# HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY #### THE HUNGARIAN KINGDOM AND ITS NEIGHBOURS THE GOVERNMENT FOREIGNERS IN HUNGARY SETTLEMENTS AND PLACES OF HABITATION ### THE HUNGARIAN KINGDOM AND ITS NEIGHBOURS #### The picture of the country The general picture of Hungary in the age of the Árpád dynasty can be drawn with the help of several complementary descriptions. Three of them are from the middle of the 12th century. In 1147 the German bishop, Otto from Freising, marched through the country with the participants of the Second crusade, and in one of his works he recorded his experiences in Hungary. Another traveller, the Muslim Abu-Hamid al-Garnati stayed in Hungary between 1150-1153. The third description originates from the Sycilian Arabic geographer, Idrisi, from 1154. And there is another work, entitled "The Description of Eastern Europe", which was written by an anonymous author in 1308. All of them characterise the kingdom of the Árpáds in concert as a wealthy country, rich in natural treasures. Because of the fertility of the land in the country, hunger was very rare in this region - by comparison with Western-European conditions. There were natural resources lying deep in the soil. Silver mining was quite significant; its early centers were in Selmecbánya in the Highlands, and in Radna in North-Transylvania. The blooming of gold mining dates back to the 14th century. Besides precious metals mainly iron and copper were excavated. Apart from metals the most important product of mining was salt - essential as a spice and preservative. The most significant salt mines were in Transylvania and in the possession of the king, but the church also had a big share from the profit of salt-trade. #### The neighbours The territory of Hungary in the age of the Árpád dynasty was identical with the Carpathian Basin. Its borderlands, however, were uninhabited during the 11-12th centuries, their population started only at the end of the age. The Western neighbour of Hungary was the German-Roman Empire (born in 962), Austria and Styria. In the north-west the country was bordered by Moravia, which belonged to the Czech state as a province of the Empire. In the north it was bordered by Poland, to the east by the Kievian Russia. After the fall of the latter one Halics (Galicia) and Vladimir (Lodomeria) became the closest Russian principalities. East of the Carpathians was the steppe, where various nomadic peoples followed one another. From the middle of the 11th century the Cumans ruled this territory, which was named Cumania after them in the 13th century. In the 14th century two Rumanian principalities, Moldavia (east of Transylvania) and Snowland [Havasföld] (south of Transylvania) emerged here. The southern neighbour of the country was Bulgaria first, later the Byzantine Empire (which incorporated Bulgaria), and from the beginning of the 13th century besides the newly-risen Bulgaria two south-Slav states: Serbia and Bosnia. We are going to discuss the south-western neighbour, Croatia later. ### THE GOVERNMENT #### The court and the bailiff districts Office-holders, who belonged partly to the court, partly to certain institutes of regional administration helped the king in governing the country. In the first type the palatine was the head. In the 11th century the holder of this office - as the bailiff of the court - performed economic duties, but by the 13th century he had become a judge, whose share of competence expanded over the whole country. His economic duties were undertaken first by the bailiff of the royal court, and then - when the holder of this office became a judge under the title of 'country judge' [országbíró] - his duties were taken over by the Treasurer in the 13th century. At the same time the table-bearer, the stableman and the cup-bearer also appear at the court. The holders of these offices were appointed from among the dignitaries enjoying the support of the king, and they were members of the royal council, which had the right to make decisions in political matters. Other royal office-holders stood at the head of different bailiff districts. Royal servants responsible for special services (for example, the stablemen) lived in a separate bailiff district. Court bailiff districts were organised around different royal courts; castle bailiff districts were organised around royal castles. These latter ones were the local units of the royal castle district system. The estates of this, creating smaller or bigger groups, formed an incoherent big manor land together with the bailiff castles. These were usually strengthened by entrenchments with wooden structures in the 11-12th centuries and served as centers. The majority of castle bailiff districts belonged to different counties, so the office of the bailiff counted as a baron honour. #### The institution of the counties Counties were the basic institution of regional administration in the country. The first counties were formed at the time of the foundation of the state, in concert with local