Holy Crown Research Articles

Między traumą Trianon a integralnością Korony św. Stefana. Koncepcje i próby odbudowy Wielkich Węgier 1920-1947

The goal of the article is to undertake a cause and effect analysis of political events and to present the effects of the Treaty of Trianon as factors significantly influencing Hungarian efforts to preserve the integrity of the Holy Crown. Stefan. The analysis of the achievements of historiography leads to the conclusion that finding a way to connect the “lost lands” with the Kingdom was supposed to be an antidote to political, social and economic problems resulting from territorial losses. Opportunities to implement the idea of Greater Hungary until the mid-1930s were seen in federal plans integrating state organisms located along the Danube. It is not possible to implement the plans drawn up, e.g. by Oszkár Jászi, Elmér Hantos, Gusztáv Gratz and Miklós Makáy, as well as the deepening economic difficulties, were to cause that even at the ideological level the Hungarians were to abandon all attempts at a federation. Hopes of crossing out Trianon would find their outlet in alliances with countries striving to revise the treaties concluded after the First World War. The relationship with the Third Reich allowed for a short-term recovery of fragments of Slovakia, Transylvania and Transcarpathian Ruthenia and gave hope for a return to the pre-1914 borders. However, these acquisitions proved to be unsustainable. The conclusion of peace in Paris in 1947 closed the way for the restitution of Greater Hungary. Although nowadays both the concepts of the Danube federation and the postulates of territorial changes have only the value of a historical argument, they do not mean the abandonment of the idea of Nagy-Magyarország. This concept has now only changed its formula in the direction of connecting Hungarians living in neighboring countries with the Motherland.

An investigation into para-scientific imageries and esoteric nationalism around the cult of the Holy Crown of Hungary

ABSTRACT This article examines the process of re-enchantment in Hungary through the para-scientific and esoteric nationalist interpretations of the cult of the Holy Crown. The process of esoteric and para-historical re-enchantment had already begun in the early 1980s, during the easing of the cultural policy of the Kádár regime (1956–1989). From the 1990s onwards, the Holy Crown became one of the mainsprings of esoteric and para-historical ideas, which gradually became increasingly popular in neo-Shamanist and neo-pagan circles, as well as in radical right-wing nationalist circles. At first, it was considered a counter-cultural movement, but since the third Orbán government (2010 – ) esoteric nationalism has enjoyed increasing visibility and government support.

The Hungarian Holy Crown and the Coronation Regalia, by Endre Tóth

This book on the regalia of medieval Hungary is the result of Endre Tóth’s decades of work on the topic. The author’s goal of reconciling the centuries of debate about the origins of Hungary’s most important (and contested) artifact is admirable and ambitious. Tóth is to be commended for tremendous effort—this volume gets close at times to being the definitive work on this subject. It is kept from this by its sweeping conclusions, which at times do not hold up under the evidence presented. This volume was originally published in Hungarian in 2016; the English edition includes a note about new literature added subsequently. The chapters cover the foundation of the Hungarian kingdom, the research history of Hungary’s Holy Crown, coronations, the crowns of queen consorts, the crown in the modern period, the crown itself, the sceptre, the orb, the coronation sword, the coronation mantle, written descriptions of the regalia, a summary, and the history of the doctrine of the Holy Crown of Hungary.

Short History of the so-called Kossuth Coat of Arms after 1956

The so-called Kossuth coat of arms (together with the national flag with a hole in the middle) became the symbol of the Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence of 1956. Although the Soviet Union repressed the Hungarian Revolution on 4 November 1956, the Kossuth coat of arms remained the symbol of the state from late 1956 to early 1957. Moreover, a peculiar version of it (the second field of the coat of arms changed from red to blue) appeared. At the time of the fall of communism in Hungary, an important question was which version of the historical forms of the Hungarian coat of arms would become the state symbol. For the Hungarians, the Kossuth coat of arms is the symbol of the revolution, while the coat of arms with the Holy Crown of Hungary symbolizes the thousand- year-old statehood. The proclamation of the Republic of Hungary was on 23 October 1989 (on the 33rd anniversary of the Revolution of 1956) and the Kossuth coat of arms was also very popular. Finally, the ‘full form’ of the Hungarian coat of arms (with the crown) became official, expressing that the Holy Crown is a symbol of the Hungarian statehood, regardless of the form of government.

