontology… cit., t. 2, p. 159.
- 48 For the military achievements of Toldi in Italy and his collaboration with the English mercenaries (...)
18The most talented captains, like Nicholas Toldi, himself a head of several counties, and a courtly knight, or Simon Meggyesi, by his nickname Simone della Morte, also a courtly knight47, and finally banus, achieved an international fame as condottieres. Nevertheless the great cultural differences in the secular baronial grouping are apparent. It was a privilege of a very limited circle to represent the king as envoys at foreign courts, getting an insight into the top cultural achievements of the early renaissance, like Benedict Himfi, at that time a courtly knight and holder of lesser offices, and voivode Andrew Lackfi, who appeared together at the papal court in Avignon in 1359. Others, like the above-mentioned Nicholas Toldi with other thousands of Hungarians spent long years on the battlefield, but probably they had an insight only into a practical and superficial western – mostly martial – everyday reality48.
- 49 On him see the paper of E. Csukovits in this volume. Five sons of Stephen Lackfi I participated in (...)
- 50 St.A. Sroka, Herzog Ladislaus von Oppeln als ungarischer Palatin (1367-1372), in Zeitschrift für O (...)
- 51 D. Veldtrup, Frauen um Herzog Ladislaus (f. 1401). Oppelner Herzoginnen in der dynastischen Politi (...)
- 52 For Thomas see P. Engel, Archontology... cit., t. 2, p. 222.
19The barons and nobles living at the court benefited a lot from their social network and political capital, as they made advantageous marriages, their children attended foreign universities, as the son of the palatine Nicholas Gilétfi was schooled in Avignon, and later became the bishop of Veszprém49. It is a telling sign that some of them could make a match with non-Hungarian princely fiancées. First of all Ladislas of Opole, himself a Piast prince, palatine after 1367, prince of Wielun after 1370, governor of Halytch after 137250. It is debated whether his first wife was Elisabeth, the daughter of Prince Basarab or not, but the second was undoubtedly the daughter of the prince of Mazovia51. Among the native Hungarians it was John († 1428), the son of Nicholas I Garai, who married Jadwiga, Princess of Płock and their daughter Dorothy became the queen of Bosnia. Nicholas II Garai’s first wife was Theodora, daughter of the Serbian prince Lazar, later he married Anna of Cilli, sister of King Sigismund's second wife. Thomas Szécsényi’s second wife was Anne of Auschwitz with Piast ancestors, a relative of the Hungarian queen. Thomas himself was one of the dynasty’s favourites; he fought in the battle of Rozgony/Rozhanovce, and became among others voivode of Transylvania and judge royal52.
- 53 O. Halecki, Borderlands of western civilization. A history of East Central Europe, New York, 1952, (...)
- 54 K. Szovák, Nagy Lajos király és Mariazell [Louis the Great and Mariazell], in W. Brunner, H. Eberh (...)
20The Hungarian court also adopted the crusading idea and transformed it into the ideology of the Hungarian expansion towards the Orthodox peoples of the Balkans, trying to form a cordon sanitair of vassal buffer principalities. Modern historians accused King Louis of having missed the opportunity to swipe out the Ottomans from Europe, and instead he conquered the neighbouring Balkan principalities53. The contemporaries accepted the Balkan crusading plans of the Hungarian court, in fact King Louis was awarded by the pope the title “standard bearer of the church”. The real historical background of King Louis’ donation for the church of Virgin Mary in Mariazell, in Styria is still a mystery. It may refer to his fear of death during one of his Balkan expeditions where he probably had to face Ottoman auxiliaries. This tradition a century later was transformed into an explicit anti-Ottoman war, and King Louis labelled as an anti-Ottoman hero54.
- 55 W. Paravicini, Die Preußenreisen des europäischen Adels, Sigmaringen, 1989–1995, t. 1, p. 85, 148.
- 56 E. Strehlke, Aus Peter Suchenwirt, Heinrich dem Teichner und andere deutschen Dichtern, in Sciptor (...)
- 57 R. Skorka, Nagy Lajos első litván hadjárata... cit., p. 253.
21The other favoured territory for the crusaders was the at that time heathen Lithuania and Prussia. Of King Louis’ two campaigns to Lithuania, the first one in 1344-1345 was a classical tour. Sure, he travelled with his entourage, but later nobody of his barons imitated him in the Preussenfahrts55. Referring to the events of 1344-1345, Peter Suchenwirt appreciated the Hungarians military expertise56, though this time he named nobody from the Hungarian king’s contingent, which must have been quite impressive in numbers, comparable to that of his companions in the campaign, like the Bohemian king, John with his son, the future emperor Charles, or William IV, count of Holland and Hennegau. The army was estimated by the contemporaries 1600s, altogether perhaps 3 000, that marched peacefully in the region without major military actions, even we have information that on his way to Königsberg the Hungarian king was playing dice in Wrocław57.
