Maja Cepetic - Danko Dujmovic

St Peter at Novo Mesto Zelinsko New Iconography for Claiming Political Continuity

UDK: 726.54.033(497.5 Novo Mesto Zelinsko) Maja Cepetic 75.044(497.5 Novo Mesto Zelinsko) maja.cepetic@gmail.com

Danko Dujmovic ddujmovic@ffri.hr

University of Rijeka, Croatia

This paper analyses the course of changes that followed the arival of new beneficiaries in a church of St Peter. At first it was a part of a Templar estate on the Lands of St Martin. With the abolition of the Templar order most of the Templars joined the Hospitallers. Upon the latters' takeover of the church, the existing architecture was used as a medium for the expression of the new owner's ideas mostly through the legend of St Ladislaus represented on the north nave wall. The architecture and architectural sculpture were retained as a framework for the display of the ideas of the new owners closely cooperating with the new rulers of the country and their interests. The church, built with one purpose in mind, was reused for a new cycle of ideological and artistic display - from the Romanesque to the Gothic, from the plain (or plain decorative) to figurative repre-sentation, from the Templars to the Hospitallers, from the Arpadian to the Angevins.

Keywords: Croatia, Novo Mesto Zelinsko, St Ladislas, Romanesque art, Templars, Hospitallers, Angevins

The church of 5t Peter in Novo Mesto Zelinsko is situated on the left bank of the Lonja river, to the east of

Zagreb, near an important road linking, since Antiquity, Zagreb, i.e. 5isak (5iscia) with Varazdin and Ptuj (Poet-

ovio).l Across the river is 5veti Ivan Zelina - a significant medieval point ofthis region thanks to its central role in

the Moravce county during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.2 ln the literature the church of 5t Peter has been

recognized as a late Romanesque - early Gothic building.3 It is an aisleless church with rectangular sanctuary set

on a hilltop, surrounded by a ditch (fig. 1). There are small round-headed Romanesque windows in the nave and

the sanctuary, while the triumphal arch is pointed. The nave has a wooden ceiling and the sanctuary is rib-vault-

ed. The ribs were supported by sculpted brackets which, together with the capitals of the triumphal arch and the

key stone, were made by the same workshop. On the west side of the nave, there are traces of an empora so the

western window of the nave is somewhat smaller than the others. The nave walls are covered by three layers of

frescoes. The middle one depicting the legend of 5t Ladislas dates from the fourteenth century.4 The church was

first mentioned in 1409 as a parish church.s The scholars mostly agree that it was built in the thirteenth century,

probably after the Tartars' invasion of 1241 .6 It has also been connected to the patron ate of the Duke Koloman

and the Zagreb's bishop 5tjepan II from the beginning of the thirteenth century.?

The building has been recognized as Templars' and Hospitalers' church due to its forms - the rectangular

sanctuary, the empora in the west part ofthe nave and the position on a hilltop with a moat. It also stands near a

main communication route (fig. 2).8The form and the position alone do not provide an argument per se, but the

iconographic scheme inside the church and the close vicinity of the Templars'lands, contribute to such a conclu-

sion.9 The Templars received their first estates in medieval 51avonia (nowadays continental Croatia) in the twelfth

century. They came into possession of the properties in Zdela and Haco. King Bela III donated them the land in

the county of Gora,lO and in1209, king Andrew II granted them the great estate of 5t Martin on the east rim of

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1. The church of St Peter, view from the east (photo:V. Jukic).

2. Cross section, view from south (ASK atelier, Zagreb; archive of the Museum Sv. Ivan Zelina)

3. Detail of the Legend ofSt Ladislaus at Velka Lomnica, Slovakia, 1317

5. Detail of the Legend ofSt Ladislaus at Rimavska Bana, Slovakia, 14th c.

Detail of the Legend ofSt Ladislaus at Velka Lomnica, Slovakia, 1317

6. DetaH of the Legend ofSt Ladislaus at Kraskovo, Slovakia, 14th c

7. Detail of the Legend ofSt Ladis/aus at Tereske, Hungary, c. 1400 8. Left part of the north nave wall, preserved fragments of the Legend ofSt Ladis/aus (scene one and two), 14th c., Novo Mesto Zelinsko (photo V. Jukic)

