Csanád Telegdi

Csanád Telegdi was born into the ancient Hungarian gens Csanád around 1280, as one of the four sons of comes Thomas. The namesake founder of the clan was the nephew of the first Hungarian king Stephen I of Hungary, who sent his relative to defeat the rebellious lord Ajtony around 1030.^[1] Thereafter Csanád County and its capital, in addition to the clan, was named after him. The Telegdis' first known direct ancestors are Benedict (or Belenig) and his son, Clement (also Kelemenes), the ispán of Arad County in the early 13th century.^[2] Csanád's father Thomas was an educated man with the title of magister.^[1] He had various conflicts with the Cuman tribes, who lived in Temes. He left his estates in Csanád County in the 1290s and moved to Bihar County, establishing his manor seat in Telegd (present-day Tileagd, Romania). His descendants took their surname after the village.^[3] Csanád had three brothers: Lawrence I, Nicholas I, ispán of various counties, who fought in the Battle of Rozgony, and Pancras, the father of Thomas Telegdi, also an archbishop of Esztergom. Csanád also had two unidentified sisters: one of them married vice-voivode Nicholas Vásári, their son was Nicholas, Csanád's immediate successor in the archiepiscopal seat of Esztergom. Csanád's second sister was the wife of a certain Michael, they had a son named Stephen.^[3]

Telegdi studied in the collegiate school of Várad (present-day Oradea Mare, Romania). He was referred to as cantor of the cathedral chapter by a document in 1295. He attended an Italian universitas – presumably the University of Padua – between 1296 and 1299, obtaining the degree of decretorum doctor, which indicated his competence in canon law.^[3] Returning Hungary, he stayed in the chapter of Várad, where he was again styled as cantor. He was first mentioned as lector in October 1306.^[4] In this capacity, he issued a charter on 9 June 1315, which reflected his theological and Christian philosophical knowledge. He used Biblical terminology (for instance, a reference to Adam as "first creature" and his "vile offspring") in the document's prelude (arenga), in which he determined the importance of registering official documents ("through the courtesy of the Heavenly Creator [...] people have found this knowledge"), while recorded the donation of two landholdings to the Diocese of Transylvania.^[5] On 12 May 1316, Telegdi was referred to as the vicar and prothonotarius ("principal clerk") of the elderly Emeric, Bishop of Várad. Telegdi was elected provost of the chapter of Várad on 5 February 1318, replacing Ivánka, who became Emeric's successor in the episcopal seat.^[3] In this capacity, he founded three altars at the Cathedral of St. Mary based on his own wealth. He also established a minor provostship in opposite the cathedral. At the same time, he has gained wealth in the area, for instance, he bought vineyard in January 1321, in the neighborhood of the land of his late brother Lawrence's orphans.^[6]

The entire Telegdi family supported the claim of Charles during the period of Interregnum in the first decade of the 14th century and the subsequent unification war against the oligarchs. It resulted that Csanád Telegdi became a confidant of Charles in his royal court. He was styled as head (count) of the royal chapel (Latin: comes capellae regiae) and "secret notary" (Latin: secretarius notarius) in a document issued in July 1319.^[7] In this quality, he supervised the convent of the royal chaplains, guarded the royal relic treasures and exercised jurisdiction over those servant laymen, who secured the liturgical activity of the court clergy. Under his tenure, the restructured royal chapel became a separate diploma issuing institution and place of authentication, which also proved to be a school of highly qualified diplomats and legal staff. Telegdi also served as keeper of the royal seal and director of the place of authentication in the royal court beside that. A bull of Pope John XXII called him "secret chancellor" of the Hungarian royal court in July 1320.^[8] In that year, Telegdi visited the papal court at Avignon in order to fulfill both ecclesiastical and diplomatic functions.^[9] Charles I requested Pope John to marry Elizabeth, the daughter of King Władysław I of Poland, and Telegdi's main task was to negotiate the matter in the Roman Curia. His success was marked by two papal letters issued in July and August 1320.^[10] Through Telegdi, the pope also allowed Charles I to choose his own confessor in order to get absolution from the sins which he had committed against the church. Telegdi also requested absolution for the visitors of the altars in the Diocese of Várad which had been established by him previously.^[11] Telegdi submitted to the Pope the King's request for the confirmation of Andrew Szécsi as the Bishop of Transylvania, despite his young age and deficiency in priesthood. In addition, of the 11 papal letters issued at the time of his diplomatic mission, 7 dealt with church benefices (for instance, the installment of his nephew Nicholas Vásári to the chapter of Várad).^[12] In April 1320, Telegdi was appointed conservator of the Cistercian abbey of the Diocese of Chalon-sur-Saône, along with the provost of Avignon and the prior of St. Rufus monastery in the Diocese of Valence.^[13] Telegdi also bore the title of papal chaplain in 1321. Upon the request of Csanád Telegdi, Charles I returned the previously lost estates of Tömörkény, Zenta (Senta), Csóka (Čoka), Szanád (Sanad), Varsány and Tarján to his family in the same year. He was also granted lands in Szatmár County (e.g. Érvasad, present-day Vășad in Romania) by Charles' wife Queen Elizabeth.^[8]

