Fortified churches

Leicht gekürzte Fassung der Magisterarbeit (Bamberg 2009). Die vollständige Version mit Befund- und Fundkatalog ist bei der Uni Bamberg, Lehrstuhl für Archäologie des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit, sowie beim Landesamt für Denkmalpflege, Dienststelle Schloss Seehof, Abteilung Bodendenkmalpflege, einsehbar.

The investigation of the Romanesque monuments from Transylvania is
captivating. In almost every village from the south of the province, the agile eye of a researcher can discover old traces of the past, belonging to the 12th – 13th centuries. The architectural research, however, must be accompanied by other studies and we can name here the archeological ones. Many historians who have not especially dealt with this kind of monuments were tempted to declare that there are not any new aspects to be written on this subject, given the fact that the topic has already been debated over more than a century, especially by German and Hungarian historians.
But we maintain our opinion, expressed on several occasions, that the approaches of these architectural monuments can be numerous and can enrich the information concerning them.

The exhibition catalog deals with the fate of an important family of lords from Boskovice, who entered the history of Moravia during the 13th to 16th centuries. They held important provincial or court offices, and some members rose high in the church hierarchy. During the Middle Ages, they devoted themselves to significant ordering activities, were the founders or patrons of monasteries and churches, but also built a number of castles and chateaux. The text includes the following keywords: Boskovice, parish church of St. Jakub. Bořitov, church of St. Jiří. Brno, Monastery of friars. Svatá Kateřina, church of  St. Kateřina. Perchta II. from Boskovice. The Lords of Boskovice in the role of clients of sacred art. Churches with refugial functions.

Bódvaszilas is situated in the North-East of Hungary; it was the part of the historical, Torna county, which was a royal comitatus from the Arpadian era. The first, partial archaeological results near from the baroque parochial church and its round fortified wall (Picture 1) were compared with the known historical sources; therefore further approaches expanded the history of Bódvaszilas.
Primary historical sources do not give any proof information concerning the medieval church; only three charters mention Bódvaszilas as a property of Szádvár Estate in the second half of the thirteenth century (first in 1283) and in the fifteenth century (Picture 2). Through Medieval and Early Modern times, the history of Bódvaszilas is strongly connected to Szádvár, which was the center of the estate and nowadays it is one of the largest fortifications of Hungary. It was destructed and eliminated in 1686, a few years before the beginning of the high noble Esterházy family’s possession. Later on, from the second half of the eighteenth century, rich sources available about the Esterházy Estate; clerical sources give information about the destruction of the medieval church; as a document says, only its sanctuary had survived.
In the summer of 2010, during the first archaeological research around the parochial church, – which was related to the renovation of the church garden, – a hexagonal, post-medieval fortified wall was identified (Picture 3). It has one visible defense on the North side, which is a quadratic projection with two loopholes both in the Eastern and Western wall (Picture 4). Trenches were opened inside and next to the defense structure and also on the Eastern, South-Eastern area, next to the outer side of the fortified wall.
T he ideal reconstruction of the post-medieval wall-system and the surrounding terrain shows that there could be two more defenses on each angle of the hexagonal wall. There is a close architectural relationship between the analyzed walls of Bódvaszilas and the fortified churches of the Alföld and Zemplén region, where the “hajdú” soldiers had lived in the sixteenth and seventeenth century. Also an inventory of the building-complex
at Bódvaszilas is available, which was written in 1721, just after the death of prince József Antal Esterházy.
This catalogue mentions the old house of the hajdú soldiers. Therefore, based on the known formally both functionally parallel walls and historical sources, it seems obvious to regard the hajdú soldiers as the constructors of the fortified wall at Bódvaszilas.
In the beginning of the eighteenth century, during the possession of the Esterházy family, Bódvaszilas had become the center of their lordship; thus continuous re-buildings and constructions were made near the fortified wall.
Agronomical buildings were built up and attached to the outer side of the unfunctional fortified wall; the bases of these buildings were also found at the time of the archaeological investigations. Both the wall and the baroque church were built out in this century, just as they can be seen in nowadays.
T here is no certain archaeological evidence of the medieval church but there is evidence for previous structures,
built before the fortified wall; however it can be hardly identified clearly (Picture 5). The terrain pattern gives just a weak point to determine those basements as the medieval church.
Bódvaszilas is an interesting piece of a local history developed and investigated within a wider historical phenomenon.
Mainly Post-modern and Early Modern architectural elements revealed, but compared them with written and pictorial sources, – and focused on a wider context, – a changing settlement hierarchy displayed.

