Social Stratification and Material Culture in 10th-14th Century Hungary

Social Stratification and Material Culture
in 10th_14th Century Hungary
J OZSEF LASZLOVSZKY
The material culture is a complex feature, and its changcs can be regarded
as a result of different influences, e. g. enviromental, economic, social, etc.
However, material culture cannot be used automatically or directly in the
reconstruction process of the structure of a given society.1 Similarly misleading
is the interpretation of the written sources which suggests that
their positivist research can lead to a static picture of the social organization.
2 In this comparative study I am concerned with the transformation
of social groups from the viewpoint of material culture. Therefore, we
should also summarize the following theoretical questions:
1 . Can we use the generally accepted historical categories in the course
of our research, and can we employ thern to describe the 10’h-14’h
century Hungarian society?
2. According to the material culture of the given period, can we create
new categories, which are more convenient in the reconstruction of
the social structure?
3. Is it possible to use both methods and compare their data with each
other?
SOCIAL STRUCTURE – HISTORICAL CATEGORIES
In the description of the 10’h-14’h century Hungariau society two different
ways can be followed: on the one hand, according to the terminology of social
groups of the conternporary written sources, to use these words in the
1 I. Hodder, „Material Culture Texts and Social Change: A Theoretical Discussion
and Some Archaeological Examples,“ Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 54 (1988),
67-75; id., Reading the Past (Cambridge, 1986).
2 From the Baltic to the Black Sea (Studies in Medieval Archaeology). Ed. D. Austin
and L. Alcock (One World Archaeology 18) London et al., 1990; see especially the
chapters by D. Austin, J. Thomas and T. C. Champion (9-91).
32
description; on the other hand, to create or to adopt historical categories
(landlord, serf, peasant etc.) which can be connected with theoretical ideas
and systems of the historical research. In the first case, we have to face the
problems of the interpretation of medieval written sources. Although medieval
charters, legends, chronicles contain a „bewildering plenty of titles
and social levels“3, they are not consequent in their use. These written
sources were not created for the reason of a historical interpretation, but
to put the legal acts or stories on record. On the other hand, theoretically
based historical categories and formations might cause misleading
uniformization, in which the special features of the given social structure
can be lost.
All these problems call for a new approach. One of the possible research
strategies can be the investigation of the related problems of the
material culture and the social structure.
The research of medieval material culture and everyday life has not
been regarded as an independent discipline for a long time, but as a kind of
illustration for the historical research of the Middle Ages. This trend was
even recently supported by profit-oriented book editions. Representative
pictoral books of the „Medieval World“ used the tools, clothes, furniture,
etc. of the period to make the presentation of historical ideas more splendid.
The independent research of medieval material culture and everyday
life changed this situation, and the institutes involved in these projects recently
published their works being based on social, economic and political
problems. In this process, medieval archaeology also played a prominent
role, since the discipline was influenced by crucial, new theoretical and
methodological ideas.
Medieval archaeology – or as it started, Christian archaeology – has
been regarded as a tool for history and art history. Its role was to excavate
buildings and materials to illustrate historical or art historical ideas,
changes of style, etc. Archaeologists faced the problem, „If everything is
written down already, why should we need archaeology in the medieval period?“
4 This old-fashioned idea of historical archaeology has been rejected
by the great expansion of medieval archaeology to historical fields since
3 C. Dyer, Standards of Living in the Later Middle Ages. Social Change in England c.
1200-1520 ( Cambridge Medieval Textbooks) Cambridge, 1989, 10.
4 Op. cit., note 2. See also: R. Hodges, „Method and Theory in Medieval Archaeology,“
Archeologia Medievale 7 (1982}, 7-38.
33
the 1960s. „The archaeologists have accumulated a mass of information,
almost embarassing in its sheer quautity, for the physical conditions of the
past – called ‚material culture‘ … . This refers not just to pottery, objects
of hone, stone and metal, and to the remains of houses, but also to human
bones ( which yield valuable information ab out the age of death and
disease) and to animal bones and plant remains.“5
The other main feature of modern archaeology were the theoretical
debates of the 1970-80s which are crucial from the viewpoint of our study.
The revolution of the New Archaeology and the emergence of independent
archaeological directions led also to publications involved in social problems.
