# LAND AND PEOPLE #### GEOGRAPHY ETHNIC MINORITIES GOVERNMENT SETTLEMENT AND PLACES OF LIVING ### GEOGRAPHY From the 13th century the weather was colder and wetter in Eurasia then in the previous centuries. In the second half of the 15th century there was a short warmer, transitional period, followed by cold and wet weather for two centuries, which started at the turn of the century. This was called the 'mini ice-age'. There was much more water in the rivers than today, and water levels were high everywhere for a long time. This climate was favourable for the development of woods, but due to the increased demand for firewood trees were regularly cut down. Because of long winters domesticated plants needed less time to produce, but cereals were threatened by rotting. ### ETHNIC MINORITIES The Hungarian Kingdom was a multinational country in the late Middle Ages, as well as throughout the course of its history. In this age significant influxes of ethnic minorities came only at the end of the period, when Serbian settlers entered the country, otherwise the process was very slow. There are no exact data about the proportion of ethnic minorities, nor are there are any exact data on the whole population of the country. Belonging to a national minority group often meant a political and juristic affiliation, too. Settlement of the Northern-East Carpathians, which had started earlier, continued, although at a slower pace. The Ruthenians were the first to go there. In Transylvania and territories close to the ban district of Szörény the settling of Rumanians with vlach right went on. There was no possibility for transhuming shepherding, but most of them were still engaged in shepherding, and often changed their habitations. The Rumanian kenéz-s became noblemen in Hunyad, Fogaras, Hátszeg and Máramaros, and their rights were not different from the privileges of Hungarian common noblemen. The traditional national and threefold (primors, horsechiefs and common székelys) society of the Székelys was slowly disintegrating. The first Gypsies came from the Balkans to Transylvania during the reign of Sigismund, and their settlement slowly continued. The leading group of the Transylvanian Saxons, the gerébs, merged with the nobility and became Hungarian. At this time the upper social group of the Saxons consisted of citizens of towns, and the peasants lived more freely than Hungarian villeins. In southern counties, such as Bács and Szerém, the majority of the inhabitants were Hungarian, but the Serbs moved into this region continuously from the time of Sigismund. In 1440 another significant process started: the keve-s of county Keve escaped to Ráckeve, thus the first, northern Serbian settlement appeared on the banks of the Danube. The Croatian population of the southern and Slavonian counties was decimated by the Turkish attacks. There was no significant change in the population of the Slovenes of the Mura region and the Slovenians of the Felvidék. Towns, which used to have a German population, - except for the ones along the western border and the ones inhabited by the Transylvanian Saxons - became Hungarian, or at certain places of the Felvidék became Slovak. The national separation of the kuns disappeared, and they became an ethnic group with special privileges. ### GOVERNMENT #### King and Governor On top of the social hierarchy there was the king, who was not a puppet ruler, but was expected to decide on every matter in the state. The ruler controlled foreign policy, he decided in matters of war and peace, and he personally went to fight, even in the late Middle Ages. Administration of justice and granting a pardon was also his duty. Only the king could give away an estate. His power was regulated primarily by customary law, although some of the acts referred to the king, none of them listed all the legal rights of the king. In some extraordinary cases the country was controlled by the governor. His rights were limited by law, and his power was not as great as the king's. The biggest difference in power was that the governor could not give away an estate bigger than 32 villein segments of lands. In the course of Hungarian history the first governor was John Hunyadi, elected in 1446. He held his office from 1446 to 1452. Michael Szilágyi was also a governor assisting the young king Matthias for half a year in 1458. #### The Royal Council The most important governing organ was the royal council, and the ruler asked for its advice in all the matters. It had regular meetings. Originally only bishops and barons could take part in the meetings, but not all of them on each occasion. During the reign of Matthias there were 5 bishops and 9 barons in it on average. In special cases it exercised the power of the king, for example, in 1445, after Matthias's death. It had a signet made with the writing 'The Signet of the Unity of Hungary'. From 1498 common nobleman assessors - elected by the parliament - could also take part in the meetings. They did not really represent the interests of their estate in practise, as they were the dependants of the noblemen in the