Gervasius ( hu, Gyárfás; died after 1157 or 1158) was a Hungarian

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pref ...

who served as

Bishop of Győr A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

from 1156 to 1157 or 1158.

Career

Gervasius or Geruasius started his ecclesiastical career as a member of the royal chapel during the reign of

Géza II of Hungary Géza II ( hu, II. Géza; hr, Gejza II; sk, Gejza II; 113031 May 1162) was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1141 to 1162. He was the oldest son of Béla the Blind and his wife, Helena of Serbia. When his father died, Géza was still a child a ...

. He was styled as royal chaplain in 1146 and 1150. He was described as "high-skilled, remarkably cultivated man" by chronicler

Rahewin Rahewin was an important German chronicler at the abbey of Freising in Bavaria. He was secretary and chaplain to Otto von Freising Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''A ...

. He was elected Bishop of Győr in 1156. Becoming a member of the royal council, he interceded with Géza II in March 1157 to grant the collection right of salt duties to the

Archdiocese of Esztergom In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...

at Nána and Kakat (present-day Štúrovo,

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

). Through his intercession, Géza II also granted some privileges to 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 ...

Győr Győr ( , ; german: Raab, links=no; names of European cities in different languages: E-H#G, names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia, Western Transdanubia ...

. Still in the same year, Gervasius contributed and permitted the foundation of the

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

Abbey of Küszén (later Németújvár, present-day

Burg Güssing The German word Burg means castle. Burg or Bürg may refer to: Places Placename element * ''-burg'', a combining form in Dutch, German and English placenames * Burg, a variant of burh, the fortified towns of Saxon England Settlements * Burg, Aar ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

) to ''comes''

Wolfer Wolfer or Wolfger (also ''Walfer''; died between 1158 and 1161) was a German knight possibly from the Duchy of Swabia, who, alongside his brother Héder, settled down in the Kingdom of Hungary and became a member of the Hungarian nobility. Wolfer w ...

, a

Carinthia Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German language, German. Its regional dialects belong to t ...

n-born knight and ancestor of the

Kőszegi family The Kőszegi ( hr, Gisingovci) was a noble family in the Kingdom of Hungary and the Kingdom of Croatia in the 13–14th centuries. The ancestor of the family, Henry the Great descended from the ''gens'' ("clan") Héder. Henry's paternal great-gra ...

. Gervasius subordinated the monastery to the

Pannonhalma Abbey The Benedictine Pannonhalma Archabbey or Territorial Abbey of Pannonhalma (lat. ''Archiabbatia'' or ''Abbatia Territorialis Sancti Martini in Monte Pannoniae'') is a medieval building in Pannonhalma Pannonhalma (german: Martinsberg; sk, Rábsk ...

. According to the contemporaneous Rahewin, Géza's younger brother

Stephen Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

was "accused before the king of aspiring to royal power". In fear of being seized and executed by his brother, Stephen sought refuge in the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

in summer 1157. Upon the emperor's demand, who favored Stephen, Géza accepted

Frederick Barbarossa Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (german: link=no, Friedrich I, it, Federico I), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on ...

as arbitrator in his conflict with Stephen and sent his envoys – Judge royal

Héder Héder, also Hedrich, Heindrich and Henry ( hu, Henrik; died after 1164) was a German knight possibly from the Duchy of Swabia, who, alongside his brother Wolfer, settled down in the Kingdom of Hungary and became a member of the Hungarian nobilit ...

(Wolfer's brother) and Bishop Gervasius – to the Imperial Diet at

Regensburg Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...

in January 1158. There the envoys refused Stephen's accusations and have successfully achieved that Frederick took a neutral position, who "decided to defer to a more suitable time the settlement" of the quarrel between Géza and Stephen. After Héder and Gervasius' successful diplomatic mission, Stephen, left the German court for the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

and settled in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

. Rahewin, who narrated the events in the continuation of

Otto of Freising Otto of Freising ( la, Otto Frisingensis; c. 1114 – 22 September 1158) was a German churchman of the Cistercian order and chronicled at least two texts which carries valuable information on the political history of his own time. He was Otto I ...

's ''Gesta Friderici imperatoris'', incorrectly referred to Gervasius as "Bishop of

Vasvár Vasvár (, , Latin: (formerly) ), is a town in Vas County, Hungary. History While the Ottomans occupied most of central Europe, the region north of lake Balaton remained in the Kingdom of Hungary (1538–1867) (captaincy between Balaton and D ...

", which was, in fact, the

collegiate chapter In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons: a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a ...

of his diocese. The remaining part of Gervasius' episcopate is unknown. His nearest known successor was

Andrew Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in List of countries where English is an official language, English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is freq ...

, who was elected Bishop of Győr in 1169, a decade later.

References

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gervasius of Gyor 12th-century Hungarian people Bishops of Győr Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown 12th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Hungary Medieval Hungarian diplomats