Anthropological archaeology, old archaeology, ethno-archaeology,
etc. all have to face the problern of how to find connection between the
differences of the material culture (i. e. the finds) of different peoples or
groups and the social structure of the given society.6
This paper owes much to this growing importance of medieval archaeology
and the theoretical debates of „social stratification“ in archaeological
material. The interpretation of the wealths of the new evidence is still continuing,
and historians and archaeologists had to think again about some
of their assumptions on medieval material culture and social structure.
10TH_l4T“ CENTURY SociAL STRATIFICATION .
A RECONSTRUCTION BASED O N ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
Hungarian historiography has for a long time been pre-occupied with the
structure of Hungarian society in the Conquest period and the Arpadian
Age – the 10’h-13’h centuries.7 The positivist period of the close of the last
century saw the extensive discussion of these problems, since the literary
evidence, especially the critical edition of contemporary laws and charters,
involved problems of interpretation: for instance the contemporary
meaning of terms such as liber, libertinus, servus. This, necessarily, led
to a reconstruction of the social structure. That problern always stayed
in the foreground of Hungarian historiography, even though it was often
approached from various angles. Following World War II, the Marxist, or
very often vulgar-Marxist concept of dass struggle was the basis of these
5 Op. cit., note 3, 3.
6 See note 1 .
7 For the Iiterature on these problems see: A . Bartha – Gy. Szekely ( ed. ), Magyarorszag
törtenete. Elözmenyek es magyar törtenet 1242-ig (Budapest, 1984), 1625-1712.
34
studies.8 Nonetheless, there remained a problematic point in the study of
formations because even though feudalism became stabilized in Hungary
by the close of the 1 1 •h century, the emergence of classical dass structures,
e. g. the appearance of the serf dass or the emergence of manorial
system, can only be dated to the 14’b century.9 It is sim.ilarly difficult to
classify this period according to medieval orders since these had not fully
evolved at that time.10 We could attempt a reconstruction of the social
structure through a sociological approach, taking the „we“- or communityconsciousness
of various groups as a starting point. However, in this case
the documentary evidence, basically of legal nature, is of very little help.
Although there were legal acts of the social status in the 13’h century, the
sources of that transition period are not consequent in the use of terms like
nobiles, liber, libertinus, and they had different meanings – as we shall see
later. 11 The above clearly illustrated methodological and interpretational
problems involved in an analysis based solely on the historical sources,
in spite of the fact that even minor details of social evolution during the
period in question have by and large been clarified.
If we review the history of reserach into the social evolution of medieval
Hungary we can find considerable differences between the various
periods which reflect the extent to which the reconstruction of the social
scene was based on historical or archaeological evidence. The surviving
written sources from the Gonquest period practically offer no data whatsoever
on contemporary social structure, aside from a few remarks about
the duke and his immediate surrounding.12 Later chronicles, on the other
hand, tend to fill the gaps in their knowledge of the Gonquest period
8 A good example for this way of interpretation is the volume: Tanulmanyok a parasztsag
törtenetehez a 14. szazadban. Ed. Gy. Szekely (Budapest, 1953), which, in other
sense, is a remarkable work of Hungarian historiography.
9 I. Bolla, A jogilag egyseges jobbagyosztaly kialakulasa (Budapest, 1983); J. Szücs,
Megosztott parasztsag – egysegesülö jobbagys:ig. A paraszti tarsadalom atalakulasa a
13. szazadban (Paysannerie divisee – integration de Ia classe des serfs. Mutation de Ia
collectivite programme au XIII• siede) Szazadok, 1981, 3-66, 263-320.
10 A. Kurcz, Lovagi kultura Magyararszagen a 13-14. szazadban (Budapest, 1988),
17-65.
11 See note 9.
12 Scriptores Rerum Hungaricum tempore ducum regumque stirpis Arpadianae gestarum,
1-11. Ed. E. Szentpetery ( Budapest, 1937-38); Gy. Györffy, A magyarok elödeiröl
es a honfoglalasr6l. Kortarsak es kr6nikasok hirdasai (Budapest, 1986).
