Cletus Bél

Given by the hand of Cletus, chancellor of our [King Andrew II's royal] court and provost of the church of Eger, in the year of the Incarnation of the Word one thousand two hundred twenty-two, [...] in the seventeenth year of our reign.Cletus was plausibly born into the gens (clan) Bél (also known as Ug) of ancient Hungarian origin, which possessed villages and landholdings in the valley of Bél Rock between the mountain ranges Mátra and Bükk, in the territory of Borsod and Heves counties.

[4] He first appeared in this dignity, when the monarch granted Alvinc (today Vințu de Jos, Romania) to the Archdiocese of Esztergom, and Cletus formulated the royal donation letter.

[5] Historian Andor Csizmadia considered Cletus already functioned as provost in 1217, when Thomas was elected as Bishop of Eger by the cathedral chapter, who, in return, introduced him to the royal court.

[6] From the time of his chancellorship, the royal charters began to use "et aliis quam, pluribus magistratus et comitatus tenentibus" formulas at the end of the documents, where listed the most dignitaries of the kingdom instead of the eyewitnesses and countersignatories actually present.

With this phrase, he extended the barons of the realm with office-holders of courtly positions outlined under the collective concept of "existentibus", and finally, in 1222, he considered it necessary to attempt a general change in his chancellery.

[6] The pope trusted in his legal expertise; after Thomas' sudden death in late 1224, the cathedral chapter of Esztergom could not agree unanimously about the new archbishop and the canons elected two prelates – Desiderius of Csanád and James of Nyitra (Nitra) – to the position simultaneously.

[6] Around the same time, Cletus Bél complained the poor situation of the Eger Chapter to Pope Honorius, who consequently authorized the bishop to attach the various chapels of the cathedral to the offices of canons as a source of funding on 25 September 1225 – despite the regulations of the third and fourth councils of the Lateran.

[10] Cletus donated the villages of Apátfalva, Királd, Ostoros, Arnót, Horváti, Mercse, Csokva, Dochond, Pazman, Medsa, Magy, Kisdukány, Csen and Velyn, in addition to three fishponds along the river Tisza to the Bélháromkút Abbey.

[12] Cletus, along with Robert, Archbishop of Esztergom, Gregory, Bishop of Győr, Palatine Denis, son of Ampud and other dignitaries, took the cross as a token of his desire to participate a crusade to the Holy Land.

[9] According to a letter of Pope Gregory IX sent to Cletus and four other Hungarian prelates from 1235, a significant number of Muslim ("Saracen" or Böszörmény) communities lived in the territory of the Bishopric of Eger.