Diaconescu, Marius (szerk.): Nobilimea romanească din Transilvania (Satu Mare, 1997)
Adrian Andrei Rusu: Nobilimea Românească şi biserica în secolul al XV-lea
great Christian churches. Although this problem has not been dealt with on the territory of Hungary, it was supposed to be a very real one, and the Romanian elite of Transylvania took great advantage of that. Moreover, there is enough evidence to reveal the existence of some local church structures which included priests, rectors, and especially churches with orthodox frescos and Slavonic inscriptions. Yet, at the same time the local feudals (also called knezes) initiated important compromises to integrate themselves into the common mass of Hungarian nobility in the name of keeping up social connections. The gravity of all discrepancies became acute only when Catholic administration and state authority (as active parts in the Catholic-Orthodox relations) admitted the failure of this union. This happened by the end of king Mathias's reign. The fonnál maintenance and statement of Florence compromises as they probably have been formulated in Transylvania, and especially in Haţeg prevented the Romanian nobility from a new attempt of disturbing and even invalidating its social status. This perspective together with a historical progress which steadily separated it from the rural community from which it developed contributed to the catholic success in Haţeg. Under the above mentioned circumstances, Romanian kneazes and nobles of Haţeg began to resort to public notaries (Alba-Iulia, Cluj- Mănăştur), and to churches previously belonging to the Catholic ritual only. They received new vestments with Slavonic legends (Sint'm rie Orlea), and attended Catholic universities (the Ciula family in Krakow). They even had jobs in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church (bishops, canons), and assimilated the catholic names; yet they continued to record their church achievements in Slavonic alphabet (Sărăcineştii din Sălaşu de Sus), and perforated marriage services in the Roman ritual (the family of Cîmeşti). After the Florence motivations extinguished, the facts already presented continued the integration process within the Catholic world. This was primarily due to the interests of the nobility who rejected the idea of being isolated as an unwonted group, but to get thoroughly integrated within the nobility of the kingdom. The choice had no serious moral impact. It was only a linear move, initially made with the support of some Orthodox religious authorities. If the religious metamorphosis preserved a specific cultural life as shown by the traces, the move was even more difficult to depict or felt. The relation between the feudal lords and the priests who were 150