The Reconstruction of the Creation of the Holy Crown

Determining the place and time of an artefact’s origination starts with archaeometry surveys. The aim of the study of the Holy Crown is to characterise in detail the parts of the crown – the frame, the filigree and the sockets, i.e. the metal parts – and the decorations (enamel, gemstones, beads), to determine the exact composition of the materials and to discover the place of origin. Archaeometry also includes the reconstruction of the technical and technological processes associated with artefacts. The absolute age of the artefacts can be determined using organic materials such as adhesives. This is basically a natural science. If we include the auxiliary sciences - photo-optical data recording, 3D modelling, which allows us to continue the study on the computer – it is possible to determine the relative date and place of the crown parts, using parallels with applied art, palaeography, etc. To date, no systematic archaeometry study has been carried out on the Holy Crown. There have been photographs, geometric measurements, visual inspections and descriptions by jewellers and engineers. If we want to write a scientific summary, we have a lot to draw on. The present article is such a summary, in which we attempt to reconstruct the technology of the Holy Crown, with the aim of pointing out the need for a complete archaeometry study.

The Recessed Apertures of the Holy Crown

One of the most important questions in the study of the Holy Crown concerns the technique of making the enamel cloisonné. The importance of this is that the manufacture of cloisonné enamel reached its peak in the 10th and 11th centuries in Byzantium and Western Europe. The figural enamels of the Holy Crown are all images of top-quality products of this process. Archaeometric analysis of the Holy Crown has not been carried out. My work attempts to fill this gap. The knowledge of the techniques used will help to determine the place and time of the various parts. For the time being, the aim is to recognise the techniques only from the colour side, but if possible from both sides. With this tutorial I would like to describe what I have learned so far.

A book and a crown: A Byzantine-Norman marriage project and its Hungarian aspects (Cod. Athon. Iviron 463 [Lambros 4583], corona graeca)

Based on philological, linguistic, paleographic, codicological and iconographic examinations, this paper presents a hypothesis concerning the circumstances of the creation of the bilingual manuscript containing the Barlaam and Joasaph Romance (Iviron 463) and the questions related to the commissioner, also drawing attention to a possible Hungarian aspect. Namely, it is probable that the preparation of the manuscript of Iviron, as well as that of the lower part of the Hungarian Holy Crown, known as the corona graeca, can be linked to the same Byzantine-Norman marriage project, that which aimed to marry Constantine Doukas, son of Michael VII Doukas (crowned co-emperor shortly after his birth), to Olympias (Helene), daughter of Robert Guiscard. According to the hypothesis presented in the study, the two objects, the manuscript Iviron 463 (prepared in Constantinople and completed by the French translation, in all probability, in the same place and at the same time), as well as the corona graeca (which probably arrived around 1075 as a gift in Hungary) were both originally intended to be given to the Norman princess upon her arrival at Constantinople. In addition to detecting interesting iconographic elements the study proposes a new, more precise dating (1074/1078) for the Greek manuscript and the old French translation.

Administration and War Finance: Extraordinary Taxes in Hungary at the Beginning of the Reign of King Matthias (1458–1466)

In the first decade of the reign of King Matthias Corvinus, extraordinary taxes were imposed to provide revenues with which the state could recover the Holy Crown, fund the campaigns against “Czech” mercenaries who were causing upheavals in the northern parts of the kingdom, and make preparations for imminent conflicts in the south because of the continuous threat of Ottoman attacks. The extraordinary taxes were mostly used for military purposes, more specifically, to finance the wars and military campaigns against the Czech warbands and the Turks. However, the manner in which these taxes were administrated varied considerably, as did their scope. During the period in question, there were particular taxes for some counties or rather regions (especially for the northeastern) and countrywide levies. Furthermore, it was possible for the nobility to be granted an exemption from the obligation to serve in the military in person or provide soldiers for the military (the so-called militia portalis) by paying an extraordinary tax (and thus essentially purchasing this exemption). There was a close connection between the administration of the extraordinary tax and the process of recruitment. Members of the royal court who served as officers in the royal army often took part in the taxation as tax collectors, and they probably used these taxes directly to pay their mercenaries.