- 58 E. Marosi (ed.), Magyarországi művészet 1300-1470 körül [The art in Hungary 1300-ca. 1470], Budape (...)
22If the barons lived close to the king in all their life, they tried to get closer to him in their afterlife, too. Most of them found their burial place in a church founded by themselves, but the most fortunate found their final resting place in the royal necropolis at Fehérvár as the excavated signet-ring of the palatine Philip Druget († 1327) supports such a speculation. The above mentioned banus Benedict Himfi founded two chapels there, one dedicated to Saint Ladislas, the other to his patron saint, Benedict58.
Equestrian seals and heraldry
- 59 L. Veszprémy, Lovas pecsétek Magyarországon [Equestrian seals in Hungary], in Hegedűs András (ed.) (...)
- 60 E. Spekner, Hogyan lett Buda a középkori Magyarország fővárosa ? A budai királyi székhely történet (...)
- 61 D. Dercsényi, Nagy Lajos kora... cit., p. 57.
- 62 Ibid., p. 25.
23Equestrian seals were introduced into the Hungarian sigillography with a significant delay, the first such a seal was used by the king in 119859. In the Angevin period at least five variants of it were used by the Drugets originating from Italy, one of them showing the figure of a centaur in 133260. But soon they gave up their extravagancy and accepted the heraldic seals with crests, widely spread in Hungary. There is no explanation why the Hungarian barons resisted to this type of seals, though the seal of the Order of Saint George in 1326 followed this tradition61. The persistence of this equestrian type used by Ladislas of Opole may be well explained with his unique pedigree62.
- 63 DL 96505, cited by I. Bertényi, A címerek katonai felhasználása... cit., p. 209. Avi etiam et pred (...)
- 64 P. Lukcsics, Olaszországban vitézkedő magyar lovagok jelvényei a XIV. században [The symbols of Hu (...)
- 65 Gy. Rácz, Az Árpádok sávozott címere egyes főúri pecséteken a XIII–XIV. században [The striped arm (...)
24This period was the first heyday for the spread of coats of arms among the nobles. An often cited sentence concerns the martial importance of these coats of arms, as it was recorded in 1376: “The kinsmen of the kindred used the same heraldic device in all the royal expeditions”63. Probably this tendency was influenced by the participation of thousands of Hungarian mercenaries in Italy. There the noble – and also not noble – captains of the troops had to adopt their own arms in order to identify themselves in the muster and pay rolls. Some of them are still preserved in the archives of Bologna and Mantova64. Of course, the barons tried to express their privileged status in the field of heraldry as well, and they inserted a shield with bars, a barry from the dynastical coat of arms into their own device, as György Rácz analysed it65. Among the first ones to do so was Dózsa of Debrecen, voivode of Transylvania from 1318, finally palatine. He used the dynastical shield in his seals as voivode and palatine as well. Later its use was prolonged even without any function or office, and could be inherited by their descendants.
- 66 Nam idem Stephanus instantum stetit sub vexillo et propugnantium ictus sustinendo, quod tria vexil (...)
25Since the Árpád age the flags played a prominent role in the military life, there loss or their successful defence had symbolic meaning not only on the folios of the chronicles, but also in real life. Referring again to the siege of the Lithuanian castle of Belz, the chronicler documented the bravery of the standard bearer, Stephen Bebek. During the fights three standards were split in his hands, but he withdrew from the battle lines only after the destruction of the fourth, not having at hand a fifth. Another story from this campaign also highlights the importance of the flags. After the unsuccessful siege a clause of the concluded ceasefire prescribed that the Lithuanians were to hoist the Hungarian standard upto the walls, to save the honour of the besieging party66.
- 67 Discovered only in 1986, see Zs. Jékely, The Garai tomb slab at the Augustinian church of Siklós, (...)
26The tombstones in all ages belonged to the most expressive way of self-representation. The survived red marble – that is red Hungarian limestone – tombstone of Nicholas I Garai († 1386) is extremely important, because it is one of the first figural tombstones of a secular office holder in Hungary, while this gisant type became a fashion only in the 1430s67. The once omnipotent Stephen II Lackfi († 1397) ordered a traditional heraldic tomb for his church in Keszthely, but Nicholas followed the western patterns and ordered something ground-breaking new, located after his death in the family’s Augustinian church in Siklós. Both were right to order their tombs in their heydays, because both faced a tragic end and finished their earthly life abruptly. Nicholas’s corps was cut into pieces, his head was sent to Naples as a trophy.
- 68 P. Lővei, “Posuit hoc monumentum pro aeterna memoria” – Bevezető fejezetek a középkori Magyarorszá (...)
- 69 R. Barber, J. Barker, Tournaments: jousts, chivalry and pageants in the Middle Ages, Woodbridge, 1 (...)
