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# {1-315.} Monasteries, Churches, and Churchyards

In 1092, the synod at Szabolcs ordained that people bury their dead in the proximity of the newly-founded churches, and most of the 'pagan' cemeteries were closed down. This third phase in the development of popular culture was mentioned earlier in reference to Biharvár, Kolozsmonostor, and Gyulafehérvár. The transition is vividly illustrated at Várfalva, where a church (now in the centre of the village, and used by the Unitarians) and its cemetery were founded at the time of Ladislas I; the oldest graves held coins dating from Coloman and Béla II. In Szászfehéregyháza (where the original inhabitants had not been Szász, i.e. Saxons), the first burials date from Coloman's time, when a church was erected.

A number of other churchyards that date from around 1100 have been excavated — mostly under professional supervision — in Transylvania, and graves have yielded hair-rings and coins. The sites include Doboka-Váralja, with three churches and churchyards, and some 800 excavated graves; Kide (where the finds include coins dating from Béla II and Ladislas II); Konop, Malomfalva- Csittfalva (hair-rings, hairpins with flat, round heads, and coins from the time of Stephen II and Béla II), Marosszentmihály, Torda (obuli of Béla II and Géza II), Székelykeresztúr, Székelyudvarhely, Székelydálya, Marosvásárhely (hairpins with flat, round heads), Marosszentgyörgy, Györgyfalva, Almaszeg, Csapószentgyörgy, Váralmás (coins dating from Béla III), and Nagybánya, where a golden hair-ring with S-shaped tip — of a type that is specific to this period — was found. One could add to this list the graves at the 12th century wood-and-stone church (dated by coins from the time of Béla II) in Sztrigyszentgyörgy, and the graveyard indicated by some finds (large hair-rings with S-shaped tips) at Fogaras. In the Temes region, some noteworthy traces have been found at Temeskenéz (obulus of Stephen II) and Illyéd-Vártemplom (a small church with an early, double-pillared choir). Early monasteries, {1-316.} linked to clans, naturally had their own cemeteries, as can be seen at Kaplonymonostor as well as at Ó-(Hódos-)Bodrogmonostor, where the settlement dates back to the time of Ladislas I. At Mojgrád, next to a chapel that had been built upon Roman ruins, there is a graveyard that was in use from the time of Béla II until that of Ladislas IV; one of the finds at Mojgrád is a 'Kiev type' bronze reliquary cross.

These churches were all founded by the Western, 'Latin' church. The proximate grave-finds — late-period hair-rings, fibulae, rings, obuli, and crosses — are similar to those in Hungary's other Árpádian churchyards.

In southern Transylvania, a number of Hungarian and Székely (Orbó, Kézd, Sebes!) graveyards have been found under or near Saxon churches that had been erected around 1200. They are of importance in tracing the history of settlement: the older graves, dated by coins and hair-rings, must have formed part of the cemeteries of wood or stone churches dating from the 11th–12th centuries, antedating the settlement of Saxons. This is the case at Szászsebes/Mühlbach, Medgyes/Mediasch, Szászorbó/Urwegen (early veil-pins), Szászkézd/Keisd (bronze reliquary cross), Nádpatak/Rohrbach, Kelnek/Kelling, and Szászfehéregyháza/ Weisskirchen/Deutschweisskirch. In the last-named locality, the remnants of an earlier stone church (the so-called chapel) and its extensive cemetery were found under the Gothic church; the graves yielded hair-rings with S- shaped tips, as well obuli from the time of Coloman (found placed in the deceased's mouth) and other early 12th-century coins. The stone foundations of an earlier Romanesque church have been uncovered by the north wall of a large Saxon church at Homoróddaróc/Draas. The graves (nearly 100) that were excavated in its churchyard yielded funeral obuli dating from Géza II and Stephen III, as well as 12th-century jewels (hair-rings with S-shaped tips, a double lyre-shaped bronze clip, a lead disk pendant with a Latin inscription, twisted and headed {1-317.} rings) that match those found in other Hungarian churchyards dating from the 12th century. (The jewels also bear relevance to the cemeteries in the Háromszék, which will be noted below.) The pattern in the Szászföld (the Saxons' region) is repeated along the Nagy-Szamos, at Ó-Radna/Rodna, where traces of a Hungarian church were found under the German church; the find of a coin dating from Stephen III indicates that the same may be the case at Kisdisznód/Michelsberg.

The 218 graves excavated on Zabola-Tatárdomb, or Tatárhalom (Tartar mound), in Háromszék present a particular problem, for there is no trace of a church near the cemetery. Judging from the coins found in the graves, the cemetery may have been opened during the reign of Géza II, and remained in use no later than that of Béla III. However, some of the finds (a late copy of a Conquest-period ring, and a lyre-shaped clip) may date from an earlier period. Other finds, such as some fine headed rings dating from the 12th–13th century, bore the signs of prolonged use. A very similar community must have been served by the cemetery uncovered at nearby Székely-Petőfalva-Alsóhatár; again, there is no trace of a church. A quantity of coins dating from the time of Géza II, Stephen III, and Béla III were found in the 238 excavated graves. The burials are uncommonly rich for the period: the graves yielded gold jewellery as well as several beautiful, Árpádian headed rings from the 12th century. These relics testify to an affluent, free community that clung to traditional dress and customs. The above finds and observations point to villages of Hungarian border-guards (late-period arrowheads in iron-bound quivers!), who were dispatched to these western and southern border zones in the 12th century. These are the earliest traces of Székelys in the Orbaiszék region.