Coloman ( hu, Kálmán; 1317 – 1375) was a Hungarian prelate who served as
bishop of Győr from 1337 to 1375. He was the illegitimate son of King
Charles I of Hungary.
He was imprisoned from 1353 to 1358/59 on suspicion of having conspired against Charles's successor
Louis I, but subsequently released and allowed to continue in office.
Life
Early career
Coloman was born around 1317 to Charles I and his concubine, who resided in the royal summer residence in
Csepel Island, according to the chronicles of Dubnic and Pressburg. Based on depictions of the five
keystones on the gate of the
Old Town Hall in
Bratislava
Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...
(Pressburg),
historian Antal Pór identified her as Elizabeth, the daughter of
Gurke, a member of the noble
Csák kindred. As a royal standard-bearer, Gurke participated in the
Battle of Rozgony in 1312, where he was killed. Hungarian historiography roughly accepted this identification.
Despite Coloman's illegitimacy, Charles favoured him and arranged for his education to be overseen by Bishop
Ivánka of
Várad, allowing him the use of the title "prince" and the Hungarian royal seal of the
House of Anjou
Angevin or House of Anjou may refer to:
* County of Anjou or Duchy of Anjou, a historical county, and later Duchy, in France
** Angevin (language), the traditional langue d'oïl spoken in Anjou
** Counts and Dukes of Anjou
*House of Ingelger, a Fra ...
.
His other tutor was Paul, a canon of Várad. The young Coloman was destined for a church career by his father, preventing any possible future conflict over the Hungarian throne.
In early 1334, Charles requested
Pope John XXII
Pope John XXII ( la, Ioannes PP. XXII; 1244 – 4 December 1334), born Jacques Duèze (or d'Euse), was head of the Catholic Church from 7 August 1316 to his death in December 1334.
He was the second and longest-reigning Avignon Pope, elected by ...
to acquit Coloman from illegitimate origin and young age.
Coloman took up his first ecclesiastical office at the age of 15 as a canon at Várad in 1332, and became the grand provost of
Esztergom in 1335,
while he was only ordained as a
deacon. Coloman also possessed
benefice
A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...
s in the
cathedral chapter
According to both Catholic and Anglican canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics ( chapter) formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese during the vacancy. In ...
of
Székesfehérvár
Székesfehérvár (; german: Stuhlweißenburg ), known colloquially as Fehérvár ("white castle"), is a city in central Hungary, and the country's ninth-largest city. It is the regional capital of Central Transdanubia, and the centre of Fejér ...
.
Bishop of Győr
The long-time reigning bishop
Nicholas Kőszegi, who had become embroiled in conflict with Charles I several times, died in the late spring-early summer of 1336.
At the king's instigation—and despite his young age and a substantial clerical opposition at Győr—
Pope Benedict XII
Pope Benedict XII ( la, Benedictus XII, french: Benoît XII; 1285 – 25 April 1342), born Jacques Fournier, was head of the Catholic Church from 30 December 1334 to his death in April 1342. He was the third Avignon pope. Benedict was a careful p ...
installed Coloman to the bishopric of Győr by a
bull of 6 May 1337,
dispensing him from his impediments (illegitimate origin and young age), after Coloman was "elected by compromise" by the local chapter.
This appointment was part of a broader policy on Charles's part to replace Hungarian bishops who had disagreed with his ecclesiastical policies with more reliable men.
On 12 June 1337, the pope authorized any Hungarian prelates to ordain Coloman a priest then
consecrate
Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...
him a bishop.
Coloman's consecration, however, did not take place until late 1338;
the
Anjou Legendarium
The Anjou Legendarium is a Gothic illuminated manuscript of a collection of stories from the life of saints important to the House of Anjou of Hungary. It was made on the occasion of the journey of Charles I of Hungary and his son Prince Andrew to ...
may have been prepared as a gift for him on that occasion.
