Preaching was an essential component of the religious life during the Middle Ages, shaping the Ch... more Preaching was an essential component of the religious life during the Middle Ages, shaping the Christian identity and promoting the norms and decisions of the Church. In line with recent contributions that have drawn attention to Transylvanian expressions of medieval preaching, the present paper intends to examine its significance in the urban milieu prior to the Protestant Reformation, by exploring the case of Cluj (hu. Kolozsvár/ germ. Klausenburg). An important town of the region, it was inhabited by a mixed population of Hungarian-and German-speaking communities, whose pastoral care and access to the divine Word was facilitated by various religious institutions. Although the extant sources do not provide detailed accounts regarding specific sermons delivered in town, their actual contents and mise-en-scène, the present paper outlines the profile of the routine preaching activity, based on homiletic works that belonged to the secular and regular clergy of the town, as well as charters attesting their complementary or competing actions. The analysis reveals that homiletic concerns progressively increased from the beginning of the 15 th century onwards, reaching a pinnacle in the decades prior to the adoption of the Reformation.
Among the various inhabitants of the Hungarian Kingdom during the Middle Ages, there were also Or... more Among the various inhabitants of the Hungarian Kingdom during the Middle Ages, there were also Orthodox Christians, frequently designated as schismatici. Secular and ecclesiastic authorities often sought their conversion and the mission of the Order of Friars Minor in this area targeted them as well. A change of attitude was imposed, at least for a time, in 1439 by the decree of union agreed at the Council of Florence (1438–39). A half a century later, Osualdus de Lasko (c. 1450–1511), a Hungarian Observant Franciscan, wrote a Lenten homiletic cycle exhorting a profound commitment to the true faith by addressing the question of the Byzantine rite in three of his sermons. This article offers an analysis of the sermon collection entitled Quadragesimale Gemma fidei, focusing mainly on the three sermons de damnabili ritu Graecorum. I will argue that, on a spiritual level, Osualdus intended to strengthen the faith of the Catholic inhabitants of Hungary, to resist and correct deviances, in order to regain God’s mercy. On a temporal level, he promoted the return of the ‘Greeks’ to communion with the Roman Church, through conversion, probably in the interest of a stronger front against the Ottomans.
"Research on late-medieval religiosity in Central and Western Europe has shown that reli... more "Research on late-medieval religiosity in Central and Western Europe has shown that religious books were not only possessed, but also read, and sometimes even copied or disseminated by laymen. The need for a better definition of the relationship between the laity and the religious text leads to the formulation and intensive discussion of concepts such as devotional reading, culture of religious reading, or vernacular theology. Several examples of works that belonged to late-medieval Transylvanian laymen suggest the opportunity and, at the same time, the need to ask whether similar dynamics of pious behaviour can be discussed in their case. In order to provide a convincing answer, this study proposes an analysis of these books from at least three perspectives: theme, language, formal characteristics. The most interesting information is offered, however, by property notes, which suggest that the devotional potential of the book was not activated by reading, but rather by donation. By offering solutions to the everyday necessities of ecclesiastical institutions, these gifts were designed to ensure personal salvation as well. In order to support this hypothesis, I will also address another category of sources from which mentions regarding this kind of donations can be recovered, i.e. last wills. Keywords: religious books, devotional practices, pious donations, last wills, laity "
Anuarul Institutului de Istorie "G. Baritiu" - SUPLIMENT CULTURĂ SCRISĂ ȘI CIVILIZAȚIE ÎN TRANSILVANIA SECOLELOR XIII-XIX, 2019
The recording of sermons in writing, throughout the Middle Ages, implied a series of contexts and... more The recording of sermons in writing, throughout the Middle Ages, implied a series of contexts and motivations to which we owe all the possibilities of research. The written text could precede the preaching act, being created for preparation, or it could follow and record a discourse already delivered. This study focuses on the issues generated by this constant negotiation between orality and written in the research of medieval sermons and the methodological approaches proposed in the literature. Starting from the possibilities of analysis presented, I will try to delimit the perspectives that are opened or allowed by the sources preserved in Transylvania, and, based on them, to formulate some remarks regarding the profile of sermon and preaching in medieval Transylvania.
Philobiblon: Transylvanian Journal of Multidisciplinary Research in Humanities , 2019
Pelbartus de Themeswar and Osualdus de Lasko are the only Hungarian authors of sermon collection... more Pelbartus de Themeswar and Osualdus de Lasko are the only Hungarian authors of sermon collections in the Middle Ages. For a research concerning medieval preaching in Transylvania, focusing mainly on the reception of homiletic literature, their works are of a special importance. As they were compiled in the proximity, one might expect that these preaching aids arouse the interest of the Transylvanian public and the amount of copies currently preserved in local libraries suggests the same. The present paper questions the provenance of these volumes in order to determine to what extent they were received, circulated and used in this province of the Hungarian Kingdom at the end of the Middle Ages.
