Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 27. (Budapest, 2009)
Katalin E. NAGY - Ádám BÍRÓ - Ádám BOLLÓK - László KÖLTŐ Péter LANGÓ - Attila Antal TÜRK: Byzantine Silk Fragments from a Tenth-century Grave at Fonyód
war there were silk garments both for secular and ecclesiastic use. There is an explicit record of the latter: Leo Marsicanus recounts how at Monte Cassino the Hungarians got hold of at least three chasubles as part of the ransom they received. 3 2 The presence of valuable garments in a monastic context 3 3 is just as obvious as is the access to secular garments in a town, i.e. on markets of the Byzantine provinces. It is aptly illustrated by Mas'üdí's description who claims that the Pecheneg-Hungarian troops pillaging the Balkan provinces of Byzantium in 934 "Aprés avoir tué ou fait prisonniers [tous ceux qu'ils rencontrérent] sur leur route dans les campagnes, les prairies et les villages dans lesquels ils avaient pénétré, ils arrivérent sous les murs de cette ville, oil ils campérent environ 40 jours, échangeant les femmes et les enfants tombés en leur pouvoir contre des étoffes ou des vétements de brocat et de soie. " 3 4 On the basis of the Fonyód grave-goods it cannot be conclusively determined where the young man acquired the upper garment in his grave. The finds may tempt one to presume that the silk garment was also from the source from which the Italian coins sewn to the belt or the dress came (coins of Hugo of Provence [926-945]and Lothar II [931-950]), but that is just one of the many possibilities. Despite the involvement of Italian coins, the garment could have easily been seized by the young man during another military raid or acquired in trade, or he may have inherited it in the family. One thing appears, however, certain: even if the last owner - maybe - acquired the silk garment in Italy, the manufacturing of the silk fabric and maybe also the sewing of the dress did not take place in Italy but east of, somewhere in the Eastern part of the Mediterranean. Thus, the remnants of the Fonyód silk garment have preserved the memory of an interesting cultural blend, of which, however, only some details can be reproduced. A silk fabric produced somewhere in the Eastern Mediterranean and the outer garment tailored from it somewhere in the Mediterranean continued their existence perhaps decades later in the possession of a Hungarian in the tenth century. The wearer of the garment in the Carpathian Basin added emblematic elements of his own culture to the Mediterranean garment according to his own cultural interest (after possible minor adjustments to his wearing habits, which the surviving fragments do not reveal): he had precious metal mounts - often provenly belonging to certain type of belt mount - attached to the garment. Exactly when - that is, how long after the garment's arrival in the Carpathian Basin - that would have happened cannot be established on the basis of the finds. In view of the age of the buried person, it appears possible that both the coins in his grave and the silk garment itself were acquired by him. In this case, taking a narrow chronology of events as the basis, the burial and before it the acquisition of the silk garment and application of the mounts must have taken place sometime in the 930s-950s. This dating is not contadicted by the result of the radiocarbon analysis (2o 805-973 AD) (fig. 12.2). Considering in addition the coins deposited in the grave at Fonyód, the burial can be dated between c. 931 -973 AD. There is no evidence, however, that the coins and the garment were not second-hand acquisitions by him - or by others for his burial. Instead of further guesses, therefore, let it suffice to establish that this find is a case in point of the attitude of the tenth century inhabitants of the Carpathian Basin to textiles of foreign origin. 31
