Unknown documents about the history of Hungary are found in the Vatican

Mult-kor.hu reports that priceless documents of two and a half centuries has been processed and made public by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

According to Sergio Pagano, a bishop of the Vatican Secret Archives, the collection contains nearly 1500 items, and provides the opportunity to examine the economic potential of the Hungarian ecclesiastical institutions in the Late Middle Ages, to compile a list of the Hungarian ecclesiastical dignitaries, and to analyze the relationship between the Hungarian church and the Italian banking houses.

”As the determining power of that age, the papacy had many connections with European states, including the Kingdom of Hungary as well. Therefore, thanks to the researches of the Camara Apostolica (the most important economic papal office), our knowledge of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary is expanded” said Péter Tusor, the leader of the research group. ”A more accurate picture can be generated about the lives of church communities, about their personal compositions, economic power, and income. These pieces of economic and cultural history can be useful for all the researchers of the Middle Ages” he added.

With the two volumes of the publication, the number of volumes published as a result of the researches on the Vatican archives is increased to 15. ”5 of these has been made after 2012, with the support of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences” said Péter Tusor. According to the historian, there is still a strong interest towards the age represented in the collections published now. He also drew the attention to the fact that the last hundred years of the period processed was determined by the struggles of the Kingdom of Hungary against the expansion of the Ottoman Empire.