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

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...

who served as

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

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 (; ; ; 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 ...

. 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 Freising () is a university town in Bavaria, Germany, and the capital of the Freising (district), with a population of about 50,000. Location Freising is the oldest town ...

. 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 associated ...

at Nána and Kakat (present-day Štúrovo,

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 ...

). 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 ( , ; ; 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 region, and – halfwa ...

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

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

Abbey of Küszén (later Németújvár, present-day Burg Güssing in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

) 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 ...

, a

Carinthia Carinthia ( ; ; ) is the southernmost and least densely populated States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The Lake Wolayer is a mountain lake on the Carinthian side of the Carnic Main ...

n-born knight and ancestor of the

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

. Gervasius subordinated the monastery to the

Pannonhalma Abbey The Benedictine Pannonhalma Archabbey or Territorial Abbey of Saint Martin on Mount Pannonhalma (lat. ''Archiabbatia'' or ''Abbatia Territorialis Sancti Martini in Monte Pannoniae'') is a medieval building in Pannonhalma and is one of the oldest ...

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

Stephen Stephen or Steven is an English given name, first name. It is particularly significant to Christianity, Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; he is w ...

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, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

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 (; ), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death in 1190. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March 115 ...

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

Héder Héder, also Hedrich, Heindrich and Henry (; 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 nobility. Héder w ...

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

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

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 known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

and settled in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

. Rahewin, who narrated the events in the continuation of

Otto of Freising Otto of Freising (; – 22 September 1158) was a German churchman of the Cistercian order and chronicled at least two texts which carry valuable information on the political history of his own time. He was the bishop of Freising from 1138. Ot ...

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

Vasvár Vasvár (, , Latin language, Latin: (formerly) ), is a town in Vas County, Hungary. It was the county seat of Vas County. History While the Ottomans occupied most of central Europe, the region north of lake Balaton remained in the Kingdom of H ...

", 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 (canon law), college of canon (priest), canons, a non-monastic or secular clergy, "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-gover ...

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

Andrew Andrew is the English form of the given name, common in many countries. The word is derived from the , ''Andreas'', itself related to ''aner/andros'', "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "brave", "strong", "c ...

, 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