27The style of Garai’s tombstone followed the workshop of the Austrian princes in Vienna. Though Pál Lővei argued that his weapons are out-dated68, there are striking parallels in Europe to correct his argumentation. On the left there is a large helmet, on the right a shield decorated with his coat of arms, a twisting snake. The role of the chains that link the breastplate with the dagger and the sword is not quite clear, though it was common in fourteenth-century equestrian seals and on the tombs. Among the owners of such seals very different people can be mentioned such as Ladislas of Opole, King John of Luxemburg, and Beauchamp, earl of Warwick. On the tombs sometimes even three chains are carved, to link the helmet to the breastplate as well. These chains are never depicted in real battle scenes, where they would have hindered the knights in their movements. Hence it can be assumed that they belonged to the ceremonial sphere, perhaps to the world of tournaments as a few illuminations suggest69. To possess such ceremonial armours was exceptional; as at the funeral of King Charles a set of armour for battle and another for tournaments were mentioned.
- 70 W. Paravicini, Gab es eine einheitliche Adelskultur Europas im späten Mittelalter ?, in J. Hirschb (...)
- 71 On the question of literacy see the paper of E. Csukovits in this volume.
- 72 Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Waffensammlung, P 4984. B. Van den Abeele, Falken auf Goldgrund. (...)
28The nobles and barons in Hungary, too were attracted by universal ideals, like pruesse, largesse, loyauté, courtoisie, foi de Dieu70. On the other hand it is not easy to find sources concerning these motivations, to combine ideals with surviving objects of art. In the West their culture had much closer ties with the written world than in Hungary, though till the fifteenth century most of the nobles north of the Alps were illiterati71. We have to wait almost for a century until the voivode of Transylvania, John Rozgonyi made – probably manu propria – notes to a handsome late thirteenth century Latin copy of the Falkenbuch, the so-called Moamin of Emperor Fredrick II72.
Notes
1 D. Dercsényi, Nagy Lajos [The age of Louis the Great], Budapest, s.a.; Á. Kurcz, Lovagi kultúra Magyarországon a XIII-XIV. században [Knightly culture in Hungary during the XIIIth and XIVth centuries], Budapest, 1988; E. Marosi, M. Tóth, L. Varga (ed.), Művészet I. Lajos király korában [The art in the age of King Louis I], Budapest, 1982; A. Pór, Nagy Lajos [Louis the Great], Budapest, 1892; E. Csukovits, Az Anjouk Magyarországon I. I. Károly és uralkodása (1301–1342) [The Angevins in Hungary, I. Charles I and his reign, 1301-1342], Budapest, 2012.
2 Gy. Kristó, Az Anjou-kor háborúi [The wars of the Angevin Age], Budapest, 1988, p. 181-186.
3 See e. g. the Chronicle of Küküllei, ch. 22, in E. Galántai, J. Kristó (ed.), Johannes de Thurocz, Chronica Hungarorum, I. Textus, Budapest, 1985, p. 173-174. Once King Louis saved the life of one of his soldiers who almost got drown in the river Silaro, and it turned out that the king was a trained swimmer.
4 D. Dercsényi, Nagy Lajos… cit, p. 26. J. Bleyer, Magyar vonatkozások Suchenwirt Péter költeményeiben [Hungary related news in the poems of Peter Suchenwirt], Parts 1-2, in Századok, 33, 1899, p. 788-812, 879-912 (p. 903-907), with reference to A. Primisser (ed.), Peter Suchenwirt's Werke aus dem XIV. Jahrhundert, Vienna, 1827 (reprint Vienna, 1961), p. 2), p. 903-907 or the counts of Cilli, and recently W. Baum, Die Grafen von Cilli, das deutsche Königtum und die internationale Politik, in R. Fugger Germadnik (ed.), Celjski grofje, stara tema – nova spoznanja, Celje, 1998, p. 37-50 (p. 39). The brother of Ulrich became the Hungarian king’s brother-in-law.
5 E. Mályusz, La chancellerie royale et la rédaction des chroniques dans la Hongrie médiévale, in Le Moyen Âge, 75, 1969, p. 51-86, 219-254. Á. Kurcz, Fortuna, humanitás, gloria. Zur Topologie ritterlicher Kulturwerte, in Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungariae, 23, 1975, p. 363-369. See also the paper of Judit Csákó in this volume.
6 The often cited passage is from a charter of King Louis (30 october 1350) issued to Stephen I Lackfi, praising his bravery in Italy : Stephanus Wayvoda zelo devote fidelitalis armatus, volens pocius post mortem vivere per fame gloriam, quam tergum hostilitati huiusmodi vertere…., , acerbissime preliavit; quod quidem prelium etiam apud Troyanos fortissimos potuisset decentissime commendari…. ut certa relatio nobis hec omnia patefecit, see E. Mályusz, La chancellerie royale... cit., p. 229-230.
