Budapest Régiségei 24/1. (1976)

PESTI ÁSATÁSOK = EXCAVATIONS CONDUCTED IN PEST = RASKOPKI V PEST - Irásné Melis Katalin: Beszámoló a középkori Pest város területén végzett régészeti kutatások eredményeiről 313-348

When examining the medieval topography of Pest, the ground-plan of today' s central district serves as a starting point. The system of streets, the arrangement of the town centres were preserved in their medieval from, in some cases even the details dating back to the Árpád age can be recognized. This late medieval ground-plan of the town is a result of a gradual development, the periods of which can be well separated from one another. The earliest, 10-1 lth century cores of the settlement are unknown, the first factual data at disposal date from the period between the and of the 12th century and 1241. The documents were made out mainly in connection with the commercial life of the town. The king had the disposal of the customs yielding a considerable income, the tolls of the ferries and markets, as well as the exclusive right of shipping and fishery on the Danube. King Géza II. granted these, together with several other revenues, to the Chapter of Óbuda in 1148. The first known from of today' s Parish Church was the Royal Chapel, in 1046; the royal court could have been in its vicinity. The early years of the 13th century were the flourishing period of the town. When recording the events of the 1240-41 Mongolian invasion of Hungary Thomas de Spoleto refers of the walls of the town. Pest was occupied and burned down by the Mongols on the third day of the siege. In spite of its having been destroyed, the town wall of Pest is a significant relic of urban history. It is a result of deliberate urban policy aimed at regulating the organic construction and legal status of the rapidly developing town, together with the rectification of its confines. The respects having governed the determination of the boundaries of the space enclosed within walls are not known, the aim was probably to comprise into one unit the cores of a settlement of a more closed structure. In this was the erection of the wall means the first step towards the systematic development of the medieval town. To this conception belonged the building of the Franciscan monastery and church near the town wall, at the gate. During the first quarter ot the 12th century the other church of the town belonging to mendicant friars wall built up also, unfortunately, the site of the Dominican monastery is unknown. Out of the town of the Árpád age the neighbourhood of the Parish Church is known best. The church used to form part of the town centre, it seems that the centre of the core of the town was at the southern side of the church, in the form of a quare constituted by the crossing of the main thoroughfares perpendicular to one another. This was the place where the royal chapel was founded, and also larger groups of buildings were erected within a short time. Out of the other busy junctions of the early medieval town we dispose of archaeological data about the square in front of the Franciscan church. The cattle market square or some other kind of market of the town could have been here. The reconstruction of the town devastated during the Mongolian invasion advanced but slowly, and it did not retrieve the importance it had during the Arpad age. Rebuilding was begun in the neighbourhood of the market places, market grounds and ferries. Subsequently to this the final architectural development of the Gothic town only followed gradually and at a slower pace. The traces of 14th century town-planning could be found so far only in the vicinity of the Parish Church and it was in the first place the earlier buildings which had been reconstructed. That was the time when the free space at the northern side of the church had been built in; the traces of the houses leaning to the northern wall of the Roman camp could be found. At the northern part of the one-time Roman camp the medieval conditions of tenement had been settled at that time. Somewhat more is known about the notable town construction works in the second half of the 15th century. Together with the enlargement of the Parish Church, major reconstructions were done also in the surrounding buildings, in the first place in the royal house. The medieval town-hall could have been one of the places round the church; its place is uncertain. At that time also the regulation of the boundaries of the town became necessary again. The direction of the new town walls was marked out parallel with the earlier one, also bearing in mind the extension of the districts and suburs formed outside the old town walls. No medieval relics were found any more in the areas outside the former town gates. Proceeding from the centre towards the town gates, traces of even building density are to be seen which had prevailed from the 13th century down to the end of Middle Ages. A building of some importance stood at the corner of today's Régiposta Street and Váci Street in the northern part of the town in the late Middle Ages. Its ground-plan is uncertain, round it the place of the Bécs castle mentioned in 1457 is assumed. At the end of the 15th century the building was pulled down; it did not exist any more when the Vác town gate was built. With 344