council, so they had to vote according to the will of their lords. #### The Parliament By this period parliaments had real significance. The king or the governor summoned the meetings, and at the election of a king it was the palatine's duty. The frequency of the meetings was regulated in the Jagello age, but it was not important to hold a meeting annually even then. Their most important right was that they could impose the war tax, but taxes were collected without the agreement of the parliament even at the end of the Middle Ages. The place of the meetings was the Rákos mező [Rákos field] near Pest. At the meetings the royal council discussed the problems separately from the representatives of common noblemen and towns. At such occasions the members of the royal council gathered in bigger numbers, and the later House of Lords was formed from the royal council. At the meetings of the parliament four estates were represented: prelates, barons, common noblemen and the estates of towns. They had the right to take part at meetings until 1848. Common noblemen appeared sometimes as elected representatives of a county, and sometimes they all turned up personally. The estates of cities were the representatives of civitates tavernicales and personales and mining towns of lower Hungary. They first appeared at the meetings of the parliament in 1444, but their political role was quite insignificant: partly because they were not interested in domestic politics, and partly because they were not invited to all the meetings. The inhabitants of Slavonia and Transylvania had separate representatives. #### The Palatine and the Administration of Justice The most important office holder was the palatine, and his significance grew in the age of estates. It was the only honour which was elected by the parliament from 1439, and not appointed by the king. He was the mediator between the ruler and the estates if there was a debate. In 1486 his rights were listed in the so-called palatine clauses. Actions for possession and serious criminal proceedings were tried only at the royal court. At first there were three, then four courts of justice: the court of the palatine's presence, the court of the king's presence, the courts of the king's special and personal presence. The last two were later merged and led by the personnel clerk. #### Chancellery and Treasury The chancellery was reformed in 1464: the offices of the secret and chief chancellor were merged with the two chancelleries. Besides writing charters the chancellery also dealt with the preparations of government decisions. Royal estates were separated from the treasury. Matters of the royal estates were settled by the court judge of Buda from 1458 until 1541. As part of monetary reforms the treasury became a united organisation during the reign of Matthias: chambers, which had been separate chambers, came under the strict authority of the treasurer. #### Administration in the Country and Credible Places Slavonia was governed by the ban, and the Slavonian estates could intervene into the election of the deputy of the ban. In Transylvania, however, there was no independent development of the estates: the power of Hungarian voivodes, appointed by the king, remained unchanged, and they also acquired the office of the independent Székely ispán [bailiff]. The autonomy of the Transylvanian Saxons increased significantly, in 1486 the king confirmed the 1224 Adreanum, which contained the rights of the Saxons living in the Szeben "province". From 1486 other Saxon territories in Transylvania lived according to these privileges: and "Saxon unity" was born. Local administration was settled by the counties in most parts of the country. Minor cases were judged, different matters were settled by order of higher judges, for example people were summoned, investigations were made, taxes were collected, armies were formed. The nobility intervened in the work of the parliament through them and they declared the new laws. Almost all matters were settled at the court of justice of the county, which was called sedria. The county also started to function as a local government, although this process was very slow. From 1485 ispáns [bailiff] had to elect their deputy ispáns from among the wealthy noblemen of the county. In some parts of the Szászföld [Saxonland], Székelyföld [Székelyland], Kunság and Szepesség there were no counties, but so-called chairs. The major part of juristic documents were written at the credible places as before. They had a double task: they made authentic charters at the request of their clients and by the order of the king they took part in trials and recorded the events in charters. #### Laws and the Triple Book The role of laws called decretum (a contemporary word) slowly changed. They did not follow customary law any longer, but new laws were created. Matthias's law book of 1485, which was the first printed Hungarian law, had a significant role in this. In 1514 Stephen Werbőczy was the first person to write down Hungarian customary law. His work is called the Triple Book because of the numbering of the