Horváth M. Ferenc (szerk.): Vác The heart of the Danube Bend. A historical guide for residents and globetrotters (Vác, 2009)
Tartalom
VÁC'S REMAINS FROM THE LATE MIDDLE AGES (1 301 -1 526) 73 MlilllllllimilllllllllNHUlHIIIIHIIHIIIII the chapter had already ceased to be the mere community of priests living and singing psalms together. Property had been divided as well: a certain part of the income and the estates of the bishop were owned by the chapter. It did not mean that the ethnically separated town was further distributed between the landlords. The chapter had a share only in the Hungarian town; the entire German town was in the possession of the bishop. The two landlords may have chosen a very simple way to divide the estates: they shared the tax proceeds of the Hungarian town in an unknown proportion. CHANGES IN THE APPEARANCE OF THE TOWN If the traveller reached Vác from the direction of Pest, he could see all three parts: the Hungarian town, the castle and the German town. At the end of the Middle Ages both towns were surrounded by walls, which could have been built during the 15th century. Compared to the German town the Hungarian town covered a smaller area and it had a looser structure; it had some houses beyond the walls too; what is more, St Margaret's Church was also outside the walls. It was probably not before the very end of the Middle Ages that the area earned the "castle" name. The cathedral and other church buildings could have been surrounded by a wall then for the first time. The walls formed a nearly perfect rectangle. The walls we can still see today from the Danube bank are not medieval; some of them were built during the Ottoman occupation, others by the Franciscans who settled here in the 18th century. The most impressive building was the cathedral, which was rebuilt in Gothic style around the turn of the 14-15th centuries. It was a three-aisled church, very likely with two steeples and an octagonal chancel facing east. We know of 13 side-altars, the main altar - just like the church itself - was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. However, the cathedral bore the characteristics of other periods as well - an engraving from the Ottoman era proves that it was at least as much of Romanesque style as it was Gothic. There was another church in the castle named Holy Cross. Besides the cathedral the most significant building was the bishop's palace on the town's side of the church. There could have been several other buildings in the area, for instance prebendal houses, but we have no evidence for them. Bishop Miklós Báthori, who held this post between 1474-1507, started large-scale constructions, which meant the entry of the new style: the Renaissance. As a member of a baronial family, Báthori became acquainted with humanism and the Renaissance at Italian universities. He also studied Greek and was said to have written View of the medieval Vác (Engraving of the 18th century)