35
through the projection of considera.bly later conditions.13 This was one of
the rea.sons why there emerged a. tota.lly mistaken construction, picturing
the Conquest period Hunga.rians a.s an extremely wea.lthy, hourse-mounted
noma.dic people with foreign sla.ves.14 The first extremely la.vish Conquest
period finds seemed to offer archa.eologica.l support to this roma.ntic notion,
fuelled in pa.rt also by 19’h century poetry. The reports and a.ccounts of
Ara.bic a.nd Persia.n tra.vellers ha.d partly modified this extremely one-sided
picture of pre-Conquest Hungaria.n society15, but the reconstruction of the
socia.l structure of the Conquest period is funda.mentally based on the new
archaeological evidence, and prima.rily the analysis of cemetcries.16
By the end of the u•h century, however, the pagan hurials and large
cemeteries were usually no Ionger in use, and the poor finds from thc
church cemeteries are unsuitable for an analysis of this kind. On the
other hand, la.ws ha.ve survived from the beginning of the l l ‚h century
which contain information regarding socia.l stratificationY The laws of
the kings La.dislaus a.nd Coloma.n, the increasingly frequent cha.rters from
the 12’h century18 and the Varad Regestrum 19, a. register of ordeals in
Vara.d, offer a. fa.irly precise a.nd a.ccurate picture of social evolution in the
n•h-13’h centuries. Consequently, few attempts have been made at the
social interpretation of a.rchaeological finds.
There is an even greater wea.lth of literary evidcnce from the 14’h-16’h
centuries a.nd, tlms, the basis of social reconstruction remairred essentially
the same. The model of orders or classes can be usefully a.pplied from the
14’h century, since the emergence of both the feudal orders a.nd the legally
uniform serfdom can be traced to this period. At the same time, contem-
13 Gy. Györffy, „Anonymus tarsadalmi szemlelete,“ Eszmetörteneti tanulmanyok a magyar
közepkorr61. Ed. Gy. Szekely (Budapest, 1984), 71-81.
14 The splendid ceremonies of the „Milleneum“ in 1896 gave a strong support for this
kind of interpretation.
15 Gy. Györffy, op. cit. note 1 2 .
16 For the archaeological literature see: I. Banner – J. J akabbfy, Archäologische Bibliographie
des Mittel-Donau-Beckens (Budapest, 1954, 1961, 1968, 1981).
17 L. Zavodszky, A Szent Istvan, Szent Laszl6 es Kaiman korabeli törvenyek es zsinati
hatarozatok forrasai (Budapest, 1904).
18 Az Arpad-hazi kiralyok okleveleinek kritikai jegyzeke I-II/1. Ed. I. Szentpetery
(Budapest, 1923-43).
19 J. Karacsonyi – S. Borovszky, Varadi tüzesvaspr6ba Iajstrom ( Regestrum Varadiense
examinum ferri candentis) Budapest, 1903.
36
porary tax assessments and testaments would indicate that a considerable
financial stratification within the specific orders, legal units and dasses
was evolved and often transgressed these frameworks which is also amply
reflected in the material culture.20 This goes to show that it is impossible
to draw a general picture of a complex system, such as Medieval Hungarian
society, on the basis of randomly chosen factors, as there are legal unity
or dass, etc. This suggested the possibility of a similar approach to the
investigation of related problems in the .Ä.rpadian Age, since we have seen
that anlysis based on archaeological evidence has yielded basically novel
information both for the preceding and the ensuing periods.
One of the most widely discussed issues in contemporary analysis of
social history is that of pre-dassical dass formations, i. e. communities
which already show social stratification. The terms ‚ranked and stratified
societies‘ have mainly been reserved for prehistoric research and, thus,
these social reconstructions are primarily based on the archaeological evidence.
21 Similar social phenomena, however, have also been noted in the
later periods, and the period preceding the emergence of feudal states
show numerous related features. It may suffi.ce to quote the analysis of the
Anglo-Saxon period or medieval gateway communities. 22 A comparison
between the former and the social relations of the .Ä.rpadian Age reveals
numerous similar traits, and, thus, a social reconstruction based on the
archaeological evidence is undoubtedly justified.
Before surveying the social evolution in the 1 1 •h -13’h centuries, let us
review the social stratification of the Gonquest period and Arpadian Age,
and the methods employed in their study.
