Saint Stephen’s Monogram on the Letters-Patent of Pannonhalma

Saint Stephen’s monogram, i.e. the graphic sign concealing his name and title, is known by every educated Hungarian person. Seeing the monogram, first the disc-cover of the Szörényi-Bródy rock opera is always in the minds of the elder generations. However, undoubtedly fewer people know that the king’s monogram has been preserved for us on the letters-patent of Pannonhalma. As a matter of fact, the earliest chart in Latin in Hungary is Saint Stephen’s only letters-patent still extant in its original form. Its form is original, but it is not original. Namely, its text was somewhat supplemented at the beginning of the 12th century, or at the turn of the 12th-13th centuries in the opinion of others, but the way it was copied makes the scrivener’s handwriting of the original document discernible. This person is the notary referred to as “C”, a clerk of Heribert, the chancellor of Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor. As a matter of course, the work of the notary, who came from the German chancellery into the Hungarian royal court, is related to the practice of German diplomas in respects of diplomatics, stylistics and contents. The same can be stated about Stephen’s other diplomas, too, which are much later copies not willing to imitate the original documents to all appearances.

Thus, the letters-patent of Pannonhalma has kept its original form, i.e. it truly imitates all the appearances of the original’s way of writing and style. For this reason, we can be certain that the representative royal monogram devised by Heribert C looked likewise on the diploma of 1001. As a matter of course, the construction of the royal monogram also imitated contemporary German patterns. When the use of written records emerged, in the diplomas of Europe’s more developed regions, graphic symbols had already been adopted for centuries. One of their types is the attesting sign of the monarch, who issued the diploma. The monogram in the diplomas of the Holy Roman Emperors consists of the letters of the monarch’s name, and since Otto II, it consists of the letters of his titles, which lasted all through the Middle Ages in the imperial diplomas. Stephen’s sign is also such a titular symbol, i.e. containing his royal title as well, which substituted the monarch’s signature.

The rectangular monogram reads as STEPHANUS REX (King Stephen). In completing the contemporaneous monograms, the monarch contributed by adding the final stroke with his own hand. Based on the letters-patent, one cannot decide whether the original monogram included the mark made by the king’s hand. However, according to the text of the diploma, the king’s contribution in completing the sign can be presumed, because its closure mentions that the king corroborated the diploma with his own hand (hanc paginam manu propria roborantes). Stephen’s diploma related to the bishopric of Veszprém contains similar words.

The Tihany Deed of Foundation of 1055 – already displaying French influence – also contains a monogram, the sign of Andrew I, who issued the diploma and founded the abbey. This monogram is rectangular, too, but in contrast to Stephen’s sign, it does not include the royal title (rex). At the end of the diploma, the Latin phrase – consignatumque manu regis – refers to the fact that the king contributed to the monogram’s creation in this case as well. However, the touch of his hand cannot be identified.

Based on a palimpsest diploma, it can be rendered probable that Béla I also used a monogram, but our kings after him did not apply this way of attestation. As for the graphic symbols applied in diplomas in the 12th century, only the cross remained in use all in all, then it was also losing out in the 13th century.