Századok – 2014
KÖZLEMÉNYEK - Molnár Péter: Olvasta-e Kézai Simon Mester Aquinói Szent Tamást? II/427
OLVASTA-E KÉZAI SIMON MESTER AQUINÓI SZENT TAMÁST? 441 DID MASTER SIMON OF KÉZA READ SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS? by Péter Molnár (Abstract) The idea that the influence of Saint Thomas Aquinas’ political thought on Gesta Hungarorum of Simon of Kéza (cl282-85) can be demonstrated has from time to time appeared in Hungarian historiography since a study by Péter Váczy published in 1933. It was in Master Simon’s account of the Hun and the Hungarian political organisations before the Monarchy that some have allegedly detected the inspiration of Aquinas. Váczy made his assumption exclusively on the basis of a few German scholarly works. The present study points out that the above view is based on ascribing to St. Thomas opinions he never held, due to a lack of knowledge of particular texts. Later (1973) Jenő Szűcs compared some details of Aquinas’ works with theoretical elements of Simon’s historical narrative. Although he noted the differences between the two, he still saw Thomas as one of the important inspirations of Simon’s political theory. Besides using several passages by Aquinas out of context, Szűcs’s unwarranted conclusions are explained by his unreflectively following Otto von Gierke and Walter Ullmann, who assumed a coherent mediaeval corporation theory, in which ideas attributed to Thomas Aquinas play a central role.