It was Gyula Laszl6 who in the 1940s first attempted to reconstruct
Gonquest period society on the basis of excavated cemeteries. He had
a concept of ‚reanimating‘ these cemeteries, since he considered them to
20 A. Kurcz, op. cit., note 10; E. Fügedi, Castle and Society in Medieval Hungary
1000-1437 (Budapest, 1986); A. Kubinyi, „Die Rolle der Archäologie und der Urkunden
bei der Erforschung des Alltagslebens in Spätmittelalter,“ Etudes historiques hongroises
publiees a l’occasion du XVI• Congres International des Seiences Historiques
I (Budapest, 1985), 6 1 5-644; K. Csillery, „A Jakaskultura tarsadalmi retegek szerinti
differencial6dasa [Die Differenzierung der Wohnkultur nach sozialen Schichten],“ Ethnographia
XCVI (1985), 173-21 1 .
21 C . Renfrew – J. Shennan (eds.), Ranking, resource and exchange ( C ambridge, 1982).
22 R. Hodges, „The evolution of gateway communities: their socio-economic implications,“
in: op. cit., note 21.
37
have been accurate reßections of the contemporary life. However, only few
cemeteries were known at the time, most of which had not fully been excavated.
Nonetheless, there emerged an extremely interesting picture: the
cemeteries containing an average of 25 hurials situated in one or several
rows suggested a social organization based on extended farnilies. He also
found ethnographic parallels to this, which led to the partly erroneous
conclusion that this was the characteristic social unit of the Conquest
period Hungarians.23 The method itself proved to be extremely fruitful,
and the nurober of well excavated and accurately observed cemeteries increased
considerably. Bela Szöke’s recognition that the poor cemeteries,
containing several hundred – occasionally over a thousand – hurials which
had formerly been assigned to the Bielo Brdo culture should be associated
with the Conquest period Hungarians, was based on these newly excavated
cemeteries.24 The role of those cemeteries was subject to heated discussions
in which the main arguments were, unfortunately, of nationalistic or
political nature. It is by now fairly clear that these cemeteries contain
graves of lO’h-11 •h century commoners, composed of a large population
already subjugated by the time of the Conquest and the conquered local
population of varying ethnicity.
The archaeological and anthropological analysis of these cemeteries
clearly showed that the basic social unit of this population was the nuclear
family.25 This was furthermore supported by the excavated houses of the
contemporary settlements. 26
A comparison of the various forms of burial in the lO’h-11 •h centuries
clearly outlined the main groups of social stratification. The graves of
the members of tribal and clan Ieaders and their family are to be found
singly, sometimes under a burial mound. The cemeteries with 10-30 graves
contained the hurials of the military retinue of the leading stratum. The
23 Gy. Laszl6, A honfoglal6 magyar nep elete (Budapest, 1944).
24 B. Szöke, A honfoglal6 es kora Arpad-kori Magyarcrszag emlekei (Budapest, 1962).
25 K. Ery, „Anthropological Studies on a Tenth Century Population at Kai, Hungary,“
Anthropologia Hungarica IX (1970), 9-62; id., „Reconstruction of the Tenth Century
Population of Sarbogard on Basis of Archaeological and Anthropological Data,“ Alba
Regia VIII-IX (1967-68), 93-148; id., „Anthropological Examination of a Tenth Century
Population at Tengelic, Hungary,“ Anthropologia Hungarica X (1971) , 49-90.
26 I. Balassa, A paraszthaz evszazadai !Jahrhunderte des Bauernhauses]. Bekescsaba,
1985.
38
commoners rested in the large cemeteries containing of many rows. The
rnore detailed investigation of these cerneteries and the early toponyrns also
contributed towards a better knowledge of further stratification within the
ruling elite and the specific form of social organization. Grown-up male
children frorn wealthier farnilies, e. g., moved away after marriage, and only
the smallest boy remained at home, inheriting the patrirnony. The hurials
of such male children succeeding their fathers have been unearthed in several
places, and the practice of this custom has been arnply docurnented
in cerneteries. In other cases, the forrner household was run by the woman
outliving her family, a custom likewise reconstructed from observations
rnade in cerneteries. Poligamy was occasionally practised in the highest
ranking layer. However, only the chief’s wife was buried alongside her
husband, lesser wives were usually buried near their former abode.
