The Cult of Saint Dorothy in Medieval Hungary
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Dorottya Uhrin THE CULT OF SAINT DOROTHY IN MEDIEVAL HUNGARY MA Thesis in Medieval Studies Central European University Budapest May 2018 CEU eTD Collection THE CULT OF SAINT DOROTHY IN MEDIEVAL HUNGARY by Dorottya Uhrin (Hungary) Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in Medieval Studies. Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU. ____________________________________________ Chair, Examination Committee ____________________________________________ Thesis Supervisor ____________________________________________ Examiner ____________________________________________ Examiner CEU eTD Collection Budapest May 2018 THE CULT OF SAINT DOROTHY IN MEDIEVAL HUNGARY by Dorottya Uhrin (Hungary) Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in Medieval Studies. Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU. ____________________________________________ External Reader CEU eTD Collection Budapest May 2018 THE CULT OF SAINT DOROTHY IN MEDIEVAL HUNGARY by Dorottya Uhrin (Hungary) Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in Medieval Studies. Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU. ____________________________________________ External Supervisor Budapest CEU eTD Collection May 2018 I, the undersigned, Dorottya Uhrin, candidate for the MA degree in Medieval Studies, declare herewith that the present thesis is exclusively my own work, based on my research and only such external information as properly credited in notes and bibliography. I declare that no unidentified and illegitimate use was made of the work of others, and no part of the thesis infringes on any person’s or institution’s copyright. I also declare that no part of the thesis has been submitted in this form to any other institution of higher education for an academic degree. Budapest, 15 May 2018 __________________________ Signature CEU eTD Collection Abstract The present thesis discusses Saint Dorothy’s cult in medieval Hungary. How did the cult arrive? Who were the promoters? What were the main features of the cult? The first two chapters provide the historical circumstances of the formation of virgin martyrs’ cult and the emergence of Saint Dorothy’s cult in Europe. Saint Dorothy was a young virgin, who during the reign of Emperor Diocletian suffered martyrdom in Cappadocia in the Late Antiquity. Legends were produced about her life from the early Middle Ages, however, only from the mid-fourteenth century did she become popular in various European regions, including Italy and Germany. She was particularly popular in German-speaking territories. The third chapter presents the arrival of Saint Dorothy’s cult in Hungary and shows that she was unknown in the Árpádian period. It seems that the cult emerged during the Angevin era. Her veneration became widespread only from the 1360s. Probably Dorothy’s cult connected to clerics from Poland, who arrived in the entourage of Queen Elizabeth Piast, wife of Charles I. Other traces suggest German origin, since her cult was mostly popular in the German-speaking territories of Hungary. The two origins do not exclude each other, because the Polish towns were also frequently populated by Germans. Dorothy’s veneration centered in Szepesség in Hungary, where an extensive fresco cycle commemorates her suffering. The fifteenth and sixteenth-century textual and pictorial representations emphasize the importance of Dorothy’s intercessory power. Besides her imago, the most frequent depiction was her rose miracle. On late medieval altarpieces she accompanied Virgin Mary with other CEU eTD Collection virgins, which refers to her status as sponsa Christi and to her intimate relationship with the mother of Christ. Interestingly, hospitals were also dedicated to Saint Dorothy (usually she was a co-patron), which might have derived from the fact that she promised that she would help to rescue people from poverty. i Acknowledgements First and foremostly I would like to thank my supervisor, Gábor Klaniczay for his support and his guadiance throughout the last years. I owe thanks in particular to the academic writing instructors Eszter Timár and Zsuzsa Reed for their effective helps during the writing period. I am deeply indebted to Béla Zsolt Szakács, who always helped me in art historical questions, and to Bálint Lakatos, who helped me with some problems of papal charters. I am indebted to Anna Kinde for our inspiring conversations and for her friendship. CEU eTD Collection ii Table of contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1 Chapter 1 – The virgin martyrs .................................................................................................. 4 Martyrs and virgins ................................................................................................................ 5 The popularity of virgin martyrs ............................................................................................ 9 Chapter 2 – The tradition of Dorothy’s legend ........................................................................ 13 Saint Dorothy in the West (A German tradition) ................................................................. 16 Chapter 3 – Dorothy arrives in Hungary.................................................................................. 19 The role of the Augustinians in the formation of the cult .................................................... 19 Dorothy in Southern and Northern Hungary ....................................................................... 21 Dorothy in Szepesség ....................................................................................................... 27 The frescoes of Lőcse .................................................................................................. 29 Chapter 4 – Late medieval cult ................................................................................................ 43 Among the fourteen Holy Helpers ....................................................................................... 48 Texts and visual representations .......................................................................................... 50 Saint Dorothy in the shrines ............................................................................................. 51 CEU eTD Collection Latin and vernacular Hungarian texts about Saint Dorothy............................................. 55 Legends of Dorothy ..................................................................................................... 57 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 63 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................ 66 iii Archival sources................................................................................................................... 66 Primary sources .................................................................................................................... 66 Secondary literature ............................................................................................................. 68 Appendices ............................................................................................................................... 83 Table .................................................................................................................................... 83 Illustrations .......................................................................................................................... 85 CEU eTD Collection iv List of Tables and Illustrations Table 1. The chaples and churches dedicated to Saint Dorothy, was made by the author Fig. 2.1. St Katherine, St Margaret, St Lucia, St Dorothy, St Christina. Wien, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek; cod. 874; fol. 3v. C. 1330. (Salzburg University, Institute for Material Culture http://tethys.imareal.sbg.ac.at/realonline/ Number of picture: 05315.) Fig. 3.1. St Dorothy on the murals of Nagyócsa. (Salzburg University, Institute for Material Culture http://tethys.imareal.sbg.ac.at/realonline/ Number of picture: 012738.) Fig. 3.2. St Dorothy on the murals of Podolin. (Salzburg University, Institute for Material Culture http://tethys.imareal.sbg.ac.at/realonline/ Number of picture: 012222A.) Fig. 3.3. St Dorothy Cycle in Lőcse. (Salzburg University, Institute for Material Culture http://tethys.imareal.sbg.ac.at/realonline/ Number of picture: 011752.) Fig. 3.4. St Dorothy Cycle in Lőcse. (Salzburg University, Institute for Material Culture http://tethys.imareal.sbg.ac.at/realonline/ Number of picture: 011753.) Fig. 3.5. St Dorothy Cycle in Lőcse. (Salzburg University, Institute for Material Culture http://tethys.imareal.sbg.ac.at/realonline/ Number of picture: 011754.) Fig. 3.6. St Dorothy Cycle in Lőcse. (Salzburg University, Institute for Material Culture http://tethys.imareal.sbg.ac.at/realonline/ Number of picture: 011755.) Fig. 3.7. St Dorothy Cycle in Lőcse. (Salzburg University, Institute for Material Culture http://tethys.imareal.sbg.ac.at/realonline/