From Semi-Colony to Sub-Empire

This study analyses the historiographical application of two concepts (colony, and empire), the contemporary interpretations of which fundamentally determined judgements about the status of Hungary within the Habsburg Monarchy. Despite the fact that the concept of ‘colony’ as used in the eighteenth century was widely known, the category of the ‘semi-colony’ eventually proved to be unable to describe the conditions of the Austrian–Hungarian world in the second half of the nineteenth century. The term ‘Hungarian Empire’ clearly arose from the language of the nineteenth century. Various meanings of this were formulated: as a term for the one-time territory of Hungarian Kingdom (the Holy Crown of St. Stephen, meaning Hungary proper, Transylvania, Croatia, and Slavonia) on the one hand; and another one that included expansion beyond the Carpathian basin (mainly toward southeastern Europe). A third meaning also existed: a Hungarian-centered version that included all Habsburg provinces, which from time to time was hard to distinguish from the first and second meanings mentioned above. Reviewing the asymmetrical but parallel developments of the concepts of ‘colony’ and ‘empire,’ we must establish that in the long term the case for the usage of both terms has been undermined. Even more does this opinion seem to be valid in the case of derivative, retrospectively constructed concepts (such as semi-colony, and sub-empire) that are not rooted in the dictionary of the historical sources and conceptual history of political ideas.

The Hungarian Theory of Just War Based on the Idea of the Holy Crown: A Historical Case of Just Mission

ABSTRACT Warfare ideologies are as old as human civilization. By now, they have grown into an important and extended research field, including works analyzing the justification of war in ancient Indian epic literature, empire-building techniques in Chinese antiquity, and the warfare ideologies of Islam or Buddhism in Sri Lanka. Similar works concerning Hungarian historical ideologies exist, but a comprehensive survey remains to be seen. In this article, I present a special Hungarian warfare ideology which is based on the idea of the Holy Crown, with the help of the concepts of just war theory. Thereby, I throw light on a particular way in which just war thinking has been used and developed in Europe.

A gemmological study of the reliquary crown of Namur, Belgium

Abstract. The reliquary crown, hosted in the diocesan museum of Namur, was produced during the beginning of the 13th century to shelter a fragment of the holy crown of thorns. This beautiful piece of goldsmithery is made of eight gold plates, topped by round lobes, and connected to each other by hinges blocked with a pin decorated by a pearl. The crown is decorated by filigrees, flowers, and approximately 400 pearls and coloured (green, reddish pink, turquoise, red, blue) stones showing simple cutting with various sizes and shapes. Raman and portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (pXRF) techniques have been used to determine the nature and sources of all samples, as well as the composition of filigrees. Analyses have identified emeralds from Pakistan, reddish pink spinels from Tajikistan, red almandine garnets from India, turquoise from Iran, blue sapphires from Sri Lanka or Myanmar, and European pearls. The filigrees contain approximately 86 wt % Au, 7 wt % Ag, and 7 wt % Cu, thus confirming a gold-rich composition. The gemstones, contemporary with the crown, probably arrived in Europe by the silk trade road.

The Two Faces of the Hungarian Empire

AbstractThis article investigates the uses of the term “Hungarian Empire” during the long nineteenth century. It argues that the term “empire” emerged in the Hungarian political discourse in the Vormärz era and it was used to denote the imagined integrity of Hungary proper, Transylvania, Croatia, Slavonia, and eventually Dalmatia on the grounds of the historic rights of the Holy Crown of Hungary in the form of a composite nation-state. This usage of the term became ubiquitous after the Austro-Hungarian Compromise. A second meaning pertaining to imperialist foreign policy entered the dictionary of Hungarian political discourse in the late nineteenth century. Fed by the recently created memory of the medieval Hungarian great power, several pressure groups in fin-de-siècle Hungary lobbied for a Hungarian (informal) empire in Southeastern Europe and beyond. While several lobby groups were firmly embedded in the framework of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, some of these visionaries imagined a Hungarian empire independent from the Habsburg structures. A short comparison with the Croatian and Czech political discourses illuminates that the first meaning of empire (composite nation-state) did not differ in substance from contemporary terminology in other Habsburg lands but the second meaning (imperialism) was indeed a unique phenomenon in the Habsburg monarchy.

