LATE MEDIEVAL NUPTIAL RITES Paride Grassi and the Royal
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QL 97 (2016) 51-64 doi: 10.2143/QL.97.1.3154575 © 2016, all rights reserved LATE MEDIEVAL NUPTIAL RITES Paride Grassi and the Royal Wedding of Székesfehérvár (Hungary) in 1502* Medieval papal legates had various agendas and functions and were com- missioned to act as the highest representatives of the Pope and the papal curia in spiritual matters as well as in diplomatic and political issues. Dip- lomatic activity, jurisdictional rights and spiritual matters were the most crucial part of their activity. They were also, however, the highest prelates in their legatine province (a large area of the several dioceses and archdi- oceses to which they were sent), surpassing even the local bishops or arch- bishops, equal to no one. This means they ranked highest in society, being equal in the court society to kings and emperors.1 Thus, it is only natural that the papal legates de latere (i.e. cardinals) often took part in the secular or ecclesiastical ceremonies at the royal courts where they were staying. In order to be able to analyse one such ceremony, the example of the royal court of Hungary and Bohemia in Buda (present-day Budapest) is brought up here. There are a number of examples of these ceremonies in connection with the Hungarian royal court in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centu- ries. Papal legates came to the courts of Sigismund of Luxemburg and Mat- thias Corvinus (Hunyadi) quite often and frequently resided at the court or in its vicinity for a certain time. This also remains valid for the successors to King Matthias, Kings Wladislas II Jagiellonian and his son Louis II, who * The study and research was generously supported by the Centre of Excellence of the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic, no. 14-36521G, Centre for Cross-Disciplinary Re- search into Cultural Phenomena in Central European History: Image, Communication, Be- haviour and the ýeský historický ústav v ěímČ (Istituto storico ceco di Roma). 1. On legatine ritual and ceremonial, Franz Wasner, “Fifteenth-Century Texts on the Cer- emonial of the Papal ‘Legatus a latere’,” Traditio 14 (1958) 295-358; a basic study on legates in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Werner Maleczek, “Die päpstlichen Legaten im 14. und 15. Jahrhundert,” in Gesandtschafts- und Botenwesen im spätmittelalterlichen Europa, ed. Rainer C. Schwinges and Klaus Wriedt (Ostfildern: Jan Thorbecke, 2003) 33-86. 52 Antonín Kalous – as Kings of Hungary and Bohemia – were key sovereigns of Central Eu- rope when dealing with the Utraquists of Bohemia and the Ottoman Turks, or securing peace among Central European rulers. One such example of a papal legate who stayed at the court of King Wladislas is Cardinal Pietro Isvalies.2 He had stayed on his legation in Central Europe in 1501-1503 and during this time, became a member of the Hungarian and Bohemian royal court despite travelling around his province. He came from a Spanish family from Messina and soon connected his life to the Church as Arch- bishop of Reggio di Calabria. During the pontificate of Pope Alexander VI, he also held the position of governor of the city of Rome for five years, from 1496-1500. He was created cardinal in Rome on 28 September 1500 just prior to his being named papal legate de latere on 5 October that same year. He was consequently sent to his legation with the highest commis- sions and faculties. He had received extensive instructions on 18 Novem- ber, which even specified the road he was supposed to take to Hungary, the same road that was taken by the Cardinal and Archbishop of Esztergom (in Hungary) Tamás Bakóc in 1513 after he was created legate to Hungary. The road, they took, led them to Ancona, then by sea to Senj (Zengg), to Zagreb and then to Buda, obviously a safer road during the winter, even though the voyage by sea might have been problematic.3 Like other papal legates de latere, Cardinal Pietro Isvalies was sup- posed to be well paid during (or rather after) his legation. The records of the Papal Chamber indicate that he spent thirty-five months outside Rome and it was a current practice in the second half of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries to pay the cardinal legates a large sum of 500 florins per month. This was an income that surpassed the revenues of all Italian bishoprics with the single exception of the Patriarchate of Aquileia (and even one monthly payment was more than the average yearly income of all Italian bishops).4 Since he was given only a smaller sum in advance and 2. For basic information see, Filippo Crucitti, “Isvalies (Isvalli, Isuales), Pietro,” in Diziona- rio biografico degli italiani, vol. 62 (Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, 2004) 679-683. 