9. Detail of the introduction scene presenting St Ladislaus and 10. Detail of the scene of fight of the two armies (scene his army setting out from the city (scene one), 14th c., Novo three), 14th c., Novo Mesto Zelinsko (photo: M. Houska) Mesto Zelinsko (photo: M. Houska)

11. St Ladislaus carrying abducted Hungarian girl on the back of his horse (scene two), 14th c., Novo Mesto Zelinsko (photo: M. Houska)

12. The motif of lily at the sides of the scene Tree ofJesse, 15th c., Novo Mesto Zelinsko (photo: M. Houska)

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On the southern side of the triumphal arch there is a representation of the Virgin Protectress with three

crowned figures under her mantle - possibly St Stephen, St Emerik, and St Ladislas, the three Hungarian saintly

kings. St Ladislas, an eminently Arpadian Saint, was, however, also the patron of choice of the new, Anjou dynasty,

an act of political and ideological spoliation by itself. The ideologies of the Hospitallers and of the Angevin kings

thus found a happy common medium.

Except of the legend of St Ladislas, who obviously was a saintly knight, there are few more indications of

the Hospitallers' reuse of the church. In the intrados of the triumphal arch Tree of Jesse is depicted in the paint-

ing from the middle of the fifteenth century with the mot,if of lily at the sides of the scene (fig. 12)Y The lily was a

motif often used by the M!litary Orders, and so also by the Hospitallers of Hungary and Croatia as shown by their

official seal.32 As in the late fifteenth and this early sixteenth century, the Hospitallers began to lose their land and

properties in favor of the King and big feudal nobles, so the appearance of the motif may indicate that the Hospi -

tallers held the church at least untill that time.

In the medieval time, royal and dynastic saints were important instruments to prove and promote legiti-

macy of dynasties across Europe. The Hungarian Angevin dynasty, as seen, was no exception. The cult of dynastic

saints was popular in Europe of the time, and St Ladislas, as a dynastic saint, was successfully used to support

Charles Robert, the Angevin aspirant, to the Hungarian crown. The entire existing architecture of St Peter's, par-

ticularly the interior church walls, was used for the display of the ideas of the new owners closely cooperating

with the new rulers of the country. Simple and plain (or rudimentary decorative) Templar wall decor provided a

background for the display of a story key for both to the Hospitallers and the Anjou . The church secured continu-

ity of the new owners and the legitimacy ofthe new rulers ofthe land.

* We would like to thank Mr. M. Houska and Mrs. R. MackoviC from the Museum Sv. Ivan Zelina for the documentation

and photos of St Peter's church in Novo Mesto Zelinsko.

L. DOBRONIC, Topografija zemljiSnih posjeda zagrebackih biskupa prema ispravi kra/ja Emerika iz god. 1201 ., Zagreb,

1951,p.301.

2 M. HOU5KA-R. MACKOVIC, Zelinski kraj kroz pros/ost, Sveti Ivan Zelina, 2007, p.40.

3 J. ST051C, Srednjovjekovna umjetnicka svjedocanstva 0 Zagrebackoj biskupiji, in: Sveti trag, devetsto godina umjetnosti

Zagrebacke biskupije 1094-1994, Zagreb, 1994, p. 121; I. SR5A, Kape/a sv. Petra u Novom Mjestu, in: Kaj XXXI, Zagreb,

1998, p. 77; A. AZINOVIC, Novo Mjesto - kape/a Sv. Petra, in : Obavijesti 3, god. XXXIV, 2002, p. 130.