conditions. Counties expanded over the power district of royal castles, but they were not identical with castle bailiff districts, as the territory of a county included the royal, church and secular private estates within its borders, besides local castle bailiff districts. However, the person directing the local castle bailiff district was identical with the county bailiff, who directed the county, and also had double responsibility and power over military, legal, economic and managing matters. This early type of county is usually called royal castle district; it was governed by its bailiff through the institutions of the local castle bailiff district. The institution of royal castle districts was followed by the so-called 'noble castle districts' in the last third of the 13th century. During the 13th century due to big land gifts the system of castle bailiff districts collapsed and the free land owners, who gained noble rights, got out of the juristic power of the county bailiff through royal servant statuses. As a result the traditional process of county administration could not be continued. As a solution, four chief magistrates, who were chosen from among local noblemen, were appointed to help the county bailiff. This kind of county authority became responsible for the matters of the people in the county - till the end of the 14th century for the non-noble, too. #### The provinces Controlling the counties a separate government was established in two parts of the country: in Transylvania with the lead of the voivode, in Slavonia with the lead of the ban. Originally in the early times the Transylavanian voivode was the bailiff of county Fejér, which expanded over the whole of south-Transylvania. His juristic power expanded over the other Transylvanian counties by the middle of the 13th century. As the governor of the king, the voivode had juristic, military and economic power. The ban directing the medieval Slavonia in the western part of the territory between the rivers Sava and Drava had a similar role. Both the voivode and the ban belonged to the group of barons sitting in the royal council. In the 13th century more ban districts were formed along the southern border of the country, from among which Macsó and Szörénység were the most significant ones. From the turn of the 11-12th centuries on medieval Croatia - the land between the Dinarian Alps and the Adriatic Sea belonged to the kingdom of the Árpáds. The country of the Croatians - who belonged to Slav people - was conquered in 1091 by St Ladislaus, and Hungarian rule was stabilised by king Coloman, who had himself crowned as Croatian king in 1102. Croatia could keep its own social and institutional system, but until 1918 the authentic Hungarian ruler bore the title of 'King of Croatia', later without even separate coronation ceremony. So Croatia - together with Slavonia - was governed by the bans beginning from the 13th century. ### FOREIGNERS IN HUNGARY #### Settlers from the East A lot of ethnic groups lived together in the territory of Hungary in the age of the Árpád dynasty. Some of these - for example, different Slav groups, or fragments of the population in the Avar age - were found living in the Carpathian Basin by the Conquering Hungarians, while other groups moved into the country in the course of the 10-13th centuries. It is also not doubted that the conquering Hungarians did not form a homogenous group of people concerning their ethnic origin and their language: the basic Finno-Ugric population formed a political unit, the hétmagyar [Seven Hungarians] tribal alliance, including fragments of peoples speaking various Turkic and Iranian languages. Part of the settlers came from the east, including the Muslims of different origin, who were called either Ismaelites (or Böszörménys) or Káliz-s in Hungary. Part of the Ismaelites were soldiers, others were tradesmen or experts in economy. Their significant groups lived in the Nyirség (north Hungary) and Szerémség (Syrmia). The first Ismaelites might have come to the Carpathian Basin together with the Hungarian conquerors, and there is data about their immigration even from the middle of 12th century. 11th century laws tried to stop their religious separation, but in spite of these some of their communities survived until the middle of the 13th century, and assimilated to Christian Hungary only after this time. The Pechenegs - who spoke a certain type of Turkic language - belonged to these early settlers. During the 10-12th centuries the Petchenegs, who settled down in smaller or bigger groups, lived in Fejér and Tolna counties in significant numbers. Part of them assimilated to the Hungarian population quickly, but other groups preserved their ethnic identities by living in independent bailiff districts even in the 14th century. Jews had already been living in the Carpathian Basin in the 10th century, although data about them increased only from the end of the 11th century. The majority of them dealt with trade and financial matters. In 1251 king Béla IV enacted a