H. Kolba Judit szerk.: Historical Exhibition of the Hungarian National Museum Guide 2 - From the Foundation of the State until the Expulsion of the Ottomans - The history of Hungary in the 11th to 17th centuries (Budapest, 2005)
ROOM 1 - The Age of the House of Árpád Kings (11th—13th centuries) (Júlia Kovalovszki)
8. Gold buckle with niello decoration, Kígyóspuszta, 13th century a high-born Cuman warrior. After their settlement in Hungary, the Cumans gradually became magyarized. THE VILLAGE Right of the entrance to the room are relics from villages and relics of ironworking. Even before the Conquest, the Hungarian common people led a settled way of life for the greater part of the year. Written records from the 11th century tell of a thick network of permanent settlements, and of fixed boundaries. Final settlement was helped by the fact that St. Stephen compelled the inhabitants of the villages to build churches, and the fact that St. Ladislas prescribed that the dead could only be buried next to them. In the new homeland, the basis of the economy became the raising of field crops, a knowledge of which the Hungarians brought with them from the Volga-Don region. The surviving mementos of rural life are implements used in land cultivation, animal husbandry, fishing, viticulture, and in handicrafts, together with household utensils. The most characteristic household objects were earthenware pots of different sizes, turned on a hand-operated wheel and used primarily for cooking in the oven, as well as bottles (Fig. 10), mugs and dishes. The earthenware kettles served for outdoor cooking over an open fire. This vessel, of distinctive form, was brought from the East by the Hungarians. In the Carpathian Basin it spread primarily in the regions of the Great Plain which were suitable for animal husbandry. Its use can be traced throughout the entire period of the House of Árpád kings. Among the ornaments of rural churches belonged the processional cross (Tas, 13th century) and the cast bronze candlestick in the form of a mermaid (Fig. 9), (Hajdúhadháza, 13th century). The grave goods displayed come from churchyards around churches. As in other parts of Europe, the rural people lived mostly in sunken houses. A maquette presents such a house (Kardoskut, 12th century). In regions rich in wood, wooden houses were also built. In summer, though, tents were still used. An exceptional memento of industrial production is the iron furnace lifted out in situ. (Trizs, 12th— 13th centuries). Iron was the main raw material of tools, implements and arms. In the early Árpádian period, iron