chapters. These were not real laws, but due to its brief, clear style it became the most popular collection of customary laws until 1848, and it was re-published several times. #### The Doctrine of the Holy Crown The abstract idea of the state was not a recognised concept in late medieval juristic thinking, such a role being played by the doctrine of the Holy Crown. According to this the crown represents the country in case there is no king, and the revenues and territory of the country were the inalienable property of the crown. The rights of the estates and the Holy Crown were parts of a whole system: the will of the estates was enough to replace the crown with another crown, if there was no crown, as at the coronation of Ulaslo I. According to the Triple book noblemen were members of the Holy Crown just as was the king himself. ### SETTLEMENT AND PLACES OF LIVING #### Towns In his work summarising Hungarian customary law, entitled Tripartitum, Stephen Werbőczy accepted only the burghers of free royal towns as burghers with privileges. According to him, burghers of all other towns were only serfs. However, the hierarchy of towns was more complicated in reality, and it could not be based on the contrast of burghers and villeins. There were about 30 free royal towns or towns with similar privileges in the territory of the country. The most distinguished ones were the 7 so-called civitates tavernicalis: Buda, Kassa, Bártfa, Eperjes, Pozsony, Sopron and Nagyszombat, and they were legally and juristically different from other towns by the middle of the 15th century. The 8th one became Pest at the end of the 15th century. Besides these the so-called civitates personalis, such as Székesfehérvár, Esztergom, Lőcse, Kisszeben, Szakolca, and the royal mining towns (Selmecbánya, Körmöcbánya) and Transylvanian Saxon towns (Brasso, Nagyszeben) also had certain privileges. But it was not only the burghers of these towns who were considered to be burghers. The expression burgher was used for burghers of all bishopric towns, and also the burghers of distinguished market towns - regardless of their legal position. The number of market towns in Hungary at the end of the Middle Ages was about 500, out of which 150 had a town-like appearance or performed urbanic duties. Market towns played a very important role in the economic life of the country. Free royal towns were usually situated along the border. No towns were situated on two thirds of the territory of the country, the southern part of Transdanubia and the Great Plain. There was only one royal town in that region: Szeged. However, the scantiness of the network of towns was compensated for by market towns: the most important ones - similarly to privileged towns - were trade and economic centers of a region, and besides these their church institutions, schools and in some cases their administrative function made them more distinguished than the neighbouring villages. At the end of the 15th century and at the beginning of the 16th century almost 15 % of the population of Europe lived in towns, but in Hungary this rate did not reach 10 %. The combined population of Buda and Pest was between 15,000 and 20,000, that of Kassa and Szeged about 7,000, while in Pozsony it was 5,000, and in Sopron, Bártfa and Nagyszombat it was 3,500-4,000. By this time the populations of Paris, Milan and Venice had each exceeded 100,000, so the Hungarian numbers were quite insignificant, even though in most parts of Europe the population of most towns was usually a couple of thousand people. In neighbouring Styria, for example, Graz had a population of 7,000, and the outstanding merchant town, Pettau (today it is Ptuj, Slovenia) had 1,500 people. The population of the biggest market towns in Hungary was about 1,000, but most of them had only a few hundred inhabitants. The majority of towns were overcrowded, but this applied only to the areas within the city walls, not to the suburbs. In some places even the area surrounded by walls was not built up. City walls built in the 13th and 14th centuries usually remained intact until the 15th and 16th centuries. Meanwhile in several places huge areas were surrounded by walls and many fortresses had to be modernised because of the Turkish threat. In 1473 one of the most important Hungarian towns, Székesfehérvár had to be fortified: the north-west rondella of the inner city, the rondella of the Buda gates, the barbacan of the Palota gates and the southern rondella were built then. The king ordered villeins from counties Veszprém and Somogy to work on the constructions. The wooden, earth and hedge fortresses of suburbs were built when they heard the news of the coming Turkish threat. The massive rondella appearing on fortress and city walls was necessary because of the position of cannons. High, thin towers, which were built earlier to dissect city walls, and high, thin city walls were not very protective against cannon balls. When these heavy monstrous cannons were placed in position, defence also changed: high walls were destroyed and thicker ones were built and supported by