Folia archeologica 15.

H. Kolba Judit: Epigráfiai adatok a kígyóspusztai öv kormeghatározásához

EPIGRAPHICAL DATA TO THE DATING OF THE BELT OF KÍGYÓSPUSZTA This find from Kígyóspuszta is a relic of great interest to researchers. Since the middle of the last century a whole series of studies dealt with the problems related to this find. Most of them analyzed the battle scene on the buckle in relation to military history and attire and mentioned only briefly the inscription on the four buttons belonging to the belt. On the gold buttons decorated with niello the following texts may be found (Fig. 25): S(ANCTA) MARGARETA ORA PRO ME S(ANCTE) BARTHOLOME ORA PRO M(E) S(ANCTE) STEPHANE ORA PRO ME S(ANCTE) IACOBE ORA PRO ME This study attempts to date more accurately the find with the help of paleographical methods. The mounts were probably made in the goldsmith's workshop of the king's court. Since the coin dies, and other goldsmith's work ordered mainly by the king were made by the same goldsmiths, the relics from the royal workshops should be examined for the exact dating of the find. First of all we have to study the coins bearing the names of the Hungarian Kings, since these, even because of their forms, have the lettering in the shape of a legend, similarly to the mounts. On the coins of Béla IV, István V, László IV, Endre III, we find altogether only a few letters with forms similar to the studied ones. Most of the similarly shaped and ornamented letters were discovered on the coins of Róbert Károly (Pl. VIII. 1—2). According to these coins we may conclude that similar inscriptions were generally made in the first half of the 14th century. Letters of comparable shape may already be found on the seals of István V, but the more exact parallels may again be drawn from the details of those on Robert Károly's. Almost quite identical counterparts of the letters of the Kígyóspuszta mounts are recognizable on his seals (Fig. 26). Although Z. Tóth dated the find (on the basis of the battle scene) c. 1260, the other dating based on the lettering of the mounts can still be explained. One end of the buckle broke and the part closing it was added later when it was repaired. This shortens the part depicting the battle. So it is presumable that the belt-mounts were made at the time of the repair and thus the inscriptions rightly show the lettering characteristic of the beginning of the 14th century.