Hatházi Gábor - Kovács Gyöngyi: A váli gótikus templom. Adatok Vál 14 -17. századi történetéhez - Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei. B. sorozat 45. (Székesfehérvár, 1996)
Felhasznált irodalom
directed by generals Batthyány and De Souches, a part of the 1661 Transylvanian campaign led by Montecuccoli. Evlia's description can be seen as one of the very last sources on the Turkish presence at Vál. The last two decades of their occupancy in Vál is shrouded in darkness, and little is known about the final date and circumstances of their expulsion that could equally well be linked to the recapture of Esztergom, Buda or Székesfehérvár between 1683-88. The results of the 1986 campaign at Vál (conducted by Gábor Hatházi) - complemented with the evidence from the 1973 excavations conducted by Györgyi Csukás - can be summarized as follows: The exavations conducted around the medieval church tower (Fig. 4.1), on the high plateau in the southwestern part of the modem village - around István square and the Templomsor area (Fig. 2) - revealed that this area had, owing to its favourable position, also been occupied in earlier periods, as shown by a few prehistoric stray finds and Roman artefacts. This area was also the core of the earliest medieval village. Medieval features and finds included architectural remains of the church, part of a cemetery and some pottery. The investigation of the MEDIEVAL CHURCH showed that several building periods can be distinguished (Fig. 3.B). (The tower itself has not been investigated yet): 1. The earliest period can be identified with the small, single-naved church and the early phase of the cemetery around the church that can be dated to the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries by the funerary obulus from grave 31 and stray finds of Árpádian Age pottery. 2. The early church was enlarged into a three-naved church in the 15th century: the side-aisles, reinforced by buttresses and the Gothic tower still standing today, were also built at this time. This construction work involved the construction of a new, raised level. The event underlying the 15th century renovation of the church is perhaps recorded in a charter dated to 1494-95 that mentions a conflagration that had raged in Vál. 3. In 1550 Vál is occupied by Turkish troops and the three-naved church and its environs are transformed into a palisade fortress. The construction works involved large-scale levelling operations, as well as architectural changes. The reinforcement of certain wall sections (the southern side-aisle), the demolition of the eastern end of the church and the construction of a new eastern wall - that, however, did not adjoin the already existing east-west oriented walls perpendicularly - resulted in a roughly trapezoidal, 21 m x 15 m large quadrangular fort reinforced with buttresses at the comers and on its southern side, fitted with three rooms. The new entrance of the southern facade (Fig. 4.3) suggests that the Gothic tower was reused as a "watchtower and gatehouse", and the annex built against the tower in the north can be dated to the Turkish occupation period. The "central fort" described by Evlia Celebi, i.e. the residental wing of the fortress can probably be identified with the former three-naved medieval church or with its enlarged, somewhat transformed version. It had probably been enclosed by an outer palisade (a record mentions the collapse of its tower), although this area has not been investigated yet. Only a tentative reconstruction of the line of this palisade is possible: the one-time Turkish fortress had probably stood on the present-day ecclesiastic site. The topography of the area and the distribution of Turkish Age finds, as well as the boundaries of the plot would suggest that the palisade extended over an area of 60 to 80 m by 80 to 100 m, with larger differences in level within the fort, as indicated by the Turkish period stray finds from the elevation overlooking the church. 4. On the evidence of the 18th-19th century sources the area first passed into the possession of the Reformed Church following the Turkish occupation period (1693-1714). The Turkish period features were retained and some restoration work was done; the southern side-nave of the church was renovated and used as a prayer house. The church was subsequently taken away by Jesuits who celebrated Catholic masses in the wing standing by then. 5. In the 1720s the Catholic Church began large-scale construction work. The southern side-aisle and the Turkish period annex was demolished and the main nave was subsequently rebuilt. The Turkish period features were restored inside the church, whilst those of the 15th century on the exterior. These reconstructions and later work in the 18th-19th centuries are amply documented in the written sources. The 1986 campaign on the site verified, and also complemented, the observations made during the 1973 excavation by Györgyi Csukás: the archaeolgical evidence confirmed the information contained in the written sources which located the Turkish palisade fortress to this area - even though the outer palisade could not be identified -, and beside the uncovering of some architectural remains of the fort, an abundance of Turkish period finds were also brought to light. The bulk of the medieval assemblage came from the cemetery and the finds associable with it. A total of 47 GRAVES were uncovered in the 1986 campaign, in surfaces 1986/A, V and VI. The cemetery itself is a typical multi-layer burial site comparable to other church graveyards, with the corresponding burial customs (such as the use of coffins and the deposition of funerary obuli); the grave goods are mostly personal accessories, such as headdresses, beads, rings and belts (Figs 14-15). (The finds, including those from the preshistoric to the late 17th century are now housed in the collection of the Szent István Király Museum of Székesfehérvár.) The earliest graves in the cemetery can be assigned to the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries. The continuous use of the cemetery following the Árpádian Age can be attested until the mid- 16th century, which roughly corresponds to the life span of the medieval church. From the mid-16th century, following the Turkish occupation, the church and its immediate environment functioned as a castle (fortress) until the late 1680s. The cemetery only began to be used as a burial place again in the mid-18th century. Finds from the Turkish occupation period and the post-occupation period (late 17th and early 18th centuries) came to light together with medieval, mostly 14th-15th century finds, with the occasional Árpádian Age sherd (Figs 17-18). The number of medieval finds differed from surface to surface (about 20 to 30 per cent, with 1-2 per cent in the pits - the only exception being pit 69
