Dénesi Tamás (szerk.): Collectanea Sancti Martini - A Pannonhalmi Főapátság Gyűjteményeinek Értesítője 6. (Pannonhalma, 2018)
II. Közlemények
Szentkultusz középkori pénzeinken 109 Márton Gyöngyössy The Cult of Saints on Mediaeval Coins in Hungary Iconographical contribution to the history of minting in Hungary Three saints are represented on mediaeval coins in Hungary. The most influential of them is the Blessed Virgin Mary first represented on the Byzantinestyle coppercoins of Béla III (1172–1196) in the 12th century (the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of the World). After this, however, the cult of the Blessed Virgin Mary reappears on coins in Hungary only centuries later: that is, Matthias Corvinus (1458–1490) had the image of the Patron of Hungary (Patrona Hungariae) stamped on the obverse of goldcoins and the reverse of silvercoins. Since then up to 1939, the Blessed Virgin Mary remained permanently represented on coins in circulation in Hungary. On the goldforints of Charles I (1307–1342) Saint John the Baptist was represented. The reason for this is not the saint’s cult in Hungary, but rather his being the patron saint of Florence, and the goldcoins of the king of Hungary are practically the copies, the reminted versions of the Florentine prototype. However, during the reign of Louis the Great (1342–1382), the image of coins changed, and for centuries, Saint John the Baptist was replaced by Saint Ladislaus, the Hungarian saint knight venerated by the king. Nevertheless, Saint John the Baptist reappeared on Hungarian coins once more: he can be seen again on Matthias Corvinus’s groat of Wrocław, and the reason for this is that the patron saint of Wrocław is likewise Saint John the Baptist. The brandlike representation of Saint Ladislaus on the late mediaeval and early modern goldcoins significantly influenced the cult of Saint Ladislaus: his simultaneous representation together with the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary on goldforints greatly contributed to the spread of the idea of “Saint Ladislaus, the Knight of the Blessed Virgin Mary” whose most remarkable example can be seen in the coinimage of Władisław II’s (1490–1516) guldiners.
