The Uncrowned Lion: Rank, Status, and Identity of The
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Robert Kurelić THE UNCROWNED LION: RANK, STATUS, AND IDENTITY OF THE LAST CILLI MA Thesis in Medieval Studies Central European University Budapest May 2005 THE UNCROWNED LION: RANK, STATUS, AND IDENTITY OF THE LAST CILLI by Robert Kurelić (Croatia) 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 Budapest May 2005 THE UNCROWNED LION: RANK, STATUS, AND IDENTITY OF THE LAST CILLI by Robert Kurelić (Croatia) 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 Examiner Budapest May 2005 I, the undersigned, Robert Kurelić, 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, 27 May 2005 __________________________ Signature TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ____________________________________________________1 ...heind graffen von Cilli und nyemermer... _______________________________ 1 ...dieser Hunadt Janusch aus dem landt Walachey pürtig und eines geringen rittermessigen geschlechts was... _______________________________________ 3 …do nun die vorgenandten zwen von Cilli und ihr erben und nachkommen recht frey edel gefürste graffen und fürsten des römischen reichs genandt und bleiben solten...____________________________________________________ 5 The Scope_____________________________________________________________ 7 Methodology __________________________________________________________ 9 CHAPTER I: ACCEPTANCE AND IDENTITY __________________________14 Introduction __________________________________________________________ 14 “The Lehenspyramide” in the Holy Roman Empire ______________________ 15 Forms of Address___________________________________________________________ 17 Fürstliche trewe/fürstliche würde ______________________________________________ 19 The Hungarian System of Nobility ______________________________________ 21 Familiaritas ________________________________________________________________ 22 Fifteenth Century ___________________________________________________________ 23 Summary_____________________________________________________________ 26 The Counts of Cilli as “Reichsfürsten”__________________________________ 26 Spectabilis et magnificus ______________________________________________ 30 Fürstliche Wirdigkeit __________________________________________________ 34 CHAPTER II: PROJECTION OF POWER AND AMBITION ______________38 Introduction: Word and Symbol ________________________________________ 38 External characteristics _______________________________________________ 40 Internal characteristics ________________________________________________ 42 The Shield of Zagorje__________________________________________________ 43 i Königsnähe __________________________________________________________ 45 A “Hereditary” Banate?________________________________________________ 48 Ladislaus V___________________________________________________________ 51 The Knight Supporters ________________________________________________ 53 Conclusion ___________________________________________________________ 55 CHAPTER III: THE GAME OF THRONES _____________________________56 Introduction __________________________________________________________ 56 Royal Reconciliation __________________________________________________ 56 Imperial Reconciliation ________________________________________________ 59 The “Ear of the Lord”__________________________________________________ 62 The Nuremberg Gifts __________________________________________________ 63 Power and Influence __________________________________________________ 64 First Signs of Emancipation ___________________________________________ 66 The Break in 1451 _____________________________________________________ 68 Ulrich II – the Uncrowned King _________________________________________ 71 Hochgeboren Fürst ___________________________________________________ 73 “Staatsbegräbnis” ____________________________________________________ 74 CONCLUSION _____________________________________________________77 BIBLIOGRAPHY ___________________________________________________80 Primary Sources ______________________________________________________ 80 Secondary Sources ___________________________________________________ 82 ILLUSTRATIONS___________________________________________________91 