Cseri Miklós – Tárnoki Judit szerk.: Népi építészet a Kárpát-medencében a honfoglalástól a 18. századig – A Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok Megyei Múzeumok közleményei 58. (2001)
Pusztai Tamás: A középkori Mohi mezőváros építészeti emlékei
Architectural relies of the medieval market town of IVlohi TAMÁS PUSZTAI The former village of Mohi, later market town in the southern part of Borsod county was created alongside a medieval road leading between the Bükk-mountain and the plain. Its subterranean remains have been found in Northern Hungary, 12 km south-east from Miskolc, near today's village of Ónod (fig. 1). Due to its geographical situation, Mohi had the opportunity to make use of the different economic conditions of the hill-country and the plain and to organise economic and trade relations between them, furthermore, to make use of the possibilities offered by a main road leading through the village. Historical data suggest that the settlement was continuously populated from the 13 th century till the end of the 16 th century. In 1596, after the battle of Mezőkeresztes, Mohi was destroyed. In 1612 we discover its name among the depopulated communities. In the first half of the 17 th century, a few families lived here. By mid 17 th century, however, Mohi is forever depopulated. During the Middle Ages our region was lacking royal free boroughs. Most of them were established in Transdanubia or in North-Hungary (today belonging to Slovakia), or in Transylvania. In this region, market towns represented the urban development, fulfilling town functions as trade centres in smaller regions, although their inhabitants were considered as serfs from the legal point of view. Mohi became a community fulfilling town functions in the 15 th — 16 th century. Medieval documents mention Mohi several times as oppidum. In 1366 Louis the Great put the inhabitants under the authority of their own judges and of royal officers. The citizens were not obliged to accept the administration of justice from any other judges, neither clerical nor secular judges, with the exception of criminal cases. Only their own judges could sit in judgement on them. The citizens of Mohi were entitled to choose their own parson. Following historical data, an important layer of artisans lived in the community in the 15 th century. Several documents mention the main road and the attached bridge and toll-house. The toll of Mohi constituted one of the main incomes of the domain of Diósgyőr. Mohi was granted the right of holding fairs during the rule of Anjou kings. The diploma of king Louis II in 1520 granted the community two annual fairs and a weekly market every Thursday. As it was the case for most market towns, its economic life was based on the trade between neighbouring regions having different economic conditions. We know the registrations carried out in the middle of the 16 th century. 149 farms and two manors were registered in Mohi in May 1563. András KUBINYI set up a system of 8 categories for regional centres in his study about regional centres in Abaúj, Borsod, Heves and Torna counties. Following this system, we can classify Mohi in the sixth category, being a market town with partly urban character. The Herman Ottó Museum in Miskolc and the Chair of Middle Ages and Early Modern Times of ELTE carried out archaeological research in the medieval market town of Mohi between 1995 and 1997. The reason why this work is so important is that we had the opportunity to research big, cohesive areas of the market town, moreover, we could study the settlement structure and to compare the different units of the settlement (centre, main street, perimeters, periphery). The excavations of 1995-1997 covered following areas: 1. an 80 m section of the main street (fig. 3) 2. the southern perimeter of the community (fig. 5) 3. elevations of a land cut up by former riverbeds on the southern border of Mohi (fig. 6) The uncovered buildings show a big variety of time and space. In the course of the uncovering the centre of the settlement, we could determine a coherent structure from the 15 th —16 th century (fig. 3). In the 15 th — 16 th century the main street was covered with a thick layer of pebble-work. Carts-tracks are deeply imprinted in the surface. Not only the main street but the areas between houses were also covered with a thick layer of pebble-work. Houses with divided inner space and with a surface of 5x16-6x21 m stood on both sides of the street, mostly forming a right angle to it, some were parallel to the street. The structure of the walls consisted of piles dug deep in 363