Charles I died in 1342, and a different political situation prevailed at the court of the new king,
Louis I. Coloman may have faced the opposition of the queen mother in particular, Charles's widow
Elizabeth of Poland, on account of his illegitimate birth. At any rate, he served at Louis's side in the
Neapolitan campaign of 1350, but he was imprisoned soon afterwards in early 1353, accused of a treasonous conspiracy against the king. Coloman was held under the custody of Archbishop
Nicholas Vásári in Esztergom. The details of the alleged conspiracy, including its factuality, are unclear: historians have debated whether Coloman harboured ambitions against his half-brother the king, or was merely the victim of political persecution.
This event provoked the reigning pope,
Innocent VI, to launch an investigation of his case, entrusting Vásári and
Arnošt of Pardubice
Arnošt of Pardubice ( cs, Arnošt z Pardubic, german: Ernst von Pardubitz) (25 March 1297 probably in Vestec (Náchod District), Hostinka – 30 June 1364 in Roudnice nad Labem) was the first List of bishops and archbishops of Prague, Archbisho ...
,
Archbishop of Prague. Legal proceedings continued until at least 1358, and a papal bull of 26 March that year was highly critical of Coloman. Nevertheless, he was set free by the king by 1359. A missive from
Pope Urban V on 3 September 1364, requesting him to take part in brokering a peace between
Ordulf, the
archbishop of Salzburg, and
Duke Louis VI of Bavaria, indicates that Coloman had subsequently been restored to the good graces of the papacy.
Few details have been preserved of Coloman's career in the decades following his consecration. He maintained a good relationship with the cathedral chapter. For instance, he donated the
tithe of Körtvélyes (laid near
Kittsee
Kittsee (; sk, Kopčany, hu, Köpcsény, hr, Gijeca) is an Austrian municipality in the District of Neusiedl am See, Burgenland.
History
In the Middle Ages, the settlement was situated in the Kingdom of Hungary, and was probably settled b ...
, present-day
Austria) to the guardian (''custos'') of the chapter and his successors. He also restored the formerly confiscated crop tithe of the village
Vaszar
Vaszar is a municipality in Veszprém (county), Veszprém county, Hungary.
Location
Vaszar is situated approximately 8 km from Pápa, near the Gerence stream, on the back of one of the stretching hills on the edge of Sokoróalja. Two hil ...
to the
cantor of the chapter, and compensated him with the tithe of
Lovászpatona too.
Coloman vigorously defended his bishopric's interests; when the residents of Vica (today a borough of
Beled) intended to erect a separate chapel, the bishop ruled in favor of his protege, the parish priest of Szentandrás.
Sometime around 1343, there was also a conflict of jurisdiction between Coloman and the powerful lord
Paul Nagymartoni, when the latter – bypassing the bishop – turned directly to
Pope Clement VI to request the assignation of the bishopric tithe of
Nagymarton
Mattersburg (; formerly ''Mattersdorf'', hu, Nagymarton, Croatian: ''Matrštof'') is a town in Burgenland, Austria. It is the administrative center of the District of Mattersburg and was home to former Bundesliga football team, SV Mattersbur ...
(Mattersburg, Austria) to the local parish church he had just founded.
His vicar was Albert, the titular bishop of Nicomedia in 1347,
while Guglielmo, a canon at Győr and
titular archbishop of Ephesus also served in this capacity from 1359 to 1360.
Coloman's seals were preserved from the years 1345, 1355 and 1356.
The imagery of his seals are considered unusually rich in detail in the period. His first known seal (68x42 mm, 1345) depicts
Mary, sitting in a tabernacle-like closed canopy, who holds a scepter in her right hand, with the child
Jesus standing on her left knee. A line of
blind traceries runs along the front of the throne bench. Attached to the two sides of the structure are appendices of a semicircular cabin of the same size as the height of the bench. There is a standing figure in the booths. The canopy overhanging the throne is crowned by a building pierced with open traceries between its two
pinnacle
A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was mainly ...
s. Below the lower, segmental arch of the building, the left-turning figure of Bishop Coloman kneels, behind which is a blurred coat of arms. The circumscription is "''S/IGILLUM/-COLOM/ANI- D/EI-GRAC/IA EPISCOPI/- IAURI- ENSIS...''". Coloman's second seal (77x50 mm, 1355, 1356) depicts the
Coronation of the Virgin
The Coronation of the Virgin or Coronation of Mary is a subject in Christian art, especially popular in Italy in the 13th to 15th centuries, but continuing in popularity until the 18th century and beyond. Christ, sometimes accompanied by God th ...
