The Pécsvárad Abbey was a

Benedictine monastery The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, they ...

established at

Pécsvárad Pécsvárad (; ) is a town in Baranya County, southern Hungary. Geography Pécsvárad is on the southern slope of the Mecsek mountains, in particular the part called Kelet-Mecsek. It's at the foot of the Zengő, the highest peak of these mount ...

in the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

in the first decades of the 11th century. Its patrons were the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

and Saint

Benedict of Nursia Benedict of Nursia (; ; 2 March 480 – 21 March 547), often known as Saint Benedict, was a Great Church, Christian monk. He is famed in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Lutheran Churches, the Anglican Communion, and Old ...

Foundation (1015–1038)

The

Roman Catholic Diocese of Pécs The Diocese of Pécs ( Hungarian: ''Pécsi Egyházmegye'', ) is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic church in Hungary. The Cathedral of Pécs is dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Secular offices connected to the bishopric The Bishops ...

was established in 1009 with jurisdiction in the southern parts of Transdanubia within the Kingdom of Hungary. The historians Gergely Kiss and Gábor Sarbak write that the first Benedictine monks who settled in the diocese "may have lived" in community with the

secular priest In Christianity, the term secular clergy refers to deacons and priests who are not monastics or otherwise members of religious life. Secular priests (sometimes known as diocesan priests) are priests who commit themselves to a certain geographi ...

s of the cathedral in

Pécs Pécs ( , ; ; Slovak language, Slovak: ''Päťkostolie''; also known by #Name, alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the fifth largest city in Hungary, on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the c ...

. The monks moved to the nearby Pécsvárad at the foot of the

Zengő Zengő (; ) is the highest mountain in Mecsek Mountains in southern Hungary – its height is 682 metres.Pierre Jolivet, Jorge Santiago-Blay, Michael Schmitt, Research of chrysomelidae, BRILL, 2009 p. 23/ref> The peak is situated in the south ...

Mountain in 1015. According to

György Györffy György Györffy (26 September 1917 – 19 December 2000) was a Hungarian historian, and member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (). Biography Györffy was born in Szucság (Suceagu, today part of Baciu, Romania), Hungary the son of ethnog ...

, Pécsvárad was the center of a royal domain. The ruins of a two-storey

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

were unearthed at the monastery, but its dating is controversial: it may have been built between 997 and 1038, but an earlier or a later date neither can be excluded. Asztrik ersek Pecsvarad

A diploma of the foundation of the Pécsvárad Abbeywhich was forged in the name of King Saint

Stephen I of Hungary Stephen I, also known as King Saint Stephen ( ; ; ; 975 – 15 August 1038), was the last grand prince of the Hungarians between 997 and 1000 or 1001, and the first king of Hungary from 1000 or 1001 until his death in 1038. The year of his bi ...

around 1220states that

Astrik Saint Astrik of Pannonhalma (also known as Anastasius, Astericus, Ascrick, Astrissicus) (died c. 1030/1040) is a saint of the 11th century. Life Radla was a Czech or Croat from Bohemia, who was a monk in Hungary. He probably received the habit at ...

, one of Bishop Saint

Adalbert of Prague Adalbert of Prague (, , , , ; 95623 April 997), known in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia by his birth name Vojtěch (), was a Czech missionary and Christian saint. He was the Bishop of Prague and a missionary to the Hungarians, Poles, ...

's disciplines, was the monastery's first abbot. Gábor Thoroczkay writes that it was only the memory of Astrik's missionary work in the wider region of Pécsvárad which gave rise to his fame as the founding abbot of the monastery. On the other hand, György Györffy says that King Stephen granted his estates in Pécsvárad to Astrik who was a

papal legate 300px, A woodcut showing Henry II of England greeting the Pope's legate. A papal legate or apostolic legate (from the ancient Roman title '' legatus'') is a personal representative of the Pope to foreign nations, to some other part of the Catho ...

at that time. Györffy adds that the monastery was only set up in 1038, which is the year of the monastery's consecration, according to the ''

Annales Posonienses The ''Annales Posonienses'' or Annals of Pressburg () are the only extant early medieval annals written in the Kingdom of Hungary. However, they are rather a collection of notes which, as the historian Carlile Aylmer Macartney emphasizes, "hardly" ...

''. The Abbey's forged charter of foundationwhich, according to László Koszta, reflects the circumstances around 1220writes that King Saint Stephen donated 42 villages to the monks. The monastery is dedicated to

Saint Benedict Benedict of Nursia (; ; 2 March 480 – 21 March 547), often known as Saint Benedict, was a Great Church, Christian monk. He is famed in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Lutheran Churches, the Anglican Communion, and Old ...

and the

Flourishing (1038–1410)

A fragment of a Byzantine Madonna, dated to the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries, was discovered in the

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

of the monastery. The fresco on the walls of the apse was made in the 12th century.

Decline (1410–1543)

References

Sources

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External links

Pécsvárad–Benedictine abbey: Photoes by Zoltán Bagyinszki
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pecsvarad Abbey Benedictine monasteries in Hungary