Kottanner Jánosné memoárja

In my study I analyze a significant late-medieval memoir, known as „The Memoires of Helene Kottanner (1439–1440), written by Helene, or Elena Kottanner, an Austrian woman, daughter ofPeter Wolfram from Ödenburg (Sopron), acting in the service of Queen Elizabeth of Hungary.The source, which may be considered the oldest German memoir written by a secular woman, depicts the events of an interesting period of the medieval Hungarian history with “vividness and poignancy” (Maya Bijvoet Williamson). After the death of King Albert (1437–1439), his ambitious wife, Elizabeth – while a large part of the Hungarian nobles wanted Władysław III of Poland to be the king of Hungary – tried to maintain his own authority in Hungary (at that time she was already pregnant and hoped that her new-born will be a boy), therefore she ordered her servant, Elena Kottanner to steal the Holy Crown of Saint Stephen from the royal stronghold, Plintenburg (Visegrád). The woman and an unnamed Hungarian collaborator managed to remove the Crown secretly, rushing to the Queen with it, who within an hour of the crown’s arrival at her castle of Komorn (Komárom), bore a son, Ladislaus Posthumous (1440–1457). Three months later, the little boy was crowned King of Hungary in Stuhlweissenburg (Székesfehérvár). In her memoir, Helene Kottanner – as an eye-witness author – gives a unique, detailed and remarkable picture about these events. My main goal is to analyze the rhetorical methods, the historiographical practice presented by Helene, which can be detected in her text. I demonstrate that the servant intended to emphasize her own role in the mentioned events, and tried to legitimate the Hungarian kingship of Ladislaus Posthumous. Besides, she presented certain events as symbolic of the fate of the future king: according to Helene, God protects her and Elizabeth, and the whole undertaking, while the Devil is on the side of their enemies (Władysław III of Poland and the Hungarian nobles). Furthermore, I also intend to demonstrate what possible goals could Helene have had with her memoir. It is quite possible that the servant wrote her opus in order to get her reward for her services provided to the queen and the future king. I demonstrate this problem in context of the Hungarian political situation in the 1440s and the 1450s.

Royal Saints, Artistic Patronage, and Self-representation among Hungarian Noblemen

During the 1401–1403 political crisis in the Kingdom of Hungary, the magnates who were hostile to the ruling King Sigismund of Luxemburg and supported instead the Angevin King Ladislas of Naples deployed a wide range of propaganda tools for proving the legitimacy of their political cause. In a previous study published in this journal (Vestnik of SPbSU. History, 2021, vol. 66, issue 1, рp. 179–192), I have focused on the Hungarian noblemen’s anti-royal propaganda through the utilizing of political and spiritual symbols (i. e., the Holy Crown of Hungary and the cult, relics, and visual representations of St. Ladislas), symbolic actions (coronations and oath-swearing on holy relics), and heraldic self-representation (the Árpádian double cross). The present study approaches the same topic of anti-royal propaganda in the troubled political context of the early 15th century, but from the perspective of the elites’ self-representation strategies via the cult of Hungarian royal saints, artistic patronage, and heraldic self-representation. The two leaders of the anti-royal movement, Archbishop of Esztergom John Kanizsai and Palatine of Hungary Detre Bebek, repeatedly commissioned works of art (i.e., seals, stained-glass windows, and wall paintings) which featured prominently the images of the three Holy Kings of Hungary (Sts Stephen, Emeric, and Ladislas) or displayed the realm’s coat of arms (the Árpádian two-barred cross). The reliance of John Kanizsai and Detre Bebek on the cults and images of the patron saints of the country blended harmoniously the commissioners’ personal piety with their political ambitions. In the context of the early-15th century political crisis, the appropriation of the ideal figures of the sancti reges Hungariae became the driving force behind the Hungarian noblemen’s political cause.