Études Bibliologiques/Library Research Studies, 2019
During Middle Ages sermons were a territory of negotiations between the oral and the written word... more During Middle Ages sermons were a territory of negotiations between the oral and the written word. Additionally, the visual element came to support both the preaching event and the homiletic literature. This already complex equation was complicated even more by the media change that occurred in the mid-fifteenth century. The present paper addresses precisely the printed sermon collections, in order to examine the presence,nature and function of the illustration in the respective works. The analysis stretches up to the middle of the 16th century, when the wind of change brought by Reformation transformed the content and the functions attributed to images. At this point, I only assume the task of formulating some premises and general observations, starting from several examples that provide interesting suggestions regarding the mentioned issues.
Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai. Series Historia, 2017
Several libraries from Transylvania hold in their historical collections works written by an impo... more Several libraries from Transylvania hold in their historical collections works written by an important figure of the early modern Catholicism, Johannes Eck (1486-1543). The present paper looks at the volumes of this author, printed in the first half of the sixteenth century, paying special attention to sermon collections, prevalent among the books found in Transylvania. Their number is rather small, but the analysis of ownerships marks allows formulating some observations. Thus, the bibliographic component of the study, which identifies the preserved volumes, some of which have not been cataloged so far, is accompanied by a historical approach that questions the context of their reception. With a few exceptions, in which the the clues about ownership and the use of books are either missing or very late, Eck's works seem to have been circulated both during the dissemination of the ideas of the Reformation and after the adoption of the new denominations.Several libraries from Transylvania hold in their historical collections works written by an important figure of the early modern Catholicism, Johannes Eck (1486-1543). The present paper looks at the volumes of this author, printed in the first half of the sixteenth century, paying special attention to sermon collections, prevalent among the books found in Transylvania. Their number is rather small, but the analysis of ownerships marks allows formulating some observations. Thus, the bibliographic component of the study, which identifies the preserved volumes, some of which have not been cataloged so far, is accompanied by a historical approach that questions the context of their reception. With a few exceptions, in which the the clues about ownership and the use of books are either missing or very late, Eck's works seem to have been circulated both during the dissemination of the ideas of the Reformation and after the adoption of the new denominations.
There is large evidence concerning a dynamic circulation of apocryphal literature in eighteenth-c... more There is large evidence concerning a dynamic circulation of apocryphal literature in eighteenth-century Transylvania. These texts are characterised above all by a variety of types of writings and of themes. The End is recurrently approached in its immediate meaning of death as well as from an eschatological point of view. The latter is also the major theme of an unpublished text, part of a miscellany, copied most likely in north-western Transylvania in 1761 and entitled: Istoriia pentru naşterea lui Antihrist şi pentru perirea lui şi pentru judeţul lui Hristos. Therefore, this study intends an analysis of its content, integrated within the wider discussion about apocalyptical literature through an evaluation of the whole manuscript. Its investigation is justified by the fact that sources of this kind can unveil specific expectations to which all copyists’ efforts are put forth, while marginalia might offer information about their reception as a cultural product. Nonetheless the image of Antichrist and the story of its future coming are topics insufficiently researched by Romanian scholars concerning Apocrypha. Which are the narrative sequences of this text? What other writings, canonical or not, are similar in their contents? What particular elements can be identified? Which are the other texts this manuscript miscellany consists of and how do they assemble to create a unitary discourse? All these are questions that lead to preliminary observations regarding this unpublished source and to which I will try to answer in the present paper.
Preaching was an essential component of the religious life during the Middle Ages, shaping the Ch... more Preaching was an essential component of the religious life during the Middle Ages, shaping the Christian identity and promoting the norms and decisions of the Church. In line with recent contributions that have drawn attention to Transylvanian expressions of medieval preaching, the present paper intends to examine its significance in the urban milieu prior to the Protestant Reformation, by exploring the case of Cluj (hu. Kolozsvár/ germ. Klausenburg). An important town of the region, it was inhabited by a mixed population of Hungarian-and German-speaking communities, whose pastoral care and access to the divine Word was facilitated by various religious institutions. Although the extant sources do not provide detailed accounts regarding specific sermons delivered in town, their actual contents and mise-en-scène, the present paper outlines the profile of the routine preaching activity, based on homiletic works that belonged to the secular and regular clergy of the town, as well as charters attesting their complementary or competing actions. The analysis reveals that homiletic concerns progressively increased from the beginning of the 15 th century onwards, reaching a pinnacle in the decades prior to the adoption of the Reformation.