Following the death of Bishop Martin in early 1322, Telegdi was elected unanimously as his successor by the grand provost and the cathedral chapter of Eger. He was first mentioned in this capacity on 8 October 1322.^[14] Under customary law, the cathedral chapter requested Boleslaus of Esztergom to confirm his election, but the archbishop was temporarily incapacitated for some reasons (possibly due to his involvement in the Dalmatian conflict) and handed over the task to his provost Theophil, giving him the rights. Conducting appropriate inquests, Theophil confirmed the election of Telegdi at the St. George's Cathedral in Temesvár (present-day Timișoara, Romania) on 21 January 1323. Temesvár was the royal residence of Charles I between 1315 and 1323. Telegdi was consecrated as bishop by Bishop Benedict of Csanád with the assistance of Nicholas Kőszegi, Bishop of Győr and Ivánka, Bishop of Várad at the Dominicans' St. Ladislaus church on 23 January. The ceremony was also attended by Ladislaus Jánki, the Archbishop of Kalocsa.^[15]

Shortly thereafter his consecration, Telegdi requested Charles on 24 April to revive and confirm the privileges of the Diocese of Eger, which were granted by Stephen V of Hungary in 1271.^[16] Upon his request, Charles forbade Palatine Philip Drugeth, who governed the whole province, where the diocese laid, to arbitrarily confiscate the tithe and other revenues of the bishopric on the next day.^[17] Charles I donated the land of Vrus (today Gyöngyösoroszi) in April 1324 to the diocese, which had formerly already belonged to them, but lost during the era of feudal anarchy. In September 1324, Charles I also transcribed the 1281 privilege letter of Ladislaus IV, regarding the lordship of Tiszanána.^[16] Telegdi was a founding member of the Order of Saint George, the first secular chivalric order in the world, which was established by Charles on 24 April 1326.^[17] During his episcopate, Telegdi was involved in various lawsuits within the Hungarian ecclesiastical institutional system. For instance, he represented the interests of Henry, Bishop of Veszprém in February 1327, when the prelate accused Archbishop Boleslaus with unauthorized possession of some churches and their benefices in his diocese (the so-called "trial over the tithes of Sasad"). He acted as a judge in the trial over a mill between the Pauline and Augustinian friars in Sátoraljaújhely. He was one of the four prelates, who excommunicated John, abbot of Pilis and monk Nicholas for their violent actions against the parsonage of Budakalász in September 1326.^[16] There are also some charters, which suggest, Telegdi validated his interests even against his own collegiate chapter and the provostships (e.g. Szepes), which laid in the neighboring territories.^[18] Under his own suzerainty, Telegdi established the Archdeaconry of Tárca (today Torysky, Slovakia), which laid in Sáros County, on 16 October 1323, separating from the territory of the existing Archdeaconry of Abaúj, which belonged to the authority of the Provostship of Szepes (Spiš). This resulted a long-standing conflict between the provostship and the Diocese of Eger over the sparsely populated area. Telegdi agreed with the local nobles who settled the area – who also exercised the right of patronage over the local churches – that the parishioners of the villages there owed tithes to the bishop of Eger, to the detriment of the Szepes Chapter. The local priests appealed against this decision to the Holy See, as under the jurisdiction of the provost of Szepes, a third of the tenth belonged to them communally. The lawsuit was settled only at the time of Telegdi's successor.^[19] During his 8-year episcopate, Telegdi's sole vicar was a certain magister Peter, the archdeacon of Zemplén.^[18]