The Fortified Church of Mărtiniș in the light of the Archaeological Researches

The fortified church of Mărtiniș, which was besides Dârjiu the most important ecclesiastical fortification in the medieval Odorhei district (H. Udvarhelyszék, part of medieval Transilvania), was demolished during the 18-19th centuries.
The archaeological excavations that took place between 2011-2014 have been exploring the quasi half century long construction period, in the course of which the mother church, Mărtiniș and its five curacies (Chinușu, Locodeni, Aldea, Ghipeș, Comănești) transformed after 1613 their former church fence and gate tower to a fortification featuring a protecting wall with loopholes and defence towers. Altogether seven towers were erected in the surroundings of the protecting wall. They were not from the same phase, a part of them were built together with the wall, the later ones enhanced the aim of flanker. All but one of the defence towers had square form and two or three levels.
Contemporaneous written documents attest the fact that the church district’s subordination to strategic aims wasn’t exclusive, other buildings, with different functions were built behind the walls. The stone buildings identified during the archaeological excavations had underground levels, residential and storage functions. Moreover, the school’s wooden building, which was located outside the walls prior to 1625, was moved next to the western side of the gate tower, inside the fortification.
The archaeological excavations made at Mărtiniș gave basic historical building and strategically conclusions to further research and thus represent a significant step in the process of the church fortifications research in Szeklerland.

Le projet de réaménagement du centre bourg de Thairé d’Aunis et d’une partie de sa voirie est à l’origine d’un diagnostic archéologique réalisé par le Service d’Archéologie départementale. L’emprise de cette intervention, d’une superficie de 5 265 m2 divisée en deux secteurs (l’église = 3 840 m2 ; mairie = 1 425 m2), est implantée à une altitude moyenne de 14,13m NGF pour le secteur de la mairie et 16,12m NGF pour le secteur de l’église.

Le diagnostic a permis de mettre en évidence des vestiges de nature variée, datant depuis l’époque médiévale assez tardive jusqu’à l’époque contemporaine, du moins pour les structures auxquelles une datation a pu être attribuée. Sur la place de la mairie, seules des structures relativement récentes ont été dégagées. Ainsi, au centre de l’emplacement des anciennes halles détruites au début du XXe siècle ont été mises au jour les fondations d’une fontaine publique et de son canal d’alimentation. Dans la ruelle qui longe le bâtiment de la mairie, construit entre 1913 et 1914, ce sont les fondations de l’ancienne salle des fêtes, édifice public qui s’élevait à cet emplacement dès la première moitié du XIXe siècle et détruit au début des années 1970, qui ont été identifiées.

Il a été beaucoup plus difficile d’intervenir aux abords de l’église (Fig. 01), le sous-sol renfermant de très nombreux réseaux enterrés recensés sur les DICT ou non. Chaque sondage a permis de mettre en évidence plusieurs niveaux de remblais, qui parfois s’étendent sur une très grande partie de la place, attestant de plusieurs phases de remaniement du secteur au cours des époques médiévale et moderne. En raison de l’absence de mobilier et d’indices archéologiques, la majeure partie de ces remblais n’a pu être datée.

En outre, la découverte d’ossements humains épars en position secondaire dans plusieurs structures situées aux abords de l’église (Tr. 05 et 07) témoigne de l’existence d’un cimetière probablement médiéval, mais il est impossible d’en dire davantage tant le sous-sol a ici été remanié.

En Thiérache ardennaise, la plupart des églises fortifiées ont une “base” en gothique flamboyant datant du XVe siècle. Mais elles ne peuvent être véritablement comparées aux édifices du centre de la France. Rien de commun entre ces constructions conçues pour assurer une défense contre l’ennemi et protéger les habitants des attaques barbares et l'architecture gothique classique, lumineuse, tendue vers l'élévation céleste.
Vers la fin du XVIIe siècle, on verra s’élever des églises
aux allures défensives encore plus imposantes telles que celle
de Signy-le-Petit, au clocher extrêmement puissant et équipée
d’échauguettes d’angle et de mâchicoulis sur toutes les
fenêtres.