Magyar Zoltán

Legends of Early Hungarian Saints: type- and motif-index

MIRACLES

Providence

Gerald: By divine providence a sea storm breaks out and diverts the ship, bound for the Holy Land, towards Hungary: GE II:8-15.

Miraculous multiplication

Elizabeth: The beer that saint provides for the poor never runs out, its quantity remains the same: EL IV:II.19; EL VII:3.V; EL VIII:16.

Kinga: Multiplication of food: KI II:20.

Creation of food and drink

Ladislas: Following saint’s prayer beasts come forth from the woods to feed his starving army: LA:7; ; Bonfini: 2.4.294; EC: 403. AnjouLeg-LA: plate 4. Following saint’s prayer a spring stems from the rock to quench the thirst of his army: Temesvari: 17.22; EC:404.

Elizabeth: Saint brings fish to an ill person from a brook where there has never been any fish: EL VII:6.X; Laskai: 5.

The ’miracle of the roses’

Elizabeth: Saint carries bread to the poor in her apron. When she is demanded to account for her deed (mostly by her father) she replies that she is carrying roses; and indeed, the loaves are immediately turned into roses: Lemmens: 381-382, 383; Laskai: 108.91; Temesvari: 96; Radocsay: 266 (Bártfa: St. Elizabeth altarpiece).

’The Wartburg banquet’

Elizabeth: Saint’s rich cloak which she gave away to a beggar is miraculously restored to her when she has to put it on to her husband’s request: EL VII:2.IX, X; Laskai: 1; EC:643; Radocsay: 266, 343 (Bártfa: St. Elizabeth altarpiece; Kassa: high altar of St. Elizabeth). Saint’s splendid garment and crown is carried back by an angel in order that she may appear suitably dressed on the princely banquet: Laskai: 1; EC:643.

’The miracle of the cross’ (’the legend of the leper’)

Elizabeth: Saint lays a leper in her husband’s bed. When she has to account for her deed, in place of the leper the crucified Christ appears on the bed: EL VII:2.VII; Timar: 195-196; EC:642-643; Radocsay: 343, 376, 452 (Kassa: high altar of St. Elizabeth; Lőcse: St. Elizabeth altarpiece; Szmrecsány: Christ’s Parentage altarpiece).

Helper warrior saints

Ladislas: St. Ladislas comes to the aid of his people even after his death, bringing them victory in the decisive battle against the invading Mongols (As related by an aged Tartar prisoner, when the Hungarians attacked the Mongol army, a tall knight was seen riding before them with a battle-axe and a with golden crown; above him a radiant lady appeared clad in rays of light): GestaL: 9.

Kinga: To the prayer of saint the dead Sts. Gervasius and Prothasius emerge and destroy the Mongol hordes: KI I:8.

’The ring of Polycrates’

Kinga: Saint drops her ring into a shaft in a salt-mine in Hungary; the ring is found in a block of salt extracted in Poland: KI I:10.

Power over matter

Elizabeth: Saint accidentally drops the glass pearls she is carrying to a sick child from a high promontory, but the pearls don’t break up: EL IV:II.18; EL V:12; EL VII:3.V; EL VIII:17.

Margaret: In response to saint’s prayers the carriage-wheel of the brethren arriving in the convent is broken, so they can’t leave: MA II:I.43, 44. To saint’s prayers the broken wheels are restored: MA II:I.43, 44.

St. Elizabeth of Töss: Saint brings water in a holed tub from a long distance to put out fire: TE:10.

Power over nature

Helen: The dried twigs that saint sticks into the earth come into leaf: HE:17.

Kinga: Saint’s crying melts the snow, heats the ice, makes green grass grow in winter on the place where she stands: KI I:9.

Power over the elements

Kinga: Saint is hidden from sight by a miraculous protective mist: KI I:6. Fire does not burn the saint: KI I:54.

Margaret: Saint takes out a pot fallen into the fire. Her hands and clothes are unharmed: MA I:I.44; MA II:I.40, 41. In response to saint’s prayers the sun comes out: MA II:I.15. Saint’s prayers calm the storm: MA II:I.42. Saint’s prayers provoke storm and floods, so the brethren arriving in the convent have to stay for a longer time (for preaching): MA II:I.45. Due to saint’s prayers the waters of the Danube flood the convent, then retreat leaving no traces: MA I:II.21; MA II:I.46.

Other miracles

Elizabeth: Miracles occur at the site of the martyrdom of saint’s mother: EL V:1.

Kinga: An illiterate young girl is able to read from Kinga’s psalter: KI I:50. An ill woman praying to saint is healed by bearing three puppies: KI II:21.

Legends of Early Hungarian Saints: type- and motif-index

Tartalomjegyzék

Kiadó: Akadémiai Kiadó

Online megjelenés éve: 2026

ISBN: 978 963 664 185 6

Művelődéstörténet Idegen nyelvű

The work of folklorist Zoltán Magyar throws light on a relatively little-known segment of the dynastyc cult of saints in Central European cultural history. The hagiographies and legends written on different members of the Árpadian dynasty, ruling in Hungary between the 11th and 13th centuries, and their contemporaries endowed with the aura of sanctity, occur not only in their medieval Hungarian legendry but have also become part of the liturgical tradition and the cult of saints on German, Polish and Byzantine soil. The thematic and generic variety of this legendry and its many folkloric implications show close parallels with another major work of medieval European hagiography: the legends of early Irish saints. The type- and motif-index and generatic catalogue compiled by Zoltán Magyar orders the epic tradition, based on 11rh-16th century written sources, of twelve Hungarian royal saints who have become the subject of legends shortly after their death. Beside classification according to the type of legendd heroes and themes, the book also contains an analysis of the biographical data, of the historical sources and of the primary types and motifs of hagiographies.

Hivatkozás: https://mersz.hu/magyar-early-hungarian-saints-type-and-motif-index//

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