Macarius, Archbishop of Esztergom

Macarius
Archbishop of Esztergom
Province	Esztergom
Diocese	Esztergom
Appointed	1142 or before
Term ended	1150 or before
Predecessor	Felician
Successor	Kökényes
Other posts	Bishop of Pécs Provost of Titel
Personal details
Died	25 January 1150 or before
Denomination	Roman Catholic

Macarius (Hungarian: Makár; died 25 January 1147/1150) was a prelate in the Kingdom of Hungary in the first half of the 12th century. He was successively provost of Titel around 1127, bishop of Pécs between around 1136 and around 1139, and finally archbishop of Esztergom until around 1147.

Macarius is first mentioned in a fragmentary charter he issued as royal notary in the reign of King Stephen II of Hungary. The charter is dated to the period between 1125 and 1128, and refers to him as the head or provost of the collegiate chapter at Titel (now in Serbia).

Macarius is first mentioned as bishop (but without any reference to his see) at the beginning of 1137. This year he participated at the assembly where Ladislaus, a younger son of King Béla II of Hungary was proclaimed Duke of Bosnia. In the list of the participants, Macarius is only preceded by the archbishop of Esztergom. His see at Pécs is revealed in a charter issued for the Dömös Chapter by King Béla II on September 3, 1138. Another charter, which donated villages to the monastery of Csatár, erected by Martin Gutkeled, ispán of Zala County, also refers to Macarius as bishop, but without mentioning his see. The charter is dated to the period between 1138 and 1141, the last years of Béla II.

Macarius seems to have been transferred to the see of Esztergom in some years, because three charters issued between 1142 and 1146 refer to one "Archbishop Macarius". As Jesuit scholar István Katona considered at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, it is presumable that Macarius is idential with that certain Archbishop "Muchia", who appears without giving the specific archdiocese in a document in May 1142, when the privileges of Split were confirmed by the royal court in the name of the minor King Géza II of Hungary. However historian Tamás Körmendi emphasizes the paleographic difficulties between the two name forms, while the authenticity of the charter itself is also doubtful. Nándor Knauz, Imre Szentpétery, László Koszta, Attila Zsoldos and – after philological and canon law considerations – Tamás Körmendi accepted Katona's claim, while József Udvardy identified "Muchia" as a previously unknown Archbishop of Kalocsa.

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