earthworks, which also made them more flexible. Previously built wall passes were also filled up with earth, and in the place of towers protective rondellas were raised. Cannons could be placed in any direction on the rondellas, so it was possible to shoot to the side (from a position in front of the walls). Earth fillings could be found along the city walls, so defensive forces could move easily around the city. Moats 20-40 meters wide and 1-7 meters deep also appeared at the outer part of the city walls. On the opposite side of them there was a counter-slope (contrascarpa): this was often made of earth with a stone wall, on which there was a covered road. These were the forward positions of the defenders. Previously built defensive gates had to be fortified, so the barbacans appeared. The country had very little money for the fortification of suburbs as it was in a difficult economic situation at the beginning of the Turkish attack. It was impossible to surround whole towns, so only the most important parts, necessary to the defence of the inner city, were protected by moats and earthworks (Fehérvár - Buda suburb). Bigger territories of suburbs remained unfortified, and as the houses were usually made of wood they were often burnt down when under attack by the enemy. Towns were often destroyed by fire. Narrow streets, where houses were built very close together, and the use of flammable building materials made them very combustible. There was a fire in Pest in 1512, when 24 houses burnt down. Chimneys made of wood were also cleaned: in certain Hungarian towns Italian chimney-sweepers worked, for example in 1508 in Buda, Pest and Eger. Although from the 14th-15th centuries a lot of churches and houses had brick vaults, it was not at all commonplace at the time. Wooden shingles were replaced by ceramic tiles in Buda and Pest in this period. These solutions decreased the number of burnt-down houses in the inner city, but in the suburbs there was no money for the new building material. Outbreaks of fire could be explained by the fact that the water supply and sewage of towns did not develop until the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries. Water was acquired from the nearby brooks, rivers, lakes and wells. In Buda water was collected in cisterns even in the first half of the 14th century, and people drank the water of castle caves. In luckier towns artificial wells appeared (Fehérvár). In Nagyszombat, Beszterce and Brasso city brooks were built along the long streets. The remains of fountains, wells and lead pipes found at excavations in the royal palace of Buda prove that there was a water-conduit after 1355-1366; but written sources mentioned conduits in Buda only from 1416. The pipes of conduits were made of wood, lead and ceramics in the 15th century, then later they were made of iron. Water pipes from the Sigismund period were also found in Buda and Pest. Water was brought from the Buda mountains to the castle, and there were public wells at the end of the pipes. The quality of the water, however, was not always satisfactory, this is why it was important and general to drink wine. Public wells were placed inside and outside towns, and in medieval Fehérvár they could be found in the suburbs (Szentkirályfölde) and along roads, and near gates, too (Királykút). There were wells in monasteries, palaces, in the yards of houses, and in several cases even in cellars. Streets in the inner city were usually covered by paving-stones at this time. These pavements were made of big, wide, flat stones or pebbles (Buda, Székesfehérvár). The plan of streets, the form of blocks of houses, the size of plots of land did not change much till the first half of the 16th century. However, land pieces were dissected, half plots of land became popular, but the plan of towns, and blocks of houses did not change. The number of two-floor houses increased slightly, and plots of land were totally built up with long houses, which occupied the whole facade of the street (Székesfehérvár - 17 Megyeház street and 4 Oskola street; Buda - 18 Országház street). Houses in towns had big, rectangular, late Gothic or renaissance windows, the special characteristic feature of which was the cross-shape partition. Big shop windows with segment arch became very popular (Buda - the medieval houses of Uri and Tárnok streets). The Turkish attack put an end to the development of flourishing city life, and in the following decades it resulted in the destruction of buildings and of medieval urban life. But at the same time it encouraged the modernisation of fortresses. The remains of fountains, wells and lead pipes found at excavations in the royal palace of Buda prove that there was a water-conduit after 1355-1366; but written sources mentioned conduits in Buda only from 1416. The pipes of conduits were made of wood, lead and ceramics in the 15th century, then later they were made of iron. Water pipes from the Sigismund period were also found in Buda and Pest. Water was brought from the Buda mountains to the castle, and there were public wells at the end of the pipes. The