Contribution of Archaeological Prospection to the Research of an Early Modern Battlefield near Veľké Vozokany

Contribution of Archaeological Prospection to the Research of an Early Modern Battlefield near Veľké Vozokany D. Drozd1 – M. Neumann1 – J. Bátora1,2 1 – Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, Comenius University, Bratislava; 2 – Archaeological Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Nitra Introduction Since 1541, the territory of Upper Hungary was continually threatened by Ottoman armies. The rising power of the new European-Asian Empire was clearly demonstrated by the establishment of Ottoman administration in Buda at the same year. Henceforth, Hungary was divided into 3 parts – Buda Eyalet, Principality of Transylvania and the rest of the Kingdom of Hungary. Of great interest were Upper Hungarian Mining towns – thence they continually attracted the attention of Ottomans. Since Zsitvatorok Peace (1606), the new status quo in Hungarian-Ottoman relations came to life. From this time on, no more marauding raids were allowed. Despite this, Ottomans used to occasionally loot far beyond the border line. Battle and Memory This happened also in August 1652. Originally, the looting army was heading to the fortress of Nové Zámky. Nevertheless, due to intervention of Adam Forgáč it changed its course towards the town of Vráble. Here it crossed Žitava River and marched further northwards up to Oslany. After looting in Upper Žitava valley, Ottoman army was returning back along the Žitava River. Surprisingly for Ottomans, Adam Forgáč had decided to make a stand against them not far from Veľké Vozokany (Fig. 1). At first, a small Hungarian unit ambushed Ottomans near Tesárske Mlyňany and liberated ca. 200 captives. However, one member of the Eszterházy family fell here. After regrouping of both armies, the battle itself took place. After a few hours of battle (or even 2 days according to some sources), Ottomans retreated with great losses. However, during the battle Hungarians lost another 3 members of Eszterházy family. Later, the battle itself began to be considered as one of the victorious encounters between Hungarians and Ottomans. In 1734, Imrich Eszterházy let here erect a small obelisk commemorating the heroic death of 4 members of Eszterházy family. In 1896, the obelisk was replaced by a monumental memorial (Fig. 3). C Vieska nad Žitavou B A Malé Vozokany Fig. 1 – Areas selected for the field survey in August 2019 (A, B, C). Small red squares represent grid layout. Yellow star – the supposed camp of Adam Forgáč. Author: D. Drozd. Fig. 3 – The Memorial commemorating the Battle near Veľké Vozokany. Photo: M. Neumann 2019. Acknowledgement Supported by the Slovak Scientific Grant Agency (VEGA 1/0100/19). 1 cm Fig. 4 – Bullets found during the field survey in 2019. Photo M. Neumann. View publication stats Veľké Vozokany Fig. 2 – Copperplate depicting the Battle of Veľké Vozokany. Right – Hungarian units (camp of Adam Forgáč); Left – Ottoman units. Lower left corner – Nevidzany village. Lower right corner – Veľké Vozokany. Author unknown, 1652–1700. (Source: mapy.mzk.cz). Field survey All known accounts on the battle come from the later sources. It is not surprising that even such important facts as the size of Hungarian/Ottoman units or the number of dead remain unclear. Still, the location of the main battle scene seems to be undisputable. According to the various depictions, the battlefield was spread between Veľké Vozokany and Nevidzany (see Fig. 1, 2). For the research of an early modern battlefield a combined method of fieldwalking and metal-detecting was applied. Due to time constraints and the very large extent of the battlefield, three smaller areas of interest were chosen (Fig. 1). Each area was randomly sampled using 20 x 20 m squares, covering 19.200 square metres in total. Coordinates of every square, along with finds, were carefully recorded by GPS Rover. Collected data were processed into a database and loaded into GIS for analysis. Among positive finds were only 4 artefacts represented by lead bullets and a decorated fraction of a silver bowl (Fig. 4). All of them were found in the northern part of area A. These are accompanied by uncertain finds such as a medallion depicting of Virgin Mary, a ring, a buckle and a button. Out of 48 statistical units, only three could be deemed as positive (6.25%). Conclusion Field survey provided very little evidence for such a large clash as depicted in available sources. Several reasons for this outcome have been considered. Firstly, limited possibilities of the field survey caused that only a small portion of the field was sampled and the final random sample can be biased. Secondly, recent interpretations shed new light on the battle itself – the later historical accounts on the battle could have been under notable influence of the 17th century propaganda, which could have substantially exaggerated the influence of a rather small encounter (Újváry 2006; Trubíni 2019). Last but not least, the ongoing problem of freelance metal-detecting in Slovakia can highly influence the amount of finds at such well-known site as Veľké Vozokany. There is a hope that the following surveys will provide more complex information about this early modern encounter. Bibliography Jozef BÁTORA – Dominik DROZD: Bojisko pri Veľkých Vozokanoch – poznatky a perspektívy ďalšieho výskumu. Archaeologia historica 44, 2, 2019, 677-697. Tim SUTHERLAND – Malin HOLST: Battlefield Archaeology – A Guide to the Archaeology of Conflict. Bradford, 2005. Ľuboš TRUBÍNI: Bitka pri Vozokanoch a bitka pri Parkane. In: L. Trubíni/T. Lieskovský: História cisárskej pevnosti Vráble. Vráble, 2019. Zsuzsana ÚJVÁRY: A vezekényi csata és Esterházy László halála. Hadtörténelmi Közlemények 119, 4, 2006, 943-972.