Maja Cepetic - Danko Dujmovic

St Peter at Novo Mesto Zelinsko

New Iconography for Claiming Political Continuity

UDK: 726.54.033(497.5 Novo Mesto Zelinsko)

75.044(497.5 Novo Mesto Zelinsko)

Maja Cepetic
maja.cepetic@gmail.com
Danko Dujmovic
ddujmovic@ffri.hr
University of Rijeka, Croatia

This paper analyses the course of changes that followed the arival of new beneficiaries in a church of St Peter. At first it was
a part of a Templar estate on the Lands of St Martin. With the abolition of the Templar order most of the Templars joined the
Hospitallers. Upon the latters' takeover of the church, the existing architecture was used as a medium for the expression of
the new owner's ideas mostly through the legend of St Ladislaus represented on the north nave wall. The architecture and
architectural sculpture were retained as a framework for the display of the ideas of the new owners closely cooperating with
the new rulers of the country and their interests. The church, built with one purpose in mind, was reused for a new cycle of
ideological and artistic display - from the Romanesque to the Gothic, from the plain (or plain decorative) to figurative representation, from the Templars to the Hospitallers, from the Arpadian to the Angevins.
Keywords: Croatia, Novo Mesto Zelinsko, St Ladislas, Romanesque art, Templars, Hospitallers, Angevins

The church of 5t Peter in Novo Mesto Zelinsko is situated on the left bank of the Lonja river, to the east of
Zagreb, near an important road linking, since Antiquity, Zagreb, i.e. 5isak (5iscia) with Varazdin and Ptuj (Poetovio).l Across the river is 5veti Ivan Zelina - a significant medieval point ofthis region thanks to its central role in
the Moravce county during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. 2 ln the literature the church of 5t Peter has been
recognized as a late Romanesque - early Gothic building. 3 It is an aisleless church with rectangular sanctuary set
on a hilltop, surrounded by a ditch (fig. 1). There are small round-headed Romanesque windows in the nave and
the sanctuary, while the triumphal arch is pointed. The nave has a wooden ceiling and the sanctuary is rib-vaulted. The ribs were supported by sculpted brackets which, together with the capitals of the triumphal arch and the
key stone, were made by the same workshop. On the west side of the nave, there are traces of an empora so the
western window of the nave is somewhat smaller than the others. The nave walls are covered by three layers of
frescoes. The middle one depicting the legend of 5t Ladislas dates from the fourteenth century.4 The church was
first mentioned in 1409 as a parish church. s The scholars mostly agree that it was built in the thirteenth century,
probably after the Tartars' invasion of 1241 .6 It has also been connected to the patron ate of the Duke Koloman
and the Zagreb's bishop 5tjepan II from the beginning of the thirteenth century.?
The building has been recognized as Templars' and Hospitalers' church due to its forms - the rectangular
sanctuary, the empora in the west part ofthe nave and the position on a hilltop with a moat. It also stands near a
main communication route (fig. 2).8The form and the position alone do not provide an argument per se, but the
iconographic scheme inside the church and the close vicinity of the Templars'lands, contribute to such a conclusion.9 The Templars received their first estates in medieval 51avonia (nowadays continental Croatia) in the twelfth
century. They came into possession of the properties in Zdela and Haco. King Bela III donated them the land in
the county of Gora,lO and in1209, king Andrew II granted them the great estate of 5t Martin on the east rim of

IKON,5-2012

1. The church of
St Peter, view
from the east
(photo:V.
Jukic).

2.

3.

Cross section,
view from south
(ASK atelier,
Zagreb; archive
of the Museum
Sv. Ivan Zelina)

Detail of the Legend ofSt Ladislaus at Velka

Lomnica, Slovakia, 1317

5.

Detail of the Legend of St Ladislaus at Velka

Lomnica, Slovakia, 1317

6. DetaH of the Legend ofSt Ladislaus

at Kraskovo, Slovakia, 14th c

Detail of the Legend ofSt Ladislaus at Rimavska Bana, Slovakia, 14th c.

7.

