Belényesy Károly: Pálos kolostorok az Abaúji-Hegyalján (Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén megye régészeti emlékei 3. Miskolc, 2004)

PAULINE FRIARIES IN THE ABAÚJ HEGYALJA REGION

became clear that above the vestry, the entrance of an upstairs room could be observed (Fig 41, in the right top corner). Concerning its function, a story from Gergely Gyöngyösy's Vitae fratrum reveals important details. He wrote about the prior of Gönc, who, breaking the regulations of his order, ate a capon in secret: "Once, the prior in his room, which is high above the vestry, ...the prior together with the wine battler, wanted to eat a well prepared, salted-peppered capon in secret", and, in connection with the room of the prior, he added "as it is still in use today". It is likely that Gyöngyösy knew the Gönc monastery,

136 therefore, the room above the vestry can be identified with the prior's room. It might have been covered with a plain roof. On the northern wall of the tower, the portal opening towards the rooms of the first floor was found (Fig 42). Above this the corbels of the plain roof structure were observed. There were no remains of upstairs rooms on the western side of the tower. The small aperture presumably belonged to a framework structure. Prints of the timbers were recorded on the northern wall, which might have been used to cover the buildings adjoining from north to the church (Fig 49). The Wing Buildings' Ruins The aisle walls of the eastern building can be detected in the direction of the tower's eastern wall and the corner pier of the chancel's closing. It is connected at right angles to the northern building, which was placed perpendicularly to the natural slope of the ground, resulting a four-meter difference in level compared to the church (Fig 51). A deep crater was observed in the middle of this room, which was interpreted as a cellar

137 (Fig 52). Moreover, there is a similar hollow south of it, in the once cloister yard.

138 The monastic complex is closed by the western wing of the buildings, whose wall, facing the yard, was attached to the church at around the destroyed wall section on the northern church wall. Because of the bushy undergrowth, the traces of this building were surveyed with great difficulties (Fig 53). The southern boundary of the yard, surrounded by the monastic quadrangle, is the church itself. The Landscape of the Monastery and Finds from the Site Both banks of the Gönc stream bellow the monastery, near the Potácsház is bordered by high embankments, which can be followed up to the opening of the valley, in a length of approximately 800m (Maps 6 and 12). The territory of these earthworks are reforested, and eroded. The remains on the right bank are in a better condition; some of them reaching the height of five meter, and their estimated base- width is roughly twelvefifteen meters. Regrettably, no sign of their medieval origin was found, therefore, their existence can only be conditionally connected to the activity of the Paulines. The sharply deepening bed of the stream and the thick vegetation prevented us from properly measuring the whole structure (Figs 54 and 55). Following the direction of the stream, about 500m west, a small dam adjoins the above mentioned earthworks, which blocks the way of a smaller stream going into the direction of the Gönc stream. Since the embankment is destroyed, the water flows through it without difficulties. Its height is one and a half meters, and the width at the base- level is 6,5 m (Fig 58, 59). Its position suggests that the structure was attached to the earthworks described above (Fig 60). Therefore, it can be interpreted as fishpond or a local water control system (Fig 61). Its closeness to the monastery allows to infer that it might be linked to the order. The surface of the site is covered with thick vegetation, which withheld the collection of archaeological material, however, notable amount and quality of carved stones were documented at the site, around the monastery, scattered in the bushy area. We found two architectural elements, which most probably belonged to one of the portals: a bevelled lintel profiled with a torus between two shells, and an additional fragment, based on which the spandrel was drawn (Fig 62). Furthermore, a fragment of the rosette's tracery was found (Fig 63), and in the northern church wall, the bricked in frame stone of a wall pier was observed (Fig 64). Summary "Dum enim quondam die in cella prioratus, quae supra sacristiam satis alte situatur, prout apparel et nunc,..." Hervay, 1984 139, Cap. 67 When he visited Gönc, he probably could not omit the possibility to have a look at the room of the prior. Nevertheless, it is not likely that he heard the story in the monastery, because it is not reasonable that the monks wanted to be the original source of their countrywide negative reputation. Hervay, 1984 162. A similar arrengement was identified at Salföld monastery. It was first thought to be a well, but it turned out that this hollow is due to the activity of an amateur archaeologist, József Deák, who "excavated" there in 1957-58. In the case of the Gönc monastery, the localization was not a crucial question for the investigation. The art historical context of the building was also discussed. At the same time, the standing ruins brought new possibilities to detect various aspects of the hermits' life. Here the cloister complex was intensively surveyed, which was not touched by previous research. The detailed study of the northern church wall and the monastic building complex allowed to reconstruct the cloister's inner structure, and the function of the rooms