quality of the water, however, was not always satisfactory, this is why it was important and general to drink wine. Public wells were placed inside and outside towns, and in medieval Fehérvár they could be found in the suburbs (Szentkirályfölde) and along roads, and near gates, too (Királykút). There were wells in monasteries, palaces, in the yards of houses, and in several cases even in cellars. Streets in the inner city were usually covered by paving-stones at this time. These pavements were made of big, wide, flat stones or pebbles (Buda, Székesfehérvár). The plan of streets, the form of blocks of houses, the size of plots of land did not change much till the first half of the 16th century. However, land pieces were dissected, half plots of land became popular, but the plan of towns, and blocks of houses did not change. The number of two-floor houses increased slightly, and plots of land were totally built up with long houses, which occupied the whole facade of the street (Székesfehérvár - 17 Megyeház street and 4 Oskola street; Buda - 18 Országház street). Houses in towns had big, rectangular, late Gothic or renaissance windows, the special characteristic feature of which was the cross-shape partition. Big shop windows with segment arch became very popular (Buda - the medieval houses of Uri and Tárnok streets). The Turkish attack put an end to the development of flourishing city life, and in the following decades it resulted in the destruction of buildings and of medieval urban life. But at the same time it encouraged the modernisation of fortresses. #### The Town of Visegrád The origins of the town go back to 1285, when it was mentioned as a hospes settlement. After 1323 the settlement became a town owing to the fact that the royal court moved there. By the middle of the 14th century the town consisted of two parts. The less significant part was the territory between the lower castle and the palace, which was inhabited by Germans. The Hungarian part was situated at the Nagymaros ferry and along both sides of the St George brook (today Apátkúti brook). Besides the judge at the top of the hierarchy one half of the 12-member council represented the Germans, while the other half represented the Hungarian part of the town. After 1408, when the royal court moved, the town began to decline, but it was allowed to keep its privileges until the beginning of the 16th century. In 1544 the Turks evacuated the Hungarian population, and with this the medieval town died. #### The Royal Palace of Visegrád The origin of the palace was king Charles I's town house. It developed into an outstanding palace only in the first part of Louis I's reign. He ordered the construction of the buildings - the ruins of which we can still see today - at the end of his life. It was completed by his successors, Maria and Sigismund, at the end of the 14th century. Until the first decade of the 15th century - when Sigismund moved his court to Buda - the royal palace of Visegrád remained the official residence of Hungarian rulers. In the 15th century the palace became unimportant, and it was rebuilt by Matthias at the end of the 15th century. From that time on until the 1544 Turkish occupation it was the countryside residence of Hungarian kings. In the Turkish times it was severely damaged, and finally pulled down in the middle of the 18th century. King Matthias started to rebuild the palace only after his marriage to Beatrix in 1476. He turned it into his country residence. The construction may have taken 10 years. The old buildings were totally renewed, and a new wing was raised on the street facade. The windows, fire-places, roofs, wells, loggias and balconies were changed. The constructions were led by the court judges of Buda. The work was performed by the local late Gothic architecture workshop, but some partial tasks were performed by Italian masters who worked in the renaissance style. #### The Castle of Visegrád The castle of Visegrád, which was built after the Tartar invasion, consisted of two parts: a fortress with the old tower and a gate tower, and the lower castle fortified by guard towers which was connected to the fortress by a wall. The sextagonal living tower was in the lower castle. Charles I had the living tower rebuilt and an inner wall built around it. The palace wings of the fortress, its moat and the second wall were built in the Angevine age. The Hungarian crown was kept in the fortress until the Turkish period. Sigismund had another outer wall and a house (next to the old tower) built. Matthias had the palace wings totally rebuilt and the fortifications modernised. The hall on the first floor of the eastern wing and the room of the gate tower were given ribbed vaults. Two arch-stones have survived from the vault of the gate tower with the coats-of-arm of King Matthias and Queen Beatrix. In the lower castle yard there were farm buildings and the wall was made higher. The wall pass in front of the old tower was filled up, and a new cannon terrace was formed. From 1492 the fortress fell in to the hands of the crown guards chosen by parliament. In 