Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 33/4. (2013)
Articles
Churchyards in the Transylvanian Basin from the 11th to the first half of the 13,h centuries 143 religions.39 Nevertheless, conversion to Christianity has brought social demands from the New Testament, such as Apostle Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians: ‘There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus’ (GAL. 3, 28). Among its positive consequence there was the slow demise of slavery in the Carolingian era and by the 9th century servus did not mean slave but villein with important basic rights.40 Clerical synods already dealt with laymens burials inside or around the church in the early Middle Ages: in 561 the synod of Braga banned burials inside churches and it allowed only burials near the walls of churches. As opposed to this, the synod of Auxerre (558/578) excluded only baptisteries41 from burials. In the Langobard Kingdom it was only the bishops and the custodes ecclesiastici who could permit burials inside the churches after 774, however, the synod summoned by Charlemagne in Aachen strictly prohibited burials in the churches, but in as early as 813 bishops, abbots and priests of true faith were given exemption to this. Moreover, also in 813, the synod of Mainz allowed faithful laymen (fideles laid) to be buried in churches too. Later the synod of Trosly (878) banned the burials of clerical people inside churches and in 895, the synod of Tribur made it possible again. So from the 9th century on it can be observed that the number of people buried in churches were limited both by clerical and by secular powers.42 The evolution of the conversion to Christianity on the territory of the Merovingian realm and the involvement of the Germanic aristocracy in this process can be observed well. Whereas around 600 they were buried in the ‘sacred area’, which was in the possession of the community, in rows of graves (Reihengräberfeld); around 800 the dead were buried around churches in the settlements. Based on the analysis of the cemeteries in southern Germany43 the nobility built numerous ‘private churches’ in their own courts by the end of the 7th century in the Alemanni territories. They used them as burial places, as places of remembrance and as a representation of their social position and the symbol of their Christian religion. So the cemeteries of this type may have appeared on the territory of the former 39 Diószegi 1971. 40 Weidemann 1982,1. 264-320. 41 On the baptistery, see: Vanyó 1988, 106. 42 Kötting 1965, 29-35. 43 Böhme 1993, 397-534; Böhme 2000, 75-109. Merovingian realm in the 6th-7th centuries. In the Rhine region churches were built in the cemeteries used in earlier times and these cemeteries were used further, whereas on the left bank of the Rhine and S of the Danube churches were never built in the site of former temples but in other places (Marktoberdorf, Bad Diirbheim, Leonberg-Eltingen, Flonheim, Morken, München-Aubing ).44 Cemeteries with rows of graves were abandoned around the middle of the 8th century, although there are some data that they were used later too (e. g. Griesheim ).45 During the Carolingian era common people were forced to bury their dead around churches, and were regulated by the decrees of the synod of Aachen in 836 and the synod of Tibur in 895.46 Taking these into consideration, pagan burial rites in that proto-Christian cemetery were abandoned between 750 and 800 in the territory of the realm. However, it is still subject to debates when burials around churches became common and how they gained ground in the different regions of the empire.47 The spread of churchyards in Europe in the 8lh-9th centuries is the most important and obvious sign of institutionalised Christianity in the territories occupied or influenced by the Carolingian empire as far as Carantania (before 828: Molzbichl, Moosburg; after 828: in the St Daniel church in Gailtalban, the church of St. Jacob and the church of St Martin in Villach, the churches in Hermagor, Lorenzenberg, the church of St Peter of Edling, the church of St Cross of Perau and St Peter ),48 and Pannonia ruled by the Franks (Zalavár- Vársziget, Zalavár- Récéskút, Zalaszabar-Borjúállás sziget),*9 and the cemeteries of the folk of Sopronkőhida-Pitten/ Pottenbrun stretching from the southern bank of the Danube and from the Enns as far as the Transdanubian regions, where Christian burials rite can be observed from the middle of the 9th century on (e. g. Mautern-Agapff church).50 After 811, under Carolingian influence old Moravian and Nitra principalities were established north of Pannnnonia provincia and 44 Kötting 1965; Bierbrauer 1986, 19-40; Martin 1974, 139-142; Scholkmann 2000, 117; Fehring 1987, 79. 45 Szőke 2005, 23. 46 Hassenpflug 1999, 61-62. 47 Stein 1967. 48 Glaser-Karpf 1989; Fuchs 1991; Karpf-Vetterling 2006; Eichert 2010,219-232. 49 Szőke 2000, 310-342; Szőke 2002, 247-266; Szőke 2005, 19-29; Mordovin 2006, 9-32. 50 Friesinger 1965, 79-114.