7 Johannes de de Thurocz, Chronica Hungarorum... cit., p. 160.
8 S. Parsons, Making heroes out of crusaders : The literary afterlife of crusade participants in the Chanson d'Antioche, in S.B. Edgington, L. Garcia-Guijarro (ed.), Jerusalem the Golden : the Origins and Impact of the First Crusade, Turnhout, 2014, p. 291-306 (p. 295).
9 Aegidius Romanus, De regimine principum, ch. I, 7, and I, 10 (Vegetius), and I, 12. Johannes de Thurocz, Chronica Hungarorum... cit., p. 160. Chronica Hungarorum : Commentarii. Composuit E. Mályusz, adiuvante J. Kristó, vol. 1-2, Budapest, 1988, 2/2 : p. 82. L. Veszprémy, Les premières traces de la pensée militaire hongroise avant la bataille de Mohács (1526), in H. Couteau-Bégarie, F. Tóth (éd.), La pensée militaire hongroise à travers les siècles, Paris, 2011, p. 11-23.
10 M. Slíz, Személynévadás az Anjou-korban [Naming in the Angevin age], Budapest, 2011; Id., Anjou-kori személynévtár (1301–1342) [A catalogue of personal names, Angevin age, 1301-1342], Budapest, 2011; Id., Tristan and Ehelleus. Names derived from Literature in Angevin Hungary, in E. Egedi-Kovács (éd.), Dialogue des cultures courtoises, Budapest, 2012, p. 261-269; Á. Kurcz, Lovagi kultúra.. cit., p. 236-254; E. Moór, Die Anfänge der höfischen Kultur in Ungarn, in Ungarische Jahrbücher, 17, 1937, p. 57-86 (p. 58-63).
11 P. Engel, Magyarország világi archontológiája 1301–1457 [Secular archontology of Hungary, 1301-1457], vol. 2, Budapest, 1996, p. 182.
12 E. Madas, Les origines et les motifs principaux de la légende du chevalier Nicolas Toldi, in N. Coulet, J.-M. Matz (dir.), La noblesse dans les territoires angevins à la fin du Moyen Âge. Actes du colloque international d'Angers-Saumur, 1998, Rome, 2000 (Collection de l’École française de Rome, 275), p. 709-716.
13 Z. Tóth, La boucle de Kígyóspuszta, in Archaeologiai Értesítő, 71, 1943, p. 174-184. I. Bertényi, A címerek katonai felhasználása Magyarországon a XIII-XIV. században [The military use of coats of arms in Hungary, XIIIth-XIVth centuries], in Hadtörténelmi Közlemények, 34, 1987, p. 395-412, reprint in Id., A címertan reneszánsza, Budapest, 2010, p. 196-212 (p. 200).
14 I. Vásáry, Cumans and Tartars. Oriental Military in the Pre-Ottoman Balkans, 1185-1365. Cambridge, 2005, p. 149-155.
15 I. Szathmáry, Rovásjeles címer egy régi kardon [Runic coat of arms on an old sword], in Tisicum. A Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok Megyei Múzeumok Évkönyve, 15, 2006, p. 99-103, esp. p. 99. Today in Damjanich János Museum, Szolnok.
16 D.C. Nicolle, Arms and armour of the crusading era, 1050-1350, White Plains NY, 1998, I, p. 544, and 2, p. 940 (nr. 1513).
17 Zs. Jékely, A Lackfi család pálos temploma Csáktornya mellett [The Pauline church of the Lackfi family close to Csáktornya], in T. Kollár (ed.), Építészet a középkori Dél-Magyarországon, Budapest, 2010, p. 165-211. See also M.-M. de Cevins, L. Koszta, Noblesse et ordres religieux en Hongrie sous les rois angevins (vers 1323-vers 1382), in N. Coulet, J.-M. Matz (dir.), La noblesse dans les territoires angevins... cit., p. 585-606.
18 E. Marosi, Der Heilige Ladislaus als ungarischer Nationalheiliger. Bemerkungen zu seiner Ikonographie im XIV-XV. Jahrhundert, in Acta Historiae Artium Hungariae, 33, 1987, p. 211-256; Id., Between East and West. Medieval representations of Saint Ladislas, king of Hungary, in The Hungarian Quarterly, 36, 1995, p. 102-110; A.M. Gruia, Royal Sainthood Revisited. New Dimensions of the Cult of St. Ladislas (XIVth-XVth centuries), in Studia Patzinaka, 2, 2006, p. 7-25; see also G. Klaniczay, La noblesse et le culte des saints dynastiques sous les rois angevins, in N. Coulet, J.-M. Matz (dir.), La noblesse dans les territoires angevins… cit., p. 511-526.
