Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.53745/ccp.48.93.6
Interventions of Martin Frankapan in the Church Structure of The Gorica Archdeaconry of the Diocese of Century
Tomislav Matić
orcid.org/0000-0003-3648-7407
; Croatian Institute of History, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
This paper studies the three aspects of Martin Frankapan’s inverventions in the church structure of the Archdeaconry of Gorica in the mid-15th century. The first part consists of the analysis of two conflicts caused by the issue of tithes due to the Chapter of Zagreb from Martin’s lordships of Lipovac and Steničnjak. The conflict over the tithes of Lipovac occurred in the early 1440s and the one over the tithes owed by the possessions of Steničnjak in the early 1460s. They were both connected with attacks on Martin’s troops on the estates owned by the Chapter. Although we do not know how the conflict from the 1440s ended, the one over the tithes of Steničnjak was resolved in 1464, when Martin agreed to financially compensate the Chapter for its losses. Our conclusion is that Martin’s efforts were directed towards strenghtening his control over the church on his estates. This is corroborated by the fact that at one point an agreement existed between him and the Chapter regarding the tithes of Steničnjak, according to which the chapter officials did not collect the tithes themselves, but received a monetary compensation for them from Martin. The other two parts of our analysis consist of studying the cases of two churches for which Martin had obtained pilgrim indulgences – the parish churches of St. Leonard and the Blessed Virgin. The main difficulty was to determine the location of those churches. By analyzing various sources, primarily medieval tithe records and the records of early modern canonical visitations, we determined that the church of St. Leonard was located in Liplje, close to Bosiljevo, and the church of the Blessed Virgin in Gorica Svetojanska. According to the intents expressed in Martin’s supplications to the pope to award the pilgrims’ indulgences to these churches, Martin had constructed the parish church of St. Leonard himself, and it was his intent to maintain and elevate the role of the parish church of the Blessed Virgin, which was already established as a pilgrim destination. His construction of the church of St. Leonard altered the church structure of the westernmost part of the Diocese of Zagreb. The parish itself did not survive until the 17th century, but the church continued existing as a chapel subordinated to the parish of Bosiljevo. Martin’s efforts regarding the church of the Blessed Virgin in Gorica Svetojanska probably bore fruit, as sources attest that a complex consisting of three churches existed there until the mid-17th century, but it had by then fallen into ruins. The church itself survived into the early modern times, but the parish seat was moved to the neighbouring St. Anne’s church. It is likely that Martin’s motives regarding both of these churches were both strengthening his control over the local church, but also improving the spiritual welfare of the local inhabitants.
Keywords
middle ages; Diocese of Zagreb; Frankapans; topography; church history.
Hrčak ID:
320525
URI
Publication date:
6.9.2024.
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