B. Nyékhelyi Dorottya: Középkori kútlelet a budavári Szent György téren (Monumenta Historica Budapestinensia 12. kötet Budapest, 2003)

Abstract

with glass lamps in the windows. Glass lamps may have been used in the synagogues, too. There was a metal plate found in the well. The result of the scientific analysis of bones found in the mud is interesting. It has shown that apart from the bones of poultry, goats, sheep and fish and egg shells pig bones are almost completely missing. All these data may refer to the fact that this area - at least up to the time of giving up the well - was inhabited by Jews. There were many fruit seeds, wood remains, boards, carved wood and a large amount of pottery in the muddy layer of the well in the northern yard of the synagogue of Sopron. The archaeological material and the coins from the well suggest that the return of the Jews - or at least of a smaller group of them happened in the southern part of the Castle Hill. This fact seems to be confirmed by a charter written in 1390 dealing with the debate of the boundaries between the parishes of Our Lady and St Maria Madeleine. The Jewish Street in Buda is also mentioned in it. It is known that the royal seat was moved to Buda after 1408 and there are sources about the construction of the St Sigismund Church around 1410. The date of giving up the well can be dated by the coins of King Sigismund minted between 1390 and 1427 found in the bottom part of the well. This period is identified as the period of the construction of the smaller church of the Holy Virgin Mary, or St Sigismund laying opposite this area. It is possible that the Jews who had returned to the Jewish Street of the southern part of the city left this area in this period. By moving the Royal residence to Buda the Jewish quarter became the neighbour of the palace. It seems logical to say that it resulted in changes in the owners of the plots and houses, and that the proprietors of the houses in the neighbourhood of the court can be found among confidential people belonging to the circles of the sovereign. The shape, the structure and the infilment of the well raises further questions. It is interesting why a well that could be in use even today being on the southern part of the Castle District that is otherwise poor in water was not used by the oncoming owners of the territory. Each plot of the archaeological site had a similarly shaped,