The burial grounds of the highest ranking farnilies also include the
graves of their personal servants, who were buried alongside the rnernbers of
the family, usually at the edge of the grave rows or cemetery. These hurials
were rarely provided with grave goods and the deceased were sometimes
buried in a contracted position.
lmportant observations were rnade ab out the structure of family in the
cemeteries of the rniddle layer. It would appear that nuclear farnilies also
appeared alongside extended families. The largest numbers of hurials were
unearthed in the ‚cornmoners‘ cemeteries. The analysis of these cemeteries
definitely showed that there was further stratification also within this
layer. The silver mounts, the silver, electron jewellery and lock rings suggested
persons of higher rank, whereas hurials with single bronze lock rings
or without grave goods obviously represented the poorest layer of society.
It is, nonetheless, extremely difficult to draw a general picture of stratification
within the cornmoners. On the one hand, these cemeteries do not
readily lend themselves to cornparison with each other, and, on the other
hand, significant changes occurred during the 200 years of their use. This
obstade to the reconstruction of the society could only be overcorne with
the precise dating of various grave groups, whereby they could be realistically
compared. However, the difficulties in dating the various types of
this period do not rnake this possible, owing to their long usage.
Consequently we cannot distinguish a single assernblage or find type
for characterizing financial stratification within the ‚commoners‘ cerneterIes.
lt was formerly attempted to reconstruct the rank of the deceased on
39
the basis of arrowheads in his grave.27 However, this is clearly unreliable
because, even though the number of deposited arrowheads was undoubtedly
related to the rank of the deceased, no absolute criteria or numbers
can be established, since customs differed in this respect from community
to community, and it would be misleading to assume a schematization to
thls extent in the contemporary social relations. The presence of silver
lock-rings, dress ornaments or a mount-decorated belt is similarly unsuitable
for drawing general conclusions.
In the course of the 11 •h century, especially in its second half, a general
impoverishment regarding grave goods can be observed. This was formerly
associated with the spread of Christianity, with the prohibition of pagan
cults, resulting in the decrease of grave goods. A recent publication of
an 1 1 •h century grave – part of a heavily destroyed cemetery – also supported
thls idea.. In the grave at Rezi-Gyöngyösi csarda no grave goods
were buried with the male deceased, but 57 silver coins of king Andreas I
and of prince and later king Bela I from the second half of the 11 •h century
were found. The coins were very close to the left tibia, and it has
been suggested by the author of the publication that the coins must ha.ve
been in the grave because the man put this sum of money in his clothes
without the knowledge of his relatives before his death. According to this
interpretation, the Iack of grave goods does not show the low social status
of the buried person in this period, but the growing importance of Christianity.
The value of the coins was about the price of a draught animal,
and we know some other examples, where not one piece of coin ( obulus)
was buried with the deceased but a great sum of money.28 These examples
clearly support the idea that the reconstruction of social stratification cannot
only be based on the interpretation of grave goods in the 1 1 •h century
cemeteries. However, the process of impoverishment regarding grave goods
cannot be explained with the single factor of the inftuence of Christianity.
lt can be observed that grave goods associable with pagan rites, such as
horse burials, the deposition of food and beverage in vessels, etc., do in
fact decrease by the 1 1 th century. Some of these customs transformed in
the later period, e. g., horses were not killed in the burial process but were
given to the church. However, the decrease in the number of the jewellery
27 I. Dienes, Hungarians cross the Carpathians (Budapest, 1972).
28 R. Müller, „XI. szazadi sir Rezi-Gyöngyösi csardanal,“ Zalai Gyüjtemeny 26 (1987),
75-81.
