Antiochiai Szent Margit legkorábbi magyarországi kultusza

Álmos herceg egyházalapításai és a Szent Margit-szakramentárium

Abstract

The present study focuses on the appearance of the cult of Saint Margaret of Antioch in medieval Hungary. Duke Álmos, the brother of King Coloman (1095–1116), founded a monastery at Meszes and a collegiate chapter at Dömös in honour of the saint. Earlier literature has argued that the cult of Saint Margaret already existed in the eleventh century, and used this to explain the church foundations of Duke Álmos, even though analysis of the sources revealed that the veneration of Saint Margaret cannot be proved before the very end of the eleventh century. The name of the saint might have been known to clerics earlier, but the first trace of her veneration in Hungary is the foundations of Duke Álmos. The monastery of Meszes likely was located in his duchy, and thus Álmos must have founded it before King Coloman stripped him of his duchy. This means that he most likely founded it at the very end of the eleventh century. Then Álmos founded a collegiate chapter dedicated to St Margaret in Dömös, the centre of his new territory. The chapter was consecrated in 1108, and thus construction started in the first years of the twelfth century. Imre Orbán argued that Álmos chose Saint Margaret as patron saint because the legend of the saint (i.e. Margaret defeating the dragon) symbolized his struggle against the incompetent ruler (Coloman). This idea might have been inspired from the Chronicon Pictum, which describes Coloman as malformed, though that part of the chronicle is not reliable. Moreover, the legend of Margaret centres upon the confrontation of Christianity with Paganism, rather than her fight with the dragon. While exploring those topics, the present study sheds light on the provenience and the dating of the Saint Margaret Sacramentary, the earliest liturgical book of Hungary. The codex was certainly made for a Benedictine monastery which was dedicated to Margaret. The Hungarian dynastic saints’ cults stand out in the codex which might connect it to the royal family. Consequently, the Sacrament perhaps was made for the Benedictines of Meszes, but eventually was used in the chapter of Dömös.