Eusidinus, also Euzidinus or Euscidius (; died 1156/1158), was a Hungarian nobleman in the first half of the 12th century.

Career

His father was a certain Adrian. He had a brother Stephen. Eusidinus was an influential member of the royal court during the reign of

Béla II of Hungary Béla the Blind (; ; ; – 13 February 1141) was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1131 to 1141. He was blinded along with his rebellious father Álmos on the order of Álmos's brother, King Coloman of Hungary. Béla grew up in monasteri ...

. He served as ''

ispán The ispánRady 2000, p. 19.''Stephen Werbőczy: The Customary Law of the Renowned Kingdom of Hungary in Three Parts (1517)'', p. 450. or countEngel 2001, p. 40.Curta 2006, p. 355. (, , and ),Kirschbaum 2007, p. 315. deriving from title of župan, ...

'' of

Szolnok County Szolnok County (, , (modern spelling )) was a county in the Kingdom of Hungary between the 11th century and 1426. It was made up of two disconnected parts, one in what later became Transylvania and the , the other around the Tisza centred on ...

in 1134. He is the first known office-holder after mid-11th-century noble

Szolnok Szolnok (; also known by #Name and etymology, alternative names) is the county seat of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county in central Hungary. A city with county rights, it is located on the banks of the Tisza river, in the heart of the Great Hungarian ...

, the namesake of the castle and the county. Eusidinus was styled as ''ispán'' of

Fejér County Fejér (, ) is an administrative county in central Hungary. It lies on the west bank of the river Danube and nearly touches the eastern shore of Lake Balaton. It shares borders with the Hungarian counties Veszprém, Komárom-Esztergom County ...

in 1138.

Church founding

Eusidinus possessed lands in Bars County, for instance Barátka and Szántó (both laid in the territory of present-day

Levice Levice (; , Hungarian pronunciation: ; ) is a town in western Slovakia. The town lies on the left bank of the lower Hron river. The Old Church Slavonic, Old Slavic name of the town was ''Leva'', which means "the Left One". The town is located i ...

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, 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 west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

). Eusidinus built a Romanesque church in Barátka (Baratka or Bratka), dedicated to St.

Martin of Tours Martin of Tours (; 316/3368 November 397) was the third bishop of Tours. He is the patron saint of many communities and organizations across Europe, including France's Third French Republic, Third Republic. A native of Pannonia (present-day Hung ...

, with three altars. He assigned three clerics and four liturgy books (''missale'', ''nocturnale'', ''psalterium'' and ''graduale'') there. The church was consecrated by Martyrius, Archbishop of Esztergom in 1156, in the presence of Eusidinus. Upon his request, the archbishop donated the villages of Barátka,

Léva Levice (; , Hungarian pronunciation: ; ) is a town in western Slovakia. The town lies on the left bank of the lower Hron river. The Old Slavic name of the town was ''Leva'', which means "the Left One". The town is located in the north-eastern ...

and Visk (today Levice and Vyškovce nad Ipľom in Slovakia) to the newly erected church, establishing its parochial area. Some historians, for instance, László Erdélyi and

Richard Marsina Richard Marsina (4 May 1923 – 25 March 2021) was a Slovak historian, one of the founders of modern Slovak histography and a prominent expert on the medieval history of Slovakia.Dvořák, Pavel: Stopy dávnej minulosti 3, 2004 - str. 288 His s ...

considered Martyrius' charter (called as "''Diploma of Eusidinus''" in Hungarian historiography) as a 14th-century forgery, citing anachronistic elements in the text (e.g. the words ''parochia'' or ''missale''). After a philological examination, Erzsébet Ladányi accepted the document as authentic. Eusidinus died in 1157 or 1158. He had no male descendants.

Géza II of Hungary Géza 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 and he started ruling under the guardia ...

, through ''ispán''

Gabriel In the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Gabriel ( ) is an archangel with the power to announce God's will to mankind, as the messenger of God. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran. Many Chris ...

, permitted his brother Stephen to donate the estates Barátka and Szántó with the above-mentioned church to the Garamszentbenedek Abbey (present-day

Hronský Beňadik Hronský Beňadik (1920–1948: , 1948–1960: ; ; , until 1888: ; ) is a village in central Slovakia. It has a population of 1233 (2005). According to the local tourist information officer, this is the site referred to in what may be the first wr ...

, Slovakia). The single-nave church was destroyed during the

first Mongol invasion of Hungary The first invasion of the Kingdom of Hungary by the Mongol Empire started in March 1241. The Mongols started to withdraw in late March 1242. Background Mongol invasion of Europe The Hungarians had first learned about the Mongol threat in 122 ...

, therefore, a new church, also a Romanesque one, was built next to its ruins sometime in the middle of the 13th century. Remains of both churches were excavated by Slovak archaeologist Alojz Habovštiak between 1958 and 1960.

References

Sources

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