Melega Miklós (szerk.): Remembering St Martin in his birth place (Szombathely, 2016)
T he medieval history of the church began in mid-October 791 when Charlemagne, King of the Franks, visited the birth town of St ITlartin1, patron saint of the kind's family and his empire, during his war against the Avars. Assisted by his knowledgeable high priests, the king believed to have found the birth house of their heavenly patron in one of the culti c or burial buildings in the Sarly Christian cemetery of the time. The grave stones with christograms unearthed here probably played a major role in the identif catioa2 The history of the medieval building can be briefly summed up as follows. The first church that was definitely dedicated to St martin was probably built after 826. However, we know nothing about the building itself, which is mentioned in a deed with the forced date of 885, as only a few graves in its cemetery survived the devastations in later periods. During the times following the foundation of the Hungarian state a church with a woodenframe was built to replace the previous building whose walls was reinforced with posts set right next to one another. In 1102 the church with an arched shrine, built from reused old Roman bricks from Sabaria, belonged to the Diocese of Győr, though it was the property of the Benedictine Abbey of Pannonhalma A scfuare-shaped shrine with groined vaults, and painted probably in the mid-14,h century, was added to the church at the turn of the 15th and 14th centuries.4 By that time a tower had already been built on the western facade. In the 15th and 16th centuries the church was further extended in Gothic style by adding a chapel and a sacristy on the northern side. In the middle Attes the church had altogether six altars, the stone slabs of four of them are still in place.5 The building was badly damaged in 1606 during the Bocskai War since it stood outside the town's walls and without any defences, its interior was almost completely destroyed.5 After the war the town did what it could to renovate the ancient parish church by arrangingfundraising campaigns. In 1658, however, rather unexpectedly Bishop of Győr Draskovich György handed the building over the Benedictine order, settling down in Hungary attain. The monks wasted no time to rebuild the church to meet their needs. For example, they built a new tower, and made, a new entrance towards their newly built monastery. The reconstructions, however, were of temporary nature only and did little to improve the building's generally bad state of repair. The problem was eventually remedied by the new Barocjue church built in 1668. Literature and notes 1 Kiss Gábor: Nagy Károly - Szent marton szülőhelyének első zarándoka In: Via Sancti martini. Szent márton útjai térben és időben. Szerk. Tóth Ferenc Záüorhidi CziüánY Balázs. Budapest, 2016. 44-50, 56- 57. p. [in printing] " Kiss Gábor: Sine vergiessene Spisode des Awarenfeldzuges von Karl dem Großen 791. Was hat Karl der Große in Savaria gesucht und gefunden? In Festschrift Falko Daim. zum 65. Geburtstag, [in printing] Kiss Gábor - Tóth Sndre - Záüorhipi Chkány Balázs: Savaria-Szombatheiy története, A város alapításától 1526-ig Szerk. Sngsl Pál. Szombathely. 1998.121-123.185-IS7. p. (Szombathely története: 1.) 4 Kiss Borbála A szombathelyi Szent márton- templom szentélyének középkori falkép- töredékei. - Lapok Szombathely történetéből, 2004.122. sz 1-5. p. (Panni culus Ser. C: 185.) 5 Kiss - Tóth, 2002 p 359. p 372 6 OomiNKűviTs Péten „6gy nemzetek lévén.” A Nyugat-Dunántú! Bocskai István 1605. _ évi hadjárata idején. Budapest. 2006.74. p. 7 Kiss Gábor - ZsÁmtóKY Bionika: A szombathelyi Szent tTlárton-templom a domonkosok idején. 1638-1950. Szombathely. 2012.4-9. p. 16 Remembering St martin in his birth place