Among the various inhabitants of the Hungarian Kingdom during the Middle Ages, there were also Or... more Among the various inhabitants of the Hungarian Kingdom during the Middle Ages, there were also Orthodox Christians, frequently designated as schismatici. Secular and ecclesiastic authorities often sought their conversion and the mission of the Order of Friars Minor in this area targeted them as well. A change of attitude was imposed, at least for a time, in 1439 by the decree of union agreed at the Council of Florence (1438–39). A half a century later, Osualdus de Lasko (c. 1450–1511), a Hungarian Observant Franciscan, wrote a Lenten homiletic cycle exhorting a profound commitment to the true faith by addressing the question of the Byzantine rite in three of his sermons. This article offers an analysis of the sermon collection entitled Quadragesimale Gemma fidei, focusing mainly on the three sermons de damnabili ritu Graecorum. I will argue that, on a spiritual level, Osualdus intended to strengthen the faith of the Catholic inhabitants of Hungary, to resist and correct deviances, in order to regain God’s mercy. On a temporal level, he promoted the return of the ‘Greeks’ to communion with the Roman Church, through conversion, probably in the interest of a stronger front against the Ottomans.
"Research on late-medieval religiosity in Central and Western Europe has shown that reli... more "Research on late-medieval religiosity in Central and Western Europe has shown that religious books were not only possessed, but also read, and sometimes even copied or disseminated by laymen. The need for a better definition of the relationship between the laity and the religious text leads to the formulation and intensive discussion of concepts such as devotional reading, culture of religious reading, or vernacular theology. Several examples of works that belonged to late-medieval Transylvanian laymen suggest the opportunity and, at the same time, the need to ask whether similar dynamics of pious behaviour can be discussed in their case. In order to provide a convincing answer, this study proposes an analysis of these books from at least three perspectives: theme, language, formal characteristics. The most interesting information is offered, however, by property notes, which suggest that the devotional potential of the book was not activated by reading, but rather by donation. By offering solutions to the everyday necessities of ecclesiastical institutions, these gifts were designed to ensure personal salvation as well. In order to support this hypothesis, I will also address another category of sources from which mentions regarding this kind of donations can be recovered, i.e. last wills. Keywords: religious books, devotional practices, pious donations, last wills, laity "
Anuarul Institutului de Istorie "G. Baritiu" - SUPLIMENT CULTURĂ SCRISĂ ȘI CIVILIZAȚIE ÎN TRANSILVANIA SECOLELOR XIII-XIX, 2019
The recording of sermons in writing, throughout the Middle Ages, implied a series of contexts and... more The recording of sermons in writing, throughout the Middle Ages, implied a series of contexts and motivations to which we owe all the possibilities of research. The written text could precede the preaching act, being created for preparation, or it could follow and record a discourse already delivered. This study focuses on the issues generated by this constant negotiation between orality and written in the research of medieval sermons and the methodological approaches proposed in the literature. Starting from the possibilities of analysis presented, I will try to delimit the perspectives that are opened or allowed by the sources preserved in Transylvania, and, based on them, to formulate some remarks regarding the profile of sermon and preaching in medieval Transylvania.
Philobiblon: Transylvanian Journal of Multidisciplinary Research in Humanities , 2019
Pelbartus de Themeswar and Osualdus de Lasko are the only Hungarian authors of sermon collection... more Pelbartus de Themeswar and Osualdus de Lasko are the only Hungarian authors of sermon collections in the Middle Ages. For a research concerning medieval preaching in Transylvania, focusing mainly on the reception of homiletic literature, their works are of a special importance. As they were compiled in the proximity, one might expect that these preaching aids arouse the interest of the Transylvanian public and the amount of copies currently preserved in local libraries suggests the same. The present paper questions the provenance of these volumes in order to determine to what extent they were received, circulated and used in this province of the Hungarian Kingdom at the end of the Middle Ages.
Études Bibliologiques/Library Research Studies, 2019
During Middle Ages sermons were a territory of negotiations between the oral and the written word... more During Middle Ages sermons were a territory of negotiations between the oral and the written word. Additionally, the visual element came to support both the preaching event and the homiletic literature. This already complex equation was complicated even more by the media change that occurred in the mid-fifteenth century. The present paper addresses precisely the printed sermon collections, in order to examine the presence,nature and function of the illustration in the respective works. The analysis stretches up to the middle of the 16th century, when the wind of change brought by Reformation transformed the content and the functions attributed to images. At this point, I only assume the task of formulating some premises and general observations, starting from several examples that provide interesting suggestions regarding the mentioned issues.
Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai. Series Historia, 2017
Several libraries from Transylvania hold in their historical collections works written by an impo... more Several libraries from Transylvania hold in their historical collections works written by an important figure of the early modern Catholicism, Johannes Eck (1486-1543). The present paper looks at the volumes of this author, printed in the first half of the sixteenth century, paying special attention to sermon collections, prevalent among the books found in Transylvania. Their number is rather small, but the analysis of ownerships marks allows formulating some observations. Thus, the bibliographic component of the study, which identifies the preserved volumes, some of which have not been cataloged so far, is accompanied by a historical approach that questions the context of their reception. With a few exceptions, in which the the clues about ownership and the use of books are either missing or very late, Eck's works seem to have been circulated both during the dissemination of the ideas of the Reformation and after the adoption of the new denominations.Several libraries from Transylvania hold in their historical collections works written by an important figure of the early modern Catholicism, Johannes Eck (1486-1543). The present paper looks at the volumes of this author, printed in the first half of the sixteenth century, paying special attention to sermon collections, prevalent among the books found in Transylvania. Their number is rather small, but the analysis of ownerships marks allows formulating some observations. Thus, the bibliographic component of the study, which identifies the preserved volumes, some of which have not been cataloged so far, is accompanied by a historical approach that questions the context of their reception. With a few exceptions, in which the the clues about ownership and the use of books are either missing or very late, Eck's works seem to have been circulated both during the dissemination of the ideas of the Reformation and after the adoption of the new denominations.
There is large evidence concerning a dynamic circulation of apocryphal literature in eighteenth-c... more There is large evidence concerning a dynamic circulation of apocryphal literature in eighteenth-century Transylvania. These texts are characterised above all by a variety of types of writings and of themes. The End is recurrently approached in its immediate meaning of death as well as from an eschatological point of view. The latter is also the major theme of an unpublished text, part of a miscellany, copied most likely in north-western Transylvania in 1761 and entitled: Istoriia pentru naşterea lui Antihrist şi pentru perirea lui şi pentru judeţul lui Hristos. Therefore, this study intends an analysis of its content, integrated within the wider discussion about apocalyptical literature through an evaluation of the whole manuscript. Its investigation is justified by the fact that sources of this kind can unveil specific expectations to which all copyists’ efforts are put forth, while marginalia might offer information about their reception as a cultural product. Nonetheless the image of Antichrist and the story of its future coming are topics insufficiently researched by Romanian scholars concerning Apocrypha. Which are the narrative sequences of this text? What other writings, canonical or not, are similar in their contents? What particular elements can be identified? Which are the other texts this manuscript miscellany consists of and how do they assemble to create a unitary discourse? All these are questions that lead to preliminary observations regarding this unpublished source and to which I will try to answer in the present paper.
În toamna anului 1494, regele Ungariei Vladislav al II-lea își stabilea curtea la Sibiu pentru ap... more În toamna anului 1494, regele Ungariei Vladislav al II-lea își stabilea curtea la Sibiu pentru aproximativ o lună. Șederea suveranului a fost consemnată nu doar succint, prin intermediul documentelor de cancelarie emise aici în respectivul interval de timp, ci și într-o manieră mai generoasă. Două registre de socoteli, întocmite de autoritățile urbane, surprind efortul comunității pentru o bună găzduire a regelui său. O preocupare constantă, oglindită în cele două surse, este tocmai aprovizionarea cu produse alimentare și asigurarea serviciilor conexe (transportul apei, prepararea mâncării, ori sacrificarea animalelor). Deși editate cu mai bine de un secol în urmă, socotelile păstrate nu au fost valorificate pe măsura detaliilor conținute și a perspectivelor de analiză pe care le deschid. Drept urmare, scopul demersului nostru este de a lămuri contextul prezenței regale la Sibiu, dar, mai cu seama, de a pune în evidență ce a însemnat acest moment sub aspectul alimentației, cu diversele sale fațete. Sursele pot fi interogate din perspectiva produselor consumate, a costurilor implicate, a contribuției colective (din partea hinterlandului sibian) ori individuale, uneori asumată în funcție de gen. Dat fiind că evenimentul se înscrie într-un timp al sărbătorii, inclusiv alimentația are un caracter excepțional, aspect sugerat de socotelile avute în vedere, mai ales în privința cantităților înregistrate. Astfel, ele conturează profilul unui oraș capabil să își asume și să susțină prezența curții regale, lăsând totodată să se întrevadă specificul economiei locale, de la procurarea mirodeniilor orientale, la prepararea legumelor și cărnurilor din gospodăriile proprii.
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