King St Ladislas, Chronicles, Legends and Miracles
Saeculum Christianum t. XXV (2018), s. 140-163 LÁSZLó VESZPRÉMY Budapest KING ST LADISLAS, CHRONICLES, LEGENDS AND mIRACLES The pillars of Hungarian state authority had crystallized at the end of the twelfth century, namely, the cult of the Hungarian saint kings (Stephen, Ladislas and Prince Emeric), especially that of the apostolic king Stephen who organized the Church and state. His cult, traditions, and relics played a crucial role in the development of the Hungarian coronation ritual and rules. The cult of the three kings was canonized on the pattern of the veneration of the three magi in Cologne from the thirteenth century, and it was their legends that came to be included in the Hungarian appendix of the Legenda Aurea1. A spectacular stage in this process was the foundation of the Hungarian chapel by Louis I of Anjou in Aachen in 1367, while relics of the Hungarian royal saints were distributed to the major shrines of pilgrimage in Europe (Rome, Cologne, Bari, etc.). Together with the surviving treasures, they were supplied with liturgical books which acquainted the non-Hungarians with Hungarian history in the special and local interpretation. In Hungary, the national and political implications of the legends of kings contributed to the representation of royal authority and national pride. Various information on King Ladislas (reigned 1077–1095) is available in the chronicles, legends, liturgical lections and prayers2. In some cases, the same motifs occur in all three types of sources. For instance, as to the etymology of the saint’s name, the sources cite a rare Greek rhetorical concept (per peragogen), which was first incorporated in the Chronicle, as the context reveals, and later transferred into the Legend and the liturgical lections.
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