Horváth M. Ferenc (szerk.): Vác The heart of the Danube Bend. A historical guide for residents and globetrotters (Vác, 2009)
Tartalom
54 VÁC IN THE ÁRPÁD ERA (895-1 301 ) the goldsmiths of the monastery, who were not mentioned by name or number, but in 1209 were inevitably the inhabitants of Vác. Provided Nesku and his family were living in our town, we can consider him the first resident of Vác known by name. During the next decades the town or its bishops are mentioned in some charters. LIFE INTHETOWN Being an episcopal see, Vác was one of the most important settlements of the country in the 11th century and later in the Árpád era as well. Before the foundation of the bishopric its significance was due to its setting. This was the place where the inhabitants of the northern mountains and hills could meet the dwellers of the Great Hungarian Plain, one selling the hide of wild animals and honey, the other selling wheat, barley, millet and other agricultural produce, which they grew in plenty on the plain. Another reason for the development of the town could have been its location near the river Danube: transportation on water was easier and more comfortable than on land, which increased the volume of goods arriving here. On the other hand, the crossing point on the river guaranteed a steady traffic here. Below the ground level of the present city centre was the late medieval Vác of the 14-16th centuries, and still beneath that, sometimes as deep as two metres from the present ground level, archaeologists found the remains of settlements from the 10-12th centuries, i.e. the early Árpád era. Today's Március 15 Square is situated on a hill rising a few metres above the floodplain. On its northern side, at 23 Köztársaság Road, part of a primitive house was found dated by a piece of pottery decorated with a typical pattern - a bundle of scratched wave lines - of the late Avar era and the century after the Conquest. The building is a characteristic example of the pithouse, which could be found everywhere in the Carpathian Basin at that time. Its construction was started by digging a pit, which was 3-4 metres by 4-5 metres big and about halfa meter deep and had a flat bottom and vertical walls. It was covered with a gable roof, which was supported by 2-3 columns standing on the two longer sides and along the middle line of the house. It had upward, vertical walls only on the two shorter sides. These walls were wattle and daub made with mud and clay to stop the wind and cold from getting in. On one of the shorter sides was the door and the steps leading downwards. For heating - which might not have been very intensive - they normally used a simple fireplace. In this house it was an open fireplace, whose bottom was covered with small stones, but very often they used an oven made of clay instead. For lack of a chimney the smoke left the building through the gaps of the roof. It was only cold in winter that made our ancestors occupy these cramped, smoky and damp houses smelling of earth; when the weather was nice, they probably lived in tents put up nearby, or under the sky with their animals. Tradesmen, pilgrims or servants heading for their bishop found this kind
