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Cult of saints, politics and name-giving in Angevin Hungary

Slíz, Mariann (2020) Cult of saints, politics and name-giving in Angevin Hungary. RION– Rivista Italiana di Onomastica, 26 (1). pp. 197-211. ISSN 1124-8890

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Abstract

The paper introduces the various effects that the political efforts of the Hungarian Angevin Dynasty(14th century) to promote dynastic saints had on name-giving. Namely, since the promotion of the cults of family saints strengthened the prestige and legitimation of a royal house, it was a typical means of politics for new dynasties. The founder of the Hungarian Angevin Dynasty, King Charles I was the offspring of the Neapolitan Angevins through his father and the Hungarian Árpád Dynasty through his grandmother, Queen Mary of Naples. It is small wonder that he used the cults of their Hungarian and Neapolitan saintly relatives as a political device in his struggle for the throne and this practice was not only continued but even consummated and used for other purposes by his successors. The royal support of the cults is well reflected in the name-giving strategies of the dynasty on the one hand (as dynastic name-giving also bears strong political connotations). On the other hand, it had an impact on the frequency of the names of Hungarian dynastic saints (Saints Stephen, Emeric, Ladislaus, Elisabeth and Margaret) in the population of the time, too. The most significant change can be detected in the popularity of the name László ‘Ladislaus’, the name of the most deeply venerated family saint and, additionally, the most venerated knight saint. While the names István ‘Stephen’, Erzsébet ‘Elisabeth’ and Margit ‘Margaret’ were already among the most fashionable ones at the time of the dynasty’s rise in Hungary (i.e. at the beginning of the 14th century) due to other saints behind the names, László was a name of average frequency and became the 5th most frequent name among noblemen within a few decades.

Item Type: Article
Subjects: D History General and Old World / történelem > D3 Mediaeval History / középkor története
P Language and Literature / nyelvészet és irodalom > P0 Philology. Linguistics / filológia, nyelvészet > P321.8-P323.5 Etimology, Onomastics / etimológia, onomasztika (névtan)
Depositing User: Dr. Mariann Slíz
Date Deposited: 17 Mar 2020 07:31
Last Modified: 03 Apr 2023 06:47
URI: http://real.mtak.hu/id/eprint/107229

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