1543 the Turks occupied it, and then between 1595 and 1605 it belonged to Christians again for a decade. The returning Turks finally left the fortress in 1686, but by then it was only a ruin. #### Visegrád - Franciscan Monastery After founding monasteries in the south, Visegrád was the first place in the center of the country where an observant monastery was established by king Sigismund at the beginning of the 15th century. The circumstances of the foundation are known from Sigismund's letter to the Pope in 1425, in which he requested permission and privileges. From this it can be seen that the observant branch of the Franciscan order (besides the conventuals) could not have been widely known, since the ruler described them and their activities in Hungary in detail. The monks received a ruined chapel in Visegrád, which was consecrated in the honour of St George, and Sigismund also built a house for them, too. The chapel was originally founded by Sigismund's "royal predecessors", that is one of the Angevine rulers, but it was out of use by the beginning of the 15th century. This choice of place was quite unusual, as the Franciscans settled down in the neighbourhood of the royal palace of Visegrád, at the side of the city, but not at the edge of the city or in the city - as they used to do. This fact suggests that the king wanted to give a special role to this monastery. The Franciscans probably did not live in this house for a long time, since after 1425 they started to build a new church and monastery near the old buildings, which they wanted to consecrate in the honour of the Virgin Mary. The vault of the sacristy and some cuts from later buildings must have originated from this period. After Sigismund's death the monastery was not supported, so the buildings began to fall into decay. At the end of the 15th century king Matthias planned to rebuild the monastery, but only his successor, Ulaslo II finished it at the beginning of the 16th century. The church and the new vault of the monastery, and probably the tower above the sacristy were built then. The connection of this new building to the royal palace was emphasised by the fact that there was a door on the northern side from the territory of the palace to the monastery. So the ruler could enter the monastery without coming from the street. The special position of the monastery is shown by the fact that there were no more than 8 monks living there at the beginning of the 16th century, and it had always been considered a monastery (usually 12 monks lived in a monastery). In 1543 Visegrád fell into the hands of the Turks, so the Franciscans had to leave. However, later there were a few Franciscan monks in each of the Christian armies which arrived, and they tried to describe the condition of their abandoned monastery. At the end of the 17th century, after the reoccupation, the monastery was not rebuilt, and in the 19th century even its ruins were destroyed. It was forgotten for about 50 years, until in the 1980s excavations found the remains of the ruins. #### Szentkirály - A Village on the Great Plains Szentkirály was a medieval village in the northern part of the territory between the rivers Danube and Tisza, north of Kecskemét, and near to the road leading from Buda to Szeged (the great road). The old settlement was marked in Student Lazarus' map, which was the first detailed map of Hungary, under the name S. Rex (Sanctus Rex). The first church of the village was built in the 12th century in the honour of St Stephen, and even today he is the patron saint of the Roman Catholic church of Szentkirály in county Bács-Kiskun. In the age of the Árpád dynasty Szentkirály was inhabited by people from the royal castle, as the village belonged to the castle bailiff district of Csongrád. During the Tartar invasion it was deserted. In 1354 it was presented by king Louis the Great to a Cuman noble family as an uninhabited estate - to Cuman Peter, son of Bőcsör (Bwchwr), and his sons, Michael and John, and his cousins, Baramuk, son of Kabak, and Gál, son of Wezteg - on the condition that they settle down there and live according to Christian traditions. After the border visit of the Buda chapter in 1356, king Louis I gave a letter of privilege to the new owners. The descendants of the family, the members of the noble Bicsak (Bychak) and Gáspár families, asked king Ulaslo II in 1493 for an official copy and confirmation of the charters in their possession. In the same year the king gave the power of life and death to the owners, according to which they could judge the criminals caught on their estate. The Cumans owning Szentkirály and their people chose to settle down in the place where the ruined church of the deserted Árpád-age village stood. At the end of the 14th century the church was rebuilt and strengthened with buttresses, the plots of land for houses were distributed, and the first firm houses were built and the dead buried near the church. This settlement was established in accordance with special "Cuman traditions", because in 1490 the village was marked as "Szentkirály szállás [accommodation]" together with the neighbouring Barabásszállás, which was the property of the same family (today's Borbáspuszta near Kecskemét). The names of medieval Cuman settlements were formed with the help of the suffixes -szállása, -ülése, - népe, -háza (for example, Köncsögszállása, Csólyosszállása, Bagdasülése, Alonnépe, Bugacháza), to show that these were considered temporary settlements or family estates by the Hungarians even after their consolidation in the second half of the 14th century. In Latin charters usually the word descensus [accommodation] referred to Cuman settlements. Szentkirály was a flourishing settlement even in the 16th century, its population consisted of 50-60 families. The first big decline took place in course of the 15-year war. By the end of the 17th century the village was totally deserted. At the end of the 19th century only the ruined walls of the medieval church showed that it used to be a village. In place of the ruins of the church a Calvinist church was built in 1901, which still functions today. The ruined late medieval village was found during excavations between 1969 and 1990. Szentkirály was situated at the back of a hill, lying north-west - south-east on the territory between the rivers Danube and Tisza. On the north it was bordered by huge waters. The main street of the village was on the crest of the hill to the length of 900 meters. On the two sides of the street there were the houses, usually 50-70 metres from each other. The ruined domes of the medieval houses, made of clay and lime, rise as small dunes. According to archaeological maps, there were about 30 houses on the surface. The structure of the village was loose, consisting of rows of streets. This type of settlement was quite typical in the Great Plain. During the excavations at Szentkirály whole farm-yards were found around some of the houses, so there are data about the arrangement of the inner part of the plots of land, and the economic condition and way of life of the families. In the early phase of the settlement, in the 15th century, the arrangement of houses was parallel with the streets. Behind the houses, in the farm-yards there were simple buildings: sties and stables of post or pillar structures, huts with woven hedge walls or reed walls, ditches for different products, pithuts, sties dug into the earth. There were hardly any bigger farm buildings with firm walls (for example, stables, garages). In contrast with this, the typical buildings of the inside of plots of land were open or half-open, enclosured places for animals, the walls of which were made of posts, twigs, branches of trees, reeds or other organic materials (for example, straw, dung, carex). Similarly structured reeds with oval or rectangular ground-plans were known from ethnographic collections in the Kiskunság region. Such arrangement of the inner part of the plots of land - with buildings for extensive animal husbandry inside the village - shows a special economic structure and way of life, in which animal husbandry played a very important role. This structure of settlement has close links with the traditional farming of the Cumans, which was based on animal husbandry. Nevertheless cultivation of plants might have been significant, too, in the 15th century, but no data has survived which can be dated before the 16th-century tax records. The 15th-century houses found in Szentkirály are beautiful memories of the housing traditions of medieval peasants of the Great Plain. The basic type of contemporary houses consisted of two rooms. From the entrance we could go into the kitchen, and there was a room to the left or right. If there was a third or fourth room, it must have been built later, and these rooms were used as pantries. Modern heating equipment also spread on the Great Plain - earlier than in Transdanubia - at this time: in the covered rooms closed fire-places - coal stoves - were built, which were heated from the kitchen, so the room was not smoky any more. For kitchen work - baking, cooking, drying, dehydrating, roasting - a huge, round oven was used, which stuck out from the back wall of the house. This type of house - directly preceding the so-called middle Hungarian type of house, known from ethnography - was a milestone in Hungarian folk architecture. It probably developed from the architecture of towns or noble-mansions, some time during king Sigismund's reign. Compared to other countries of Europe it was the most modern type of house in medieval villages. In Cuman settlements this type of house appeared everywhere. There was a detailed architectural reconstruction of a house which was built in the middle of the 15th century and burnt down in the first half of the 16th century. It was house No 25 and it had two rooms (it was 12.4 meters long and 4.9 meters wide). The entrance was in the south-west. The basic area of the kitchen was 24.5 square meters, and that of the room on the left was 22 square meters. The walls were built with techniques such as hedge walls built onto post-skeletons, which belongs to the ancient techniques of Hungarian folk