Duchovné a kultúrne dedičstvo Spišskej Kapituly I. : Od počiatkov Spišskej Kapituly po vznik biskupstva
Representing a cultural-educational center, Spišská Kapitula played a significant role in the history of the Hungarian Kingdom, and Slovakia as well. The monograph focuses on the period from the establishment of this religious, cultural and educational center until the establishment of the Spiš bishopric in 1776. The introduction of the book is dedicated to a history of research on chapters in general, on Spišská Kapitula as the place and on the Spiš collegiate chapter as an organization. The theories and scientific hypotheses on the establishment and on the development of Spišská Kapitula, including the collegiate chapter have been examined in the following extensive part. Consequently, the significant moments in the history of Spišská Kapitula during a period from the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries until the establishment of the Spiš bishopric in 1776 have been emphasized. In the next chapter the architectural development of the place has been described, starting from its early beginnings revealed by the latest archaeologic researches up to the art historical and architectonic analyses of the development of individual edifices at Spišská Kapitula, namely the provost’s palace, the buildings of Jesuits, the houses of the canons and the fortification system. Moreover, this part of the book focuses on the hypotheses on the significance and architectural development of the adjacent archaeological site “Pažica”, which has been related to Spišská Kapitula more extensively than previously expected, in accordance with the latest findings. The next chapter deals with the system of education in the Middle Ages in general, and Spišská Kapitula in particular, mentioning the scholars who studied or acted in Spišská Kapitula at the time. The following chapter focuses on the written sources of culture in Spišská Kapitula and thus has been divided into two interconnected parts. The first one depicts pragmatic written manuscripts in Spišská Kapitula in the Middle Ages regarding the production of administrative documents such as the diplomas, general documents, letters and so on. From the 1240s until 1870 Spišská Kapitula held the position of the place of authentication (locus credibilis) and as such had been providing notarial services to the inhabitants of the kingdom within wide surroundings. The study of seals and seal matrixes (sphragistics) has definitely been related to the pragmatic written production too. Therefore, the following chapter deals with the institutional seals usedby the Spiš collegiate chapter and by all known provostsserving at Spišská Kapitula during a period from 13thcentury until the establishment of the Spiš bishopric in1776. At the end of the publication the biographical portraits of all known Spiš provosts have been incorporated, including the lists of the canons that acted in the given period of time. The lists have been enriched by the brief studies on the development of internal structure of the collegiate chapter, along with the statistical indicators for the number of canons operating at their posts during the given time. Naturally, the aforementioned indicators have been closely related to the external history, i.e. events that had been more or less intensively influencing the historical development of the institution throughout the history. The historical research of Spišská Kapitula – forming a dynamic, living institution – cannot be considered as definitely finalized at any stage. Neither does the presented monograph assume that all possible issues have been covered by the book. Undoubtedly, there still are several other personalities or events that are likely to have increasingly influenced spiritual and cultural heritage of Spišská Kapitula, though they might have remained unexplored and therefore need to be researched more profoundly in the future.