The Hospitallers in the Medieval Kingdom of Hungary, c. 1150–1387

Zsolt Hunyadi, School of Slavonic and East European Studies at University College London

The Order of Saint John – the Knights Hospitallers – is one of the oldest surviving religious orders. In the middle ages it had its headquarters in the East but its activities there depended for men, money and political support on its Western preceptories and priories. Most of them relied on local materials without utilizing the Order’s central archives, the remains of which are now on Malta. There have, more recently, been books on priories which partly made use of the Malta documents. The work of Zsolt Hunyadi is a further addition both to the study of particular Hospitaller priories and to the history of the order as a whole. A major problem faced by the author was the dramatic loss of archives and documents in Hungary, a difficulty which he laboured admirably to counter in Malta and elsewhere. In one way, it is precisely because developments in the Hungarian priory were so different from those elsewhere that Hunyadi’s work is of such interest.

Contents

Acknowledgements List of maps and tables List of abbreviations Introduction Chapter I An international and regional historiography of the hospital, Current trends in international research (1967 to 2007), Regional historiography: Hospitallers in Hungary Chapter II The Order: history, structure, and characteristics, From Jerusalem to Rhodes, The structure of the order: from membra to Convent Chapter III The appearance and spread of the Order in Hungary In principio…: the twelfth century, Prosperity: the thirteenth century Regional characteristics Chapter IV The Fourteenth century, Consolidation, Templars, crisis, The fight against the infidel and fellow Christians, Preceptories, headquarters Chapter V Officials of the Hungarian–Slavonian priory, The Arpadian period, The Italian-Provençal rotation Chapter VI The preceptories and their personnel, Methodological considerations Catalogue Brothers and their status Chapter VII Hospitaller finance and management Revenues Privileges, immunities, exemptions Seigneurial revenues, Rents and leases Others revenues, Taxes and dues Chapter VIII Hospitallers in Hungary and pragmatic literacy, Administering law in Hungary Hospitaller preceptories as places of authentication, The use of seals Conclusions Bibliography Appendices a) List of primary sources b) Diplomatarium c) Hospitaller seals d) Tables and figures e) Gazetteer

" For historians of the medieval religious orders, the monograph contains interesting comparative material that touches upon the topics of papal and royal centralism in the fourteenth century as well as upon the ongoing rivalry these orders had with the diocesan clergy."—The Medieval Review

CEU Medievalia series 13

2010
374 pages
ISBN 978-963-9662-44-5 paperback $65.00 / €50.00 / £45.00