Horváth M. Ferenc (szerk.): Vác The heart of the Danube Bend. A historical guide for residents and globetrotters (Vác, 2009)
Tartalom
VÁC IN THE ÁRPÁD ERA (895-1 301) 59 their horses, carts and goods in big barges and punts. The toll-collectors made them pay not only the fare but also the duty due to the bishop. Leaving the area northwards, the traveller was accompanied by the sight of ploughfieids on the flat areas and well-cultivated vineyards on the hillsides. KINGS, BISHOPS ANDTHE CHAPTER Vác and its neighbourhood did not suffer any attacks from 1070 onwards for more than 150 years. This period could have seen development of varying intensity. We have a statement about the income of the king and the bishopric dating from the end of the 12th century, the reign of King Béla 111(1172-1196). At that time the bishop of Vác had one of the lowest income among the church dignitaries. It amounted to about 170 kilos of silver a year, which only exceeded the income of the Bishopric of Nyitra with its dismal, barren, sparsely populated mountains. Despite their relatively low income the bishops of Vác were among the most distinguished persons of the country: they were as much expected to provide advice and support for the rulers of the House of Árpád as the other bishops from wealthier dioceses. Sometimes the future of the whole kingdom was influenced by the bishop of Vác. One of them was Bishop Boleslo, who in the course of the fratricidal struggle following the death of King Béla III, supported Prince András (later King András II) instead of the crowned King Imre. The king thought that the letters and documents of the rebels plotting against him were hidden in Vác, so in 1299 AD he and his soldiers broke into the cathedral. The bishop held on to the altar trying to find shelter at the sacred place, but the king tugged him away and had the bishop's treasury broken into. If we can believe what the king wrote to the Pope in his letter of apology, his soldiers had not put a hand on any of the treasures, they had taken only the documents of the plotters. In 1218 the chapter made a complaint to the Pope because of the abuses of their bishop. The Pope ordered the matter to be investigated but, unfortunately, no documents about the outcome of the case survive. In 1224 the Pope ordered the bishop of Vác to take the side of Prince Béla (later King Béla IV) in the acrimonious conflict between him and his father King András II. During the Middle Ages it was common practice in Hungary that - for lack of notaries - official matters were dealt with by the institutions of the church: monasteries, provostship and chapters (the ecclesiastical body working with the bishop). In order to manage different kinds of purchases, exchanges of landed properties or inheritance proceedings, the noblemen in the area went to the nearby approved office to have their matters put into writing for a certain fee. Whenever the king endowed someone with some landed property, this was registered there, usually by a prebend or a priest. In the course of lawsuits the representatives of the authorised office were also needed to take testimonies or to judge the situation. The first known deed of this type issued by the Chapter of Vác dates back to 1277. From then on up to the age of the Ottoman conquest the number of cases, charters issued both to noblemen and commoners who visited the town for this reason kept on growing. THE MONGOL INVASION The first frightening news about the enormous Mongol Empire was brought back by frater Julianus, who had been searching for the eastern relatives of the Hungarians. At the beginning of 1241, only a few years after his return, the merciless invaders were already at the Hungarian borders. On 12 March of the same year they defeated the Hungarian army The seal of the Chapter of Vác used in 1268 and 1300
