Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 1. (2019)
Keve László, Zalán Győrfi: Medieval Small Finds int he Borders of Ideciu de Jos
Medieval Small Finds in the Borders of Ideciu de Jos 81 since the time of Louis the Great. According to the new rules, royal taxes collected after bondmen’s houses were claimed by households and not by lots. Beside bondsmen, Szeklers, who had been exempt, were also bound to pay these taxes.5 The getting up against the king, aimed at protecting the former privileges failed, and king Matthias soon took his revenge on his Transylvanian subjects.6 Mihály Dezsőfi, grandson of Dezső Losonci was forced in 1473 to hand over to János Hungor his Ideciu de Jos estate, seized by King Matthias the First, due to treason.7 Two fortress sites are known from the village’s borders (Fig. 1). However, documents only mention one. It is in 1325 that a document mentions Ideciu fortress for the first time.8 István’s brother, magister Tamás9 received compensation from Apa’s son Jakab and his son, also called Jakab10 who had set fire to the Ideciu fortress and other estates belonging to Reghin. In 1366 the vaivode of Transylvania’s letter of arbitration confirms that compensation for the arson of Ideciu fortress and estates belonging to Reghin was due only to magister Tamás. The estates received as compensation were due furthermore to his sons, Tamás and István.11 This document is in all probability related to the fortress on Csúcshegy (De: Spitzberg), that lied 1,6 km southeast from the village. Remains of the fortress, the stone base of its round tower and the surrounding entrenchment and ditch are still visible.12 Among the village’s boundary names one can find in 1736 the names Leány vár (Daughter’s fortress) and Szalonna vár (Bacon fortress).13 János Ercsei’s 1836 description calls the fortress lying on the Csúcshegy hill closer to the village Leány vár, the one lying on the farther hill, called Sóshavas-Szalonna vár.14 Starting from the mid-19th century, László Kőváry situates both fortresses in the mountains lying above Jabenija (Hu: Görgénysóakna), famous for its salty baths.15 Later sources also mention the two sites in the mountains by the Jabenija baths.16 Transylvanian Saxon references also mention the two fortresses by the names Spitzburg (Hu: Leányvár) and Sattelburg (Hu: Szalonnavár).17 The site From Leányvár lying on Csúcshegy, one can reach Szalonnavár on Sani^oare (Hu: Nyergeshegy)18 eastwards on a narrow crest (Fig. 2). Both fortress sites belong administratively to Ideciu de Jos. According to the recently found archeological material Szalonnavár is supposed to have lied on the southern part of Sänftoare’s northern end. Remains of the fortress’s ditch and foundation wall were still mentioned in the first half of the 19th century.19 The fortress’s traces are no longer visible, therefore its existence was questioned due to the absence of archeological material.20 For lack of written sources and knowledge of the precise medieval estate borders, it is unclear whether Szalonnavár belonged to the Losonci estate or to the Görgény one. 5 Nogrády 2005,131. 6 Nogrády 2005, 132-133. 7 KmJKv I, 739 (No. 2098). 8 EO II, 198 (No. 527). 9 Losonci Tamás held the title Count of Szeklers between 1315 and 1320. See: Engel 1996,192. 10 EO II, 199 (No. 529). 11 EO IV, 175 (No. 409). 12 Karczag-Szabó 2010, 45. 13 EMSzT VII, 862; EMSzT XII, 67; Szabó T. 2005, 20-21. 14 T. Ercsei 1836, 103-104. 15 Kőváry 1847, 198; Kőváry 1892, 43. 16 Urmánczy 1896, 57; Hankó 340-341. 17 Müller 1857, 11, 72; S-SWI, 820. 18 The mountains German name appears in the First Military Survey as Satelburg, while the Second and Third Military Survey use the name Sattelberg. The Second and Third Military Survey call it Signioru in Romanian and its Hungarian equivalent in the 1941 Military Survey of Hungary is Nyergeshegy. 19 T. Ercsei 1836, 103. 20 Ferenczi-Peticä 1983, 119.
