A diplomat in the service of the Kings of Hungary. The activity of the Bishop of Nitra Antony of Šankovce at the end of the Middle Ages
A diplomat in the service of the Kings of Hungary. The activity of the Bishop of Nitra Antony of Šankovce at the end of the Middle Ages

Summary/Abstract: The ecclesiastical dignitary Antony of Šankovce (de Sankfalwa) started his diplomatic career as a canon at Oradea (Magnum Varadinum, Nagyvárad, Veľký Varadín, Gross-Wardein). The king entrusted him with ever more demanding diplomatic tasks. Together with the Archbishop of Esztergom Vitéz, he secured the return of the Crown of St. Stephen to Hungary in 1463. He was also sent to the courts of Italian rulers and to France, Poland and Germany. In 1486, King Matthias Corvinus appointed him Provost of Bratislava, and in 1490 Vladislav II made him Bishop of Nitra. Antony of Šankovce fully applied his education in canon law, gained at the University of Padua, in the field of marriage law. In Rome, he had to prove the invalidity of Vladislav’s marriage, not only with Beatrix of Aragon, but also with Barbara of Brandenburg. Evidence of Antony’s activities survives from the period of his work in Bratislava and Nitra. He was involved in canon law, organizational and pastoral activities. He held a diocesan synod at Nitra in 1494. Its conclusions provide information about the problems of the Catholic Church at the end of the 15th century. He founded an altar of St. Antony in Nitra Cathedral and gave his house in Buda and vineyard on Zobor to support it. Bishop Antony made his last diplomatic journey in 1499 to the Imperial Diet at Worms.

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