4 I. SRSA, op. cit., pp. 81-83 .

5 L. DOBRONIC, Po starom Moravcu, Zagreb, 1979, pp. 59-60; A. AZINOVIC, op.cit., p. 130.

6 J. STOSIC, op. cit., p. 121; I. SRSA, op. cit., p. 77; A. AZINOVIC, op. cit., p. 130.

7 V. GOSS, Temp/ari i ku/turni pejsaz ze/inskog Prigorja, in:Templari i njihovo nasljeae, 800 godina od dolaska templara na

zemlju Sv. Martina, Catalogue of the exhibition at Museum Sveti Ivan Zelina, 2009, p. 35; V. JUKIC-D. DUJMOVIC, The

"K%man Renascence" in North Western Croatia, in: Starohrvatska prosvjeta, 111-37/2010, pp. 171-182.

8 V. GOSS, op. cit. , p. 35; idem, Four Centuries ofEuropean Art 800- 1200: View from Southeast, Zagreb, 2010, pp. 195, 237.

9 G. CURZI, La pittura dei Temp/ari, Milan, 2002; B. STOSSEK, Maisons et possessions des temp/iers en Hongrie, in: Crusades

and Military Orders. Expanding the frontiers of Medieval Latin Christianity, Z. HUNYADI-J. LASZLOVSKY (eds.), Buda-

pest, 2001, p. 249.

10 L. DOBRONIC, Temp/ari i ivanovci u Hrvatskoj, Zagreb, 2002, p. 28-33; B. STOSSEK, op. cit., p. 246.

11 L. DOBRONIC, op. cit., pp. 38, 99; B. STOSSEK, op. cit., p. 248.

12 L. DOBRONIC,op. cit. , p. 38; B. STOSSEK, op. cit., p. 247.

1 3 L. DOBRON Ic'op. cit., p. 40; M. KOSI, The Age of the Crusades in the South -East of the Empire (Between the A/ps and the

Cepetic:' - Dujmovic:', St Peter at Novo Mesto Zelinsko

Adriatic), in: Crusades and Military Orders. Expanding the frontiers of Medieval Latin Christianity, Z. HUNYADI, J.

LASZLOVSKY (eds.), Budapest, 2001, p. l37.

14 V. GOSS, op. cit., 2009, p. 35; V. JUKIC-D. DUJMOVIC, op. cit.

15 L. KONTLER, Povijest Madarske, Zagreb, 2007, p. 90.

16 Ibid., p. 95; A. LUTTRELL, The Hospitallers in Hungary before 7478, in: Crusades and Military Orders. Expanding the fron-

tiers of Medieval Latin Christianity, Z. HUNYADI-J. LASZLOVSKY (eds.), Budapest, 2001, p. 271.

17 L. KONTLER, op. cit., p. 96.

18 L. DOBRONIC, op. cit., 2002, pp. 144-146; B. STOSSEK, op. cit., p. 250; Z. HUNYADI, The Crusades and the Military Orders,

in: Crusades and Military Orders. Expanding the frontiers of Medieval Latin Christianity, Z. HUNYADI-J. LASZLOVSKY

(eds.), Budapest, 2001, p. 256.

19 I. SRSA, Zidni oslici u ladi crkve Sv. Petra u Novom Mjestu, in:Templari i njihovo nasljede; 800 godina od dolaska templara

na zemlju Sv. Martina, Catalogue of the exhibition at Museum Sveti Ivan Zelina, 2009, p. 43.

20 B.Z. SZAKAc5, Between Chronicle and Legend: Image Cycles ofSt Ladislas in Fourteenth-Century Hungarian Manuscripts,

in: The Medieval Chronicle IV, Amsterdam, 2006, p. 149.

21 E. MADAS-G. HORVATH ZOLTAN, K6zepkori predik6ci6k es falkepek Szent L6sz16 kir61yr611San Ladislao d'Ungheria nella

predicazione e nei dipinti murali, Romanika Kiad6, Budapest, 2008, pp. 81,90,91, 122, 124, l36, 142-143, 154, 188-189,

238-241,308-309.

