Magyar Zoltán

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

ELEVATION, TRANSLATION OF REMAINS

Immobility

Stephen: At the elevation of saint’s body the coffin lid cannot be removed until, following the advice of a saintly nun, the dethroned Hungarian king Solomon is set free: ST III:44; Bonfini: 2.1.360.

Gerald: Such a crowd gathers to saint’s corpse that it can only be removed during the night: GE II:56. The boat carrying the saint’s remains would not set out until the oars are thrown into the water: GE II:56. Saint’s corpse goes to a place of its own choosing. In the first church the attendants cannot put the coffin down; at the saint’s burial-place, however, such weight pulls their arms down that they are forced to place it on the ground: GE II:57.

Saint’s remains go by themselves to the burial-place of their own choosing

Ladislas: Saint is to be buried in a burial-place not of his own choosing, but the cart carrying the body sets out without animal or human power towards the site chosen by the saint, Nagyvárad/Oradea: LA:10; Bonfini: 2.4.285-290; Temesvari: 15.23; EC:402; AnjouLeg-LA: plate 119.; CP: p. 101; Vienna MS of Legenda Aurea,

Gerald: The boat carrying the saint’s remains would not set out until the oars are thrown into the water: GE II:56. The boat carries saint’s remains by itself across the river: GE II:56.

Animals carrying saint’s remains go by themselves to the site of the burial-place

Gerald: The oxen pulling the cart with the saint’s body go by themselves, without eating and drinking and without being urged, towards the site of the new burial-place: GE II:56; AnjouLeg-GE: plate 7.

A pleasant scent can be smelt upon the opening of the grave

Stephen: At the elevation, upon removal of coffin lid a sweet scent floods the church: ST II:12; ST III:46; Bonfini: 2.1.375; EC:499.

Gerald: When saint’s tomb is opened the coffin gives off a marvellous scent: GE II:56.

Ladislas: Saint’s tomb gives off a scent of balm, incense and lavender: Ruthenus.

Helen: When saint’s tomb is opened (after 17 years) it gives off a pleasant scent that floods the whole monastery and its environs: HE:25

Elizabeth: When saint’s tomb is opened her coffin lets off a sweet smell: EL IV:IV.37; EL V:30; EL VI:13; EL VII:8.XIII.

Margaret: When the stone lid of saint’s tomb is removed several months after the burial, a sweet scent can be smelt: MA I:I.142; MA II:II.2.

Saint’s tomb

Helen: In saint’s tomb the earth is found piled up by several inches around saint’s corpse, in all directions: HE:25.

Balmy oil found in saint’s tomb

Stephen: Saint’s body is found in a red balmy oil when the tomb is opened: ST III:46; Bonfini: 2.1.375; EC:499. The balm found in saint’s coffin is miraculously renewed. The more is drawn out, the more stems in its place; when the drawn-out oil is spilt back, the quantity of the balm in the coffin remains the same: ST III:46; Bonfini:2.1.375-380.

Elizabeth: Saint’s tomb is found full of oil: EL VII:8.XVII; EL VIII:40, 43.

Oil oozing from saint’s body

Ladislas: Oil oozes from saint’s tomb: JanusPannonius: 7th stanza; Hymn II: 7th stanza; Laskai:48.2.3.4.

Helen: Pleasant-smelling oil oozes from saint’s body: HE:25.

Elizabeth: Oil oozes from saint’s body: EL IV:18, 19; EL VII:8.XVII; Bonfini: 2.7.335; Temesvari: 98.24.

Saint’s body found intact, undeteriorated

Benedikt: Saint’s body is found intact in the river: AN:7.

Stephen: Stephen’s right hand is preserved intact, undeteriorated: ST III:48.

Gerald: Saint’s body is found undeteriorated after seven years: GE I:15, 17; GE II:55.

Elizabeth: When saint’s tomb is opened her body is found undeteriorated: EL IV:IV.37; EL V:30; EL VI:13.

Helen: Bits of saint’s body are ripped off as relics before her burial; fresh blood can be seen in the wounds even after 17 years: HE:25.

Margaret: Saint’s corpse is rosier, more vivid than in her lifetime: MA I:I.136; MA II:II.1.

Elizabeth of Töss: When saint’s tomb is opened after 30 years, her body is found intact, undeteriorated: TE:16.

Divine sign in the hour of canonization

Ladislas: In the hour of saint’s canonization (by day) a bright star is seen for two hours above the monastery: LA:16; Madas:3.1.; Temesvari:14.3.; Laskai:48.2.3.; 49.2.1.; EC:404.

Divine apparition at the saint’s burial-place

Stephen: Saint’s right hand with the ring is handed over to a cleric by a youth clad in white (angel); the cleric places it in a monastery founded for the veneration of the relic: ST III:48.

Elizabeth: Saint’s tomb is often visited by angels: EL VII:8.XIV.

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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