Robert (; died 1 November 1239) was a French-born prelate in the Kingdom of Hungary in the first decades of the 13th century. He was Archbishop of Esztergom between 1226 and 1239 and Bishop of Veszprém from 1209 till 1226. He played a decisive role in the establishment of the short-lived Diocese of Cumania. He was sharply opposed to the employment of Jews and Muslims in the administration of the royal revenues. He even put Hungary under interdict to force Andrew II of Hungary to dismiss his non-Christian officials.
Early career Robert was of French noble origin, who was born in the territory of the Diocese of Liège. It is presumable that he came to Hungary, when became a royal tutor of King Andrew's eldest son Béla (born 1206), replacing Bernard of Perugia, Archbishop of Split. In contemporary records, his name is referred to with the honorary title of "magister", demonstrating his university degree (possibly he studied in Liège or Sorbonne). Some historians consider he is identical with that Robertus Anglicus, who, alongside Peter, provost of Esztergom, stole documents from the papal register of the late Pope Alexander III in order to disarm the jurisdictional claims of the Archdiocese of Kalocsa against Esztergom. Historian Dániel Bácsatyai argues a namesake member of the cathedral chapter of Esztergom, mentioned in 1183, is the same person as Robert.
He simultaneously functioned as chancellor and provost of Székesfehérvár from 1207 to 1209. In this capacity, he was a supporter of the so-called "new institutions", a new policy for royal grants introduced by Andrew. While recording the preliminaries of the royal charters throughout 1208 and 1209, Robert characterized this reform as "the best measure of a royal grant is its being immeasurable." That sentence reflects Robert's knowledge of Novellae Constitutiones (one of the four parts of the Roman law), where the same phrase appears regarding the donations of the churches.
Bishop of Veszprém After the death of his predecessor Kalanda, Robert was elected as Bishop of Veszprém in 1209. His election was confirmed by Pope Innocent III in the next year. He first appears in this dignity in 1209, when he transcribed the undated letter of Pope Innocent regarding the confirmation of the diocese's right of patronage over the St. John church, which was once donated to the bishopric by lady Raguel. Robert and his fellow bishop Peter of Győr were entrusted in 1211 to prepare a convention draft and submit to the Roman Curia on the subject of conflicts of jurisdiction between the archdioceses of Esztergom and Kalocsa. The proposal contained that the right of coronation should belong to the role of archbishop Esztergom, except in case of deliberate rejection, obstacle, deteriorated health condition or sede vacante, when the process must be performed by the archbishop of Kalocsa. The so-called "second coronations" (during festive events) must be celebrated jointly. In addition, the document attached the collection of tithe after the coinage to Esztergom, but John of Esztergom had to waive his all right (i.e. superintendence over the royal churches, abbeys and provostries, ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the royal officials) in the territory of the church province of Kalocsa, in accordance with the proposal. The theses of the document was promoted by Andrew II himself too. However Pope Innocent refused to countersign the document on 12 February 1212, referring to its "harmful consequences" for the Kingdom of Hungary.
Robert had a tense relationship with his metropolitan archbishop John, since Robert was the main preparer and submitter to the draft which sought to reduce the privileges of Esztergom. They had conflicts in the subject of superintendence over the provostry of Óbuda and the jurisdiction over the clerical staff in the royal court (mostly resided in Óbuda), in addition to the right of coronation of the queen consorts. The debate was intensified during the marriage of Andrew II and his second spouse Yolanda de Courtenay in February 1215. Their wedding was celebrated in Székesfehérvár and John crowned Yolanda queen consort. In response, Robert sent a complaint to Pope Innocent III, because the coronation of the queens consort in Hungary had been traditionally the privilege of his see, according to his narration. After Robert's personal visit in Rome, the pope sent two legates, cardinals Pelagio Galvani and Stefano di Ceccano to Hungary in order to investigate the complaint and confirmed the privilege of the See of Veszprém in April 1216. The decision was confirmed by Pope Honorius III in 1220 too. When John was prohibited from the free use of the archdiocese's income by the pope for his involvement in the consecration of the allegedly juvenile Bartholomew le Gros, Bishop of Pécs, John had to ask for permission to cover the necessary expenses from the pope's two appointed trustees, Thomas of Eger and his old antipode Robert of Veszprém. The two bishops were entrusted to become the guardians of Bartholomew until he reached adulthood. However an official inquiry ordered by the Holy See ascertained that the new bishop had already attained 30 years, the age required by canon law. After that John was acquitted of the charges and regained the right to financial supervision, while Thomas and Robert's mandate ceased by January 1221.