Detail of the Legend ofSt Ladis/aus at Tereske, Hungary, c. 1400

9.

Detail of the introduction scene presenting St Ladislaus and

his army setting out from the city (scene one), 14th c., Novo
Mesto Zelinsko (photo: M. Houska)

8.

Left part of the north nave wall, preserved fragments

of the Legend of St Ladis/aus (scene one and two),
14th c., Novo Mesto Zelinsko (photo V. Jukic)

10. Detail of the scene of fight of the two armies (scene

three), 14th c., Novo Mesto Zelinsko (photo: M. Houska)

11. St Ladislaus carrying abducted Hungarian girl on the back of his

horse (scene two), 14th c., Novo Mesto Zelinsko (photo: M. Houska)
12. The motif of lily at the sides of the
scene Tree of Jesse, 15th c., Novo Mesto
Zelinsko (photo: M. Houska)

IKON,5-2012

On the southern side of the triumphal arch there is a representation of the Virgin Protectress with three
crowned figures under her mantle - possibly St Stephen, St Emerik, and St Ladislas, the three Hungarian saintly
kings. St Ladislas, an eminently Arpadian Saint, was, however, also the patron of choice of the new, Anjou dynasty,
an act of political and ideological spoliation by itself. The ideologies of the Hospitallers and of the Angevin kings
thus found a happy common medium.
Except of the legend of St Ladislas, who obviously was a saintly knight, there are few more indications of
the Hospitallers' reuse of the church. In the intrados of the triumphal arch Tree of Jesse is depicted in the painting from the middle of the fifteenth century with the mot,i f of lily at the sides of the scene (fig. 12)Y The lily was a
motif often used by the M!litary Orders, and so also by the Hospitallers of Hungary and Croatia as shown by their
official seal. 32 As in the late fifteenth and this early sixteenth century, the Hospitallers began to lose their land and
properties in favor of the King and big feudal nobles, so the appearance of the motif may indicate that the Hospi tallers held the church at least untill that time.
In the medieval time, royal and dynastic saints were important instruments to prove and promote legitimacy of dynasties across Europe. The Hungarian Angevin dynasty, as seen, was no exception. The cult of dynastic
saints was popular in Europe of the time, and St Ladislas, as a dynastic saint, was successfully used to support
Charles Robert, the Angevin aspirant, to the Hungarian crown. The entire existing architecture of St Peter's, particularly the interior church walls, was used for the display of the ideas of the new owners closely cooperating
with the new rulers of the country. Simple and plain (or rudimentary decorative) Templar wall decor provided a
background for the display of a story key for both to the Hospitallers and the Anjou . The church secured continuity of the new owners and the legitimacy ofthe new rulers ofthe land.

We would like to thank Mr. M. Houska and Mrs. R. MackoviC from the Museum Sv. Ivan Zelina for the documentation
and photos of St Peter's church in Novo Mesto Zelinsko.
L. DOBRONIC, Topografija zemljiSnih posjeda zagrebackih biskupa prema ispravi kra/ja Emerika iz god. 1201 ., Zagreb,
1951,p.301.

M. HOU5KA-R. MACKOVIC, Zelinski kraj kroz pros/ost, Sveti Ivan Zelina, 2007, p.40.

J. ST051C, Srednjovjekovna umjetnicka svjedocanstva 0 Zagrebackoj biskupiji, in: Sveti trag, devetsto godina umjetnosti
Zagrebacke biskupije 1094-1994, Zagreb, 1994, p. 121; I. SR5A, Kape/a sv. Petra u Novom Mjestu, in: Kaj XXXI, Zagreb,
1998, p. 77; A. AZINOVIC, Novo Mjesto - kape/a Sv. Petra, in : Obavijesti 3, god. XXXIV, 2002, p. 130.

