page_title: Peter Monoszló
section_title: Feudal anarchy
hierarchical_section_title: Peter Monoszló / Bishop of Transylvania / Feudal anarchy
caption_attribution_description: The Mongols in Hungary 1285. Hungary. Ink and paint on pergament. Height 25.3 cm, width 32.8 cm. Széchényi National Library, Budapest, fol. 64 verso, Inv. no. Clmae 404 (the picture is of a 19th century reproduction). From the Chronicum Pictum in Hungary's National Library. The dismounted Mongols, with captured women, are on the left, the Hungarians, with one saved woman, on the right.
context_page_description: Peter (II) from the kindred Monoszló was a Hungarian prelate, who served as the Bishop of Transylvania from 1270 until his death. The current St. Michael's Cathedral in Gyulafehérvár was built during his term.
context_section_description: The papal legate Philip, Bishop of Fermo arrived to Hungary in early 1279 to help Ladislaus to consolidate his authority, but the prelate was shocked at the presence of thousands of pagan Cumans in the realm. Since then Peter Monoszló, along with the other bishops, resided in Buda until October 1280. He participated in that synod which was committed to the defense of the Catholic faith and prescribed that the Cumans should leave their tents and live "in houses attached to the ground". Following that Ladislaus forced prelates to leave Buda for Pressburg, where Philip excommunicated him and placed Hungary under interdict in October. After that Peter resided in Esztergom at the archiepiscopal court of his mentor, Lodomer.
  In 1281, local noble comes Stephen accused Peter's two familiares, Michael Chotow and Fuldur forcibly deported thirty-serf families and seized a huge part in the land of Gyovd, near Tasnád (today Tășnad, Romania) for the diocese. A trial was convened at Buda in September 1281, where Stephen was forced to resigne from third part of the possession after an interrupted duel. In the same year, Peter filed a lawsuit against three members of the Dara branch of the Csák kindred, Michael, Ugrin and Barc, also owners of Selénd (today Șilindia, Romania), accusing them with arbitrary takeover of the diocese's land, Barátpüspöki in Bihar County. Through the mediation of vice-judge royal Stephen, the two litigants agreed with each other by releasing a smaller area to the Csák brothers. According to a charter from 1282, Peter's army destroyed quickly-built castles inhabited by highwaymen and robbers along the Szamos (Someș). On 23 June 1283, Peter signed a contract with the deacon of the Saxon ecclesial community in Medgyes (today Mediaș, Romania) to transmit the diocese's share of the collection of church taxes in the area for annual forty silver denari.
  The Mongols of the Golden Horde invaded Hungary under the command of Khans Talabuga and Nogai in January 1285. Talabuga's main army was defeated by the Hungarian troops, while Nogai stayed in Transylvania until the spring of 1286. Meanwhile, Ladislaus also subjugated a rebellion in the Szepesség in September 1285. In Transylvania, Nogai plundered some towns and villages, such as Szászrégen, Brassó and Beszterce (today Reghin, Brașov and Bistrița in Romania, respectively). He also managed to destroy a few forts and walled towns. However, like Talabuga, he failed to take any major fortifications. His army was defeated by Roland Borsa, who served as Voivode of Transylvania since 1284. He was the first baron, who tried to establish a de facto independent dominion in the province, taking advantage of Ladislaus' unpopularity and shocking measures. Through Egyed's unidentified daughter who married Roland's nephew, Stephen, he was akin to Bishop Peter. Despite that family relationship, Peter's relation to the Borsas was ambiguous and fluctuating. Peter, in accordance with the position of the Catholic Church and Archbishop Lodomer, was interested in a strong central power, opposing such local authority efforts. For instance, Peter sued back the right to collect tithe in Ugocsa County from James Borsa, brother of Roland in 1288.
  Lodomer summoned the prelates, the barons, and the noblemen to an assembly in Buda and excommunicated Ladislaus in September 1287, following the release of Queen Elizabeth of Sicily, who was imprisoned by her husband, King Ladislaus IV. Lodomer here also entrusted Peter to recover the arbitrarily confiscated queenly estates surrounding Beszterce from the town's magistrate. Ladislaus's favoritism towards the Cumans made him so unpopular that many of his subjects accused him of inciting the Mongols to invade Hungary years earlier. Peter shared this viewpoint, as a result, according to a false diploma, he captured and imprisoned Árbóc (a Cuman maternal relative of Ladislaus IV) and Voivode Mojs Ákos on the instruction of Lodomer and the archiepiscopal synod in 1288, mistakenly thought that they had planned to go the Mongols as the envoys of Ladislaus, searc
caption: Mongols in Hungary in 1285, depicted in the Illuminated Chronicle
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