Folia Theologica 3. (1992)
Charles Duggan: Decretal letters to Hungary
FOLIA THEOLOGICA 3 (1992) 5 Charles DUGGAN DECRETAL LETTERS TO HUNGARY* The post-Gratian decretal collections contain almost 1100 letters, of which decretals to England form by far the most numerous regional element, followed in turn by those to Italy, and the French and Spanish decretals. Comparatively few were sent to Scandinavia or Hungary, very few indeed to Germany, eastern Europe and other regions, and only two were sent to Ireland, both within fourteen days of one another.1 These proportions do not accurately reflect the proportion of letters dispatched, but they reflect to some extent the areas of most frequent appellate relations with the curia, and also in which the greater initiative was shown in collecting and codifying decretals received. The decretals to Hungary provide the focus of the present study, which deals with sixteen letters, including two to the king of Hungary, six to the archbishop of Esztergom and two to the archbishop of Kalocsa (one of them jointly to both archbishops) and one to the suffragans, clergy and nobles of both provinces, one each to the bishops of Győr and Vác, suffragan sees of Esztergom, and one to recipients in the diocese of Nitra, subject to Esztergom, but now in Czechoslovakia. Broadening the perspective to the historical sphere of Hungarian interests in the south, to Croatia and Dalmatia, decretals to the bishops of Arbe and Osor, in the province of Zara, and to the archbishop of Split are included. * The present study is a development of a lecture on „Hungarian decretals in English collections", given in the Theological Seminary in Budapest in May 1990. A list of abbreviations used for the names of collections is given at the end of this chapter. 1 W. HOLTZMANN, „Über eine Ausgabe der päpstlichen Dekretalen des 12.Jahrhunderts", Akad. Gottingen (1945) 34, Anh. 1. In an overall total of 1055 decretals for all regions, Holtzmanns table records 12 items for Hungary and Dalmatia: one before Eugenius III, 8 for Alexander III and one each for Lucius III, Clement III and Celestine HI. The present study includes 16 decretals, from Alexander III and his successors, to Celestine III. The two Irish decretals are Cum in dandis, Clement III to the archbishop of Dublin, 3 March 1190: WH 257, JL 16567; and Cum ad sedem,Clement III to the archbishop of Cashel, 17 March (!) 1190, WH 213, JL 16564; ed. in M. P. Sheehy, PontificiaHibemica, Dublin 1962,1.63-4 no. 19, and 66-7, no. 21; the full texts appear together in the register derivative Seg. 17 and 18.
