Budapest Régiségei 37. (2003)

Spekner Enikő: A budavári Boldogasszony-egyház alapítástörténete 91-112

SPEKNER ENIKŐ THE HISTORY OF THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH OF OUR LADY IN BUDA The foundation of the church of Our Lady in Buda has been debated by scholars. The sources referring to the beginnings have been considered ambiguous, several theories have emerged. After a thorough study of the documents the following facts can be stated. The foundation of the church can be dated to the end of 1246 or the beginning of 1247, coinciding with the time of the foundation of the city itself established by urban historians. The church was founded by King Béla IV with the permission of the archbishop of Esztergom on the turn of 1246 and 1247. The construction of the church was accomplished between 1247 and 1269 and it could have been consecrated sometime between 1255 and 1269. As the church was a royal foundation, it was exempt from the jurisdiction of the local bishopric of Veszprém all the time and it belonged to the archbishopric of Esztergom. But it is a fact that already in 1269 it functioned as the parish church of the city of Buda. The archaeologist investigating the Dominican Friary standing next to the parish church, Katalin H. Gyürky seemed to have identified an earlier ecclesiastical building under the church of the friary. As archaeology is not our special field we do not want to interfere with the problem of the identification. She thought that it is identical with the "Church of Our Lady on the new Buda Hill" mentioned in the charters of 1247 and 1248, because most scholars interpreted the sources that the late Arpadian-age church was only built after 1255. However in the course of newly interpreting the written documents we have concluded that all of them refer to the same church which at the same time cannot be identical with the earlier building discovered under the friary by Katalin H. Gyürky If there was such a building at all it should be considered St. Nicolas Church - after the later patron saint of the church of the friary. The Dominicans, especially at the beginnings, usually moved into places that had already been consecrated, and the name of the patron saint of the place had not been altered until the church was reconstructed or newly constructed. Reconstruction cannot be proved in Buda between 1248-1255. But it was not necessary that a church had existed on the site where the Dominicans, supposedly on a royal initiative and with royal support settled down in the city. Buda laying on the busy waterway, on the top of the Castle hill, in the neighbourhood of important ferry points could have encouraged to dedicate their - perhaps newly built - church to St. Nicolas, the patron saint of the tradesmen and the roads. 108