separate law to regulate their situation in the country. In the middle of the 13th century fragments of the Cumans - a people who spoke a Turkic language - immigrated to the country. After the Tartar Invasion the Cumans nomadised in the territory between the rivers Danube and Tisza and around the Körös rivers and the Maros river. They preserved their pagan traditions for a long time in spite of the regulations of the 1279 'Cuman Law'. After 1270 the authentic palatine was the chief authority for them. Their residences were not divided into counties; so by the 15th century these developed into special independent ethnic governments, the so-called 'Cuman Chairs'. Presumably the first group of the Jas people, originating from Iran, - who are mentioned in Hungarian documents from the 14th century - came into the country together with the Cumans. The Rumanians appeared within the borders of the Hungarian Kingdom in the 13th century. Ancient Rumanian people, who spoke a neo-Latin language, can trace back their origin to the Balcanian peninsula to the 1st milleneum AD. The nomadic Rumanians, who were called 'vlach'-s in Slav and Byzantine sources, appeared first in Transylvania at the turn of the 12-13th centuries. Their first groups settled down in south-Transylvania in the Fogaras region, after the Tartar Invasion they also lived in the borderline of Bihar county, though only in small numbers. Their immigration continued in later centuries in the Middle Ages. The Magyars of Eastern Transylvania [= the Székelys] were considered as a different ethnic group in the Middle Ages. Their independence was shown by their peculiar institutions and traditions. The origin of the Székelys, appearing in the 12th century, is not clear from the written sources. According to one theory they are the predecessors of the fragments of the Bulgarian-Turk Eskil tribes, who had joined the Hungarians in the Eastern-European steppe. They might have assimilated to the Hungarians well before the Conquest. As there is no evidence that the Székelys spoke any other languages than Hungarian, other expert say that they were organised from different Hungarian groups, and the idea of their ethnic independence was formed secondarily. The Székelys appeared at several places in Hungary in the age of the Árpád dynasty. Besides the western borderline and Szabolcs and Baranya counties, their most significant early settlements were around Telegd in Bihar county. In Transylvania they were first mentioned at the beginning of the 13th century, but there might have been Székely settlements in south-Transylvania already in the 12th century. The majority of the Székelys were settled down in the territory of today's Székelyföld [Székelyland] around 1200 to defend the border. A separate Székely bailiff district was organised for them, which did not belong under the supremacy of the Transylvanian voivode. The special institutes of Székely administration, the so-called "székely chairs" developed here by the 14th century. The archaic social system of the Székelys survived throughout the Middle Ages. #### Settlers from the West Other groups of foreigners, who immigrated to the country arrived from the different regions of Western-Europe, and they were called 'hospeses' in the first place. Part of them were called "Italian" (Latinus) - this expression referred to people who spoke neo-Latin languages, so besides the Italian it applied to the French and the Vallons as well. As a result of their immigration from the middle of the 11th century significant Italian settlements were formed around Sárospatak, in Syrmia and in the Eger region. The majority of the Italians settled down as farmers. At some bigger settlements (for example, Esztergom, Székesfehérvár), however, Italian trade-colonies were also found. These latter hospes communities were the buds of Western-type urban development in Hungary. The other considerable group of settlers spoke German, and they were called "Saxons" collectively. Their settlement might have already started in the 11th century, but their two bigger residential territories - in Transylvania and in the Szepesség - were formed only from the middle of the 12th century on. Saxon bailiff districts - independent of the supremacy of the voivode - were organised in four regions in Transylvania: their centers were in Szeben, Brassó, Radna and Beszterce. The forming of a local Transylvanian Saxon government was made possible by a letter of privilege, called the "Andreanum" - issued in 1224 by Andrew II -, which contained the rights and obligations of the Saxons of Szeben. The majority of the Transylvanian Saxons earned their living by agriculture, and their leaders were called "gerébs". Some of those who settled down around Radna were miners in the local silver mines. Among the Saxons of the Szepesség we can find both peasants and miners. The first groups of the local German population were followed by a bigger wave of immigrants after the Tartar Invasion. In the second half of the 13th century the Saxons of Szepes lived