40
and dress ornaments can in no way be explained by the spread of Christianity
since there is no ecclesiastic decree prohibiting their deposition,
even more so, since these are not grave goods in the strict sense, but parts
of the costume and coiffure, etc. Several paragraphs are devoted to the
prohibition of pagan costumes in the 11 •h century laws, but these do not
contain prohibitions of this kind.29 It has been suggested that ecclesiastic
prohibitions only extended to the custom of cremation. On the other
hand, burial grounds with rows of graves – cemeteries of the commoners
with a great nurober of graves from the 1 1 •h century, and in marginal areas
even from the 12’h century – have been regarded by archaeologists as
pagan burials, while the graves in the cemeteries around the churches –
i. e. consecrated area – were regarded as indication of the spread of Christianity
from the beginning of the 11th century. Such cemeteries started
also in the second half of the 1 1 •h century, and in marginal areas even in
the 12’h century.30 Unfortunately, this clear picture, suggested by a former
generation of scholars, can also be rejected, since neglected historical
data and new archaeological excavations do not support such a one-sided
interpretation. In the Ionger version of the Legenda S. Gerhardi Episcopi
which contains important data on the life of the 1 1 •h century bishop, who
played a significant role in the foundation of the Hungarian church, we can
read about this problem: Factum est autem, cum episcopus egredetur cum
fratribus suis suam visitare dyocesim, ut consecraret eorum cymiteria, qui
erant ecclesias constructuri [ . . . ] .31 This clearly suggests that some of the
cemeteries regarded by archaeologists as pagan burial grounds were consecrated
cemeteries. The pagan uprisings of the 11 •h century very often
destroyed the churches built by these communities, as it was recorded in
late 1 1 •h century laws. Archaeological data also suggest that the ruins of
these early churches can hardly be found because of their light structure.
Thus, the clear distinction between burial grounds with rows of graves and
cemeteries around churches, i. e. between pagan and Christian cemeteries,
does not really exists. This conclusion makes it even more difficult to ex-
29 Op.cit., note 17.
30 L B6na, „Arpadenzeitliche Kirche und Kirchhof im südlichen Stadtgebiet von Dunaujvaros,“
Alba Regia XVI (1978), 99-157.
31 Op. cit., note 1 2 , 11/495; Kurze Geschichte Siebenbürgens. Ed. B. Köpeczi (Budapest,
1989), 154-174, 700.
41
plain the impoverishment of grave goods in the l l •h century cemeteries
and the factors of this process.
An interesting parallel can be drawn in this respect with Anglo-Saxon
development in the 7’h century, where similar phenomena have been observed.
Anglo-Saxon society underwent considerable changes in this period:
On the testimony of the burials, memhers of the ruling elite amassed
considerahle fortunes, and they can be distinguished from the commoners
huried in !arge communal cemeteries also on the hasis of their hurials.
They were often huried in distingwshed places within the church. Later
on, however, some sort of impoverishment can also be noted among the
hurials of higher ranking persons, even though their hurials still indicate a
greater wealth than those of persons huried in other grave rows. Formerly,
this phenomenon had simlarly been associated with the spread of church
power, hut it would appear that other factors must also he considered since
contemporary pagan mound hurials show similar signs of impoverishment
and since there is no indication w hatsoever, wether the church exerted an
infiuence on this matter.32
It would appear that another explanation must be sought for these
chronologically and spatially far distant, but essentially similar phenomena
of impoverishment. We can probably assume a period of introversion
following social changes and transformations in social stratification, perhaps
coupled with the diminution or exhaustion of external resources and
a general precariousness of life, affecting a !arge segment of population. Interna!
struggles and revolts, and also the late 11 •h century laws of Hungary
are clear indications of this.33
The implication of this process for the prohlems investigated in this
paper is that detailed analysis of cemeteries as a research strategy for
gaining information on the social structure is hardly useful in the study
of periods following the second half of the 1 1 •h century. The hurials of
the 12’h-13’h centuries are too poor as to be suitable for social analysis. 34
Graves of the ruling elite are to be found in the distinguished spots within
the church. Kings were usually interred in the Szekesfehervar basilica or
32 J. C. Arnold, „Stress and stimulus for socio-economic change: Anglo-Saxon England
in the seventh century,“ in: op. cit., note 21.
