Egyháztörténeti Szemle 16. (2015)
2015 / 3. szám - SUMMARIES IN ENGLISH - Thoroczkay Gábor: Early History of the Székesfehérvár Basilica and Provostship - Vaderna Gábor: Poetical Representation of the Installation Ceremony of Sándor Rudnay
Summaries in English Early History of the Székesfehérvár Basilica and Provostship Thoroczkay, Gábor This study shows the early history and treasures of the Székesfehérvár Basilica and provostship which was founded by the first Hungarian king, Saint Stephen (1000/1001-1038), also serving as a burial place of his. The study covers the descriptions of the building destroyed at the very beginning of the 17th century during the Turkish occupation from the Árpád ages (Hungarian Chronicle and the legends of Saint Stephen). It also covers the attempts to reconstruct the building, the coronations taking place in the Basilica from the early ages, the royal burials getting more frequent from the 12th century and the canonizations of King Stephen and his son, Imre taking place within the Basilica in the year 1083. The study describes in detail the issue of the Holy Crown of Hungary, the royal lance of German origin which has been lost, the still remaining coronation mantle of unique value which originally belonged to the provost of the Basilica as his chasuble, and the issue of the Székesfehérvár rationales, the pontificals wore by the coronizing bishops, which had presumably existed. Poetical Representation of the Installation Ceremony of Sándor Rudnay Vaderna, Gábor The highest position of the Hungarian Catholic Church, the Primateship of Esztergom was vacant between 1809 and 1820. This vacancy was one of the most important issues of Hungarian politics that time. The Habsburg Court did not want to remedy for this grievance as the revenue of the archbishopric had been collected by the Habsburg Monarchy itself and had been spent on the Napoleonic wars. Hence the Hungarian orders waited hopefully for the great moment of a nomination. Finally, the king, Franz II chose the bishop of Transylvania, Sándor Rudnay (1760-1831) who was approved of by the Vatican too. This paper presents the poetical representation of the installation ceremony, which was held in May 1820. More than a hundred poems were born in several languages (Latin, Hungarian, German, Slovakian, and French) by numerous kinds of authors (such as clerics, nobles, students, or simple citizens). Of course, in these laudations (encomiasticums as it is termed) they all praised the excellence and virtue of Rudnay, but they also tried to articulate what their wishes were, what expectations they had, what they thought about their political chances, and how an archbishop should support a political cause at the Court. In this sense, the poetry that appeared for this occasion was a specific tool of political communication by which one could express one’s opinions and desires.