in an independent Bailiff district, and their situation was regulated by Stephen V in a letter of privilege similar to the Andreanum. After the Tartar Invasion Slavs came to the Szepesség in bigger numbers. Their settling down was organised by the "soltész"-s, and the Czech, Moravian and Polish settlers merging with the native Slavs formed today's Slovakian people. ### SETTLEMENTS AND PLACES OF HABITATION #### Roads The regions of the country were connected by roads, and the continuation of these outside the borders connected the Hungarian Kingdom to the surrounding world. Giving up the isolation of the 10th century St Stephen opened a road, which connected Western Europe with the Holy Land through Byzantine, in 1018. This road crossed Transdanubia, touching Győr and Székesfehérvár, and it led to the Balkans. The "big roads" that played important commercial and military roles, started from a triangle marked by the early royal centers - Esztergom, Székesfehérvár and Óbuda -, this is why this region was called the "center of the country" even in the early times - in accordance with its actual geographical situation. Idrisi had a valuable description of the early road system. In his work he mentioned four main roads. One of these shows the route of salt transport in Transylvania, through the stations of Gyulafehérvár, Csanád and Csongrád. The road to Kiev touched Vác, Eger and Ungvár, while the main points of junction towards Byzantine might have been Bács, Titel, Keve, Barancs and Nagyolaszi. It is worth mentioning that the road towards the West, which followed the line of the Danube was relatively unsignificant in Idrisi's description. By the second half of the 13th century this situation changed. The role of the earlier central region was taken over by a single town, Buda, which was founded right after the Tartar Invasion, - and its "twin-town" on the other bank, Pest. So the six main roads of the country started from here. During the 13th century the importance of the Kievian and Byzantine trade partly stopped, partly significantly declined due to the political events occurring in the neighbourhood of the Carpathian Basin. Their places were taken over by Western-European connections, and according to these the roads, which led there, became the main arteries of transport. #### Villages Villages were smaller settlements of the population dealing with agriculture. This type of settlement was characterised by various forms and dynamics in the age of the Árpád dynasty. In the age of the Conquest the Hungarians led a nomadic economy and way of life. Families established their winter residence at a permanent place for years to survive the cold season. These winter residences were maintained by some related families and surrounding it they had their own cultivated lands. The Bulgarian-Turk loan words of the Hungarian language refer to the fact that not only corns but also vegetables were grown there. Winter residences became the buds of later villages, as only some appointed men followed their animals to new grazing grounds from spring to autumn, and not the whole family. After the foundation of the state the organisation of the castle district system and the secular and church estates urged permanent settling down. The written sources of the 11th century reflect the total lack of nomadism, but the views of Western European witnesses might have played an important role in this, too. In St Stephen's and St Ladislaus's laws and in 11th century deeds of gift the place of living of common people was exclusively the village (villa) with fixed borders. Traces referring to clan relations are missing from these sources, but the villages had their leaders, similarly to later centuries. It was the village chief or as he was later called, the judge (villicus). On the base of modern (Bashkirian, Kazah, Kirgizian) ethnographical parallels we can suppose that they might have changed grazing grounds then, but only within the fixed borders of the village. At springtime when the animals were driven out afield, only part of the population of the village followed them. In the majority of the villages in the age of the Árpád dynasty animal husbandry might have been more important than agriculture, though these two branches of farming were usually practised within the boundaries of the same family estate, and they supplemented each other. In this semi-nomadic farming system tamed domestic animals around the house played a very important role. Without manuring the cultivated lands soon got exhausted, so they tried to fill up the place of their earlier villages and cultivate those. As a result of this their winter residences, the earlier villages, had to be moved so that they could cultivate the fertile land on the place of the old residences. The historical projection of this phenomenon was St Ladislaus's law, which bans the moving of villages far from churches. The archaeological trace of cyclically moving villages is the fact that we can find the place of at least 8-10 settlements from the Árpád