: Mary is crowned by her son Jesus, who holds a book in his left hand. Above the scene, a baldachin overturns, forming a
battlemented building with tracery windows and tile covering. The large canopy is held by two rectangular towers set to the edge. The towers are covered with a pointed, tiled helmet, surrounded by a battlement. The mass of their upper level is broken down by tracery windows, the lower ones are transformed into two completely pierced, columnar tabernacles, in which two kneeling angelic figures facing the scene takes place. Below the substructure there is the right-turning, kneeling figure of Bishop Coloman. The base plane of the seal image is decorated with a diamond grid. The circumscription is "''S/IGILLUM/-DOMINI-COLOMANI-EPISCOPI-EC/CLESI/E- IAURIENSIS''". It is plausible that Coloman's second seal represents a Southern German (
Swabia
Swabia ; german: Schwaben , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany.
The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of ...
n) cultural impact, which affected Central European artistic representations. Beside the cardinals and the
archbishops of Esztergom, Coloman is the only known prelate in Medieval Hungary, who used a ring seal (70 mm) with a
helmeted coat-of-arms the circumscription "''+S-DOMINI COLOMA-------IENSIS''". His royal ancestry is reflected by the title "''dominus''".
Under Coloman's tenure, the of Győr ( hu, Püspökvár, link=no) was built at the point where the
Rába flows into a tributary of the
Danube (the Moson Danube). The fort became the main residence of the bishops thereafter. The gate tower with bastions and a drawbridge is decorated with Coloman's stone-carved and painted coat-of-arms. According to historian Csaba László, it is possible that he built his new residence, the inner fortified castle, because of his tense relationship with his half-brother, the reigning monarch.
During Coloman's episcopate, the
Paulines and
Franciscans founded their monasteries in
Csatka
Csatka (german: Tschatkau) is a village in Komárom-Esztergom county, Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to ...
and
Szombathely, respectively, both laid in the territory of the diocese of Győr.
Coloman consecrated the Franciscan church in
Kőszeg.
Coloman donated the tithe of
Felsőlasztaj (today Oberloisdorf, Austria) to the
Cistercian
The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...
Klostermarienberg Abbey
Mannersdorf an der Rabnitz ( hr, Malištrof, hu, Répcekethely) is a municipality in the district of Oberpullendorf in the Austrian state of Burgenland.
Geography
The municipality includes the following settlements:
* Klostermarienberg
Manne ...
(Borsmonostor) in perpetuity.
Coloman permitted the
Augustinians
Augustinians are members of Christian religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written in about 400 AD by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th–13 ...
to settle down in
Pápoc
Pápoc is a village in Vas county, Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Ro ...
in 1359, where lady Margaret Gelsei had established their cloister, the Priory of Pápoc. Thereafter, Coloman mediated in the conflict between the friars and the local parish priest George. Coloman created the
collegiate chapter of Pápoc in 1365, which was confirmed by Louis I three years later. In the following decades, there were various lawsuits over the ownership of landholdings between the collegiate chapter and the Augustinian priory.
Coloman died sometime after February 1375. He was succeeded by
John de Surdis
John de Surdis ( hu, De Surdis János, it, Giovanni de Surdis; died 1378) was an Italian-born Hungarian prelate in the 14th century. He served as Bishop of Vác from 1363 to 1375, Bishop of Győr from 1375 to 1376, then Archbishop of Esztergom ...
.
References
{{s-end
1317 births
1375 deaths
14th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Hungary
Bishops of Győr
Illegitimate children of Hungarian monarchs
House of Anjou-Hungary
14th-century Hungarian people