Once upon a Time in the Monastery of St Sigismund

Abstract

In 1433, Sigismund of Luxemburg, King of Hungary founded a new monastery for the Order of St. Paul the First Hermit. The monastery was consecrated to the title of the king’s dynastic saint: St Sigismund, the Burgundian king. The newly founded monastery became filia of the Monastery of St Michael of Toronyalja. After the death of King Sigismund (1437) the church depopulated soon. Although John Hunyadi attempted to populate the monastery with Carmelites, but the monks did not arrive. By the 16th century, the monastery was ruined, the only monument of it was a mill near to Verőce. According to the most recent literature and a so-called diploma of Agaune, the location of the monastery marked in the centres of the settlements of Kisoroszi or Verőce, however the ruin of it have not been identified yet. Thus, the present study aims to analyse the precedes of the foundation, and seeks to answer the following question: what role played the monastery of St Sigismund in the reorganisation process of the churches of Visegrád? At the same time, the paper analyses the sources of the history of the monastery and its accessories as well as to focus on other possible area of location, Hévkúterdeje, which neighbouring the Monasteries of Nosztra and Toronyalja.