age within the administrative borders of a settlement of today. This is called wild, or in other words, unregulated soil-changing system. Until the middle of the 13th century there were no basic changes in this system, only the number of settlements increased. Due to this process the number of big villages on plains decreased, and from the end of the 12th century the settlement of mountain regions in the east and north borders of the country started. Villages differed in size: the population of a village fluctuated between 16 and 65 families, the most common was 20-25 families in a village. The size of a village was also influenced by the juristic position of the population. From among the people of royal and church estates those who were in charge of agricultural or handicraft industrial services lived in bigger villages, while those who were responsible for military services had much smaller settlements. Besides these there were detached settlements consisting of one or two houses, and a small, special type of settlement, called "predium". This latter one was usually a farming center owned by a secular landlord populated with slaves. The structures of Árpád age villages were basically defined by their natural environment. They were usually established near lakes or rivers, but on flood-free highlands. The selection of the place of villages was not only motivated by the supply of water nearby (though dug wells were quite rare at that time). Fishes caught in the river or lake were important food; reed and sedge cut on the shore were important building materials. The network of roads did not attract villages. The ground-plan structure of winter residences and villages can be sketched on the basis of archaeological findings. The place of settlement was usually huge. On these early settlements houses, yurts, kilns and pitfalls were seemingly scattered, "in bushes". Residences were usually around pinfolds and system of pitfalls established for keeping animals; residential objects were in the corner of the enclosed parts. Apart from farming, the life of villages was basically defined by the fact whether they could become the center of the region or not. Settlements lying around roads, ferries or those having a church had a better chance. One of St Stephen's laws ordered that every ten villages should build one church. Till the end of the 13th century half of the settlements in the developed parts of the country had their own church buildings, while in other parts of the country only one fifth of the settlements had their own church buildings. From the end of the 12th century peasant artisans appeared in villages, who met the demands of the local people. Villages usually had a smithy, craftsmen working with leather and wood were very rarely needed at that age. Pottery was popular, it depended on the fact whether there were clay-pits in the neighbourhood. The housing culture of common people was quite different in the country. Living in tents was rather general till the middle of the 12th century as the survival of traditions brought from the South-Russian steppe. Felt yurts were used only in warmer periods of the year, while in winter they lived in pit-, mud-, or harrow-houses. In 1147 Bishop Otto from Freising described the homes of Hungarian commons like this: "Since in their villages and settlements there are quite poor houses made of reed, rarely wood, and sometimes stone, in the summer and autumn they live in tents". Yurts were much more comfortable than pit-houses, because of the bigger inner space and better ventillation. It is wrong to believe that the spread of pit-houses showed a more modern housing culture. Pit-houses were small, dark and smoky, they had only one advantage: their walls and roofs were easy to build using materials (trunks, branches of trees and reed), which were available at winter residences - and besides this they might have been warmer than yurts. The use of felt yurts had a very important disadvantage, namely that almost a herd of sheep were needed to maintain them because of the continuous supply of felt. According to archaeological findings the basic type of a village houses was the small (3 meters by 3 meters) pit-house dug in the ground. Its roof structure was supported by at least two forked posts, and in one of the corners there was an oven built from clay or small stones. Due to the small size of pit-houses people lived there only temporarily, in the cold seasons. When it was possible, they stayed in the open air or in the outbuildings. Besides the pit-house dug in the ground common people owned an oven in the open air, some storing pits, occasionally buildings for keeping animals and some temporary buildings. The small size of pit-houses did not allow common people to live together with their domestic animals. From the documents about Margaret's (of the Árpád dynasty) canonisation it is known that around 1250 from the families of common people only the wife and two children could sleep in the house, the husband slept in the open air, near