54 Facts About Lodomer

Lodomer was a prelate in the Kingdom of Hungary in the second half of the 13th century.

Lodomer was Archbishop of Esztergom between 1279 and 1298, and Bishop of Varad from 1268 till 1279.

Lodomer was an opponent of Ladislaus IV of Hungary whom he excommunicated for failing to force the Cumans to adopt the Christian way of life.

Lodomer or Ladomer was presumably born in the 1230s, not long before the First Mongol invasion of Hungary.

Lodomer had an unnamed sister, the mother of Thomas, an Archbishop of Esztergom, who studied in the University of Padua, courtesy of Lodomer.

Historian Attila Zsoldos refused Wertner's argument, as the fact that Lodomer was granted landholding in Henye is not necessarily link to his hypothetical ancestry.

Zsoldos assumed Lodomer was the brother of Gregory's father, Saul, himself a son of certain Mika.

Historian Peter Kis considered that there were two Monoszlo clans at the end of the era of Arpads: the first, which originated from today's Podravska Moslavina and provided influential barons; and the second one, a significantly poorer and minor clan, Lodomer allegedly belonged to this, which came from Monoszlo in Veszprem County, near to Vazsony and Mencshely.

Lodomer is first mentioned by contemporary records between 1257 and 1261, when he functioned as the cantor in the cathedral chapter of Veszprem.

Beside his duty to proclaim the Scripture readings used in the Liturgy of the Word, Lodomer was responsible for management of the cathedral school of Veszprem and teaching the clerics and the poor scholars, in accordance with the Canon 18 of the Third Council of the Lateran.

Nevertheless, Kormendi added if Lodomer is identical with that student, his relationship to the Atyusz kindred becomes more established, as there were two clan members named Denis during his time.

Lodomer remained loyal to Stephen in the emerging 1260s civil war between the king and the duke, but took on a role of a mediator and conciliator in order to prevent the escalation of their conflict.

Lodomer was granted the land of Henye for his advice and mediation role by Bela IV still in that year.

Lodomer founded monasteries, clerical schools and provided priests to numerous villages; these all were part of a restoration attempt in the territory of the diocese, which suffered heavy damages during the Mongol invasion decades earlier.

The clergy, including Lodomer became Philip's strongest ally, which meant that they turned against Ladislaus in the long term.

Lodomer extracted a ceremonious promise from the Cuman chieftains of giving up their pagan customs, and persuaded the young King Ladislaus to swear an oath to enforce the keeping of the Cuman chieftains' promise.

Under such circumstances, Lodomer's primacy was overshadowed by the papal legate, who had no regard for local political conditions, forcing the Hungarian prelates to decide between the Hungarian monarch and the Roman Curia.

Lodomer offered the support of the Hungarian Church to Ladislaus and interceded to Pope Martin IV in order to invalidate some of the radical measures and decisions of papal legate Philip.

Lodomer recognized the king's right of patronage over Hungarian church properties and dignities.

However Lodomer's efforts failed by the end of 1283, when Ladislaus was unable to defeat the Koszegi family.

Lodomer persuaded Ladislaus to convene a general assembly in the early summer of 1286 in order to reconciliation between the king and the powerful Koszegi family, who plundered villages and regions in Transdanubia in recent years.

At the command of Pope Honorius IV, Lodomer intended to declare a crusade against the Hungarian king and his Cuman subjects, and Honorius intended to send letters to the neighboring monarchs to support the archbishop in that effort.

Lodomer here entrusted Peter Monoszlo to recover the arbitrarily confiscated queenly estates surrounding Beszterce from the town's magistrate.

Lodomer absolved Ladislaus on condition that the king would live in accordance with Christian morals.

Lodomer abducted his sister, Elizabeth, prioress of the Dominican Monastery of the Blessed Virgin on Rabbits' Island, and gave her in marriage to a Czech aristocrat, Zavis of Falkenstein.

Lodomer listed the king's violations, scandals and his complaints regarding the chaotic situation in the kingdom.

Beside the king, Lodomer deeply condemned the behavior of Elizabeth too, calling her "antimonialis" instead of "sancti", who encouraged his brother to commit the kidnapping and broke her own monastic vow.

