In St. Martin’s Cathedral in the Spiš Chapter, in the north aisle, above the portal, there is a large mural (473 × 185 cm) depicting the coronation of King Charles Robert by the Madonna. The Virgin Mary, seated on a throne with the Child on her lap, touches with her right hand the crown already placed on the king’s head. Next to the ruler is a knight holding a long sword. Opposite the king and the knight are two clergymen, the first holding the crown and the second holding the royal orb. The figures surrounding the king thus hold the royal insignia (the crown, sword and orb). The coronation scene is accompanied by inscriptions in Gothic minuscule, which allow the figures depicted to be identified. The clergyman holding the crown is Archbishop Thomas of Esztergom. The second clergyman is the then Provost of Spiš, Henry, who, as the inscription next to him indicates, commissioned the painting (“Henricus prepositus fecit istud opus inpingi”). Next to the king is Spiš Castellan Thomas Semsei. Between the clergymen there is an inscription which is a request addressed to the Mother of God and contains the date of the painting (1317): “Ad te piamus suspiramus, si non ducis deviamus, ergo doce quid agamus, Virgo, mei et meis miserearis anno Domini MCCC decimo septimo” (“We piously sigh to you, we will stray if you do not guide us, so teach us what to do, O Virgin, have mercy on me and my people, in the year of our Lord 1317”).
The painting shows two royal crowns, one on the king’s head and the other held by the Archbishop of Esztergom. This is a clear reference to the several royal coronations that Charles Robert underwent before becoming the legitimate king of Hungary. According to Hungarian law and custom, the ruler should be crowned in the capital White City (Buda) by the Archbishop of Esztergom with the Crown of St. Stephen (which has survived to this day and is kept in the Hungarian Parliament). The first two coronations of Charles Robert (in 1301 and 1309) took place with the use of a crown made especially for him, and it was not until the coronation in 1310 that the Crown of St. Stephen, which had been recovered from his opponents, was used.
The creation of this painting may be related to a dispute that broke out a few years earlier between the Archbishop of Esztergom and the Spiš provostry due to the canons’ failure to comply with the residency requirement. The resolution of the conflict by Provost Henry was a good opportunity to commission this work, through which he sought, on the one hand, to show his loyalty to the Archbishop of Esztergom and, on the other, to appreciate his role as the one who, in 1310, performed the fully legal coronation of Charles Robert as King of Hungary.
Spišská Kapitula, St. Martin’s Cathedral, Coronation of Charles Robert, mural painting, 1317
© Patryk Jezierski, Kacper Trzmiel / Pracownia Digitalizacji MNK | NMK Digitization Studio
Cat. 1.1