Symbolic Actions and Anti-royal Propaganda during a Political Crisis

On Christmas Eve 1402, Hungarian noblemen gathered in the Cathedral of Nagyvárad, where St. Ladislas’ tomb was located, and swore an oath on the holy king’s relics. They proclaimed thus their allegiance to King Ladislas of Naples and conspired against the ruling King Sigis mund of Luxemburg. By swearing an oath on St. Ladislas’ relics, the conspirators united their minds and forces around the ideal figure of the holy king and knight who became the symbol of a political cause and the embodiment of the kingdom which King Sigismund was no longer suited to represent. The symbolic gesture of oath-swearing on St. Ladislas’ relics took place in the midst of a three-year political crisis (1401–1403) that seized the Kingdom of Hungary as a consequence of the barons’ dissatisfaction with King Sigismund’s measures, which jeopardized their wealth and political influence. By relying on both written accounts and visual sources, the present paper examines the utilizing by Hungarian noblemen during this political crisis of important political and spiritual symbols associated with the Kingdom of Hungary. These included: the cults, relics, and visual representations of St. Ladislas, the Hungarian Holy Crown, or the kingdom’s heraldry. The propagandistic usage of these spiritual and political symbols was reinforced by their insertion into elaborated rituals and symbolic actions, such as coronations or oath-swearing on relics. By activating the link between secular and religious spheres through these rituals and symbolic actions, their performers hoped to attract the divine approval. By discussing such instances, the present paper seeks to illustrate how the ideal figure of St. Ladislas became the catalyzing force behind a political cause.

Die Rechtslage des Grundbesitzes im Spiegel der Lehre von der Heiligen Krone

In relation to the Doctrine of the Holy Crown there are two opposing views. In one of the opinions the state power and the lands belonged to the Holy Crown, and for this reason the decisions about the lands had to be made by the ruler and the orders together. In the other opinion the state power and the lands belonged to the ruler, and for this reason the relation between the king and the person who was donated with a land was a private legal connection. Although the mineral resources originally belonged to the Holy Crown, in the course of time the Habsburg rulers achieved that they could dispose alone, without the consent of the orders, over the mine revenues. In this way, by the 18th century, the relation between the king and the mining contractors became a private legal connection. Comparing the rules of the Bergregal and the rules related to the lands we can conclude that the lands belonged to the Holy Crown, and not to the ruler.

Báthory András római bíborosi címtemploma, a pannóniai szláv misszió és Szent Adorján kultuszának összefüggései

In the year 2019 were celebrated the thousand years of the foundation of the Zalavár Benedictine Monastery under the Patrocinium of Saint Hadrian the Martyr on the western shore of the Lake Balaton in Hungary, and this is an occasion to contemplate the significance of this place and of this heritage. Though the Abbey is not existent after 1950, its beginnings are more important in the Carolingian Empire, after the Avar Period, as the Salzburg Benedictine missionaries christianized the territory and as the Slavic Prince Pribina came under Carolingian rule. It was this time to found the first church of Saint Hadrian, a Martyr in Nicomedia in the times of Diocletian’s persecution and which relics were translated to Rome in the 5th or 6th Century. The cult became important in this Church, which building was identical with the Roman Curia, i. e. the Senate, and the consecration of this church on September 8th became the feast of the Saint in the Occident. This became a titular church and was the titular church of the Transylvanian Cardinal András Báthory, in the 16th century. Turning to Pribina, he gathered Saints Cyril and Methodius and their pupils in this church and against the opposition of the Archbishops of Salzburg, gained Pontifical permission of Pope Hadrian II to celebrate Christian liturgy in Slavic language in his Province and the nomination of Methodius to Metropolite of Pannonia. This early beginnings were important for the Hungarian christianization and explain why Saint Stephen the first King of Hungary received so easily the Roman blessings, i. e. the Holy Crown and the erection of the Metropoly of Esztergom in his kingdom. In medieval Hungary the name of the kingdom was alternating “Hungary” and “Pannonia”, in Christian inter- pretation “Pannonia Sacra”. This aspect could help to concile Slavic (e. g. Slovakian) and Hungarian interpretation of their common history. This history is living today in the use of the word “Church”, which originates of the Latin word “Castellum” (etymon of the city name “Keszthely” at the Lake Balaton), which is in the Western Slavic languages: “Kosciól” (Polish), “Kostel” (Czech and Slovak). In Polish means both as building and as gathering of people, in Czech and Slovak only as building. In Hungarian the use of the Latin word “templum” is rooted, as building. Common heritage of the ancient Roman word “Castellum”.

