Uhorskí mendikanti a osmanské nebezpečenstvo do konca 16. storočia
Hungarian Mendicants and the Ottoman Threat to the Late Sixteenth Century

Summary/Abstract: The present study examines the response of mendicant orders in the Kingdom of Hungary to the advancing expansion of the Ottoman Empire from the late fourteenth to the late sixteenth century. The analysis is grounded in the premise that Ottoman incursions constituted not only a military threat, but also a profound social, economic, and cultural challenge that significantly affected the structure of medieval society. The study focuses on exploring the ways in which mendicant com¬munities responded to the long-term pressures of military conflict and how they adapted to changing conditions. The paper poses the following research questions: How did the mendicants react to the military threat posed by the Ottomans? In what ways did Ottoman incursions affect the functioning of religious orders and ecclesi¬astical administration in the contact zones? The study demonstrates that Ottoman raids caused extensive material destruction, depopulation, and the disintegration of traditional ecclesiastical structures, which directly impacted monastic institutions and religious life. As a consequence of these developments, members of religious or¬ders—particularly from Bosnia—migrated into the Kingdom of Hungary, where they established new convents and created substitute institutional frameworks. At the same time, so-called “frontier” or “grey” zones emerged, in which traditional church organization ceased to function effectively, and where, alongside Catholic pastoral care, heterodox religious currents also spread. Special attention is devoted to the in¬dividual experiences of religious figures, including captivity in the Ottoman milieu, as exemplified by the case of Georgius de Hungaria. These narratives illustrate not only the brutality of the conflict but also the cultural contacts and exchanges between the Christian and Islamic worlds. The study further highlights the gradual decline of mendicant structures in Hungary after 1526, resulting from a combination of Otto¬man expansion, internal political conflicts, and the onset of the Reformation. At the same time, it points out that the activity of the Franciscans in Ottoman-occupied ter¬ritories, although difficult, was not entirely impossible. The paper concludes that the responses of mendicant communities to crisis situations were diverse and adaptive, leading to transformations in their activities, geographical mobility, and the redefini¬tion of their role within society.

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