Dénesi Tamás (szerk.): Collectanea Sancti Martini - A Pannonhalmi Főapátság Gyűjteményeinek Értesítője 9. (Pannonhalma, 2021)
II. Gyűjteményeinkből
128 Haader Lea: Egy misszilis vallomásrétegei Lea Haader The multi-layer evidence of a letter sent by Prioress Elena The present paper discusses the letter by Prioress Elena. The letter belongs to the archives of the Erdődy Family, and it was transferred from the collection of the Smidt Museum in Szombathely to the Archives of the Archabbey in Pannonhalma in the near past. The letter, which might have been written around 1520, was sent by Ilona Bocskay – the superior of the Dominican sisters on the Isle of Rabbits (called Margaret Island today) – to her nephew, István Bocskay, who lost his life in the Battle of Mohács. The sent letter is examined in terms of its content, writing and history. These aspects – owing to the biographical character of manuscripts – provide many references. They refer to the method of estate management by the sisters on the Isle, the difficulties related to the shared estate, and their resoluteness in asserting their privileges. The handwriting – according to the duality of the head and hand common in the period – is not that of Prioress Elena sending the letter, but that of Lea Ráskay, and it is also probable that her scriptorexperiences left their marks on the letter’s composition. The facts related to the history reveal that the documents of this branch of the Bocskay Family were moved to the Erdődys in the course of time. The letter was transferred from the archives of Monyorókerék to the archives of Vép, it survived the vicissitudes of the Second World War with some damage, then – together with other documents of the Erdődy Archives – it was deposited in the Archives of the Chapter in Szombathely. Between 1949 and 1961, it got removed from the Chapter in a hitherto unknown way, and it was integrated into the SmidtCollection. It was repaired in the Museum of Applied Arts. The research paper also investigates how it was that the letter had been recorded as one written by Lea Ráskay as early as its deposition in the SmidtCollection albeit the archivists in general did not know about it even a quarter of a century later either. As for this question, other interlocking parts of history are related to the history of this letter.