19 J. Zsombor, Narrative structure of the painted cycle of a Hungarian holy ruler: the Legend of Saint Ladislas, in Hortus Artium Medievalium. Journal of the International Research Centre for Late Antiquity and Middle Ages, 21, 2015, p. 62-74.
20 E. Szentpétery (ed.), Scriptores rerum Hungaricarum tempore ducum regumque stirpis Arpadianae gestarum, Budapest, 1937-38, t. 1, p. 400-402 (ch. 129), p. 388-391 (ch. 121).
21 Ibid., t. 1, p. 496-500 (ch. 209.); R. Lupescu, Walachia, Battle, in C.J. Rogers (ed.), The Oxford Encyclopaedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology, Oxford, 2010, t. 3, p. 423–424; G. Somogyi, L. Veszprémy, Károly Róbert magyar király 1330-as havasalföldi hadjárata és az ún. posadai csata historiográfiája [The Wallachian campaign of the Hungarian king, Charles I and the historiography of the so called “battle of Posada”], in Hadtörténelmi Közlemények, 127, 2014, p. 23-40; L. Veszprémy, A posadai csata. Károly Róbert 1330-as havasalföldi hadjárata [The ”battle of Posada”. The Wallachian campaign of King Charles I in 1330], in L. Pósán, L. Veszprémy (ed.), Elfeledett háborúk. Középkori csaták és várostromok (6-16. század). Budapest, 2016, p. 232-246.
22 See the facsimile edition, Képes Krónika, Chronicon Pictum, I-II, Budapest, 1964, accessible also https://web.archive.org/web/20120304111134/http://konyv-e.hu/pdf/Chronica_Picta.pdf.
23 R.W. Jones, Bloodied Banners, Martial Display on the Medieval Battlefield, Woodbridge, Rochester, NY, 2010, p. 25-26. Grieb’s argumentation is not convincing that the fight in disguise should be seen as a sign of cowardice, see Ch. Grieb, Schlachtenschilderungen in Historiographie und Literatur (1150–1230), Paderborn-Munich-Vienna-Zürich, 2015, p. 71. A XIXth century painting of József Molnár (1855, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest) made the story well known for the modern public, L’Europe des Anjou. Aventure des princes Angevins du XIIIe au XVe siècle. Paris, 2001, p. 327.
24 Societas fraternalis militiae sancti Georgii. On the order, see L. Veszprémy, L’ordine di San Giorgio, in E. Csukovits (ed.), L’Ungheria angioina, Roma, 2013, p. 265-282. For the foundation charter, see L. Blazovich, L. Géczi (ed), Anjou-kori oklevéltár [Archives of the Angevin era], vol. 10, 1326, Budapest-Szeged, 2000, nr. 151. For the facsimile of the original charter DL 40 483 (Hungarian National Archives, Budapest), see A. Pór, Az Anjou-ház örökösei [The heirs of the House of Anjou], Budapest, 1895, p. 138-139 (reprint Budapest, 1994-1998). Accessible also on www.mol.gov.hu in the Collectio Diplomatica Hungarica. For an English, Hungarian translation and a text edition of Gy. Rácz, see https://orderstgeorge.ca/index.php?PG=laws_racz&ST (last access 29 June 2016).
25 E. Fügedi, Turniere im mittelalterlichen Ungarn, in J. Fleckenstein (ed.), Das ritterliche Turnier im Mittelalter. Beiträge zu einer vergleichenden Formen- und Verhaltensgeschichte des Rittertums, Göttingen, 1986, p. 390-400, mentions not a single example from our period. The role of the duels in legal processes is not treated here, see A. Borosy, Perdöntő párviadalok Magyarországon [Legal duels in Hungary], in Hadtörténelmi Közlemények, n. s., 36, 1986, p. 237-51.
26 Gy. Kristó (ed.), Anjou-kori oklevéltár, vol. 5, 1318-1321, Budapest-Szeged, 1998, p. 190 (nr. 481.)
27 For the 1364 meeting see S.K. Kuczyński, Les hérauts d’armes dans la Pologne médiévale, in Revue de Nord, 88, 2006, p. 651-658 (p. 653), with reference about its most important source, Guillaume de Machaut, La prise d’Alexandrie ou Chronique du roi Pierre Ier.
28 Kraków, Museum Skarbca Katedralnego im. Jana Pawla II, WKW/eIII/05. J. Szymczak, Knightly Tournaments in Medieval Poland, in Archaeologiae Historicae, 8, 1995, p. 15.
29 L. Veszprémy, Az Anjou-kori lovagság egyes kérdései [Some problems of the Angevin chivalry in Hungary], in Hadtörténelmi Közlemények, 107, 1994, p. 3-20.
30 I. Miskolczy, Nagy Lajos nápolyi hadjáratai [The campaigns of Louis the Great in Naples], in Hadtörténelmi Közlemények, 34, 1933, p. 59-60.
