Savaria – A Vas Megyei Múzeumok Értesítője 36. – (2013) (Szombathely, 2013)
RÉGÉSZET - SZILÁGYI Magdolna: VÁROSOK, UTAK, KERESKEDELEM
sava Ria a Vas Megyei Múzeumok Értesítője 36 (2013) 223-241 Városok, utak, kereskedelem. Az úthálózat szerepe Vas megye városi fejlődésében a 13-14. században why their being nodal points in the road network can be regarded as one of the most important central place functions of towns. Long-distance roads and foreign trade on them played a great role in the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century rise of towns in County Vas. These roads were: (1) the Italian Road (1274: Via Latinorum) that led from the centre of Hungary to North Italy running south of Vasvár; (2) the Teutonic Road (1271: via magna, quae ducit ad Teutoniam) that forked from the Italian Road near Vasvár and led through Körmend to Fölöstöm (Fürstenfeld); (3) the Sopron-Muraszombat road passing through Kőszeg, Szombathely and Körmend and serving as a transit trade route between Vienna and Venice until the late twelfth century; (4) and finally there was a road running in the Pinka valley from the region of Körmend to Austria. These long-distance roads crossed the borders of the Hungarian Kingdom and thus enabled towns in County Vas get involved in foreign trade. The great number of regional roads around the towns connected them with settlements of their market areas and made weekly markets possible. The marchland (Hu. gyepű) separating Western Hungary from the Holy Roman Empire also had a great effect on the settlement and road system of County Vas as it strongly restricted the possibilities of habitation, trade and travel. In addition to land relief, this was the reason why the territory located west of the Muraszombat-Körmend-Szombathely-Kőszeg route was sparsely populated in the Árpád Period. After the frontier defence system laid-out in depth dissolved in the thirteenth century, the inhabitation of the region along the western border began. In addition to several small settlements, some market towns also developed (Monyorókerék/Eberau, Rohonc/Rechnitz, and Veresvár/Rotenturm). These central places were connected to each other and the settlements around them by a growing number of roads. Therefore, the great number of Western Transdanubian roads helped trade, increased the number of new market areas, and promoted the development of market towns. However, sharing market led to the decline of already existing royal towns and the formation of a late medieval region where market towns were the most important central places. 241
