Horváth M. Ferenc (szerk.): Vác The heart of the Danube Bend. A historical guide for residents and globetrotters (Vác, 2009)
Tartalom
VÁC IN THE ÁRPÁD ERA (895-1 301 ) 57 Console of the cathedral-building (PMMI-TIM 85.100.1) VÁC THROUGH THE EYES OF A TRAVELLER The completion of the cathedral and the diocesan centre started a new period. Although we are short of written sources referring directly to Vác, some well-known parallels may help us form an idea about the inhabitants of the town in the 12th century. Whoever arrived at the town from the south, i.e. Pest- a merchant travelling on his cart carrying goods, a pious pilgrim heading for a place of pilgrimage for sake of salvation, or a proud nobleman riding from one of his estates to another one- first caught sight of the ancient St Peter's Church and the surrounding cemetery near the crossing or the wooden bridge across the swampy area of the Gombás Stream. (We do not know whether the church was south of the stream at Hétkápolna or close to the northern bank.) We can assume that, according to the customs of the time, trunks and logs were laid on the road near the stream where it was flat and soggy to prevent people passing there from sinking deep into the mud. In a few minutes the traveller arrived at the bishopric centre situated on a low hill. The cathedral built in Romanesque style was much bigger than the churches of the surrounding communities, so he must have been overwhelmed by the sight. The buildings around the cathedral were occupied by the bishop and other high-ranking clergymen, the prebends. Their servants lived in simple houses made of wood or wicker and mud. The pens, stables, granaries (and perhaps the cellars as well), which were used for storing food and wine collected from the people of the diocese as tithe, could also be found here. This busy, lively and noisy place was probably surrounded with a ditch and palisades. (The Castle is mentioned for the first time only in the 15th century.) After mass the congregation, leaving the cathedral through the main entrance, which faced north to the Danube, could see the clear river abundant in fish. The place where sturgeon (a kind of fish sometimes growing as big as several hundred kilos) could be caught might have already existed here in the 12th century. According to a charter of 1318 it was owned by the bishop of Veszprém, but from that year on it belonged to the Royal Palace in Visegrád. (Because of their regular fasts, medieval people ate much more fish than we do today.) Passing the diocese centre northwards and eastwards, the traveller crossed a small and simple settlement in the area of the present Konstantin Sturgeon fishing in Marsigli's book of the Danube
