Interpersonal relationships are often problematic, and it was no different in the
past. The aim of our study is the analysis of the dispute that broke out between Nicholas
de Oradea, provincial of the Augustinian order, and friar Nicholas de Frusten, later
bishop of Belgrade. It seems that the local conflict, thanks to an appeal, reached
the prior general of the Augustinians, Gregor de Rimini, who sent several visitators
and a vicar to Hungary. In the Hungarian province, the dispute caused great tension,
which led to the imprisonment of the visitors and the escape of Nicholas de Frusten
to Vienna. The conflict apparently intensified at the extraordinary provincial chapter
of the Hungarian Augustinians, which was held sometime between April and July 1358,
where the provincial prior could also be dismissed. The conflict was also an example
of the use of medieval religious law and its application in practice. Despite the
strictly hierarchical system, the Hungarian province probably had a large degree of
autonomy, and the prior general was unable to depose the provincial. Like most disputes,
this one was eventually settled and both personalities continued to work in Hungary
in the following period. They gradually disappear from our information. We will be
interested in what the cause of the conflict was, how the dispute proceeded and finally
how the whole matter was resolved. How did the prior general of the Augustinian order
use his options to settle the dispute? How did the religious visitators work? At the
same time, I will ask myself whether the dispute was part of the initial reform of
the religious life of the Augustinians.
