Kolozsmonostor Abbey

Historic Benedictine Christian monastery in present-day Romania

The Kolozsmonostor Abbey was a Benedictine Christian monastery at Kolozsmonostor in Transylvania in the medieval Kingdom of Hungary (now Mănăștur in Cluj-Napoca in Romania). According to modern scholars' consensus, the monastery was established by Ladislaus I of Hungary before 1095.

Establishment

The Kolozsvár Abbey was the first Benedictine monastery in Transylvania,^[1] but medieval documents contain contradictory information about its foundation.^[2] According to a royal charter issued in 1341, Ladislaus I of Hungary established it.^[2] However, a late 14th-century forged version of a 1263 charter stated that Béla I of Hungary had set up the abbey, while an excerpt made around 1430 from the same charter named Stephen I of Hungary as its founder.^[2] The two latters document also recorded that Ladislaus I of Hungary had made a large grant to the monastery.^[2] Historian György Györffy says, both Stephen I and Béla I were most probably copied from the list of the benefactors of the bishopric of Eger in a 1261 charter, although the reference to Béla I may have preserved a genuine tradition.^[2] Historians István Bóna, Elek Benkő and István Keul agree that the monastery was established by Ladislaus I before 1095.^[3][4][5]

History

The monastery was dedicated to the Virgin Mary.^[1]

The abbey developed into an important place of authentication.^[5][6]

References

1. Bóna 1994, p. 165.
2. Györffy 1987, p. 354.
3. Bóna 1994, p. 163.
4. Benkő 1994, p. 364.
5. Keul 2009, p. 27.
6. Niessen 2016, p. 91.

Sources

• Benkő, Elek (1994). "Kolozsmonostor". In Kristó, Gyula; Engel, Pál; Makk, Ferenc (eds.). Korai magyar történeti lexikon (9–14. század) [Encyclopedia of the Early Hungarian History (9th–14th centuries)] (in Hungarian). Akadémiai Kiadó. pp. 363–3644. ISBN 963-05-6722-9.
• Bóna, István (1994). "The Hungarian–Slav Period (895–1172)". In Köpeczi, Béla; Barta, Gábor; Bóna, István; Makkai, László; Szász, Zoltán; Borus, Judit (eds.). History of Transylvania. Akadémiai Kiadó. pp. 109–177. ISBN 963-05-6703-2.
• Györffy, György (1987). Az Árpád-kori Magyarország történeti földrajza, III: Heves, Hont, Hunyad, Keve, Kolozs, Komárom, Krassó, Kraszna, Küküllő megye és Kunság [Historical Geography of Hungary of the Árpáds, Volume I: The Counties of Heves, Hont, Hunyad, Keve, Kolozs, Komárom, Krassó, Kraszna, Küküllő, and the Kunság] (in Hungarian). Akadémiai Kiadó. ISBN 963-05-3613-7.
• Keul, István (2009). Early Modern Religious Communities in East-Central Europe: Ethnic Diversity, Denominational Plurality, and Corporative Politics in the Principality of Transylvania (1526–1691). Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-17652-2.
• Kiss, Gergely (2013). Királyi egyházak a középkori Magyarországon [Royal Churches in Medieval Hungary] (in Hungarian). Pécsi Történettudományért Kulturális Egyesület. ISBN 978-963-642-442-8.
• Niessen, James P. (2016). "Catholic monasticism, orders, and societies in Hungary: centuries of expansion, disaster, and revival". In Angeli Murzaku, Ines (ed.). Monasticism in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Republics. Routledge. pp. 86–109. ISBN 978-0-415-81959-6.