Lodomer sent the two letters to Janos Karacsonyi in 1908, who translated and first published in 1910.

Historian Kornel Szovak argued the individual style, the usage of terminology, and literary motifs prove that Lodomer personally wrote the letters.

Szovak analyzed that Lodomer used his legal and theological knowledge as an argumentative weapon against Ladislaus.

For instance, when quoted Ladislaus IV, who allegedly replied to Lodomer with the sentence "For me, I am the law and I do not tolerate that the laws of such priests constrain me", in response to criticisms, is a reference to the Bible, which described the pagans' way of life with the same phrases, and Pope Innocent III's decretals, which determined "the liberty of the Church" from secular powers.

Lodomer cited antique works, in addition to such recent Christian texts, like Bernard of Clairvaux's De consideratione, regarding the theory of "two swords".

Lodomer turned away from the king for good, when Ladislaus authorized Duke Albert of Austria to launch a military campaign against the Koszegis' territories throughout 1289, which violated Hungary's sovereignty since the Austrians invaded and conquered vast territories along the western border.

Lodomer later backed down from the plan, perhaps realizing that the claimant to the throne did not have a broad base of supporters, so he did not want to involve Hungary in an unnecessary civil war.

Although, the Koszegis and Lodomer jointly invited Andrew III to the Hungarian throne, their motivation was different: the oligarchs wanted a new controllable and weak-handed ruler to lead the kingdom instead of the unpredictable Ladislaus, while Lodomer and his suffragans were aimed to strengthen the royal power to put an end to the political anarchy.

Andrew and Lodomer were looking for an alliance with the lower nobility against the most powerful oligarchs to prevent the disintegration of the unified state.

Lodomer, who was considered the advocate of the Roman Curia's interventions during the reign of Ladislaus IV in the 1280s, confronted with the Holy See after Andrew's coronation.

Lodomer held at least four provincial synods during his 19-year episcopate.

Lodomer permitted the burghers of Szepes Castle in 1280 to secede from the affiliation of the St Ladislaus parish and build a church for themselves, maintaining the suzerainty of the Archdiocese of Esztergom.

Lodomer donated the Saint Vitus Basilica of Esztergom to the Williamite friars to defend themselves during the second Mongol invasion.

Lodomer approved the regulation of the Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit around 1297.

Lodomer had conflicts with those butchers, who relocated their slaughterhouses from Esztergom in order to avoid paying the duty.

Lodomer was granted the village of Mocsa in Komarom County by Queen Fenenna in the same year, for the celebration of her coronation.

Lodomer obtained the estate Nevelen in Nograd County in a similar manner from the Hont-Pazmany kindred, as a compensation for the pillaging of Vadkert.

Lodomer acquired portion in Urkuta in Esztergom County in 1292 from Apor Pec, who caused damage to the archbishop's holdings.

The acquisition and sale of landholdings were consciously organized: Lodomer expanded his influence over the territories in Esztergom, Komarom and Nyitra counties that surrounded his seat in Esztergom in order to defend the archbishopric's interests against the neighboring powerful lords during the era of anarchy.

Lodomer sought to create a coherent lordship through property exchanges.

Lodomer acquired Farnad in Esztergom County for two portions in the lordship of Sasko in Bars County and 70 marks with the same method from Thomas and Orbasz Bancsa in 1283.

In 1284, Lodomer returned the estates to them in exchange for Bela.

Lodomer exchanged the acquired Gyorok for Bogdany in Komarom County and 200 marks with the Hont-Pazmany clan in 1287.

Lodomer exchanged portions in Ormeny for Ujvaros with his own cathedral chapter in 1289.

In 1294, Lodomer was granted a portion in the village of Bucs in Esztergom County from the Tengerdi family in exchange for his fortified manor in the northern part of Margaret Island.

Lodomer expanded this estate, when acquired another portion from Ernye Hont-Pazmany, who, in exchange, obtained Surany in Nyitra County in 1297.

Still in the end of 1297, Lodomer exchanged his estates Puspoki and Velkenye in Gomor County for Szakacsi and Udal in Bars County with Dominic Ratot, in order to establish a coherent lordship in that county too.