I. SRSA, op. cit., pp. 81-83 .

L. DOBRONIC, Po starom Moravcu, Zagreb, 1979, pp. 59-60; A. AZINOVIC, op.cit., p. 130.

J. STOSIC, op. cit., p. 121; I. SRSA, op. cit., p. 77; A. AZINOVIC, op. cit., p. 130.

V. GOSS, Temp/ari i ku/turni pejsaz ze/inskog Prigorja, in:Templari i njihovo nasljeae, 800 godina od dolaska templara na
zemlju Sv. Martina, Catalogue of the exhibition at Museum Sveti Ivan Zelina, 2009, p. 35; V. JUKIC-D. DUJMOVIC, The
"K%man Renascence" in North Western Croatia, in: Starohrvatska prosvjeta, 111-37/2010, pp. 171-182.

V. GOSS, op. cit. , p. 35; idem, Four Centuries of European Art 800- 1200: View from Southeast, Zagreb, 2010, pp. 195, 237.

G. CURZI, La pittura dei Temp/ari, Milan, 2002; B. STOSSEK, Maisons et possessions des temp/iers en Hongrie, in: Crusades
and Military Orders. Expanding the frontiers of Medieval Latin Christianity, Z. HUNYADI -J. LASZLOVSKY (eds.), Budapest, 2001, p. 249.

10

L. DOBRONIC, Temp/ari i ivanovci u Hrvatskoj, Zagreb, 2002, p. 28-33; B. STOSSEK, op. cit., p. 246.

11

L. DOBRONIC, op. cit., pp. 38, 99; B. STOSSEK, op. cit., p. 248.

12

L. DOBRONIC,op. cit. , p. 38; B. STOSSEK, op. cit., p. 247.

13

L. DOBRON Ic'op. cit., p. 40; M. KOSI, The Age of the Crusades in the South -East of the Empire (Between the A/ps and the

Cepetic:' - Dujmovic:', St Peter at Novo Mesto Zelinsko

Adriatic), in: Crusades and Military Orders. Expanding the frontiers of Medieval Latin Christianity, Z. HUNYADI, J.

LASZLOVSKY (eds.), Budapest, 2001, p. l37.

14

V. GOSS, op. cit., 2009, p. 35; V. JUKIC-D. DUJMOVIC, op. cit.

15

L. KONTLER, Povijest Madarske, Zagreb, 2007, p. 90.

16

Ibid., p. 95; A. LUTTRELL, The Hospitallers in Hungary before 7478, in: Crusades and Military Orders. Expanding the frontiers of Medieval Latin Christianity, Z. HUNYADI-J. LASZLOVSKY (eds.), Budapest, 2001, p. 271.

17

L. KONTLER, op. cit., p. 96.

18

L. DOBRONIC, op. cit., 2002, pp. 144-146; B. STOSSEK, op. cit., p. 250; Z. HUNYADI, The Crusades and the Military Orders,
in: Crusades and Military Orders. Expanding the frontiers of Medieval Latin Christianity, Z. HUNYADI-J. LASZLOVSKY
(eds.), Budapest, 2001, p. 256.

19

I. SRSA, Zidni oslici u ladi crkve Sv. Petra u Novom Mjestu, in:Templari i njihovo nasljede; 800 godina od dolaska templara
na zemlju Sv. Martina, Catalogue of the exhibition at Museum Sveti Ivan Zelina, 2009, p. 43.

20

B.Z. SZAKAc5, Between Chronicle and Legend: Image Cycles of St Ladislas in Fourteenth-Century Hungarian Manuscripts,
in: The Medieval Chronicle IV, Amsterdam, 2006, p. 149.

21

E. MADAS-G. HORVATH ZOLTAN, K6zepkori predik6ci6k es falkepek Szent L6sz16 kir61yr611San Ladislao d'Ungheria nella
predicazione e nei dipinti murali, Romanika Kiad6, Budapest, 2008, pp. 81,90,91, 122, 124, l36, 142-143, 154, 188-189,

238-241,308-309.
22

I. SRSA, op. cit., 2009, p. 40.

23

R. RATKOVCIC, Prilozi istraiivanju zidnih slika u kapeli sv. Petra u Novom Mjestu, in: Peristil 52, Zagreb, 2009, p. 117. Rosana Ratkovcic argues that the scenes one and three (in this case of St Peter) are just one scene depicting the fight
between two armies in the form of a frieze, although the severed heads are found in just one part of the scene, on the
left side of the wall, which clearly identifies only the western section as a battle scene. Because of the fragmentary
stage of preservation of the cycle in St Peter in Novo Mesto Zelinsko we do not have a clear division of the scenes in
registers but it would be unlogical that the legend of St Ladislas could be presented in a reverse order.

