Takács Imre: Az Árpád-házi királyok pecsétjei (Corpus sigillorum hungariae mediaevalis 1. Budapest, 2012)
The Beginnings of Heraldry
THE BEGINNINGS OF HERALDRY It was more or less in the final century of the Árpád era that the heraldic representation of the Hungarian royal family, crown and kingdom took form. We know of two media in which the royal coat of arms was used in serial production: seals and coins, the latter of course in much larger quantities. In a 1984 lecture, Eva Kovács clearly outlined the potential discoveries that thirteenth century royal seals held for historians and art historians studying the medieval language of symbols, objects of royal representation and heraldry. She investigated and determined the coat of arms and engraving on Stephen V’s double seal of 1270, the roots of the symbolism of the double cross in the Byzantine relic cult, and the special place in Hungarian heraldic history occupied by the cross encircled by the crown of thorns.368 The beginnings of heraldry in Hungary, however, go back much further than the reign of Stephen V, to the final decades of the twelfth century. King Enteric’s gold bulla of around 1200 heralded a new type of seal and a new form of representation in the history of medieval Hungarian royal seals, the medal-like double seal (fig. 70). Besides being a new type, there is every sign that this seal marked the beginning of royal heraldic representation in Hungary. In addition, the output of die chancellery showed signs of transition and a search for form for some thirty years after 1196. The arms of Enteric on his gold seal feature a shield with barry of eight and lions in the odd fields. These arms, with minor changes, remained a constant element on royal heraldry until the end of Andrew II’s reign (figs. 71-73). The divided shield was subsequently displaced, and returned only towards the end of the century, on Andrew Ill’s ducal equestrian seal (Cat. 46). The reign of Andrew II was a significant period for the coat of arms as used by the Árpád dynasty. The reverse of his double seal, of which two versions are known (Cat. 24, 28) and the reverse of his gold bulla (Cat. 26), are filled with the divided heraldic shield decorated with the lion figures introduced by Enteric (figs. 72-73). As mentioned above, Enteric’s 1202 gold seal was the first to feature the shield with barry of eight, traditionally held by Hungarian medievalists as having arrived with the dowry of Constance of Aragon. This has been challenged, most recently by Iván Bertényi, who places it in the more general context of European heraldic development.369 We 36S Kovács 1984, pp. 407-423; the essay was republished unrevised in: Kovács 1998, pp. 341-351. 369 Bertényi 2009, pp. 194-197. might add to his arguments that the loan of a family coat of arms would be unlikely to survive the ascendancy to the throne of a riv al brother. The coins struck by Andrew II, although sometimes also using the divided coat of arms of the seals,370 concentrate more on raising the significance of cross symbolism, the double- cross insignia and the sophistication of its context, and strive to direct attention to Andrew II as a crusading knight. The cult of the cross, originating in Constantinople, and the visual tradition it gave rise to, was preserved and fleshed out in the thirteenth century by the aims and concepts of the crusades. The royal typarium for the one-sided royal great remained in use after the appearance of the medal seal, indeed it assumed even greater dimensions. “The original purpose of the double seal was to prevent abuse of the old one-sided seal which was possible if the two seal matrices were held in different places and by different people.”371 The obverse continued to depict the king seated on the throne, holding the sovereign insignia, and the dynastic heraldic representation became a theme of its own on the reverse. In Enteric's case, this was the newly-introduced shield with barry of eight. These seals document the prehistory and development of the armorial bearings of the state of Hungary, still in use today. They include rare evidence of how types and heraldic bearings were adopted and how they interacted, and the way they were blazoned and occasionally given unique interpretations.372 Before looking at further surviving examples of coats of arms on Árpád era seals, we should clear up a misunderstanding that sometimes arises in the literature, based on a false dating.373 374 According to the latest review of the coats of arms of the House of Árpád, “the double cross symbolising royal power appears on the coins of Béla III (1172-1196), initially without a shield, but arranged inside a shield on the coins struck around 1190.”3 4 This finding is based on double-cross denars 370 CNH I, pp. 201-207. 371 Kumorovitz 1993, p. 70. 372 Kropf 1896, pp. 134-135; Hóman 1917; Dory 1917, pp. 17-33; Donászy F.: Az Árpádok címerének kérdése. Turul, 49, 1935; Kumorovitz 1942, pp. 22-32; Kovács 1984, pp. 407-423. 373 Another paper presenting the present theses has been published at the time of writing, together with another publication reaching the same conclusion independently: Takács I.: Címerek az Árpád-háziak pecsétjein. Turul 84, 2011, pp. 84-91; Körmendi T.: A magyar királyok kettőskeresztes címerének kialakulása. Turul 84, 2011, pp. 73-83. 374 Bertényi 2009, p. 189. Put similarly in: Bertényi 1983, p. 67. 69
