Századok – 1997

Tanulmányok - Tóth Endre: István és Gizella miseruhája I/3

ISTVÁN ÉS GIZELLA MISERUHÁJA , 73 est la trentième commémoration du couronnement du roi Etienne 1er. C'est fut la raison possible de l'offrande de ce souvenir de l'art romain. D'après les inscriptions et les particularités iconographiques l'auteur de la conception aura été un moine bénédictin, peut-être de la première abbaye de Hongrie, Pannonhalma. Les particularités iconographiques et d'autres reflètent fortement l'influence du territoire de l'Allemagne du Sud et et de la Bavière. THE CORONATION COPE OF ST STEPHEN AND GISELA by Endre Tóth (Summary) Along with the insignia of the kings of Hungary the cope worn by them at their coronation from the later years of the age of the Árpáds has also been preserved for posterity. It was originally a bell-shaped chasuble (casula or Glockenkasel) that was probably transformed into a coronation cope in the late 12th century. It is made of eastern silk embroidered with gold. The cope is divided into four fields decorated with figures. The article deals with the pattern of the composition and the texts on the basis of which it had been prepared. Finally it also analyses the reasons of the donation of this richly decorated liturgical robe. The four horizontal fields contain 61 major figures, 52 smaller half-length portraits, birds, and four-legged animals. The rectangular image at the top of the front axis portraits Christ on the Cross. When the chasuble was reshaped into a coronation cope, its front was cut and only fragments of the front images remained intact. Below this one follows the image of the Transfiguration. On the back the victorious Jesus Christ (Christus Victor) is on top, followed by the Lord on the Throne. On the shoulders one can find Virgin Maty and Jesus Christ in Heaven. The medallions are surrounded by inscriptions (leonianus) explaining them. The inscription commemorating the donation of the robe can be found between the two lower fields and reads as follows: Anno incarnacionis XPI MXXXI indiccione ХШ a Stephana rege et Gisla regina casula hec operata et data (est) ecclesia sanctae Mariae sitae in civitate Alba. This inscription was undoubtedly made simultaneously with the chasuble itself and indicates the original purpose of the robe testifying that it was the first king of Hungary and his wife Gisela who had it prepared and donated it to the main church of the kings of the House of Árpád where all Hungarian kings were to be coronated until 1527 and most of them were also buried. In the second field from above Jesus Christ and the prophets are depicted. Below them follows a townwall with twelve gates and an apostle in each of them. The fourth field contains medallions of St Stephan the martyr, St Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius, Laurence, an unknown figure (the subscription did not survive), Cosma, Damian, George, and Vincent. This field also contains the images of King Stephen I to the right and Queen to the left. The small medallion between them has no explanatory inscription. It presumably portraits Prince Imre, their son and heir. The pattern of images on the chasuble had been planned on the basis of liturgical texts. It depicts Jerusalem in Heaven and the community of the saints. The sequence of the various groups (Jesus Christ, Mary, prophets, apostles, and martyrs) indicates that the prototype must have been the litany on All Saints' Day. The sequence of the figures within the individual groups also follow the New Testament and other ecclesiastical traditions. The martyrs had been chosen from among the saints in the communicantes section of the canon of the mass. King Stephen is guarded by his patron, protomartyr Stephen. So it is also probable that Vincent depicted next to the queen must have been her parton saint, since St Vincent had not been worshipped in Hungary before. It may also indicate that Gisela must have been born on January 22, on the day when her patron saint was celebrated. The images on the main axis of the chasuble show the influence of Laudes regiae. The inscriptions of the vesicles portraying Jesus Christ (Hostibus en Christus prostratis emicat altus; Sessio regnantem notât et Christum dominantem) are paraphrases of acclamations to the ruler (Christus vincit, Christus régnât, Christus imperat). The king and the queen are depicted together with martyrs, which indicated that they took place at the bottom of the heavenly hierarchy, in the last field of the chasuble. This type of representation corresponds to contemporary German pieces