Vadas József (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 13. (Budapest, 1993)
KOVÁCS Éva: Művesség és tudomány a középkorban. A magyar koronázási palást készítésének egy aspektusa
poem? The same question is open in the case of the priest who contributed to the construction of the chasuble, which is constructed in a fairly similar way, using the relation between circles and squares. Yet, the introduction of these relations is not the task of my study. 20 Other similarities between the chasuble and the poem can also be detected, though their significance is not more than a mere sign of an identical level and circle of education. The direction of Uffingus lines, for example, is clockwise, just like the direction of the tituli of the chasuble; the symbols of the same abstract iconography are present on both piece, and the words of the last inscription of the chasuble, characterizing the judging Christ, are identical with the "incipit" of the picture poem: A et co domináns sine calce per ethera regnans... 21 . Although craftsmen also used some basic, generally simple construction techniques, these features suggest lhat Uffingus and the Hungarian priest were highly educated, being familiar with poetry as well as with construction. In the case of the chasuble he probably passed his orders, together with the intentions of the commissioner, to the craftsmen. Intentions are likely to have been, since in a Legend called Minor King Stephen is said "to have been devoted to grammatica even in his childhood". 22 The chasuble is in a way the apotheosis of the royal family. The royal couple could not have a more elevated place in Heaven than on the mantle. Stephen is given a universal space, modelling perhaps the offer scene of the famous Evangeliarium of Aachen (now Aachen, Domschatz, 15v-16r), where the emperor is presented in a Christly mandorla. 23 After the analysis of Jenő Szűcs, King Stephen is accepted as a quasi author of Intelmek (Admonitions - a work written to his son, Imre, on constitutional theory). 21 The same can also be possible in the case of a silk and gold manifestation of picture, poetry and geometry, conveying and conserving unchanged - the stressed, irreal atmoshpere of the age of the Millenium, a spirit that, being supported by the pope and the emperor, and in accordance with Stephen's intentions, brought a Christian Hungarian monarchy to life Notes 1 Kovács É.: Iconismus Casulae Sancti Stephani Regis. In. Szent István és kora (St. Stephen and His Age), Ed. by Glatz F. and Kovács J. Budapest, 1988 pp. 133-144. Antecedents: Kovács, É.: Casula Sancti Stephani Regis, Acta Históriáé Artium, 5-1958 pp.181-221 2 The first traces of Christian computation go back to the second century. In the calendar, the year started with Easter, which is still a feast without a fixed date. Parallelly, beside Christ's death time was again measured from his birthday, which was also incorporated in history writing by Beda Venerabilis (674-735) ( Annus ab incarnatione). A good summary of the problem is given by Maier,II.: Die christliche Zeitrechnung, Herder/Speculum 4018 vo. Freiburg-Basel-Wien, 1991. The origin of the indictio computing, on the other hand, is Egyptian, referring to 15-year cycles (tax circles). It started 3 years befor the birth of Christ, which means that in this time three more years should be added to the given year. Thus, for example 1031 would be 1031 + 3 = 1034 : 15 = 68 + 14 /1020 + 14/. The indictio computing also had different starts, with September 1, September 24 and December 25 or January 1. The indictio is counted to the year which has the bigger part. See Szentpétcry I.: A kronológia kézikönyve (The Handbook of Chronology). In Tudománytár, Budapest, 1985. pp.30-35. The starting days (stilus) in the chronology of the Christian era: January 1, March 1. and March 25, stilus paschalis (altering) September 1. In Western Europe, and about 1000 in Hungary as well, the most frequently used starting day was December 25 (stilus Nativitatis).
