Observații privind relațiile dintre curtea episcopului de la Alba Iulia și districtul Bistrița în jurul anului 1500
Observations Concerning the Relationship Between the Episcopal Court of Alba Iulia and the Bistrița District Around 1500

Summary/Abstract: The present paper focuses on the complex ties between the episcopal court of Alba Iulia and the elite of the Bistrița district in the half of century around 1500, based on several unpublished sources, rarely used by previous scholarship. These records highlight a collaboration between the episcopate and the local elite in various aspects, such as the ordination of priests, consecration of liturgical spaces, confirmation of parish priests, collection of church taxes, reinforcement of wills, resolution of disputes under canon law, defense of the kingdom boundaries, and management of relations with other political actors. On the other hand, attempts by the bishops to disregard the right of patronage owned by local communities or to increase the taxation were met with firm resistance, often supported by other members of the Saxon “spiritual university”. However, these conflicts, which were rather often in medieval Transylvania, did not worsen during the analyzed period and did not seem to indicate the imminent triumph of the Reformation in the Bistrița district.

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