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CHAPTER 2 Rituals of Power and Symbols of

The term rituals of power covers a rich and extremely varied complex of sym­ bolic acts, public displays of power and often extravagant festivities accom­ panying these ceremonies. Symbols of monarchy found perhaps their most conspicuous expression in the inauguaration rituals that provide the ceremo­ nial framework for a sovereign’s elevation to the sacral status of kingship. In medieval Europe this typically comprised , anointment and crowning ceremonies, recorded in ecclesiastical orders (ordines), which have been studied for many years.1 Ironically enough, there are almost no surviving records that depict all the phases of inauguration rituals ( in par­ ticular) in the medieval Hungary of the Árpád era (1000–1301). Throughout the entire early and high Middle Ages, we have to rely on sketchy references and vague clues for information on investitures in the Árpád dynasty. Hungarian coronations can be studied only from the late Middle Ages, beginning with the 14th century and, in greater detail, from the 15th century onwards. It is in nar­ rative sources from this period that the earliest more detailed descriptions of coronations survive, as well as in the first pontifical that includes the 1438 ordo coronationis. However, many historians believe that it can be safely assumed that the Pontificale Romanum, compiled by William Durandus and widely used in Europe, had come into use in Hungary by the time of Louis the Great (1342–1382).2 The concept of the Holy and the resulting unique

1 Die Ordines für Weihe und Krönung des Kaisers und der Kaiserin. ed. Reinhard Elze (Hannover, 1960); Ordines Coronationis Franciae. ed. Richard A. Jackson (Philadelphia, 1995); Paul L. Ward, “The Ceremony in Mediaeval .” Speculum, 14/2 (1939), pp. 160– 178; Bak, Coronations; Eduard Eichmann, Die Kaiserkrönung im Abendland: Ein Beitrag zur Geistesgeschichte des Mittelalters (Würzburg: Echter, 1942). For Central Europe see Stát, státnost a rituály přemyslovského věku. ed. Martin Wihoda (Brno: Matice Moravská, 2006); Martin Wihoda, První česká království (Praha: NLN, 2015); Lesk královského majestátu ve středověku. eds. Lenka Bobková – Mlada Holá (Praha/Litomyšl: Paseka, 2005); Imagines Potestatis. Rytuały, symbole i konteksty fabularne władzy zwierchniej. Polska X–XV w. ed. Jacek Banaszkiewicz (Warszawa: Instytut Historii PAN, 1994); Josef Cibulka, Český řád korunovační a jeho původ (Praha, 1934); Korunovační řád českých králů. ed. Jiří Kuthan – Miroslav Šmied (Praha: Univerzita Karlova, 2009). 2 Fundamental works on the coronation of Hungarian kings were written several decades ago. For example Bartoniek, A magyar királykoronázások, pp. 8–84; Emma Bartoniek, “A ma­ gyar királlyáavatáshoz,” Századok, 57–58 (1923–1924), pp. 297–303; Fügedi, “Coronation”,

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���6 | doi ��.��63/9789004326392_004 36 CHAPTER 2 symbolic value of the Hungarian royal insignia played a particularly important role in the monarchic symbolism of Hungarian kings. Traditionally, a candi­ date had to meet three basic conditions to be regarded as the legitimate King of Hungary: he had to be crowned with the Holy Crown, the coronation had to be performed by the archbishop of Esztergom, and it had to take place in the Virgin Mary Basilica in Székesfehérvár. The first to articulate these conditions was Helene Kottanner, servant and confidante of Queen Elizabeth of Hungary, in her memoirs (1439–1440).3 Due to the limited chronological scope of this monograph we are not able to go into these issues more deeply; they have in any case been dealt with elsewhere in great detail. We shall focus on those types and forms of rituals of power that can be documented from the extant sources and subsequently interpreted against the backdrop of ritual commu­ nication of Hungarian monarchs in the early and high Middle Ages. In the following chapter we shall examine all rituals of power that present-day histo­ riography (both Hungarian and Slovak) has almost completely overlooked, as well as various forms of public symbolic communication relating to the figure of the Hungarian .

1 Three Types of Coronation

In January 1158 Frederick I Barbarossa granted royal privileges to Vladislav II, Duke of Bohemia. The key privilege was the permission to wear a royal crown on the same high holidays as the emperor himself, namely

p. 164; János M. Bak, “Mittelalterliche Königskrönung in Ungarn (Quellenübersicht),” in Königtum und Stände in Ungarn im 14.–16. Jahrhundert (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1973), pp. 165–190. 3 Insignia Regni Hungariae; Deér, Die heilige Krone; Magda Bárány, Die Sankt Stephans Krone und die Insignien des Königreichs Ungarn (Wien: Herold, 1961); Benda – Fügedi, Tausend Jahre Stephanskrone; Imre Bertényi, A magyar korona története (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1978); Eva Kovács – Zsuzsa Lovag, The and Other (Budapest: Corvina, 1988); Schramm, Herrschaftszeichen, pp. 730–754. Karpat, Corona regni; Endre Tóth – Károly Szelényi, Die heilige Krone von Ungarn (Budapest: Kossuth Kiadó, 1996); László Péter, “The Holy Crown of Hungary, Visible and Invisible,” Slavonic and East European Review, 81/3 (2003), pp. 421–510. The words of the count palatine Michael Ország from 1471 are symptom­ atic: “. . . whoever you see crowned by the Holy Crown, even if it were an ox, worship him, consider him to be the Holy King and respect him (. . . quemcumque sacra Corona corona- tum videris, etiam si bos fuerit, adorato, et pro sacrosancto rege ducito, et observato).” Antonii Bonfini Asculani Rerum Hungaricarum decades Libri XLV. ed. D.-C. Andreas Bel (Lipsiae, 1771). Decadis IV, liber III, p. 577; The Memoirs of Helene Kottanner. ed. Maya Bijvoet Williamson. (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1988), p. 43.