Horler Miklós: Budapest 1. budai királyi palota 1. Középkori idomtégla töredékek (Magyarország építészeti töredékeinek gyűjteménye 4. Budapest, 1995) (Magyarország építészeti töredékeinek gyűjteménye 4. Budapest, 1998)

András Végh: Medieval Terracotta finds from the royal Palace of Buda

itself. It was then that Dry Moat II was carved out of the rocks right in front of the tower. In a subsequent building period a straight wall was built against the semicircular tower from the direction of the moat. The east end of this wall curved sharply towards south, while its quoined west end finished in line with the piers of the bridge. With the exeption of the quoining, this was built of simple stone masonry. We must also account for the fact that the tower originally was lacing the slope. However, as a consequence of these recontructions the angles changed and the side of the tower remained unprotected. Later yet an other wall was built, joining at an obtuse angle. This was also constructed of ashlars and stone masonry. At the same time the semicircular tower was strengthened by a mantle wall. The surviving obtuse corner of the latter and the remains of the wall as seen in the moat suggest a hexagonal ground plan. It has been archaeologically proved that the base of this hexagonal tower and that of the piers of the bridge are in level. In the subsequent, as well as last, medieval building period the oldest walls on the south side of the dry moat were deconstructed and a shaft was built next to the west wall of the tower. This probably together with the building of the gatehouse which is apparent on sketches. The absolute chronology of the building is rather obscure. As we have seen the tower was incorporated in the town wall system separating palace and town at the same time as Courtyard II and Dry Moat II was constructed. This can be dated to the 1380s based on the fill of the small cellar in front of Csonka ('Incompleted') Tower.

30 Deposits adjoining the north wall of the tower prove that the hexagonal shape, the final medieval form of the tower at the gate, must date from the last quarter of the fourteenth century or the very early fifteenth century.

31 The remodelling of the town walls, and the tower therefore, happened during the reign of King Sigismund of Luxemburg. The archaelogical observations, however, do not make a more exact chronology possible. On the basis of the earliest surviving illustrations we may say that around 1540 the tower was a tall, bulky construction with corridor above the top level, probably supported by corbels. The gatehouse next to it supposedly also had two floors with windows of considerable size facing the palace on the upper level. 2 (Fig. 6) One terracotta piece was discovered under the debris described above.

33 This means that this piece must have been here before the tower collapsed, together with other finds of the fifteenth and sixteenth century. At that time the rest of the terracottas must still have been in their original place. Stones and bricks which had fallen into the moat were used during later construction works: the wall rebuilt south of the moat and the mantling of the tower (both shemes were executed by the Turks) also contained terracotta pieces.

34 The gaps between the piers of the former bridge were filled and here, too, terracotta pieces were found.

33 Many were found in the deposit above the demolition level, near the wall of the tower, during the excavations in 1956.

36 Here next to fragments of carved stones, Turkish earthenware, pipes, medieval metal artifacts, a piece of carved bone, and a lead bull from 1578 were found. Coin finds cover the period between 1593 and 1632. It is also to be noted that this layer connects up to the foundations of the mantling, erected by the Turks to strengthen the structure of the tower. As was mentioned above, the mantling was built towards the end of the Turkish period. The deposit can be considered as filling laid down in connection with these building projects. We presume that the terracottas were transferred this site from the masonry debris nearby. The North Gate of the Western Outer Wardand the west end of Dry Moat II are adjoing. In this region further terracotta pieces were excavated in 1987. The find comes from a deposit laid down in the second part of the 17th century.17 Considering the number of terracottas excavated in it the Western Inner Ward counts as a significant archaeological site, too, since after the Dry Moat II it yielded the most fragments. Unfortunately, only a part of the site has been excavated; in the rest, deposits were simply removed, right down to the medieval occupation level. Therefore, not all the bricks were possible to be recorded archaeologically.

38 They were found in the third (debris fill) and second (fallen masonry) deposits together with other architectural pieces.(Fig. 7) Within the third deposit (debris fill) three additional layers can be distinguished. None is an occupation level; they indicate only that the material in them was brought from different places and at different times. The debris covered the medieval occupation level, its top gravitated towards the floor of a Turkish blacksmith's workshop situated between the walled-in pillars. A terracotta brick was found in the floor of the workshop, too. The deposit contained the combination of medieval and Turkish waste and fallen masonry; the most recent coin found here dates from 1634. It follows, therefore, that the courtyard was filled by the Turks on later occasions, the last being during the first half of the seventeenth century. It was then that the terracotta pieces were transferred to this site, as debris. The second deposit of fallen masonry,