Egres Abbey
Abația Igriș | |
| Monastery information | |
|---|---|
Roman Catholic | |
| Established | 1179 |
| Disestablished | 1514[1] |
| Mother house | Pontigny Abbey |
| Dedicated to | Saint Mary[2] |
| People | |
| Founder(s) | Béla III of Hungary |
| Architecture | |
| Status | Destroyed |
| Completion date | 1187 |
| Site | |
| Location | Igriș, Timiș County |
| Country | Romania |
| Coordinates | 46°7′23″N 20°44′20″E / 46.12306°N 20.73889°E |
Egres Abbey (Hungarian: Egresi apátság; Romanian: Abația Igriș; French: Abbaye de Hégerieux) was a Cistercian monastery in the Kingdom of Hungary, located in Egres (present-day Igriș, part of the commune of Sânpetru Mare, Timiș County, Romania). The Egres Abbey was founded by Béla III of Hungary in 1179 as a filial abbey of Pontigny.[3] Here is attested the oldest library in the territory of present-day Romania.
History
Foundation
It was founded by King
The abbey complex was vast and included the library, the monks' cells, the granary, workshops, the mechanical mill and others.[7]
Filial abbeys
In 1209, the monks of Egres founded their own filial abbey, Cârța Abbey, in Țara Făgărașului, near Sibiu. Another one was founded in 1266, in the Principality of Halych, namely the S. Crucis Galitiae Abbey.[5] From 1214, for a century, the Vérteskeresztúr Abbey in Hungary was a filial of the Egres Abbey too.
Under Andrew II of Hungary
The monastery reached its peak during the reign of
Decline
In 1241, with the great Mongol invasion, the monastic settlement at Egres, surrounded by fortified walls, was besieged and destroyed, and the church and royal tombs were desecrated. The destruction of the monastery was described by the Italian monk Rogerius, canon of the diocese of Nagyvárad, taken prisoner by the Mongols during the siege.[10] The great Mongol invasion forced many families from the surrounding villages to take refuge in the abbey, but the invaders massacred the entire population.[11]
After the Mongol invasion, King
Towards the second half of the 14th century, the Egres Abbey had lost its former importance. By 1357 it had only six monks.[13]: 82 Abbot Martin of Egres, in a letter addressed to the pope on 8 November 1499, showed the decline and material lacks of the monastery.[13]: 85
Destruction
Starting with 1500, its properties were merged with the diocese of Csanád. Then, Vladislaus II, with the permission of the Parliament and the Pope, gave the abbey and the surrounding lands to Bishop Miklós Csáky.[7] One last abbot of the monastery was mentioned in a document in 1527. In 1541, the abbey was just a military observation point where Peter Petrovics, the commander of Temes County, repaired the walls and set up a garrison.[14]
On 28 September 1551, with the conquest of Cenad, Beylerbey Mehmet also besieged and destroyed the Egres fortification. Because of the danger represented by the potential Ottoman conquest, the local population chose to leave the village and take refuge in other regions of the kingdom.[8]
The abbey would have been located on the site of today's Orthodox church in the village.[7] A 1.5-meter piece of wall, numerous boulders and polished stones with a diameter of 1 meter are still preserved from the old abbey. With materials from the monastery, the locals built their houses or fences. There are also pieces from the abbey in the stairs of the Greek Catholic church in Igriș.[15]
Library
In the library of the abbey there were works by classical authors from Antiquity, such as Cicero, Seneca, Suetonius and Quintilian, but also books by medieval authors, including Gregory of Nazianzus, Anselm of Canterbury and Ivo of Chartres.[16]
Archeological discoveries
In 1870, archeological excavations were carried out that identified the ruins of the church along a length of 500 feet, traces of walls, pillars and architectural fragments from the vaults of the nave. The crypt of Andrew II, a rectangular brick construction, was discovered by a team of Romanian-Hungarian archeologists in 2019.[8]
References
- ^ Borovszky, Samu (1911). "Csanád vármegye területe". Magyarország vármegyéi és városai. Budapest: Országos Monografia Társaság.
- ^ Stoicescu, Nicolae (1973). Bibliografia localităților și monumentelor medievale din Banat (PDF). Timișoara: Editura Mitropoliei Banatului. pp. 81–82.
- ^ a b Gerő, Lajos, ed. (1897). A Pallas nagy lexikona. Vol. V. Budapest: Pallas Irodalmi és Nyomdai Rt.
- ^ Rupp, Jakab (1870). Magyarország helyrajzi története fő tekintettel az egyházi intézetekre (PDF). Vol. I. Pest: Eggenberger. p. 69.
- ^ ISSN 1219-0616.
- ^ a b Țeicu, Dumitru (2007). "Repertoriul mănăstirilor medievale". Geografia ecleziastică a Banatului medieval. Cluj-Napoca: Presa Universitară Clujeană. pp. 70–71.
- ^ ISBN 978-973-52-0679-6.
- ^ a b c d Both, Ștefan (26 August 2021). "Arheologii români și maghiari au reînceput săpăturile la mănăstirea cisterciană de la Igriș: Nu ne-am așteptat să mai găsim sarcofagul regelui". Adevărul.
- ^ Roller, Mihail, ed. (1951). Documente privind istoria României: C. Transilvania. Vol. I (1075–1250). Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Române. p. 203.
- ^ Rogerius (1935). "Carmen Miserabile/Cântecul de jale". In Popa-Lisseanu, G. (ed.). Izvoarele istoriei românilor. Vol. V. Bucharest: Bucovina. pp. 91–92.
- ISBN 978-0-521-81539-0.
- ^ Györffy, György (1966). Az Árpád-kori Magyarország történeti földrajza. Vol. I. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó. pp. 855–856.
- ^ a b Juhász, Koloman (1927). Die Stifte der Tschanader Diözese im Mittelalter. Münster: Aschendorffsche Verlagsbuchhandlung.
- ISSN 2392-8786.
- ^ Both, Ștefan (9 December 2015). "Regele Ungariei, căutat în România. Operațiune arheologică fără precedent desfășurată în apropiere de Timișoara". Adevărul.
- ISBN 9789734100286.