A műemlékek sokszínűsége (A 28. Egri Nyári Egyetem előadásai 1998 Eger, 1998)

Előadások / Presentations - SEBESTYÉN József: Saxon and székely fortofoed churches in Transylvania

JÓZSEF SEBESTYÉN SAXON AND SZÉKELY FORTIFIED CHURCHES IN TRANSYLVANIA The defensive role of churches is not a recent phenomenon in Europe. There is evidence of it throughout the continent starting from the earliest Christian times. The fortifications raised around the church followed the means available at the time, and involved walls, earthworks and, latterly, complicated defensive constructions. They served to protect „God's house", the liturgical space, „God's people", the members of the congregation, and possessions vital to their survival. In quite a small area of Transylvania, a large number of medieval churches were fortified. Those that have been preserved constitute a valuable architectural heritage both individually, and even more so collectively. Their protection and upkeep is a task of major priority for those involved with the built heritage of the region. Here I will discuss the most typical fortified churches in Transylvanian Saxon villages, which are already well known, along with the lesser-known castle churches of the area inhabited by the Hungarian-Székely people, and compare them with similar monuments in other areas of the Carpathian Basin. In defence of the eastern borders of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary and the Erdőelve, Székely people were resettled at the beginning of the 11th century from Bihar and other parts of the country to the Aranyos country and to the area of Szászváros in Oltmellék, Kézd, Orbó, Sebes and further to the east. Probably from the midddle or end of the 12th century they were further resettled first to what became Háromszék, and later to the area around Csík and Udvarhelyszék. The Székely and Pecheneg light cavalry took up the fight successfully against the intruding nomad Kun and Uzian peoples, but proved unequal to the might of the Byzantines with their heavy cavalry and armoured infantry, who first attacked in 1166. It was to reinforce the borders that the Hungarian King Géza II invited, around 1160, Walloons and Saxons from Flanders and the Rhein, to settle in South Transylvania, around the Szeben, along the Olt and along the Küküllő. These were followed in the last decade of the 12th and first of the 13th centuries by new waves of settlers in Beszterce in North Transylvania and Barcaság in the south-east. It was also for purposes of border reinforcement that the Teutonic Knights were settled in Barcaság in 1211, from where they were later banished by Andrew IPs army because of their manoeuvring and ambitions against the Kingdom of Hungary. The German „guests" in Transylvania, later known collectively as „Saxons", were granted rights and privileges by Andrew II in 1224 via the document known as the Andreanum, with the purpose of establishing a legal unit in the area between Szászváros and Baró composed of Saxon, Székely, Romanian and Pecheneg lands. As well as stipulating duties of tribute, the document demanded that although the Saxons were not required to serve personally as soldiers, they had to provide an armed force of a specified number. The Székelys, in return for recognition of their rights of nobiliary freedom, the exemption from tax that this carried, and a fair share of common land, were obliged to serve as soldiers personally - providing their own weapons and equipment - and also had the duty of defending the borders. The administrative system of the Saxon and Székely centres {széks), independent of the existing counties, were drawn up with their final boundaries at the end of the 13th and 14th centuries. From the end of the 14th century, hardly fifty years after the enormously destructive Mongol invasion, the Ottoman empire had already extended into