Benedict, Bishop of Transylvania
[4] At the last decade of his life, the elderly bishop maintained a cooperative relationship with the powerful voivode Ladislaus Kán, who ruled the province de facto independently of the central royal authority, and thus he was considered one of the so-called "oligarchs" at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries.
Consequently, the death of Peter Monoszló proved to be a good opportunity for Ladislaus Kán to extend his direct influence over the ecclesiastical affairs and properties in Transylvania.
[5] Disrupting the canons' right of free election, Ladislaus Kán appeared and chaired in person at the assembly and prevented the formation of a voting committee.
The voivode declared that his son to be postulated formally and read the "new bishop's" inaugural diploma, persuading the intimidated clergymen to confirm the result with their seals.
[7][8] The cathedral chapter, through their representative Peter of Paris, filed suit in the court of papal legate Gentile Portino da Montefiore regarding the oligarch's methods against the bishopric.
[13] He received the permission of Paul, Prior Provincial of Hungary to transfer him to Transylvania on 17 August; his superior also requested Gentile to confirm Benedict's election.
[17] In mid-September 1309, both the seven Saxon deacons and Stephen, prior of the Augustinian friars at Gyulafehérvár confirmed that Ladislaus Kán hindered the orderly election until 1 July 1309.
[20] According to János Temesváry and Mária Lupescu Makó, bishop-elect Benedict negotiated with Ladislaus Kán on behalf of the papal legate in order to recover the crown jewel in late 1309 or early 1310.
[21] According to Sándor Hunyadi, this occurred in the spring of summer of 1309, and the historian identified him with that envoy Benedict, who was captured and imprisoned by Henry Kőszegi's supporters on his way back to home.
In May 1310, the cardinal emphasized to Benedict that the interdict over Transylvania should be maintained, until Kán is not fulfilling his promise (this letter is also the first surviving paper document from Hungary).
After Charles neglected to reclaim Church property that Matthew Csák had seized by force, the prelates of the realm, including Benedict, made an alliance in Kalocsa in March 1318 against all who would jeopardize their interests.
It is plausible that, in exchange for recovering the Holy Crown for the royal court, the voivode may have retained the previously forfeited possessions from the cathedral chapter of Transylvania, including the income (tithe) from salt mining.
[22] Throughout his whole episcopate, Benedict was overwhelmed by the burden of paying his arrears regarding the supplies of Gentile's court and his diocese's share, even after the departure and death of the papal legate.
After the death of Gentile in October 1312, his trusted tax collector, a certain Homboth, a burger of Pressburg demanded the collection of the tithe for the legate's staff along with the amount paid.
Benedict died in late 1319 or early 1320, the papal tax collector Rufinus de Civinio referred to him as a deceased person on 13 January 1320.
