Job | |
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Archbishop of Esztergom | |
![]() Contemporary depiction of Job on the porta speciosa of the Esztergom Cathedral
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See | Esztergom |
Appointed | 1185 |
Term ended | 1204 |
Predecessor | Nicholas |
Successor |
Ugrin Csák elected |
Other posts | Bishop of Vác |
Personal details | |
Died | 1 February 1204 Esztergom, Hungary |
Nationality | Hungarian |
Job (Hungarian: Jób; died 1 February 1204) was a Hungarian prelate at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries, who served as Bishop of Vác from 1181 to 1183, and as Archbishop of Esztergom from 1185 until his death.
Job was born in the early 1150s. His origin is uncertain. Around 1180, he studied at the Abbey of St Genevieve in Paris, alongside several other Hungarian clergymen. Its abbot, Stephen wrote a letter to Béla III of Hungary to inform him that one of those clerics Bethlehem died of illness, while his companions, Job, Adrian and Michael were present on his deathbed. Bethlehem's parents, former judge royal Lawrence, who has been in exile in Austria for years, and his wife Christina also received a letter from the abbot, who assured them that their son died without leaving a debt, and Stephen thanked the donation sent earlier for the abbey (golds, chasubles, horses and banners). When Stephen's letters were first published in 1661, which collection later became part of the Patrologia Latina, historiographer Masson misspelled Job's name to Jacobus (James), but Hungarian archivist György Györffy corrected the mistake, after examining the original codes. As Bethlehem was of noble origin, Györffy supposed that Job was also a highborn cleric, who were sent by Béla III to France to benefit from higher education. Béla's first spouse was Agnes of Antioch, who played a decisive role in the spread of French cultural patterns in the Kingdom of Hungary.
Returning home, Job was elected Bishop of Vác in 1181, while Adrian became chancellor in the royal court (Béla was responsible for the establishment of the Royal Chancery) and later served as Bishop of Transylvania. Their other mate Michael also died in Paris, not long after Bethlehem, according to the St Genevieve Abbey's funerary texts. Job served as Bishop of Vác at least until 1183, but it is possible, he held the dignity until 1185, when he became Archbishop of Esztergom. His successor, Boleslaus of Vác appeared in contemporary sources only since 1193. Taking advantage of the emerging anarchy in the Byzantine Empire, Béla advanced as far as Niš and Sofia in the first half of 1183. In Sofia, he seized the casket containing the relics of St. John of Rila, and ordered it "to be transported with great honors to his land and to be laid down with honor in the church" of Esztergom, according to the saint's Life from the Sofia Prologue. However both archbishops Nicholas and Job objected against the king's intention to introduce the veneration of an Eastern Orthodox saint. John's relics remained in Esztergom for four years before being returned to Sofia in 1187. Historians Gyula Moravcsik and Tamás Bogyay argued the remains were sent back as a sign of friendly gesture to the Byzantine Empire.