The Deliberatio supra hymnum trium puerorum ("Contemplation on the Three Children's Hymn"), or shortly Deliberatio, is the only extant work of Bishop Gerard of Csanád (d. 1046).[1] It is an important source of the history of the Christianization of Hungary in the early 11th century.[2]
Manuscript
The entire work has been preserved in a late-11th-century manuscript written in Carolingian minuscule. A note at the top of one of its leaves indicates that it was held at the library of the Catholic Diocese of Freising in the 12th century.[1]
Bishop Gerard
The work's author, Gerard, was the first bishop of Csanád in Hungary (now Cenad in Romania) from 1030 to 1046.
Subject
The work is a treatise on the story of Prophet Daniel's three friends whom King Nebuchadnezzar II sentenced to death for refusing to worship a golden statue. They were thrown into a fiery furnace, but they survived unharmed.[3] In his work, Gerard contrasts "inane philosophy" with "heavenly wisdom".[4]
References
- 1 2 Nemerkényi 2004, p. 77.
- ↑ Berend, Laszlovszky & Szakács 2007, p. 332–333, 340.
- ↑ Nemerkényi 2004, pp. 77–78.
- ↑ Luscombe 2002, p. 126.
Sources
- Luscombe, David (2002) [1985]. "The reception of the writings of Denis the pseudo-Areopagite into England". In Greenway, Diana; Holdsworth, Christopher; Sayers, Jane (eds.). Tradition and Change: Essays in Honour of Marjorie Chibnall Presented by Her Friends on the Occasion of Her Seventieth Birthday. Cambridge University. pp. 115–144. ISBN 0-521-52499-7.
- Nemerkényi, Előd (2004). Latin Classics in Medieval Hungary: Eleventh Century. CEU Medievalia. Vol. VI. Central European University. ISBN 9637326049.
- Berend, Nora; Laszlovszky, József; Szakács, Béla Zsolt (2007). "The kingdom of Hungary". In Berend, Nora (ed.). Christianization and the Rise of Christian Monarchy: Scandinavia, Central Europe and Rus', c.900-1200. Cambridge University Press. pp. 319–368. ISBN 978-0-521-87616-2.