Twelfth-Century Mosan Reliquary of Pétermonostora
By (author) Bernát Rácz
Paperback (Published)
(March 2025)
ISBN: 9781803279817
8.27 x 11.69 inches
Price: $50.00
In stock
In 2013, two large enamel plaques from a Mosan reliquary were found at Petermonostora, Hungary. Despite the site’s destruction by Mongols in 1241, these remains highlight a thriving medieval settlement and offer insights into high medieval East-Central Europe’s art, culture, and history.
In 2013, during the excavation of the archaeological site of Petermonostora (Hungary), two exceptionally large enamel plaques were discovered. The reliquary they belonged to was made by a Mosan artist, possibly in the Meuse Valley, a major intellectual and artistic centre of the period. The artwork’s remains constitute one of the greatest discoveries in medieval Hungarian archaeology. Even though the site was completely destroyed by the Mongols in 1241, its remains, and especially artefacts like the reliquary, create a unique image of a large, thriving settlement, home to a Latin Christian masterpiece. Given the destruction of sources and artworks in the region, Petermonostora offers a rare opportunity to examine artistic, cultural, and historical aspects of high medieval East-Central Europe.
Foreword
Introduction
1. The History of Pétermonostora
The Site
The Settlement
The Basilica and the Monastery
The Artistic and Material Culture of the Basilica
Signs of the Mongol Destruction
Introduction to the Reliquary
2. The Reliquary’s Stylistic Links
Description of the Enamels
Technical and Stylistic Description of the Fragments
The Origin of the Style: Rhine or Meuse?
Tracing the Design: Decorative Indicators
The Mosan Manuscripts and Enamels
The Origins of the Technique
The Issue of Limoges
The Style of the Side Cover and the Angel Plaque
3. The Reliquary’s Shape
The Two Enamel Plaques
Narrative and Communicative Function
The Largest Existing Phylactery Plaques
The Angel Plaque
The Side Cover
Eucharistic Aspects of Phylactery-Shaped Compositions
Other Fragments
4. The Patronage and the Relic
The Becse-Gergely Kindred and the Monastery
Pétermonostora as a Private Monastery
The Relic
The Reliquary’s Connection to the Court of Béla III
Conclusion
List of Images
Bibliography
- By (author) Bernát Rácz
Other Titles in this Series
Hoards, grave goods, jewellery
Objects in hoards and in burial contexts during the Mongol invasion of Central-Eastern Europe
Similar Books
‘For You I Study, For You I Work, For You I Live, For You I Am Ready To Even Give My Life’
Essays in Honour of Francis (Frank) J Moloney, SDB
Innovation and Medieval Communities
The Circulation of Ideas and Practices in and out of the Town (1200-1500)
Volume 63
Liturgia semper reformanda
Adaptations and accommodations in the liturgy in light of canon 838 of the Code of Canon Law
Volume 6
Medieval Yeghegis, Armenia
History, Archaeology, Society. Local Multiplicities and Global Connections of a Rural Centre on the Silk Road(s)
Power and Women in Southeast and Central Europe in Late Medieval and Early Modern Period (1300-1600)
Volume 10
The Therapeutae as the Best Paradigm for the Contemplative Life
A Contextual Reading of Philo of Alexandria's De Vita Contemplativa
