anonymous sculptor, around 1515
Limestone, inscription in high relief
Bratislava, south wall of St. Martin’s Church
The Diocese Chapter was the most important ecclesiastical institution in Pressburg/Bratislava. By the late Middle Ages, it had fourteen members (kanoniker), most of whom came from Hungary, Austria, or Bohemia. One of these kanoniker, Kaspar, had a Slovakian background. He was a scion of the Romer family from Pressburg/Bratislava (the oldest member of this family is known to have lived in Pressburg/Bratislava as early as 1439). Kaspar reached the apex of his career in 1495 when he became Propstvikar, i.e. deputy of the Prior of the Diocese Chapter. Considering the importance of his position, we may assume that Kaspar was present at all the Holy Masses celebrated in Pressburg/Bratislava in 1515 during the negotiations between the Hungarians and Austrians.
This tomb features a kanoniker in relief dressed in his finest vestments. He is half lying, half standing, with a pillar under his head and a hand on the tabernacle. A Latin text in late miniscule frames the relief: + Anno d(omi)ni 1515 feria quarta po/st conversion(n)is Pauli obiit venerabilis magister romer cano(n)i/cus po[so(ni)]en(sis) hic sepultus / orate pro eo) (+ In the year of our Lord 1515 on the Tuesday after the Conversion of Saint Paul the honorable Magister Romer, kanoniker of Pressburg/Bratislava, has died, and he is buried here, pray for him). The date (1515) was added later and is incorrect (in 1517 Romer was still alive and acted as a witness to a last will). As A. Zajic has pointed out, such tombs were standard for high-ranking clergy at that time. (Kaspar’s tomb is very similar to that of Vinzent Paurenbeint (1517) at Baden).
Juraj Šedivý