Ágnes Flóra

Ágnes Flóra studied history and art history in Cluj-Napoca (Romania), and then followed an MA training in medieval studies at the Central European University in Budapest, where she defended her PhD thesis in 2014. The dissertation called The Matter of Honour. The Leading Urban Elite in Sixteenth Century Transylvania was published in 2019 by Brepols. She currently works at the Romanian National Archives in Cluj and teaches archival sciences at Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj. Her major field of interest is medieval and early modern urban history, development of urban governments, formation of elites and urban identity.

https://ceu.academia.edu/AgnesFlora

Laus Deo Semper

Overlapping layers of religious thought and popular belief in the early modern town of Cluj/Kolozsvár/Klausenburg

'There are no Christian people living in this city because they are all pagans.' - said a citizen in one of the court hearings in 1592 in the Antitrinitarian Cluj. In another instance, a witness in 1616 exclaimed, 'May the Holy Trinity of God help me!', though the person was Antitrinitarian. Additionally, in 1584, the town steward began the town accounts with 'Laus Deo Semper,' a motto of the Jesuits, despite the serious conflicts between the town and the Society of Jesus. All this in the records of a town controlled by an Antitrinitarian elite.

In my research, I aim to investigate this more invisible layer of faith, the faith and spirituality of simple folks in a town that embraced radical Reform.

What aspects of popular belief were tolerated in the town, and what were not? How did the Reformation influence the perception of popular beliefs? How did the preaching of the new faith strengthen the belief in the devil's presence and give new meanings to the witch-hunt? How does the evolution from colloquial deviance to protestant moral transgression occur in the realm of cursing? How does blasphemy transform from mere societal taboo to a matter of legal prosecution? Is referencing God an expression of faith or a strategic rhetorical maneuver in a courtroom setting? Or a sample of religious involvement? What transformations do we perceive on common level in the town? Is there a difference between the perceptions of different groups in the town: citizens - non citizens, maids/servants and craftsmen? In one sentence: how do we see Reformation on the level of simple townspeople?