Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis. – Alba Regia. Az István Király Múzeum Évkönyve. 25. – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: C sorozat (1995)

Tanulmányok – Abhandlungen - Christie, N.: The Survival of Roman Settlement alog the Middle Danube: Pannonia from The tenth Century A. D. p. 303–319. t. XX–XXIII.

character is evident. Few finds are known in Savia. Pannónia Secunda or indeed in Pannónia Prima south of Savaria: but how far this is a true reflection of Longobard settlement distribution remains to be determined (BONA 1976, 32 reckons these 'blank' areas as the main settlement zones for the indigenous population). Noticeable is the concentration of sites along the Danube and around lake Balaton, again largely tallying with the old Roman settlement pattern: the east Pannonian sites presumably countered the Gepids; the grouping of finds is SW Savia implies control of the main routes from Italy, although finds at Kranj and Rifnik which postdate the Longobard evacuation of Pannónia in 568 may in fact relate to road guards defending routes into Italy (Bona 1964, 86-91; 1976, 31-33. On Longobard material culture: 35-65; MENGHIN-PÖLHORN 1987, 58-85). The Longobard cemeteries all appear as new. organised areas usually distinct from Roman graveyards yet generally within a 2 km circumference of a Roman site. In the case of Hegykő cemeteries (e.g. Hegykő, Nikitsch, Grosshöflein) non-Longobard elements may point to pre-Longobard origins; while a possible Suebic origin is proposed for Szentendre. Taxonomic analysis has been used to distinguish racial types within the various cemeteries, and from this К i s z e 1 y seeks to identify alongside the Longobards many natives and nonLongobard Germans (Suebi, Heruls, Rugii, Goths, Franco-Thuringians), revealing no pure Longobard stock, but rather the frequent mingling with natives (KlSZELY 1979. 71-137, 180-201). While the methods employed for reaching such conclusions are nowadays much disputed, we should perhaps not dismiss the results out of hand. It is difficult to guage, however, how far the results were influenced by the 8th century Longobard historian Paul the Deacon's comments that in 568 the tribe was accompanied by Saxons, Suebi, Bulgars, Gepids, Thuringians, Sarmatians. Pannonians and Noricans (História Langobardornm II, 26). Paul's words should nonetheless help indicate the range of ethnic groups that had come to merge with the tribe. Many of the Longobard nobility were Arians by 568. The initial phase of conversion from paganism had begun with the assimilation of residual Arian Rugii, Heruls and Suebi between 489-530. There was some diplomatic conversion at the time of Justinian's donation, when the emperor counted the Longobards among his 'Catholic allies'. Incorporation of Christian provincials may have helped bolster this new image (BONA 1976, 87-91, noting lack of finds to show Longobard Christianity). It is probably into this 'Catholic' context that we can place the ambo panel from Dörgicse (resembling the ambo in the Ravenna Cathedral) (pi. 4), church continuity at Fenékpuszta (and Sopianae?) and episcopal survival at Scarbantia (Tóth 1980). After the death of Justinian in 565 Byzantine diplomacy turned in favour of the Gepids. seriously threatening the Longobard kingdom. In response the Longobards allied themselves with the powerful Avars, likewise discarded by Byzantium, and in 567 invaded Gepidia and crushed the Gepid army. The Avars besieged Sirmium (since traded back to Byzantine control) and in the meantime mopped up remaining Gepid resistance in Central Hungary. As part of the treaty, the Longobards departed for Italy (according to one source burning the homes they left behind) and ceded Pannónia to the Avars. Most Longobard cemeteries (on the basis of those few so far published) indeed neatly terminate around 568 and support the tradition of a near whollesale migration. The record of Vigilius at Scarbantia and finds at Fenékpuszta demonstrate that at least some natives hung on. although overall it has been argued that the Avars inherited a fairly deserted landscape 03ONA 1976, 93-105; 1987, 126; MENGHIN-PÖLHORN 1987, 94-97). From Avars to Magyars, A.D. 568-997 Initial Avar interest focussed on completion of the sieges of the isolated Byzantine fortress cities of Sirmium and Singidunum. The Excerpta of Menander give a vivid account of Sirmium's desperate struggles, recording how the citizens helped man the walls, how the archbishop and generals parleyed with the Avar khagan, how the Avars blockaded both river and roads creating major food shortages, and finally describing the evacuation of Sirmium in 582 with the citizens leaving their possessions behind (Menander, Frags. 12,3-8; 25; 27). As well as raiding south into the Balkans and Greece, the Avars pushed westwards against the Franks and northwestwards against the Slavs. In 626, howerer, a heavy defeat outside Constantinople countered Avar eastward expansion; instead we see an extension of control into southern Slovakia and eastern Lower Austria, although here they faced a new Slavic state (Salamon-Sós 1980, 406-415; Bona 1987, 126-129). The huge donatives received from Byzantium and kept either as gold coin or melted down to make ornaments attest Avar settlement throughout the Carpathian Basin, but with a focus on the Danube-Tisza region (Kiss 1986). Their early nomadic character is reflected in the generally restricted size of their later 6th-early 7th century cemeteries and in the extensive burial of warhorses; only from the mid-7th century do larger cemeteries emerge to imply fixed settlements. However, while we possess over 30,000 Avar period burials, the number of excavated and identified Avar village sites is extremely small. Surprisingly some of the earliest Avar period cemeteries occur in Danubian Pannónia, notably those at Környe, Várpalota, Szekszárd and Kölked. But so far, only in the case of Várpalota are there possible signs of overlap with the preceding Longobard cemetery. Best documented are the cemeteries at Környe and Kölked, where the earliest gravefinds. datable to the last quarter of the 6th century, 310