Goblinus Explained

Goblinus (or Goblin) was the bishop of Transylvania in the Kingdom of Hungary from 1376 until his death in 1386.

A native of Nagycsűr (Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: Șura Mare|italics=no), Goblinus was a Transylvanian Saxon. His father was Adalbert. In 1349, he was the parish priest of Sellenberk (Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: Șelimbăr|italics=no). Later he served as the parish of Kereszténysziget (Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: Cristian|italics=no). In a papal bull dated 5 May 1376, Pope Gregory XI appointed him bishop of Transylvania while praising his learning and spirituality.^[1]

As bishop, Goblinus served as an advisor to King Louis the Great.^[1] The charter of November 1376 renewing the statutes of the nineteen guilds of Nagyszeben (Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: Sibiu|italics=no), Segesvár (Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: Sighișoara|italics=no), Szászsebes (Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: Sebeș|italics=no) and Szászváros (Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: Orăștie|italics=no) was drafted by the bishop and the royal bailiff, Johann von Scharfeneck.^{[1] [2] [3] [4]} Goblinus engineered the signing of a peace convention between the Saxons of Nagyszeben and the local Vlachs at Kereszténysziget on 9 January 1383.^[5] In 1383, Queen Mary bestowed on Goblinus, his three brothers and three sisters a crown estate comprising the Saxon village of Omlás (Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: Amnaș|italics=no) and four Vlach villages in the mountains.^[1] In 1384, Goblinus founded a Pauline monastery in the village of Tótfalud (Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: Tăuți|italics=no).^[6]

In his will, Goblinus left a breviary to the cathedral rectory.^[1] His tombstone survives, but is heavily damaged.^[7]

Further reading

• Ciprian . Firea . The Parish Priests of the Saxons as Patrons of the Arts . Transylvanian Review . 20 . 2011 . Supplement 3 . 511–532.

Notes and References

1. .
2. Renáta Skorka, "The Buda Decision: Lessons from the Quarrel between the Sibiu Tanners and Shoemakers," Anuarul Institutului de Cercetări Socio-Umane Sibiu 25 (2018): 33–45.
3. John Foisel, Saxons Through Seventeen Centuries: A History of the Transylvanian Saxons (Central Alliance of Transylvanian Saxons of the United States, 1965), p. 63.
4. Daniela Marcu-Istrate, Church Archaeology in Transylvania (ca. 950 to ca. 1450) (Brill, 2022), p. 268.
5. Ela Cosma, "Enacted Jus Valachicum in South Transylvania (14th–18th Centuries)," Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai - Historia 67, 1 (2022): 3–19.
6. Corina Hopârtean, "Written Sources Regarding Pauline Monasteries in Medieval Transylvania," Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brașov – Special Issue, Series VII, 10 (59), 1 (2017): 17–22.
7. Veronika Csikos, "Styling the Dead: Tradition(s) of Making the Pontifical Tombstone in Angevin Hungary," Ikon 4 (2011): 303–312.