ii Acknowledgements I owe my sincere gratitude to many who have helped me over the course of this year, to Enikő Spekner for her help with the seals in the Budapest History Museum, to Matjaž Bizjak and Miha Kosi for giving me access to hundreds of transcribed charters, to Janez Mlinar, for letting me use his manuscript, to Szabolcs de Vajay for pointing me in the direction of some invaluable books, to the whole department of Medieval Studies, and to Annabella Pál and Csilla Dobos. My special thanks goes to my supervisor János M. Bak, for great advice, and superb encouragement, and to Judith Rasson. Without her tireless effort this thesis would be a mess of grammatical and bibliographical mistakes. Those that may still appear are entirely my fault. iii List of Illustrations Figure 1. The only known keystone featuring the princely coat of arms of the Cilli. Robert Peskar, “Šentrupertska župnijska cerkev v srednjem veku” (The parish church of St. Rupert in the Middle Ages), in Župnija Šentrupert: zgodovinske osnove leta 1993: 1393-1993 (The county of St. Rupert: historical elements of the year 1993: 1393-1993), 85-97, here: 91 (Šentrupert: Župnijski urad 1993). Figure 2. First princely seal of Ulrich II Cilli from the year 1441; 88 mm. Katja Žvanut, Pečati grofov Celjskih-Seals of Counts of Celje, tr. Franc Smrke, (Ljubljana: Narodni muzej Slovenije, 2001), 58. Figure 3. Second princely seal of Ulrich II Cilli from the year 1443; 75 mm. Vjekoslav Klaić, “Povijest Hrvata” (History of the Croats), vol. 3, 225 (Zagreb: Nakladni Zavod Matice Hrvatske, 1975), 254. Figure 4. Princely seal of Frederick II Cilli from the year 1442; 75 mm. Katja Žvanut, Pečati grofov Celjskih-Seals of Counts of Celje, tr. Franc Smrke, (Ljubljana, Narodni muzej Slovenije, 2001), 87. Figure 5. The Coat of arms of Heunburg. Géza von Chergeö, Die Wappen des Adels in Ungarn, Siebmacher’s großes Wappenbuch, vol. 33, no. 2 (Neustadt and der Aisch: Bauer & Raspe Inhaber Gerhard Gessner 1982), table 20. Figure 6. The coat of arms of Sannegg. Géza von Chergeö, Die Wappen des Adels in Ungarn, Siebmacher’s großes Wappenbuch, vol. 33, no. 2 (Neustadt and der Aisch: Bauer & Raspe Inhaber Gerhard Gessner 1982), table 78. Figure 7. The seal of Hermann II; 70 mm. Budapesti Történeti Múzeum (Budapest History Museum) 64.538. Figure 8 The seal of king Sigismund, avers; 110 mm. Budapesti Történeti Múzeum (Budapest History Museum) 66.2001. Figure 9. The seal of Emperor Sigismund, avers; 115 mm. Budapesti Történeti Múzeum (Budapest History Museum) 66.2016. Figure 10. The seal of king Albert II, avers; 115 mm. Budapesti Történeti Múzeum (Budapest History Museum) 66.2019. Figure 11. The seal of king Ladislaus V, revers; 120 mm. Budapesti Történeti Múzeum (Budapest History Museum) 66.2030. Figure 12. The seal of King Matthias Corvinus; 120 mm Budapesti Történeti Múzeum (Budapest History Museum) 66.2038. iv Figure 13. The silver denarii of the ban from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Tomislav Raukar, Hrvatsko srednjovjekovlje (The Croatian Middle Ages), (Zagreb: Školska knjiga, 1997), 231. v INTRODUCTION ...heind graffen von Cilli und nyemermer...1 More than a hundred years after Franz Krones first published Die Freien von Saneck und ihre Chronik als Grafen von Cilli the story of this famous family still fascinates both the historians and their audience. What is it that draws our attention so intensely to a family whose presence on the stage of greatness lasted a little more than a century, a mere act in a play? Was it perhaps that in that short moment that was given to them on the great wheel of time, it shone brighter than the stars? Indeed the history of the House of Cilli2 resembles a success story rarely seen. Rising from the obscurity of lesser nobility in 1341,3 in less than a century the Cilli climbed the mountain of medieval hierarchy with meteoric speed, nearly reaching the pinnacle before exiting the stage in a Shakespearean manner.4 Yet in this short interlude they have left a trace in history that still inspires historians today, so that the amount of literature written on them could fill whole bookshelves. But, as Heinz Dopsch said thirty years ago and Štih repeated in 1998, the Cilli were and are “ein Forschungsproblem.”5 With 1 Franz Krones v. Marchland,