Koloman the Learned, King of Hungary

Összefoglaló

If we were to make a survey most people could hardly say precisely when King Koloman reigned. However "the Learned" adhered to his name would surely come to their mind. This by-name tells a lot about its bearer in the medieval society, first of all that he was more educated than the standard. Reading and writing - and the knowledge of Latin which necessarily came together with them - were requirements with which those choosing clerical career had to comply. Concerning Koloman, the contradiction is well-marked: if he was to become a clerical person while being a child why and how did he become a king? About his reign, the Hungarian chronicle tradition depicts a less than positive picture: "...the king (Ladislas I) predicted about Koloman that he would shed blood..." "...in his time a lot of malfeasances were done..." "Cunning and quick to learn, he was yet a man of insignificant appearance: dishevelled, hairy, one-eyed, hunchbacked, cripple and stammering." In spite of this, Rogerius, who lived in the time of the Mongol invasion, rated him among the saint kings of the Hungarians. How can it be? What was this king like in fact?