INDULGENCES FOR PILGRIMS AND BUILDING OF CHURCHES IN THE DIOCESE OF ZAGREB IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY

Sa？etak The sale of indulgences played a major role in the construction of churches in the Diocese of Zagreb during the fifteenth century. At that time Diocese of Zagreb was experiencing a surge in construction and reconstruction of sanctuaries in the late Gothic style. All of the upper social strata – the monarchs, the higher nobility, the gentry and the ecclesiastical dignitaries – tried to gain the right to sell indulgences for sanctuaries under their patronage. Based on their supplications presented to the Holy See, we can conclude much about the number of churches in which pardons have been sold, the amount of pardons that were sold in particular cases, as well as the length of the period during which the sale would last. In most cases, the income from the sale would was used for the maintenance of existing sanctuaries, reconstruction of dilapidated ones, or construction of brand new churches, chapels or monasteries. The most famous examples include the Franciscan monastery in Zagreb, the Pauline monastery in Remete and the churches under the patronage of major Slavonian noble families, such as the counts Celjski, Zrinski and Frankapan