Charles' mainstay Pope Clement V appointed Gentile as papal legate with full authority and sent him to the Kingdom of Hungary in
Poitiers on 8 August 1307. His legation was also mandated to
Poland,
Dalmatia,
Croatia,
Bosnia (Rama),
Serbia,
Galicia–Volhynia and
Cumania. After the death of
Andrew III of Hungary and the extinction of the
Árpád dynasty in 1301, a civil war between various claimants to the throne –
Charles of Anjou,
Wenceslaus of Bohemia, and
Otto of Bavaria – broke out. Pope Boniface's first legate, Niccolò Boccasini convinced the majority of the Hungarian prelates to accept Charles's reign, but unsuccessfully tried to acknowledge the Anjous' claim with the powerful barons of the realm. Pope Boniface who regarded Hungary as a fief of the Holy See declared Charles the lawful king of Hungary on 31 May 1303. Charles defeated his enemies by the summer of 1307 (Wenceslaus left Hungary, while Otto was imprisoned), but the so-called
oligarchs still governed their province
de facto independently of the royal power. Pope Clement sent his representative, Gentile in this situation. Gentile was mandated to ensure Charles' reign, to restore shattered church discipline, to recover of lost and unlawfully usurped church property and to ensure the filling of church positions in accordance with the
canon law. Gentile also received permission to the use of church punishment, if necessary. Gentile left the papal court on 17 October 1307. He met
Charles II and
Mary – Charles' grandparents – in
Naples. Charles II gave instructions to prepare two ships for the papal legate in March 1308. Gentile then moved forward to
Bologna. Gentile arrived with the two ships to
Split (Spalato) in
Croatia in union with Hungary at the end of May 1308. He spent the following months in various
Adriatic coastal cities,
Trogir (Trau),
Skradin (Scardona),
Zadar (Zara) and
Senj (Segna), where dealt with church affairs of the Dalmatian dioceses. For instance, he launched an investigation against the pro-Venetian Giorgio Ermolao, the
Bishop of Arbe and his partisans, who did not recognize Gentile's jurisdiction over Dalmatia. He also refused the election of Lampert as
Bishop of Hvar. He also entrusted the Chapter of Split to elect a new archbishop. Gentile provided 40-day
indulgences to four Dalmatian churches during these months. He was greeted by Charles I and Archbishop
Thomas of Esztergom in
Zagreb around early September. The companion, through
Csetény, arrived to
Buda in October and Gentile was accommodated in the Dominican St. Nicholas monastery within the
castle. , as depicted in the
Illuminated Chronicle Gentile managed to persuade the most powerful oligarch
Matthew Csák to accept King Charles' rule at their meeting in the
Pauline Monastery of Kékes on 10 November 1308. On his side, Hungarian prelates Thomas of Esztergom and
John of Nyitra also attended the event, as well as the provincial heads of the Dominicans and Minorites in Hungary. It is presumable that Matthew Csák also promised that he will provide assistance to Charles in his unification war against the rebellious oligarchs. In exchange, Matthew Csák was offered to become
Master of the treasury, then the most influential dignity in the royal court, and he was guaranteed to keep half of the recovered royal estates during the campaign. In the next few weeks, Gentile persuaded the most powerful lords one by one to accept Charles's rule. At the
Diet, which was held in the Dominican monastery in
Pest and chaired by Gentile, Charles was unanimously proclaimed king on 27 November 1308. In his speech, the legate referred to the
Gospel of Matthew 13,27 ("Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field?") and explained the
Father Almighty was the one, who spread seed into the soil of Hungary, from which "numerous excellent, holy and pure kings had sprouted". Among them,
Saint Stephen, the first one, gained the crown "consecrated by the high priest of Rome", he claimed. The last sentence caused rumbling and indignation in the ranks of the audience. Some protesters feared the freedom of the country from the Holy See. Nevertheless, they accepted Charles as their king. The papal legate convoked the synod of the Hungarian prelates, who declared the monarch inviolable in December 1308. There, they also urged
Ladislaus Kán, who had captured Otto, to hand over the
Holy Crown to Charles. However, the
Transylvanian oligarch refused to do so. During the synod, Gentile also dealt with ecclesiastical affairs. The prelates also threatened with excommunication of those noblemen, who unlawfully seized and usurped church property. In preparation for Charles' second coronation,
Henry Kőszegi met papal legate Gentile and other prelates in his manor on 4 June 1309, where he confirmed his oath of allegiance to Charles on behalf of himself and
his family. Having waited in vain a half years that Ladislaus Kán changes his mind, Gentile consecrated a new crown for Charles. Simultaneously, the Transylvanian oligarch also entered an alliance with
Stefan Dragutin, also a descendant of the Árpáds, which urged the cardinal to secure Charles' legitimacy. Archbishop Thomas crowned Charles king with the new crown in the
Church of Our Lady in
Buda on 15 or 16 June 1309. However, most Hungarians regarded his second coronation invalid. Gentile left Buda for
Pressburg (present-day Bratislava,
Slovakia) in the autumn of 1309. Gentile attempted to marry Charles' sister
Clementia off to a Hungarian lord, but the princess was engaged to
Ferdinand of Majorca before that. After the negotiations with Ladislaus Kán did not proceed, the papal legate excommunicated the lord and placed his province under
interdict on 25 December 1309. Gentile, who sent
Benedict, Bishop-elect of Transylvania to meet the oligarch, was still trusted in the deal and promised if Ladislaus Kán returns the crown on the deadline of 2 February 1310, he withdraws the penalty imposed. Thereafter Thomas, alongside
Amadeus Aba and
Dominic Rátót, negotiated with the voivode in
Szeged on 8 April 1310, on the conditions of return of the crown. Gentile also sent his confessor and chaplain, Franciscan
lector Denis to the meeting. Ladislaus Kán finally agreed to give the Holy Crown to Charles. On 27 August 1310, Archbishop Thomas put the Holy Crown on Charles's head in
Székesfehérvár; thus, Charles's third coronation was performed in full accordance with customary law. However, Charles' rule remained nominal in most parts of his kingdom. Matthew Csák laid siege Buda in June 1311, and Ladislaus Kán declined to assist the king. In response to the attack, Gentile excommunicated Matthew Csák on 6 July 1311. Charles sent an army to invade Csák's domains in September, but it achieved nothing. Pope Clement called back his papal legate to the Roman Curia in order to attend the
Council of Vienne. Gentile issued his last charter in Pressburg on 9 September and thereafter left Hungary on 10 September 1311. He resided in
Wiener Neustadt already on 12 September 1311.