the animals. From this very same source we learn two other important facts. One of them is houses in part of the villages may have been scattered. According to a common man, who described the miraculous case of his child resurrection, he said that their nearest neighbour lived at an arrow's shot, that is at least 100 meters from their house. The other fact is that a neither rich nor poor free common family might have lived at three different places in a few years' time, which refers to a rather large mobility. The picture of the village described above started to change in the middle of the 13th century. In the next one and a half centuries a significant part of the villages became deserted. Earlier this process was explained by the Tartar invasion. Today the social changes of the Árpád age are considered the primary reasons. This process was urged by the tragic 1241-42 years. However, some of the villages became bigger. In this change besides the natural environment (configurations of the land and water supplies), the influence of the road system is the most important factor. Although bigger buildings, like churches, mansions, also influenced the topography of the settlements. In these settlements an outer field also belonged to the house. Soil changing farming was beginning to spread. The place of living also changed: instead of pit-houses more-, usually threefold peasant houses were in use, which was so convenient that it remained popular till recent times. #### Towns and fortresses The buds of Hungarian towns appeared already during the reign of the first kings of the Árpád dynasty. Then a significant part of the country was covered with marshes, farming was limited to a small region, and due to its primitive forms it could not provide for a great number of citizens moving into towns. As a result of developing commodity production, more and more places of towns appeared in the second half of the 11th century. At the weekly markets regulated by the king's laws agricultural products and simple industrial products (like textile, shoes) were exchanged. The important commercial roads ensnared the country in east-west and north-south directions. The first Hungarian urban settlements were formed along these roads. In the middle of the country (medium regni), from the Danube bend to the north-eastern shore of Lake Balaton, there were only huge forests. In this period of time forests provided protection, building material, fuel, food (mushrooms, fruits, game); this latter is very important, since the domestication of animals was not as wide-spread as it is today. It is not by chance that the early Hungarian royal castles, mansions, towns, and monasteries founded by kings were built in or around forests (Pannonhalma, Tata, Esztergom, Dömös, Visegrád, Óbuda, Fehérvár, Veszprém, Pilis). There is relatively little information about the structure and ground-plan of early Hungarian towns. Hungarian kings stayed mostly in Esztergom till the 13th century. St Stephen was born here. He thought it was important to found an archbishopric in this town, to make it a national ecclesiastical center. At Fehérvár, at St Emeric's birth-place, King Stephen rebuilt the royal residence founded by his father, and established a royal castle and palace here. The basilica founded by him was the scene of coronation ceremonies, royal weddings and christenings, and the earthly remains of several Hungarian kings are also placed here, next to St Stephen's tomb. During the St Stephen days' law days the king had always stayed here, as we can read it in the laws of the Golden Bull. In Óbuda a settlement was formed around the royal mansion, and later, from the 13th century another one was formed around a castle. The ecclesiastical center of the town, the building complex of the prepostery, was situated in the northern region; and there was a market nearby, and the church and monastery of the Franciscans, near St Peter's church. Part of the first Hungarian towns were formed in the place of ancient Roman settlements, or above their ruins. In some cases only the favourable possibilities for settlements (availability of water, forests, good defence possibilities, the easily recyclable building materials of the Romans) urged people to build their towns onto Roman ruins. Such places were Szombathely (Savaria), Győr (Arrabona), Pest (Contra-Acquincum), Esztergom (Solva), Kolozsvár (Napoca). Some new settlements, however, used the existing, partly ruined buildings. According to certain theories the chief prince of the conquering Hungarians, Kursan, having crossed the Danube (he went to the Buda side) with the ferry together with his soldiers, established his fortress in an ex-amphitheatre. The road network of Óbuda was built following the road system of the old Roman castrum. The bailiff center of Visegrád was protected by the walls of castrum Pons Navatus, and the medieval town of Sopron was surrounded by the walls of the old Roman Scarbantia. The road network of the castrum of Pécs (Sopiane) also had an influence on