The Latin Vocabulary of Memory in Medieval Hungary

Abstract

This chapter demonstrates that the sources for the formation of Latin literacy in medieval Hungary provide useful material for examining the Latin vocabulary of memory. The chapter focuses on the following: the roles of memory in Latin grammar and epistolography in general; the lexical records of memory in Medieval Latin, particularly in Hungary; the Latin vocabulary of memory in the charters of medieval Hungary, with special attention to prose style and the biblical tradition; the roles of memory in education and book production as reflected in the Deliberatio of Bishop Saint Gerard of Csanad; the importance of the biblical and the classical tradition in the transmission of the uses of memory in the legends of King Saint Stephen of Hungary; and the literary convention of the use of memory and oblivion in the anonymous Gesta Hungarorum. Keywords: Bishop Saint Gerard; King Saint Stephen; Latin vocabulary; medieval Hungary