Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis. – Alba Regia. Az István Király Múzeum Évkönyve. 20. 1980 – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: C sorozat (1983)

Tanulmányok – Abhandlungen - Kralovászky Alán: The earliest church of Alba Civitas. p. 75–88. t. XXVII–XXXII.

Fig. 6: Székesfehérvár, St. Peter's Church and surroundings. Ground-plan and section. There is no reference in the written sources concerning the date when the church with four apses was pulled down. It is known however, that King Béla the Fourth was crowned in 1235 in the Fehérvár St. Peter's church. He had consecrated this church himself which shows that construction was also carried out by his order: "Rex Bela.

.. coronatus est.

... in cathedrali ecclesia Beati Petri Albe, quam ipse consecrari fecit." (Chron. Hung. comp. s. XIV, 176). It is also known that this church is identical to the gothic section of the modern bishop's cathedral (Fitz 1955, 66). During late Medieval times after the coronation feast the king would eave for St. Peter's church where his actual reign commenced with a solemn declaration of sentences of justice (BARTONIEK 1938, 40, 43). There must be a causal relationship between these two events which probably follow from a common antecedent. The explanation seems to be apparent: it is not accidental that this important act of state law took place in St. Peter's church which was the burial place of the founder of the Hungarian state and was its first Christian ruler, the father of King István: Grand Duke Géza. The old and small chapel from the end of the 10th century may have been unworthy of the ambitions and proud daydreams of Prince Béla (and later king) who therefore decided a larger and more respectable church above the grave of Grand Duke Géza who may be considered a political ideal. The construction of this larger church was completed at last in 1235. Thus, it is not coincidental that Béla disregarded the typical Medieval respect of traditions and had himself crowned in the new St. Peter's church, as before 1018 in western and southern Europe, in the Caucasus and north of Hungary in Moravia, Bohemia, and Poland (Kralovánszky 1981). The further fate of the building During recovery it was shown that two paire of brick graves were dug in both the northwestern and southwestern ends of the eastern sanctuary of St. Peter's church. These disturbances could only have happened when the walls of the church no longer exis'ed since the graves cut through parts of the building which had had structural importance (pillar, ascending walls) and would thus have resulted in the collapse of the church. Neither skeletons nor grave goods were found in the graves and the lack of such data made dating impossible. The only available information is that the bricks may have been manufactured between the 13th and 15th centuries. These burials are associated with the movement of the Latini people into the stronghold. This group obtained the new St. Peter's church as a parish in 1249 after the Tartar invasion (Székely 1972, 59) and they built the ossarium which was located north of the church studied here. This ossarium however, will not be dealt with in this paper. The medieval disturbances were followed by others during the modern period between the 18th and 20th centuries. During these times public utilities were laid down within the plan of the former church and the graves were probably also robbed. 84