24

For example please see: Velka Lomnica (fig. 4), Rimavska Bana (fig. 5), Tereske (fig . 7) .

25

B.Z. SZAKAcs, op. cit., p. 148.

26

Ibid., pp. 148-152.

27

G. KLANICZAY, Holy Rulers and Blessed Princesses: Dynastic Cults in Medieval Central Europe, Cambridge, 2002, pp. 322326,331-345,356-366; B.Z. SZAKAcs, op. cit., p. 153.

28

B.Z. SZAKAcs, op. cit., p. 153.

29

I. SRSA, op. cit., 2009, p. 43.

30

L. DOBRONIC, Posjedi i sjedista templara, ivanovaca i sepulkralaca u Hrvatskoj, Rad JAZU, Knjiga 406, Razred za likovne

31

I. SRSA, Jeseovo stablo u kapeli Sv. Petra u Novom Mjestu, in: Sveti Ivan Zelina i zelinski kraj u proslosti, Zagreb-Sv. Ivan

umjetnosti, Knjiga XI, Zagreb, 1984, p. 98.

Zelina, 2003, pp. 295-305.
32

L. DOBRONIC,op. cit., 1984, pp. 16, 126.

IKON,5-2012

Danko Dujmovic
Sv. Petar u Novom Mestu Zelinskom: nova ikonografija kao potvrda politickoga kontinuiteta
Crkva Sv. Petra u Novom Mestu Zelinskom ima jake srednjovjekovne korijene.
na
ona
izniman spomenik kasnoromanicke i goticke umjetnosti. Jednobrodna crkva ima pravokutno
svodeno
krizno-rebrastim svodom 5 visokokvalitetnom kapitelnom zonom i zaglavnim kamenom. Vjerojatno je ova kvalitetna plastika, djelo
iz kruga biskupa
11., nastala u prvoj polovici 13. stoljeca. Crkva je izvorno bila dio templarskog posjeda Sv. Martina. Utjecaj templara jos se
moze primijetiti u
jednostavnim formama broda i svetista. U prvoj
fazi
unutrasnjost bila je
svijetlim sivo-plavim
Tijekom kasnijih
novi su posjednici
crkve iskoristili citavu izvornu arhitekturu kao medij za
novih vlasnika, pa je tako npr. brod crkve u potpunosti oslikan legendom 0 sv. Ladislavu, u ranogotickom stilu. Prema legendi, sv. Ladislav trebao je voditi prvi krizarski rat, ali
je prerano umro.
borba 5 poganskim vodom Kumana moze se tumaciti kao simbolicna borba kralja protiv pogana.
koji je nesumnjivo svetac iz loze Arpadovica, izabran je za zastitnika nove dinastije, Anjou,
je zamijenila Artronu to se tumaci kao cin kojim nova
;,,,,)\/1'-'" na
pokazuje svoju legitimnost, tj. kontinuitet vladanja.
arhitektura, posebno unutrasnji zidovi crkve,
Ideologije Anzuvinaca i ivanovaca uspjesno su nasle zajednicki jezik.
iskoristeni su kao umjetnicki okvir u istom smislu u kojem su ostaci templarskog reda na ovim podrucjima koristeni za
nje reda ivanovaca. Arhitektura i
arhitektonska pia stika crkve Sv. Petra sacuvani su kao okvir za prikazivanje
novih
ali i
povezanosti s novim vladarima i vladarskim interesima. Jednostavnost
arhitekture i
podjednako vaine ivanovcima i novim
dekoracije u tome su im posluzili kao idealna povrsina za prikazivanje kljucne
vladarima iz porod ice Anjou.
i ikonografske sheme trebale su osigurati kontinuitet, u ovom
legitimnost novih vlasnika i novih vladara

14.01.2012.

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