3. ASV, Misc., Arm. II 30, fol. 141v-151r; Augustinus Theiner (ed.), Vetera monu- menta Poloniae et Lithuaniae gentiumque finitimarum historiam illustrantia, vol. 2, Ab Ioanne PP. XXIII. usque ad Pius PP. V., 1410-1572 (Roma, 1891) 269-276; Artner Edgár (ed.), “Magyarország mint a nyugati keresztény mĦvelĘdés védĘbástyája”: A Vatikáni Le- véltárnak azok az okiratai, melyek Ęseinknek a KeletrĘl Európát genyegetĘ veszedelmek ellen kifejtett erĘfeszítéseire vonatkoznak (cca 1214-1606) (Budapest – Rome: Pázmány Péter Katolikus Egyetem, 2004) 147-157. 4. For a detailed study, Antonín Kalous, “Financing a Legation: Papal Legates and Money in the Later Middle Ages,” in Money and Finance in Central Europe during the Later Middle Ages, ed. Roman Zaoral (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016) 205-221. For the income of Italian bishoprics, cf. Denys Hay, The Church in Italy in the Fifteenth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) 10-11. Late Medieval Nuptial Rites 53 during his stay in Hungary, his case had to be discussed in the Papal Cham- ber even after he returned back to the City in October 1503. A year and a half later, in May 1505, the Papal Chamber confirmed its remaining debts to the cardinal of 11,500 florins, a large sum which had to be paid off later on.5 The money was supposed to serve the legate, to allow him represent the Pope properly and leave him financially and materially independent in the secular environment of the royal courts as well as in the ecclesiastical institutions of the province which originally took care of the needs of the papal legates. Cardinal Pietro was, however, personally quite successful in his dealings in Hungary, and like many other legates or nuncios previously, was awarded the position of bishop in the country. In his case, it was the bishopric of Veszprém that provided him with extra income even after he had left Hungary; it was run by his Italian vicar Tommaso Bellorusso.6 When sent to Central Europe, Cardinal Pietro became one of the three legates who were simultaneously commissioned to preach and organise a Crusade in Europe.7 The Western part of Latin Christendom (France, Spain, Portugal, England) was supposed to be dealt with by Cardinal Juan Vera, Germany by the renowned Cardinal Raymund Peraudi and the East- ern part of Latin Christendom (most importantly Hungary, Bohemia, Po- land, but also other easterly parts) by Cardinal Pietro.8 His commissions gave him the possibility to publish indulgences for pious deeds in favour of the planned Crusade, namely financial contributions, which were one of the basic activities as a number of preserved printed documents (litterae confessionales) show.9 His commissions, however, did not only include the matters of the Crusade, as it is mentioned that he should also deal with 5. ASV, Cam. Ap., Div. Cam. 57, fol. 140v-142v. 6. ASV, Arm. XXXIX 28, fol. 424r-v; György Bónis, “Olasz vikáriusok Magyarországon a reneszánsz korában és a Beneéthy-formuláskönyv,” Leveltári Közlemények 44 (1973-74) 89- 101, p. 93. Cf. also the research of C. Tóth Norbert, to whom I would like to thank for sharing his book in preparation, Magyarország késĘ-középkori fĘpapi archontológiája (1458-1516). 7. See for example, Kenneth M. Setton, The Papacy and the Levant (1204-1571). Vol. 2: The Fifteenth Century (Philadelphia, PA: The American Philosophical Society, 1978) 531-533. 8. He himself defined his position and legatine province as ad Hungarie Bohemie et Polonie regna necnon Prussiam Russiam Livoniam Littuaniam Valachiam Slesiam Lusatiam Moraviam Transilvaniam Dalmatiam Sclavoniam Croatiam Corbaviam et Moscoviam omnesque et singu- las regnorum et provinciarum predictarum civitates terras atque loca illis subiecta et alia eis adiacentia apostolice sedis de latere legatus, BAV, Vat. lat. 3922, fol. 305v. 9. E.g. BAV, Vat. lat. 3922, fol. 305r-v; VČdecká knihovna Olomouc, sign. II 39012 (a charter bound to an old printed book); Magyar nemzeti levéltár Budapest (MNL), OL DL 36087, 66756; or distributed through his commissaries as in MNL OL DL 74975, see also Antonín Kalous, Plenitudo potestatis in partibus? Papežští legáti a nunciové ve stĜední EvropČ na konci stĜedovČku (1450-1526) (Brno: Matice moravská, 2010) 358-361. 54 Antonín Kalous matters of heresy in Bohemia, Valachia, and in Moravia, res illas Bo- hemorum, Valachorum et Olumocensium.10 The matters of the Bohemians naturally meant negotiations with the heretical Czechs of Bohemia and Moravia, the Utraquists, who had special rights confirmed by the Council of Basel to the Hussites.11 Cardinal Pietro was mentioned as one of the negotiators and the traditional Utraquists even criticised the discussion by their elders with the legate, as attested to by a contemporary diary note from February 1502.12 In that year, the legate even informed Pope Alexander VI about the efforts of the King in bringing the Roman Church and the Utraquists together, as the Pope mentioned in his letter to King Wladislas.13 The negotiations were, however, not suc- cessful, as the demands of the Utraquists did not change and neither of the parties wanted to make concessions.