Hospitallers or Cruciferi? The Members of the Convent of Székesfehérvár at the End of the Middle Ages The consequences of the Western Schism and the isolation from Rhodes resulted in significant changes in the Convent of Székesfehérvár:...
moreHospitallers or Cruciferi? The Members of the Convent of Székesfehérvár at the End of the Middle Ages
The consequences of the Western Schism and the isolation from Rhodes resulted in significant changes in the Convent of Székesfehérvár: Hungarianisation, careers and a number of irregularities (e.g. priest preceptors, unique offi cials, the lack of regular taxes, the system of „litt le preceptors”, etc.). I argue that from the second half of the 15th century, the cruciferi of the Székesfehérvár preceptory and elsewhere in Hungary can only be referred to as Hospitallers with great caution.
To figure out who they were, the social background of its members had to be examined. Most of the brethren were from market towns or from the lesser nobility, and after 1470 almost every member was a priest: i.e. they belonged to the lower part of the middle clergy or even perhaps to the lower clergy. At this point I speculate that the Convent might have gott en its supply of members from the lower clergy of the neighbouring
collegiate chapter of Székesfehérvár. This connection between the two ecclesiastical institutions is easily conceivable for a number of reasons, but owing to the lack of sources it cannot be confi rmed beyond doubt.
I conclude that the creation of a quasi-Hungarian Hospitaller order in the 15th century is more probable than the transformation of the aforementioned Convent into a collegiate chapter. It must have been the former which a few charters refer to as ordo cruciferorum. Consequently it seems more appropriate to call the members of the Convent of Székesfehérvár cruciferi in the late Middle Ages than Hospitallers.