22 I. SRSA, op. cit., 2009, p. 40.

23 R. RATKOVCIC, Prilozi istraiivanju zidnih slika u kapeli sv. Petra u Novom Mjestu, in: Peristil 52, Zagreb, 2009, p. 117. Ro-

sana Ratkovcic argues that the scenes one and three (in this case of St Peter) are just one scene depicting the fight

between two armies in the form of a frieze, although the severed heads are found in just one part of the scene, on the

left side of the wall, which clearly identifies only the western section as a battle scene. Because of the fragmentary

stage of preservation of the cycle in St Peter in Novo Mesto Zelinsko we do not have a clear division of the scenes in

registers but it would be unlogical that the legend of St Ladislas could be presented in a reverse order.

24 For example please see: Velka Lomnica (fig. 4), Rimavska Bana (fig. 5), Tereske (fig . 7) .

25 B.Z. SZAKAcs, op. cit., p. 148.

26 Ibid., pp. 148-152.

27 G. KLANICZAY, Holy Rulers and Blessed Princesses: Dynastic Cults in Medieval Central Europe, Cambridge, 2002, pp. 322-

326,331-345,356-366; B.Z. SZAKAcs, op. cit., p. 153.

28 B.Z. SZAKAcs, op. cit., p. 153.

29 I. SRSA, op. cit., 2009, p. 43.

30 L. DOBRONIC, Posjedi i sjedista templara, ivanovaca i sepulkralaca u Hrvatskoj, Rad JAZU, Knjiga 406, Razred za likovne

umjetnosti, Knjiga XI, Zagreb, 1984, p. 98.

31 I. SRSA, Jeseovo stablo u kapeli Sv. Petra u Novom Mjestu, in: Sveti Ivan Zelina i zelinski kraj u proslosti, Zagreb-Sv. Ivan

Zelina, 2003, pp. 295-305.

32 L. DOBRONIC,op. cit., 1984, pp. 16, 126.

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Danko Dujmovic

Sv. Petar u Novom Mestu Zelinskom: nova ikonografija kao potvrda politickoga kontinuiteta

Crkva Sv. Petra u Novom Mestu Zelinskom ima jake srednjovjekovne korijene. na ona izniman spomenik kasnoromanicke i goticke umjetnosti. Jednobrodna crkva ima pravokutno svodeno

krizno-rebrastim svodom 5 visokokvalitetnom kapitelnom zonom i zaglavnim kamenom. Vjerojatno je ova kvalitetna plasti-ka, djelo iz kruga biskupa 11., nastala u prvoj polovici 13. stoljeca. Crkva je izvorno bila dio templarskog po-sjeda Sv. Martina. Utjecaj templara jos se moze primijetiti u jednostavnim formama broda i svetista. U prvoj fazi unutrasnjost bila je svijetlim sivo-plavim Tijekom kasnijih novi su posjednici crkve iskoristili citavu izvornu arhitekturu kao medij za novih vlasnika, pa je tako npr. brod crkve u potpu-nosti oslikan legendom 0 sv. Ladislavu, u ranogotickom stilu. Prema legendi, sv. Ladislav trebao je voditi prvi krizarski rat, ali je prerano umro. borba 5 poganskim vodom Kumana moze se tumaciti kao simbolicna borba kralja protiv pogana.

;,,,,)\/1'-'" na koji je nesumnjivo svetac iz loze Arpadovica, izabran je za zastitnika nove dinastije, Anjou, je zamijenila Ar-

tronu to se tumaci kao cin kojim nova pokazuje svoju legitimnost, tj. kontinuitet vladanja. Ideologije Anzuvinaca i ivanovaca uspjesno su nasle zajednicki jezik. arhitektura, posebno unutrasnji zidovi crkve, iskoristeni su kao umjetnicki okvir u istom smislu u kojem su ostaci templarskog reda na ovim podrucjima koristeni za nje reda ivanovaca. Arhitektura i arhitektonska pia stika crkve Sv. Petra sacuvani su kao okvir za prikazivanje novih ali i povezanosti s novim vladarima i vladarskim interesima. Jednostavnost arhitekture i dekoracije u tome su im posluzili kao idealna povrsina za prikazivanje kljucne podjednako vaine ivanovcima i novim vladarima iz porod ice Anjou. i ikonografske sheme trebale su osigurati kontinuitet, u ovom legitimnost novih vlasnika i novih vladara

14.01.2012. Pregledni rad