Ecclesiastical affairs His documents and charters during the period of his papal legation was published in the collection of "
Acta legationis cardinalis Gentilis. Gentilis bibornok magyarországi követségének okiratai 1307–1311" by Hungarian historian Antal Pór in 1885. Beside his main task (securing Charles' accession to the throne), Gentile dealt extensively with the various affairs of the Church in Hungary. For instance, he judged over the controversial episcopal elections of
Peter and Benedict in the dioceses of
Pécs and
Transylvania, which were heavily affected by the power aspirations of the oligarchs Henry Kőszegi and Ladislaus Kán, respectively. In addition, the chapter of
Bosnia also requested the legate to confirm their bishop Gregory's election in December 1308. Gentile ordered to annul the election of John as
Abbot of Pannonhalma, because it did not comply with canon law. Finally, he absolved John from the incapacity of his physical disability due to the "troubled times". During his three-year legation in Hungary, Gentile convoked five national synods (Buda: November 1308, May 1309, July 1309; Pressburg: November 1309 [for the Polish prelates], May 1311). Gentile bestowed the rule of
Saint Augustine on behalf of the Holy See to the
Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit on 13 December 1308, which meant the papal recognition of the Paulines as a
monastic order. The legate also confirmed the exemption of the
Poor Clares monastery at
Nagyszombat (present-day Trnava, Slovakia) from paying
tithe in August 1309. He appointed
conservators to inspect monasteries of the
Carthusians. In his letter to
Vincent, Archbishop of Kalocsa and his suffragans, the papal legate stated that he reserves the right to bestow all church
benefice above worth 10
marks exclusively to himself. As a result, he appointed canons and other clergymen into their positions, overriding the Hungarian church hierarchy. For instance, he donated a canonical emoluments in Pécs to his tax collector Rufinus, son of Albert. In the name of his nephew Gualterius Raynaldi de Monteflorum, he launched a litigation against
Henry of Wierzbna, the
Bishop of Wrocław. There is also a record of his decision to deprive a canon (Lucas of Vác) from his office due to his physical disability. He also ordered to appoint deacons in the dioceses of Pécs and Zagreb, bypassing the authority of the bishops. During his judicial activity, Gentile entrusted auditors from his own staff, largely neglecting the local Hungarian church personalities. His auditors were, for instance, his chaplains
dr.iur.can. Filip de Sardinea, Johannes de Aretio (both of them were auditors general with wider authority), legate chamberlain dr.iur.can. Bonunsegna de Perusia and court cleric Casparus de Montefia. At least altogether 52-member staff assisted Gentile's work in Hungary. His bailiff was his nephew Rogerius Mathei de Monteflorum. His physician was Fredericus de Bononia, while a certain Dionysius, penitentiary of the Franciscan Oder also belonged to his accompaniment.
Cultural legacy in 1310, the earliest surviving document written on paper in Hungary The oldest surviving charter in Hungary written on
paper, instead of
parchment, was issued by the chancellery of Gentile in Pressburg on 2 May 1310. The document contains the papal legate's respond letter (
missilis) to Benedict, Bishop-elect of Transylvania, in which Gentile emphasized to Benedict that the interdict over Transylvania should be maintained, until Ladislaus Kán fulfills his promise and returns the Holy Crown. Gentile's letter also contains a
watermark depicting a dragon, which proves that the paper was produced in
Fabriano, known for inventing watermarked paper in 1280. According to historian György Rácz, the letter was preserved because it mentions the Holy Crown, and therefore it prompted the spread of the usage of paper in Hungary. Subsequently, the first paper documents were preserved in 1312 (
Čazma) and 1319 (
Eger) in the kingdom. According to an inventory from 1322, Gentile possessed some Hungary-related books after his departure to Italy. Two of them were titled "
decretum sancti Stephani regis Ungari" ("The Decrees of Saint Stephen, King of Hungary") and "
Ungarorum hystorie" ("The history of the Hungarians"). French philologist Marie-Henriette Jullien de Pommerol argued the cardinal brought these works from Hungary. Historian László Veszprémy considered that Gentile used the two books to legally justify Charles' claim to the Hungarian throne and to study the Hungarian historical approach regarding the system of relations with the Holy See. Veszprémy argued the latter work was identical with a copy of the
pre-14th-century Hungarian chronicle variant and became part of the collection of the
papal library at
Avignon under the title "
cronica Ungarorum in pergameno cum postibus et corio albo in parvo forma". ==Later life==