Belényesy Károly: Pálos kolostorok az Abaúji-Hegyalján (Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén megye régészeti emlékei 3. Miskolc, 2004)

PAULINE FRIARIES IN THE ABAÚJ HEGYALJA REGION

In 1461, King Matthias donated the remaining part of the mills mentioned in 1338 near Vilmány village to the monastery. In 1468, Emerich Szapolyai allowed the rebuilding the monk's mill on the Aranyos river, in Szántó. In 1482, King Matthias ordered the chapter of Eger to start investigation in the case of an obtrusion against the curia and house in the monastery's estate at Kenéz. In 1548, Gáspár Serédi was cited before the Royal Court, because he occupied the house and curia in Tarcalkeresztúr and Kenéz village belonging to the monastery of Sajólád. The order was enrolled again into the possession of the curia at Kenéz in 1549. In 1558, the estates of the Gönc and Ruszka monasteries were rented by the market town of Gönc. In 1569, Brother Emerich Béla, vicar of Újhely and Sajólád, sold the destroyed (!) mill places of the monasteries for 1000 golden Forints to the principal of the Ónod castle, Peter Panka. In the same year, Brother Emerich sold the whole territory, possessions and incomes of the monastery to Peter Panka. In 1635, Emperor Ferdinand authorized count Paul Rákóczi of Felsővadász to buy the territory of the once St Catherine monastery from the heirs of Francis Dóczy. The provison was that in case Paulines would return to that place, he should give both the monastery and the estates to them. This last data refers to the fact that the order was thinking of returning, but this has never come true. Earlier Research On the Third Ordinance Survey, approximately five km east of Göncruszka, vineyards are depicted, near the ruins of the once monastery (Map 20). The county monograph written by Sziklay-Borovszky mentions that "on the mountain of Ruszka, along the old road in the forest, there are the ruins of a Pauline monastery, from which a spring called Somoskút flows", verifies this.

9 István Genthon also mentioned that site with regards to the monastery, adding "there is a shapeless pile of stones"

91 Based on this, the authors of DAP, Tamás Guzsik and Rudolf Fehárvári, located the monastery to the same site,

9 and wrote that no traces are detectable on the surface.

99 The name of Gáspár Serédy was mentioned in connection with the destruction of all three monasteries, however, his activity cannot be accurately proved in cases of Gönc and Göncruszka,. The main reason that he was accustomed with the depopulation of the monasteries is that he surely destroyed almost all important neighboring Pauline monasteries, such as Diósgyőr, Lád, Újhely, Regéc. See DAP I., 245, 366. Sziklay-Borovszky, 1896 285. Genthon. 1961, 109. DAP, I 171 (in the introduction). Guzsik-Fehérvári, 1980 8. The above mentioned area at the foot of the Borsó Hill was earlier called Somoskút and today is known as Klastromkút. It is represented on both the tourist map and 1:10000 map of the area (Maps 1 and 11). Local people call this place "Klastromkert" ("Cloister Garden"). The Monastery The presumed site of the monastery can be reached from Hejce, where the above mentioned old road is still accessible.

100 Today fruit trees are planted on the former vineyard. The foot of the Borsó Hill can be reached by passing around this garden. The surrounding of the socalled Klastrom kút ("Cloister Well") is not identifiable because of the bushy undergrowth. Since there are some old fruit trees, it can be supposed that this area was used as orchard in the recent past. The well itself was rebuilt from concrete; there is no direct sign of its medieval origin. Nevertheless, the ruins of the former monastery were located in its close neighborhood. Close to the trunks of the trees, significant amount of medieval pottery and large shreds of mortar was collected. The survey could not detect particular remains of buildings or walls, and the size of the monastery could not have been estimated. The Landscape of the Monastery and the Archaeological Material of the Site The presence of the huge embankment system largely contributed to the identification of the monastery. Since the territory is covered with trees and other vegetation, the circumstances of the survey were much worse in this case than in the case of Regéc. There were very few traces of buildings, it was the large dam in good repair which obviously could have been connected to the Paulines. The surrounding of this embankment was surveyed, which revealed that it padded the water of a spring east of the monastery. The welhbuilt dams were connected to the precipitous hillside, forming an approximately 30 x 55 m artificial pond (Fig 18). The bottom of this fishpond is still wet, soggy, and visibly was filled up. The dike and the dams survived on their northeastern (Fig 19) and southwestern parts, reaching two meters height in some parts. The structure was most striking in the closest neighborhood of the monasticcomplex.

101 Near the northern corner, the floodgate (?) About this see chapter "The Landscapes of the Monasteries in the Abaúj Hegyalja Region" On this side a modern fence is running through, strengthened with concrete posts. This probably surrounded the once orchard.