the development of the structure of streets in the medieval town, which was built on this site. The survival of Sopiane in the Middle Ages was guaranteed by its tomb chapels, which stood even in the Middle Ages. These tomb chapels were also sacred places of pilgrimages in Europe, and several settlements were founded around them. Pécs might have been one of them, as its medieval name shows (Quinqueecclesiae, Fünfkirchen). Medieval towns of Roman origin developed from market places crossed by commercial roads, or ports on rivers suitable for shipping (Pest, Óbuda, Esztergom), or partly they were newly founded towns (like Fehérvár). The settling down of foreign tradesmen - Muslim Kalizes and Jews -, and a migration due to a demographic growth in the middle of the 12th century, and the appearance of foreign settlers - Latins, Germans - provided the population of these settlements. The development of Hungarian towns was urged by their urban rights, the enrichment of their citizens and the development of handicraft industry. Nevertheless, the population of early towns was also engaged in agricultural activities - for example, grapes were grown at Fehérvár, and fishing was quite general in Esztergom. From among early Hungarian towns there were several ones without a fortress, such as Pécs, in the territory of which there was a bishopric castle and palace surrounded by a mound Pest might have been like this, too, in the 12th century. Towns with two poles were Győr, Nyitra, Vác or Kalocsa, in the territory of which the settlement was located under the bailiff or bishopric castle (11 bishopric residences). In Győr the secular center protected by a mound and pitfall gave home to the bishopric palace and church. There were towns with many poles, like Fehérvár, where around the early royal castle and palace, and the prepostery, which were protected by a wall (a building complex, which contained the royal basilica named after the Virgin Mary) there were at least three settlements. These early towns - from today's modern point of view - may have been village-like settlements with one main street. The dwellers were tradesmen, castle villeins, servents and serfs. Settlements belonging closely to the nucleus of the town were surrounded by a bunch of settlements (Győr, Esztergom, Fehérvár, Veszprém). Contemporary commercial centers were also formed (Fehérvár, Esztergom, Óbuda, Pest), in the center of which there was a marketplace, though there might have been more marketplaces in the territory of these towns. At Fehérvár we clearly see the structure of the early town. In the heart of the town there was the marketplace, in the south the early royal castle and palace, in the east the building complex of the prepostery with the royal basilica. East of this latter one the villeins of the prepostery lived around the church of the Holy Cross; castle-villeins might have lived in the north-west side of the marketplace, around St Bartholomew's church, while the St Jacob church in the north side of the marketplace may have been the church of the settlement of the tradesmen. In the royal castles of early towns there were churches and chapels next to the palace. The residences of watchmen and the stables might have been there, too. The basic area of the early royal castle of Fehérvár was about 5.200 square meters, which is nearly the same as the basic area of contemporary royal castles. The beauty of palaces in early royal castles can be admired on carved stone fragments, and ground-plans, and besides these in the Esztergom castle. In ecclesiastical centers fortified by walls there was a palace, a church, and a monastery - following the pattern of the royal basilica of Fehérvár - on the southern side of the church. The canons lived alongside the passage, and also the school and the guest house were here. The basic area of the building complex surrounded by a wall was nearly the same as that of the enlarged early royal castle (about 20.000 square meters). The building of fortresses in Hungary may have started already in the middle or end of the 10th century, in the course of which a lot of earth-fortresses were built in the territory of the country. Fortresses built on strategically important places, on islands risen from rivers and marshes, peninsulas or foothills might have been protected by moats, and their fortifications were usually made of wood. These early fortresses guaranteed the protection of the borders, or they were clan or bailiff centers. In the 12-13th centuries new earth-fortresses were built, but this time their ground-plan was round or oval. With the construction of these natural protective borderlines (like steep mountain sides, the cut in horizontal mountain ridges) were made even safer. In the center a living tower or a farm-building was built, which was usually made of durable materials, like brick or stone. Relatively early, already in St Stephen's age there might have been several stone fortresses in Hungary, and the number of these may have grown in the beginning of the 13th