Mesterházy Károly (szerk.): AZ 1997. ÉV RÉGÉSZETI KUTATÁSAI / Régészeti Füzetek I/51. (Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum Budapest, 2001)

Középkor

NAGYKANIZSA - BAJCSA-FORT (Törökvári-dülő (field)) (No. 134.) A high hill rises in the south-eastern outskirts of the Bajcsa settlement, which lies 8 km from Nagykanizsa but belongs administratively to the town. In the Turkish period, a fort stood on the hill. Its memory has been preserved in the geographical name of the field (Törökvárifield - Turkish fort field), although very little of the fort survived to the 20th century. At present, the hill is an active sand quarry, which means that the place of the fort will soon disappear. As the sand quarry reached the territory of the fort in 1994, large-scale excavations were started by László Vándor in 1995 to document and unearth the remains and to rescue the material relics. The construction of the Bajcsa-fort was started in 1578 with the financial support of the Styrian orders. It was designated to be an element in the chain of fortresses against the Turks to defend Styria and the Mura region. It played an important role in the major defence network of the Kanizsa frontier, the reorganisation of which was decreed by the large military council held in Vienna in 1577, then in the assembly of the Styrian, Carinthian, Krajina and Görz delegates in Bruck an der Mur at the beginning of 1578. The fort was raised in less than half a year, although it was far from being finished. The garrison was composed of 200 Croatian mounted soldiers, 102 German pedestrians and 300 "haramia" (southern Slavic-Hungarian pedestrians) at the time of the festive inauguration on 9. November, 1578. The castellan was Miklós Malakóczy, a familiar to György Zrínyi. Bajcsa was deserted finally in 1600 when Kanizsa was occupied by the Turks, although its gradual desertion had started earlier. As the hastily built construction was not sufficiently founded on the loose sandy soil, the fort became more and more unsuitable for use, the walls collapsed, the walls of the trenches fell in, the inner buildings, some of which had never been finished, needed constant reconstruction and the condition of the well was also disquieting. The difficulties appeared already at the time of the construction and the situation became even worse later. Horrible conditions prevailed in the fort by the end of the 1580's, and the earthquake, inducing significant devastation in Kanizsa in 1590 (MÉRI I.: A kanizsai várásatás. Budapest 1988, 50) could also contribute to the destruction. In consequence, Bajcsa could not fulfil its task and although it was not totally evacuated, (Mura)Keresztúr was already being strengthened to replace it as the central fort. Fig. 1. Forts around Kanizsa on the 1

7th century copy of the map made around 1580-1600 (Published by KISARI BALLA, Gy.: Török kori várrajzok Stockholmban. Budapest 1996, 131, Fig. 70: "SW part of Transdanubia". See: PÁLFFY, G.: Európa védelmében. Haditérképészet a Habsburg Birodalom magyarországi határvidékén a 16-17. században. Budapest 1999, 58, note 221). 163