The Price of Illusion and the Power of Meaning: Helsinki, Hungary, and the Holy Crown

Whereas the Hel­sinki Final Act’s im­pact in the So­viet bloc is usu­ally defined by the res­ist­ance and pres­sure in­spired by ‘bas­ket three’ human rights clauses, the part of the ac­cord that the So­viet Union de­sired was at least as sig­ni­fic­ant, es­pe­cially for Hun­gary. The So­vi­ets pre­sumed that formal West­ern ac­know­ledge­ment of the post-war set­tle­ment – a long-term for­eign policy – would en­sure its per­man­ence. But the ac­cept­ance of post-war bor­ders ac­tu­ally im­per­illed So­viet con­trol in Cent­ral and East­ern Europe be­cause it ac­cen­tu­ated the con­tra­dic­tion between the de facto sub­jug­a­tion of in­de­pend­ent states in the re­gion and their de jure in­de­pend­ence, while en­shrin­ing the lat­ter, thereby strength­en­ing the hands of those within these states who wished to ex­tend and ex­pand their in­de­pend­ence from Mo­scow, eco­nom­ic­ally and cul­tur­ally. A key ex­ample and test case of this pro­cess was the fate of Hun­gary’s Holy Crown, which had been in Amer­ican cus­tody. Em­ploy­ing both primary sources and sec­ond­ary texts, this new ana­lysis con­tends that it was pre­cisely what the So­vi­ets had hoped for in a European Se­cur­ity Con­fer­ence that proved most dam­aging to con­trol of its sphere of in­flu­ence, and that, in Hun­gary, the re­turn of the Holy Crown rep­res­en­ted ex­actly the goal of re­stored sov­er­eignty that Hel­sinki en­dorsed, des­pite So­viet in­ten­tions to the con­trary.

Corona Angelica Pannoniae: ‘...ecce Angelus Domini’

The article examines the Hungarian corona angelica tradition, according to which the Holy Crown of Hungary was delivered to the country by an angel. In order to embed Hungarian results into international scholarship, it provides an English language summary of previous research and combines in one study how St. Stephen I (997–1038), St. Ladislaus I (1074–1095), and King Matthias Corvinus (1458–1490) came to be associated with the tradition, examining both written and visual sources. The article moves forward previous research by posing the question whether the angel delivering the Crown to Hungary could have been identified as the Angelus Domini at some point throughout history. This possibility is suggested by Hungary’s Chronici Hungarici compositio saeculi XIV and an unusually popular Early Modern modification of the Hartvik Legend, both of which use this expression to denote the angel delivering the Crown. While the article leaves the question open until further research sheds more light on the history of early Hungarian spirituality; it also points out how this identification of the angel would harmonize the Byzantine and the Hungarian iconography of the corona angelica, and provides insight into the current state of the Angelus Domini debate in angelology.

Foundations of the Uncodified Historical Constitution of Hungary

The article examines the evolution of the Hungarian Public and Constitutional Law from 1301 until the Austro-Hungarian compromise in 1867. The topic is highly relevant, because the year 2017 marked the 330th anniversary of the 1st and 2nd Act of 1687, which state that the Habsburgs are the only and true heirs of the Hungarian throne; it also marked the 150th anniversary of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise. Furthermore the current Fundamental Law says that “We honour the achievements of our historical constitution and we honour the Holy Crown, which embodies the constitutional continuity of Hungary’s statehood and the unity of the nation”. The main chain of thoughts of the article presents the crown-ideology and the Doctrine of the Holy Crown, the Rákos field resolution of 1505, the Acts 2 and 3 of 1687, the Pragmatic Sanction, Acts 10 and 12 of 1790, the public law aspects of the April Laws of 1848, and the laws on the Austro-Hungarian Compromise. The article presents the fundamental documents of the Hungarian uncodified historical Constitution issued within the given period. Through their formation and historical background we can truly understand the Hungarian customary law and the legal traditions, which are still honoured by our present Fundamental Law.