architecture. The spaces between the wooden pillars and posts, which were dug into the clayey earth in ditches, were loosely woven with twigs, and then covered with mud and straw. At the corners of the walls and below the main joist in the middle, baulks were used, and wreath beams were put onto the baulks in the corners. Cross beams were put on these, then reed and twigs were put on top of these. Above the oven there was a protective roof, supported by baulks. This might have been covered with straw, as the burn marks on the floors of kitchens indicates. In the rare corner of the kitchen - on the level of the floor of the room - there was a stove, built on a semi-circular clay edge. The coal stove and the fire space of the oven opened from here. Above the stove there was a cover against sparks, woven from twigs. The bottom of the oval oven (2.2 by 2 meters) was covered with broken ceramics to keep more heat in. The foot of the stove in the room of house No 25, the basic area of which was 1.45 by 1.45 meters, was painted with white clay, similarly to the wall and floor of the room. There was a cylinder-shaped upper part on the rectangular lower part, and the upper part was covered with a dome vault. From the fragments of stoves tiles, which were found in great quantity among the ruins, seven types of stoves could be differentiated. The position of stove tiles was fixed. The dome and upper part of the stove were covered with onion-shaped stove tiles. On the upper edge of the stove there were tiles imitating bastion tops. The side of the stove was covered with smaller and larger glass-shaped, plate-shaped or triangular tiles in varying order. Ceramic stove tiles were put into the side of the stove with their 'mouth' outside, except for the onion-shaped, helmet-like tiles, which were built into the vault with their tops looking upward. The 15th-century village stoves were, of course, more simple than the stoves of rich noblemen, which were decorated with glazed tiles. But the Gothic forms and rich decorations of village stoves made them beautiful memories of applied folk art. The thick layer of ruins of burnt down houses preserved the remains of dishes, kitchen equipment and tools. In the kitchens smoky clay dishes were found around the fire-place. There were some dishes in the rooms, too, sometimes they fell to the floor from the loft. The bottom of stoves or ovens covered with ceramic tiles was a good hiding place for thrown-out and reused old dishes. Broken dishes and other objects were found in pits around the houses. The majority of these were ceramics, which were used for a very long time, even after they were broken or had a hole in them: if they could not use them for cooking, it was used for other purposes. Smaller or larger pots, covers, mugs, jugs, jars and cups used in the household must have originated from different potters, according to their material and the way they were made. Red, reddish-brown and white or white-grey pots without glazing were widespread. Grey, shining jars, the burning time of which was reduced, were regularly used in the 15th century. Yellowish-terracote, fine, polished jugs were rare, but they were found at each house - it seems that one piece was kept in each household. Thick, grey pots, imported from Austria, were also found at each house. There were fine dishes with green or yellow glazing, which were used at the table, but only fragments of these survived. Glass products were also used at the table, and their fragments have been found. Wooden dishes were quite commonplace, but hardly any of them have survived, only one wooden spoon was found between two layers of mud in a well. The most general object in the households were knives, with wooden or bone hafts and bronze band. In the 16th century several thousand knives were imported to Hungary from Austria. However, the majority of iron tools were made by village smiths: scissors, awls, angles, hooks, nails, chains, drills, chisels, spits, grates; iron bands, locks for chests, coffins and doors...etc. Tools and agricultural equipment were expensive, and they were rarely left on the earth, not like axes, hatchets, ploughs, spades, hoes, sickles, scythes and pitchforks. A broken spade was preserved in the earth of a tomb: it was put into the tomb because of superstition, to protect the dead person from troubles. Fragments of curb-bits and stirrups, buckles, spurs and horseshoes were also found. Only the iron bands have survived from wagons. The making of bone and horn tools was an ancient profession. The inhabitants of medieval Szentkirály used the bones of animals to make tools. Skates were made of the leg bones of horses, and these were fixed to the shoes, or they just stood on them pushing themselves forward on the ice with a stick ending in a pointed bone. Awls, punchers, pegs, handles of tools were also made of bones, while whistles and needle-holders were made of bones of wild birds, which had hollows in them. The memories of boneturnery were beads, bone belt mountings and buckles. The pastern bone of horses were used for making toys for children. |