Zalai Múzeum 13. Németh József 70 éves (Zalaegerszeg, 2004)

Szőke Béla Miklós: A határ fogalmának változásai a korai középkorban [Adatok a Kerka-vidék kora középkori településtörténetéhez]

192 Szőke Béla Miklós system the decreased number of Romanised population retracted to reinforced towns and fortifications, menawhile arable lands and peasant economies were efficiently protected by barbarians in a status of foederati who could always be called to arms. The status of foederati is difficult to specify. The offer of this status was driven by the empire's needs for political and military defence. The empire needed soldiers who could be launched anywhere and anytime within the empire. The supply of this army could not be maintained by traditional means. Thus, the supply could neither be maintained by giving various allowances, nor forcing people into the army from the tribes that lived along the borders. The relationship between the ally tribes with the border that they had to defend, and the extent of the border that they had to control is unknown. It is not known either when they were part of a permanent force, and when they were recuited for military campaings as irregulars. The settling of the barbarians within the empire was only seemengly advantageous but it did not offer a more secure defence system. In fact, it loosened the political forces and Roman cultural values that maintained the strength and integrity of the empire for centuries. Moreover, the relocations of the barbarians did not meet the reguirements. The main reason for this is the political organisation of the Germanic tribes. The political power among the Germanic tribes was based on personal relationships that historiography calls Personenverbandstaat. The political power was not based on land ownership but rather on personal relationships between individuals. Thus, power relations depended on personal influence and subordination and leadership and escort. The political power of the state depended on the entangled relationship between the king and people, and between the king and nobles. By the end of 5th and beginning of 6th century after the Hun and Gothic periods the relationship between Pannónia and the centre of the Roman empire became less controlled. Two of the last tribes of the Germanic migration were the Langobards and Gepids. Their contracts with the Eastern Roman empire allowed them to use the territory that they occupied. These agreements were more like permissions to occupy lands rather than strict contracts. The romanised Christian population partly moved out of the province, and also merged with romanised barbarians such as Svebs and other Germanic tribes along the Danube, and Sarmatians who infiltrated the province. The Langobards did not move into a flourishing province where they could have excercised their political power, but rather they replaced the previous population that moved out. By 582 Sirmium, which was the northern gate of the Eastern Roman Empire was captured by the Avars. This meant that the entire province of Pannónia was controlled by the Avars. The Avar kagan became independent from the Roman Empire and he controlled the political power of the Carpathian basin. This process changed the political landscape of the province and the yearly contribution was not to maintain the allience but rather the money was provided in order to keep peace. Both historic and archaeological sources suggest that the Avars defended the uninhabited land around their occupied territory with an establishment of an extensive borderline {határsáv). The borderline was established sometimes around the end of 7th and beginning of 8th century. The extensive borderline was first established on the western borders. This border was crucial because the neighbouring Bavarian duke with the backing of the Carolingian empire was a threat to the Avars. The trading routes at the upper Danube lead directly to Avar settlements and in the case of war the enemy could reach these settlements without any obstacles that also made the defence system necessary. The march gyepű (Grenzverhau, indago, an extensive uninhabited area that surrounds the occupied territory) and the marchland gyepűelve (Grenzödland, vastus, solitudo, defence system connected to this territory) are not characteristic for the nomads as previously was assumed but rather historic and ethnographic data suggest that defence with uninhabited land is more characteristic of settled agricultural populations. The Danube valley between the Enns and the Viennese basin was mostly uninhabited in the 8th century and was defended by a small number of people. By the beginning of 9th century when the defence role of the Danube was ceased to an end the fertile river valley became densely populated and people migrated there from the east and west within a decade. This has been the first time that in Hungary a cemetery was excavated that can be assigned to the Carolingian period. The cemetery is situated at Sopronkőhida. The material culture of the cemetery suggests that it was used from the beginnig of 9th until the end of the second third of the 9th century. The human osteological data suggests that the cemetery has been used for about 40-45 years. Thus the disposal of the dead in the cemetery began in the 10s of the 9th century and came to an end in 50s or 60s of the 9th century. The cemetery of Sopronkőhida characterises a cultural group that occupied a territory west from Savar/a/Szombathely - CarnuntumfPetronell line to Ybbs in the upper Danube valley. It is interesting and probably more than a coincidence that in the first half of 805 a capcan, who was "Christian and called Theodor" asked for a new territory from Charles the Great because his people were harassed by the Slavs. The emperor assigned the territory for him and his people of inter Sabariam et Carnuntum that he knew well since he visited the place in 791. This land used to be part of the borderline (gyepű) that written sources mention as Avaria. This name characterised the territory of the Avar kaganat in a wider sense until about 805 and 806. Between 808 and 836, however what the name Avaria meant was only the territory of the borderline. Translated by Eszter Kreiter