The Sanctity of the Leaders. Holy Kings, Princes, Bishops, and Abbots from Central Europe (11th–13th Centuries) ed. Gábor Klaniczay and Ildikó Csepregi, Central European Medieval texts Series, vol. Budapest: Ceu Press, 2023, p. 692 ISBN: 978-615-5225-28-4

The latest title in this Latin-English bilingual series contains the lives of saints who were canonized in the eleventh through thirteenth centuries in the newly Christianized countries of Central and Eastern Europe (Bohemia, Poland, Hungary, and Dalmatia). A rejoinder to the earlier volume in the series, the Saints of the Christianization Age of Central Europe, containing hermits, missionaries, and martyrs, this second volume of hagiography is dominated by political or ecclesiastical leaders who became saintly patrons of their region and were highly venerated throughout the Middle Ages.

The legends in the volume present the two Hungarian holy kings Stephen and Ladislas, the holy duke Emeric, the Czech holy abbot Procopius of Sázava, three bishops, the Venetian-Hungarian Gerard of Csanád, the Polish Stanislas of Cracow (both martyrs), and the Dalmatian holy bishop Saint John of Trogir. Each “vita” is published in Latin original with an English translation and with prefaces discussing the textual tradition.

Saints’ lives have been recognized as an invaluable source of information on social and economic history, the history of mentalities and everyday life, cultural history, and, above all, as a special genre with crucial importance and prevalence in medieval literature.