century. In 1242, besides Esztergom and Fehérvár, the fortresses of Veszprém, Tihany, Győr, Pannonhalma, Moson, Sopron, Vasvár, Németújvár, Zalavár, Léka, Pozsony, Nyitra, Komárom, Fülek and the fortress of Abaújvár without a stone wall proved to be so strong that they resisted the siege of the Tartars. Some of the fortresses were of Roman origin: for example, Visegrád (Pons Navatus). The most typical characteristic feature of Hungarian stone fortresses was that they were built on places which were difficult to reach (Detrekő). Several fortresses were surrounded by a moor (Fehérvár) or they were built at the meeting of rivers (Adorján, Újvár). In the course of the building program following the Tartar Invasion, in Béla IV's age, several royal and private fortresses were built from stone, with relatively high walls. These were divided by towers of round, square or semi-circle ground-plans. Such town walls protected the fortified Hungarian towns (Fehérvár, Esztergom, Pest, Buda). Gates were fortified by separate towers. In the suitable corner of towns surrounded by a wall Hungarian royal (secular) or ecclesiastical fortresses were built, which were separated from the town. Sometimes they were even surrounded by a ditch (Fehérvár, Buda, Kőszeg, Vác). Within the town walls, on the corners of fortresses there might have been towers built (Kőszeg, Fehérvár). Hungarian towns surrounded by stone walls were built as a result of the Tartar Invasion, not long after they appeared in Western Europe. Fehérvár, Buda, Nagyszombat, Pécs, Kassa, Eperjes, Kőszeg received their walls at that time. The extension of towns was defined by the number of their citizens, the importance of their position in trade, their defence possibilities, and last but not least their natural environment (in case of Fehérvár the edge of the marsh). Accordingly the ground-plan of Hungarian towns was either triangular, square or round. Some of the suburbs outside fortifications received mounds made of earth or wood, or ditches (Fehérvár) not long before the Tartar invasion. Later certain suburbs were surrounded by stone walls (Sopron), while many suburbs - extended on big territories - remained totally unprotected. Within the walls the system of streets was formed. In the middle of the downtown of Fehérvár, which was built according to plans, the ancient marketplace survived. To the north and south of this 3 streets were built, which were divided by cross-streets. The system of streets was usually irregular, but in many places they were built according to plans. The forms of these plans were various. Marketplaces were formed at the widening part of important commercial roads, they may have had funnel-shaped or square ground-plans. Next to them the town hall and the church - characteristic of the marketplace - were built. The various monastic orders also appeared in towns: the Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustine hermits and carmelites, and the Franciscan (Clarrissan) and Dominican nuns. Their monasteries, as there was no room in the downtown area, were built in the suburbs. In the towns there were irregular streets, blocks of houses among squares, within these the plots had irregular ground-plans and they were of different size. Citizens of different nationality lived in different streets or squares (Magyar street, Latin street, German street, Jew street), who assimilated to the Hungarian population by the end of the 15th century, or by Hungarian citizens moving into these streets, they became dominant. The name of these streets may refer to the profession of the dwellers (Baker street, Canon street). Streets were also named after saints or the church in the street (St Peter street, St Anne street, St Nicholas street). The name of the street could also refer to its size, age or importance (Main street, Big street, Old street), or it could show the owner (Canon street) or its function (Market square, Wheat market, Fish market). Different from the 11-12th-century houses, which were dug into the ground, made of wood or mud, stone houses were built in streets and squares after the Tartar Invasion. The inner and outer side of the wall of the house were made of bigger stones. The part between the two stone lines was filled by mortar of smaller stones. Walls made of yellow, brown or white mortar were 80-120 cm wide, so one or two-storey buildings, sometimes with cellar, could be built. The corners of such houses were made stable by corner-quoins. Early town buildings were usually built with an axis at right angles to the street, but in later centuries the front of streets were built in with houses almost everywhere. Early houses, which consisted of two side rooms and a kitchen in the center with a free chimney, were enlarged following the cellular system: towards the yard and in the street front. Their floor was a simple terazzo floor, though at some places there was a brick floor, or a floor of planks. There are several medieval houses today in Buda, Székesfehérvár, Pécs and Sopron open to the public. |