31 Gy. Kristó, Az Anjou-kor háborúi... cit., p. 185. In general see W. Goez, Fürstenzweikämpfe im Spätmittelalter, in Archiv für Kulturgeschichte, 49, 1967, p. 135-163.
32 D. Dercsényi, Nagy Lajos… cit. p. 27. Giovanni Villani, Cronica (XII, 111), Mattei Villani, Cronica (I, 21), A. Sorbelli (ed.), Dominici de Gravina notarii Chronicon de rebus in Apulia gestis, Città di Castello, 1903 (Rerum Italicarum scriptores, 12), p. 102 (Ut autem unusquisque dictorum nobilium ad committendum proelium animosior se demonstret, ... zona militiae decoravit nobilissimos juvenes septingentos et ultra).
33 Johannes de Thurocz, Chronica... cit., p. 156-157, ch. 128 (… unus armis tormentalibus regie excellentie convenientibus erat ornatus, et alter ad hastiludium aptus, tertius …cum armis bellicis ad intrandum etiam exercitus pro regia majestate competendis).
34 J. Macek, Das Turnier im mittelalterlichen Böhmen in Das ritterliche Turnier im Mittelalter... cit., p. 371-389; W. Iwanczak, Le tournoi chevaleresque dans le royaume de Bohème. Essai d'analyse culturelle, in Studi medievali, s. III, 18/2, 1987, p. 751-773.
35 G. Kline (ed.), The Voyage d’Outremer by Bertrandon de la Broquière, New York-Berne, 1988, p. 151-157.
36 I. Hajnik, A magyar bírósági szervezet és perjog az Árpád- és vegyesházi királyok alatt [The Hungarian judicial system and law under the kings of the House of Árpád and following dynasties], Budapest, 1899, p. 60-65. I. Bertényi, Az országbírói intézmény története a XIV. században [The court of the judge royal in the XIVth century], Budapest, 1976, p. 47. A. Sunkó, A curia militaris működésének nyomai a kora újkori Magyarországon és az Erdélyi Fejedelemségben [The traces of the operation of curia militaris in the early modern Hungary and the Transylvanian Principality], in Levéltári Közlemények, 72, 2001, p. 6-7.
37 J.D. Boulton D'Arcy , The knights of the crown: the monarchical orders of knighthood in later medieval Europe 1325-1520, London, 1987, p. 46-96.
38 I. Takács (ed.), Sigismundus rex et imperator :Art et culture au temps de Sigismond de Luxembourg 1387-1437, catalogue de l'exposition, Mayence, 2006, p. 337-338.
39 Sz. Vajay, A sisakdísz megjelenése a magyar heraldikában [Appearance of the crest in the heraldry in Hungary], in Levéltári Közlemények, 42, 1969, p. 279-287. For the first donations see L. Blazovich, L. Géczi (ed), Anjou kori okmánytár… cit., nr. 120, and T. Almási (ed.), Anjou kori okmánytár, vol. 11 (1327), Budapest-Szeged, 1996, nr. 502, a second charter of Charles from 1327 to Master Donch de genere Balassa. A third to Kolos of Néma in 1332 (National archives, DL 50.508), mentioning, “that a tournament like military action needs the use of a distinctive crest”, cf. E. Csukovits, Az Anjouk Magyarországon... cit., p. 81.
40 Državni archiv Dubrovnik, Acta et diplomata, p. 34, see P. Lővei, I. Takács, Egy 1358. évi dubrovniki sokpecsétes oklevél pecsétjei [The seals of a charter issued for Dubrovnik corroborated with several seals from 1358], in A. Bárány, G. Dreska, K. Szovák (ed.), Arcana tabularii : Tanulmányok Solymosi László tiszteletére, Debrecen-Budapest, 2014, t. 1, p. 131-145.
41 I. Nagy (ed.), Anjoukori okmánytár (1333–1339), Budapest, 1883 (Codex diplomaticus Hungaricus Andegavensis, 3), p. 31 (27 june 1333) : ...placuit sibi et eciam nobis, maxime propter hoc, ut idem ad nos in nostram curiam propius fieri possit et sua nobis fidelia servicia magis coram nobis existendo commodius valeat frequentare. According to E. Csukovits, this donation was intended to reduce his former power and influence : E. Csukovits, Az Anjouk Magyarországon... cit., p. 80. In this case the above words seem to be hypocritical phrases.
42 Á. Kurcz, Lovagi kultúra... cit., p. 103; A. Végh, Buda város középkori helyrajza [The medieval topography of Buda], Budapest, 2006, t. 1, p. 174-176, t. 2, p. 58-59. E. Mályusz (ed.), Zsigmondkori oklevéltár, t. 3, Budapest, 1993, nr. 2576.
