Archbishop of Kalocsa
Thomas Hahót died in late 1256. Smaragd was elected as his successor in the first half of 1257. He was first mentioned as Archbishop-elect of Kalocsa on 30 May 1257. [12] His election was confirmed by Pope Alexander IV only two years later, in 1259. [6] By that time, Béla IV's relationship with his elder son, Duke Stephen had deteriorated. Smaragd made serious efforts to avoid a bloody civil war in Hungary. Although some clashes took place in the autumn of 1262 between the royal troops and Stephen's forces, a lasting civil war was avoided through the mediation of the two archbishops of realm, Philip Türje of Esztergom and Smaragd of Kalocsa who persuaded Béla and his son to make a compromise. According to the Peace of Pressburg, which was concluded in the autumn of 1262, the two divided the country along the Danube: the lands to the west of the river remained under the direct rule of Béla, and the government of the eastern territories was taken over by Stephen, who also adopted the title junior king. [13] In the subsequent years, Smaragd became a partisan of Duke Stephen due to territorial considerations (the Archdiocese of Kalocsa laid in Stephen's realm). [14] According to contemporary documents, Smaragd served as chancellor of the junior king's court between 1262 and 1264 (but presumably, he held the dignity until his death), which was an equivalent position for Philip Türje's dignity of chancellor in the royal court of Béla IV. [15] Smaragd acted as an arbiter, commissioned by Duke Stephen, in a lawsuit around May 1264, which proves the duke's judicial authority over his territory. [14]
Smaragd also exercised his metropolitan rights; when Oliver, Bishop of Syrmia intended to resign from his position and join the Franciscans due to his severe illness in 1262, he sent his two canons to the Roman Curia to request Pope Urban IV to resign from his office. The pope wrote a letter to Smaragd in December 1262, and asked him to investigate the circumstances and if he sees fit, accept the resignation of Oliver, absolve him from the obligation to govern the diocese and allow him to join the Franciscan monks. [14] After previous failed initiatives, Ponsa, Bishop of Bosnia again asked the Holy See in 1264 to put his bishopric under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Kalocsa instead of the Diocese of Ragusa (Dubrovnik). Ponsa argued, Smaragd and his predecessors were committed to fight "with great sacrifice and cost" against the Bosnian Church, which was considered heretical by the Roman Catholic Church. However, the official replacement did not happen until the beginning of the 14th century. [14] When Pope Urban aimed to restore the Latin Empire by military recruitment, which proved to be a failed attempt, at the turn of 1263 and 1264, among others he requested also the Archdiocese of Kalocsa to contribute to the cost of the crusade, but Smaragd successfully petitioned to the Roman Curia for exemption from payment, referring to the continuous raids of Mongol marauders at the border. The archbishop also referred to that his archdiocese still had not recovered from the large-scale Mongol invasion two decades ago. [16] Smaragd was involved in an ecclesiastical controversy in 1263. Upon Pope Urban's order, he appointed Irenaeus, a canon of Győr as archdeacon of Sopron, but the bishop, Amadeus Pok prevented his subordinate from taking possession of the benefice. As a result, Smaragd excommunicated Amadeus Pok and Irenaeus filed a lawsuit against his superior. The pope commissioned the Hungarian cardinal Stephen I Báncsa to investigate the dispute. [16]
The 1262 truce between father and son could not prevent the outbreak of the civil war. After Stephen routed his father's army in the decisive Battle of Isaszeg in March 1265, the two archbishops – Philip and Smaragd – conducted new negotiations between Béla and his son. [17] Smaragd died before its ratification; their agreement was signed in the Dominican Monastery of the Blessed Virgin on Rabbits' Island on 23 March 1266. The new treaty confirmed the division of the country along the Danube. [18] Still in the summer of 1265, Béla IV entrusted Philip and Smaragd to warn the baptized Cumans – who fought on Stephen's side in the war – to keep their faith, otherwise expel them from the kingdom. Simultaneously, Pope Clement IV authorized the two archbishops to lead troops against the Mongols and other pagans in June 1265. [16] Around the same time, the pope also entrusted Smaragd with the management of the possessions of the Diocese of Zagreb upon the request of its bishop Timothy. [16]
However, Smaragd was murdered by some of his servants some weeks later, in July 1265, according to the narration of the Steirische Reimchronik. Church historian József Udvardy claimed it happened one year later, in July 1266, [16] but there is sede vacante in the Archdiocese of Kalocsa in early 1266, and Smaragd was succeeded by Stephen II Báncsa (the above-mentioned cardinal's nephew) already in February 1266. [12] [19] The motivation behind Smaragd's murder remained obscure, but the possibility of a political assassination is can be largely ruled out. [16]