Following the assassination of Gertrude of Merania, upon the request of Andrew II, bishops Peter of Győr and Robert of Veszprém escorted the unpopular and endangered Archbishop Berthold of Kalocsa until the Austrian border in late 1213, protected by the episcopal armies of Győr and Veszprém. Robert participated in the Fourth Council of the Lateran in 1215, along with the two archbishops, and additionally five Hungarian and three Dalmatian bishops. Following that Robert became the most influential proponent of the Hungarian participation in the Fifth Crusade. In February 1217, Pope Honorius authorized him to absolve those noblemen from their vow, who were entrusted with protection of the realm, while Andrew II prepared for the crusade. Robert even allowed Andrew to mortgage the gold crown of the first queen consort Gisela.
Robert supported the foundation of monasteries in the territory of his diocese. For instance, he returned the collection right of tithe to the nuns of Veszprém Valley over their respective landholdings in 1210, upon the request of abbess Stella. During his episcopate, the abbeys of Almád and Hahót were (re-)established, while the hermits of St. James commenced their activities (they elevated into the formation of the Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit decades later). Robert donated annually 100 silver denari to the chapter of Veszprém. In November 1221, he requested the pope's consent for this. He also donated the chapel of Bereg to the canons for the spiritual sake of the murdered Queen Gertrude of Merania on the first anniversary of her burial. In the autumn of 1216, Robert requested Pope Honorius to confirm the royal donation of Szigetmonostor to the friars of the Teutonic Order's Virgin Mary hospital. Upon Pope Honorius' order, Knight Hospitaller Göncöl was ordained priest then consecrated Archbishop of Split by Robert in 1221. Later he was criticized for this step by the local chapter. Robert had several disputes over the collection right of tithes in Somogy County with the Pannonhalma Abbey and its abbot Uros at least since 1211. The Holy See ruled in favour of Uros in 1215; The tithes with the obligation to repair the churches remained in the hand of the monastery, which was obliged to pay 10 silver marks annually to the diocese. Despite the verdict, Robert tried to take advantage of the abbot's absentee, who participated in the Fifth Crusade, and forced the concerned churches to pay tithes to the Diocese of Veszprém in 1217–1218. Pope Honorius launched a new lawsuit, which lasted a long time, but was ruled in favor of Pannonhalma again.
In the summer of 1223, he was among those prelates who informed the pope that Andrew II planned to arrange a new marriage for his eldest son, Béla. In 1225, Pope Honorius urged Andrew and Queen Yolanda to prohibit Muslims from employing Christians. Historian Nora Berend considers Robert, still as Bishop of Veszprém, was behind the charges, anticipating his future leading role on the issue. His appointment as archbishop in the next year showed his influence at the Roman Curia through his regular correspondence with the pope. One of his last decisions as bishop was when, in the early months of 1226, he attached the chapels of the diocese to its revenues. According to his decision, the half of the tithe income and oblations of the chapels is received by the chapel priests, and the other half by the chapter of Veszprém. His decree also defined the various types of income for the canons.
Archbishop of Esztergom Appointment by the Holy See Thomas of Esztergom died around November 1224, after less than a year of episcopate. The chapter could not agree unanimously about the new archbishop. Two rival factions emerged in the following months: a part of the canons nominated Desiderius of Csanád, while other members of the college supported James of Nyitra (or Nitra). Pope Honorius refused to recognize both elections. He referred to contradicted canonical rules of procedure, and thus called for holding new elections unless he appointed an archbishop to administer the province. In the second round, some canons continued to support Desiderius, while another emerging faction nominated archdeacon Thomas. Honorius again annulled the results and ordered four canons as envoys to Rome to represent their chapter by 6 January 1226. Three of them were guardian Nicholas and canons Andrew and John. However, there they failed to agree on a candidate acceptable to everyone, thus on 13 March 1226 Honorius appointed Robert, who was "worthy of both body and soul" as Archbishop of Esztergom.
Persecution of non-Christians Robert pledged to participate in Emperor Frederick II's crusade in 1227. But, instead, he had to postpone his intention of travel to the Holy Land; the nearly contemporaneous Alberic of Trois-Fontaines recorded that a Cuman chieftain's son visited Robert in 1227, asking the archbishop to baptize him together with his 12 retainers. The Cuman nobleman also announced that his father was willing to come to Transylvania to be baptized along with his 2,000 subjects. Archbishop Robert accepted the offer and went to Transylvania, together with three Hungarian prelates, Bartholomew of Pécs, Bartholomew of Veszprém and Raynald of Belleville, Bishop of Transylvania. They met the Cuman chieftain, who was one "Boricius, fourth in rank among the major Cuman leaders", according to the chronicle of the Frisian Emo. At the meeting, the Hungarian prelates baptized Boricius and his retainers in the presence of Duke Béla.