43 Á. Kurcz, Lovagi kultúra… cit., p. 17-80. A. Zsoldos, Egy új II. András-kép felé [Towards the reevaluation of the figure of ing Andrew II], in T. Kerny, A. Smohay (ed.), II. András és Székesfehérvár, Székesfehérvár, 2012, p. 21-35. Also M. Rady, Nobility, land and service in medieval Hungary, Basingstoke-New York, 2000, p. 127-131.
44 Nicholas since 1326 courtly page, since 1336 courtly knight, his father was a castellan, see P. Engel, Archontology… cit., t. 2, p. 140.
45 For the person of Benedict Himfi, see E. Csukovits’s paper in this volume, and C. Popa-Gorjanu, Medieval nobility in central Europe: the Himfi family, Budapest, 2004 (PhD thesis, Central European University).
46 …Lodovicum regem in capite ictu letali cum malleo ligneo... concusserunt, et ipsum in terram deiecerunt. Quem Nicolaus de Pereny a terra elevavit, et super dorsum suum ultra aquam transportavit: Chronicon Dubnicense, ed. M. Florianus, Quinqueecclesiis, 1884, p. 163, ch. 170.
47 For Simon († 1375), see P. Engel, Archontology… cit., t. 2, p. 159.
48 For the military achievements of Toldi in Italy and his collaboration with the English mercenaries, see A. Bárány, The communion of English and Hungarian mercenaries in Italy, in J. Barta, K. Papp (ed.), The first Millennium of Hungary in Europe, Debrecen, 2002, p. 126-141. G. Guerri dall'Oro, Les mercenaires dans les campagnes napolitaines de Louis le Grand, roi de Hongrie (1347-1350), in J. France (ed.), Mercenaries and paid men: the mercenary identity in the Middle Ages, Leiden, 2008, p. 61-88.
49 On him see the paper of E. Csukovits in this volume. Five sons of Stephen Lackfi I participated in the Italian campaigns of King Louis, see D. Dercsényi, Nagy Lajos kora... cit., p. 24.
50 St.A. Sroka, Herzog Ladislaus von Oppeln als ungarischer Palatin (1367-1372), in Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung, n. s. 46, 1997, p. 227-236; P. Engel, Die Barone Ludwigs des Grossen, König von Ungarn, 1342–1382, in Alba Regia, 22, 1985, p. 11-19.
51 D. Veldtrup, Frauen um Herzog Ladislaus (f. 1401). Oppelner Herzoginnen in der dynastischen Politik zwischen Ungarn, Polen und dem Reich, Warendorf, 1999, p. 53-113.
52 For Thomas see P. Engel, Archontology... cit., t. 2, p. 222.
53 O. Halecki, Borderlands of western civilization. A history of East Central Europe, New York, 1952, 2nd ed., Safety Harbor (FL), 1980, p. 114-116; Id., Un Empereur de Byzance à Rome : vingt ans de travail pour l’union des Églises et pour la défense de l’Empire d’Orient, 1355-1375, Warsaw, 1930, p. 319; N. Housley, King Louis the Great of Hungary and the crusades, 1342-1382, in The Slavonic and East European Review, 62, 1984, p. 202.
54 K. Szovák, Nagy Lajos király és Mariazell [Louis the Great and Mariazell], in W. Brunner, H. Eberhart, I. Fazekas (ed.), Marizell és Magyarország. 650 év vallási kapcsolatai, Esztergom-Graz, 2003, p. 82-92 (p. 89).
55 W. Paravicini, Die Preußenreisen des europäischen Adels, Sigmaringen, 1989–1995, t. 1, p. 85, 148.
56 E. Strehlke, Aus Peter Suchenwirt, Heinrich dem Teichner und andere deutschen Dichtern, in Sciptores Rerum Prussicarum, II, ed. Th. Hirsch, M. Töppen, E. Strehlke, Leipzig, 1863, p. 155-178 (here p. 158), cited by R. Skorka, Nagy Lajos első litván hadjárata [The First Lithuanian campaign of Louis the Great], in Elfeledett háborúk... cit., p. 247-262.
57 R. Skorka, Nagy Lajos első litván hadjárata... cit., p. 253.
58 E. Marosi (ed.), Magyarországi művészet 1300-1470 körül [The art in Hungary 1300-ca. 1470], Budapest, 1987, p. 409-410.
59 L. Veszprémy, Lovas pecsétek Magyarországon [Equestrian seals in Hungary], in Hegedűs András (ed.), Megpecsételt történelem. Középkori pecsétek Esztergomból, Esztergom, 2000, p. 11-18. For an European overview, see J. Bumke, Höfische Kultur : Literatur und Gesellschaft im hohen Mittelalter, Munich, 1999 (9th ed.), p. 395-396.
