Majorossy Judit: Egy történelmi gyilkosság margójára. Merániai Gertrúd emlékezete, 1213 - 2013. Tanulmánykötet - A Ferenczy Múzeum kiadványai, A. sorozat: Monográfiák 2. (Szentendre, 2014)
I. - Szabó Péter: A pilisi királyi erdő a középkorban
Péter Szabó: The Royal Forest of Pilis in the Middle Ages The Cistercians and the Paulines were in many respects very different from each other. The Cistercian order was an international venture, which was for a long time credited with the cultivation of wilderness areas and the introduction of new agricultural and industrial techniques. Although some of these assumptions were based on the wording of the Regula of the Cistercians rather than their actual activities, the pioneering nature of the White Monks is undeniable.32 The Paulines, on the other hand, were the only Hungarian monastic order which, according to its own tradition, originated actually in Pilis, following the example of local hermits.33 The Pauline brethren seem to have lived a relatively simple life.34 But the role of the special geographical position of Pilis is clearly identifiable in both cases. Paulines as well as Cistercians were required to settle in uninhabited places (although such rules were often not taken seriously). The Pilis Mountains were an ideal location for the monks to be far from the mundane world but close to it at the same time. This is most obvious in the case of the Cistercian monastery: it was one of five monasteries established by King Béla III as part of his general westwards-oriented policy. It is perhaps not accidental that the Pilis monastery, which was among the most significant Cistercians monasteries in Hungary, was situated next to the seat of the archbishop of Esztergom.35 The abbot of this monastery often acted on behalf of the King or the Pope in important political missions. Another event of the highest significance was the construction of the castle of Visegrád in the mid-thirteenth century. There had been a castle in Visegrád before, built upon the ruins of a Roman fortress on Sibrik hill, the focal place of the ancient County Visegrád. This had fallen into disuse by the early 1200s, when the county centre moved to Esztergom.36 As the hunting residences gradually became out-of-date and the function of the Forest was in need of some new definition, Queen Mary (wife of King Béla IV), apparently acting on her own initiative, started to build a castle above the old fortress, which she financed by selling her own jewels. The new castle was at least partly ready by 1251,37 Eight years later Béla IV donated “the castle with the county and district of Pilis” to the queen.38 The new castle originally had a well-defined function. It was built to protect the Dominican nuns of what is today Margaret Island (at that period, Rabbit Island) in Budapest in case of another Mongol invasion. Margaret, one of the nuns, was the daughter of the royal couple, which undoubtedly explains why the queen was willing to sacrifice her jewels. Nonetheless, this alone could probably not account for all the changes that took place in Pilis in the thirteenth century. Something important is revealed in two papal charters from 1263-1264 that confirmed the donation of Pilis to the queen.39 Here it is stated that the income of the county was less than fifty golden marks. This was not much: in the early fourteenth century, the income of the provostry of Dömös alone was estimated to be around sixty marks, for example, while the income of the chapter of Buda was two hundred.40 With less and less desire to be ceaselessly on the move, and in an increasingly commercial environment, the King cared little about a Forest that yielded such low income. He would let the Queen take control of the place, and be grateful to her into the bargain. Furthermore, in giving up the hunting lodges he was facilitating the initiative of the hermit-monks - thus maintaining royal control over the territory at least in a spiritual sense. The transformation of the administrative structure of the Royal Forest of Pilis was completed by the unification of the functions of the comet of Pilis and the castellan of Visegrád. This is usually thought to have taken place automatically and immediately, but there was a notable time-gap. The first to hold the two positions at the same time was Eyza ‘the Saracen’in 1285.41 Before that, and after 1251, we know of five comitet of Pilis.42 Two of them are known only by their names (Philip and Oliver). As for the rest, we find one bishop (Thomas, bishop of Vác) and one archbishop (Nicholas), both chancellors of the Royal Court; and Joachim was Master of the Treasury and also comet of County Pozsony. This clearly shows that the county of Pilis was no longer implying an economic unit but had symbolic significance. Its comitet, very far from their previous role as keepers, received their office and title as a sign of royal honour and cared little about the woods. Pilis was managed, in ways that are unknown to us, by lesser officers appointed by the comitet. But by the end of the thirteenth century the castellan of Visegrád and the comes of Pilis were indeed the same person. 32 Lekai 1977; Constable 1996: 120; Aston 1993: 74. 33 Romhányi 2008. 34 Mályusz 1971: 257—274; Romhányi 2000. 35 Laszlovszky 1997. 36 Zsoldos 1998:14-17. 37 She issued a charter “in Wisegrad” that year. ÁUO VII. 236. 38 ÁÚO VII. 502 (“[...] castrum cum comitatu et districtu de Pelys [...]”). 39 ÁÚO VIII. 70-72; ÁÚO III. 94-96. 40 ÁMTFIV. 592. 41 ÁMTF IV. 710. 42 ÁMTF IV. 692; Pesty 1880:1. 65-66. 77