60 E. Spekner, Hogyan lett Buda a középkori Magyarország fővárosa ? A budai királyi székhely története a XII. század végétől a XIV. század közepéig [How became Buda the capital of Hungary ? The history of the seat of Buda from the end of the XIIth c. till the end of the XIVth c.], Budapest, 2015, p. 382. Gy. Kristó, Anjou-kor háborúi... cit., fig. 25. Művészet I. Lajos király korában... cit., table 65, p. 346-347. An equestrian seal was used by the royal prince Stephen († 1354) and the Bosnian ban Tvrtko Kotromanić († 1391) later the first Bosnian king, too. For the Drugets and their close relations to Clementia (Clémence de Hongrie) of Hungary, queen of France see Đ. Hardi, Drugeti. Povest o usponu i padu porodice pratilaca anžujskih kraljeva [The History of the Rise and Decline of the Escorts of Angevin Kings], Novi Sad, 2012, p. 416-417.
61 D. Dercsényi, Nagy Lajos kora... cit., p. 57.
62 Ibid., p. 25.
63 DL 96505, cited by I. Bertényi, A címerek katonai felhasználása... cit., p. 209. Avi etiam et predecessores ipsorum et prenotati Stephani filii Apay et per consequente ipsi unius criste signum velud generacionales fratres in cunctis regni expedicionnbus gessisent et portassent.
64 P. Lukcsics, Olaszországban vitézkedő magyar lovagok jelvényei a XIV. században [The symbols of Hungarian knights serving in Italy during the XIVth century], in Turul, 45, 1931, p. 84-88; see also K.H. Schäfer, Deutsche Ritter und Edelknechte in Italien während des XIV. Jahrhunderts, vol. 1, Paderborn, 1911 (Quellen und Forschungen aus dem Gebiet der Geschichte, Görresgesellschaft, 15, 1). It is a telling proof that Matteo Villani († 1363) noticed that the Hungarian troops were marching without standards and heraldic symbols, at the same time referring to the pressing need to have such identifying tools (Cronica, VI, 54).
65 Gy. Rácz, Az Árpádok sávozott címere egyes főúri pecséteken a XIII–XIV. században [The striped arms of the Árpáds on some magnates’ seals in the XIIIth and XIVth centuries], in Levéltári Közlemények, 63, 1992, p. 131-132; Id., The heraldry of Angevin age Hungary and its reflection in the illuminated chronicle, in J.M. Bak, L. Veszprémy (ed.), Studies on the illuminated chronicle. For the 250th anniversary of its first edition, Budapest-New York, 2016 (Central European Medieval Texts. Subsidia, 1), in print.
66 Nam idem Stephanus instantum stetit sub vexillo et propugnantium ictus sustinendo, quod tria vexilla regia in eius manibus fuerunt confracta successive. Et cum quartum penitus fuisset conquassatum, et omnes alii de parte regis de sub castro recessissent, ipse tandem neque habens vexillum quintum, nec aliquem sibi adstantem, ad suum descensum declinavit…: Chronicon Dubnicense... cit., p. 163.
67 Discovered only in 1986, see Zs. Jékely, The Garai tomb slab at the Augustinian church of Siklós, in Acta Historiae Artium, 40, 1998 [2000], p. 125-143; P. Lővei, A Garai-sírkő [The tomb of Garai], in Á. Mikó (ed.), Pannonia Regia, Művészet a Dunántúlon 1000-1541 [The art in Transdanubia, 1000-1541], Budapest, 1992, p. 276-277.
68 P. Lővei, “Posuit hoc monumentum pro aeterna memoria” – Bevezető fejezetek a középkori Magyarország síremlékeinek katalógusához [Introductory chapters to the catalogue of sepulchral monuments in Hungary], Dissertation (unpublished), Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Science, p. 474-476.
69 R. Barber, J. Barker, Tournaments: jousts, chivalry and pageants in the Middle Ages, Woodbridge, 1989, p. 174-175 (René d’Anjou in a manuscript, Paris, BnF, ms. fr. 2693, fol. 32v-33r).
70 W. Paravicini, Gab es eine einheitliche Adelskultur Europas im späten Mittelalter ?, in J. Hirschbiegel, A. Ranft, J. Wettlaufer (ed.), Edelleute und Kaufleute im Norden Europas. Gesammelte Aufsätze, Ostfildern, 2007, p. 273-302 (first published in Historische Zeitschrift, Beiheft 40, 2006, p. 401-434).
71 On the question of literacy see the paper of E. Csukovits in this volume.
72 Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Waffensammlung, P 4984. B. Van den Abeele, Falken auf Goldgrund. Illuminierte Handschriften lateinischer Jagdtraktate des Mittelalters, in Librarium, 47, 2004, p. 2-19. St. Georges, Das zweite Falkenbuch Kaiser Friedrichs II. Quellen, Entstehung, Überlieferung und Rezeption des Moamin, Berlin, 2008, p. 67.
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