33 Op. cit, note 17.
34 Op. cit., note 30.
42
in the church or cloisters actively supported by them.35 There is evidence
of the foundation of cloisters by noblerneu with a similar purpose in mind
already from the 1 1 ‚“ century onwards. This practice later became almost
general and a network of clan monasteries evolved throughout the
land. These burials, however, seldom yielded significant grave goods, and
the rank of the deceased is usually indicated by objects symbolizing their
power: crowns, rings, etc. Likewise, gravestones offer little by the way of
substantial information in this respect.36
On the testimony of historical sources, Arpadian Age peasant society
in the 1 1 ‚“-13′“ century was an intricately structured, strongly stratified
formation. As it was common in medieval Europe, „contemporaries tended
to describe their own society in terms of many subtle gradations of status,
emphasizing vertical divisions, such as between clergy and laity, or between
free and unfree. They also recognized the importance of horizontal stratification,
as can be seen from their use of economic function (such as that
workers in the three orders theory) … . „37 In 1 1 ‚“-13′“ century Hungary
the social status of individual persons and groups was determined by their
legal status, the extent of their feudal servitude and personal bondage, and
the possession of a private property. The diversity is further emphasized
by the fact that, depending on their type of holding, the various categories
denoted different relations. The royal castle estates, forming the basis
of royal authority and administration, and the crown estates, which can
be regarded as the sovereign ’s private property, formed entirely separate
systems. There are, likewise, considerable differences between the social
forms of ecclesiastic and secular private estates. This complex system is
further complicated by the fact that various terms had different meanings
within various groups. The lowest layer was characterized by a service
( servus) relation but, at the same time, members of the royal council were
similarly in a servants‘ relation to the king. The expression serf – iobagio which
from the 14′“ century onwards was used to denote one basic dass of
the feudal system, the peasants, is at this time used to denote a somewhat
35 On the royal graves in popular style: I. Hank6, A magyar kir<ilysirok sorsa (Budapest,
1987).
36 L. Gerevich, A pilisi ciszterci apatsag !Die Zisterzienser Abtei von Pilis] . Szentendre,
1984.
37 Op. cit., note 3, 35.
43
better position within a certain layer: the highest ranking group within
the men of free legal status on royal estates.
The generic term servus covered rnen of highly diverse status: the lowest
was the real servant of full bondage, who hardly enjoyed more rights
than the slaves of classical antiquity. His Iord could sell or purchase him as
he pleased, his family ties remairred unrecognized and they were assessed
individually, not according to families. Another group had to render service
„beside the plough“ , thus their task was somewhat more precisely
circumscribed, it did not extend to any kinds of work. There were also persons
who were obliged to perform special duties – ploughman, vinedressers
-, and servi appeared with their own house or lauded property, who had
transgressed the Iimits of servitude. The next large layer comprised the
freed persous, the liberti and libertini. They bought their freedom or were
mauumitted by their Iords to various degrees of freedom in exchange for
a certain sum of compensation. The mainfold interpretation of libertas is
also to be found among the freeman, since the „freeman of the church“ in
fact enjoyed but limited freedom. On the other hand, persons who held
irnportant posts in the royal castle organization or persons who possessed
relatively large estates, a village or part of a village and servant families,
were similarly included in the category of liber legal status.
The mid 13’h century saw large-scale social transformation. The political
movements which led to the issue of the Hungarian Golden Bull were
paralleled by the movements in the uppermost social layers. A specific reorganization
or, more precisely, a tendency towards uniformization can be
observed in the peasant population. The role of the middle Jayer became
rnore important: a part of their personal bondage remained unaltered,
but the nature of their bondage and their conditio were more precisely
circumscribed. The libertas of hospes population increased and became a
desirable goal for other layers. The growth of agricultural productivity,
coupled with an emergent market economy and commodity production,
gradually ousted the predia, based on servus Labor, from the economic
scene. The labour productivity could no Ionger be increased through this
layer. The process led to the emergence of legal uniform serfdom in the
14’h century which for certain formerly existing layers involved a rise in
status, and for others a decline. However, this layer was already financially
stratified at the moment of its emergence. At the same time, the
uppermost layer of rural population rose to the rank of noblemen who by
that time had organized their order. The social conditions of the mid-13’h
44
century, thus, still preserved elements of the strongly stratified formations
of the preceding Arpadian Age, in terms of legal status and bondage, but
at the same time revealed the formative traits of a later uniformization. 38
It has been shown before that the evidence from cemeteries is unsuitable
for refining the picture of contemporary society reconstructed on the
testimony of written sources.39
Other types of archaeological evidence, the coin hoards of the Arpadian
Age, certain jewellery types, the material culture in general and
especially the settlement pattern provide a further source of information.
Former archaeological research has by and large neglected to exploit the
possibilities offered by these sources and few analysis in this respect presented
only tentative conclusions.
The most significant among these sources are the coin hoards, especially
those from the 13’h century. However, the scholars engaged in their
study mostly focused on the numismatic evaluation of these hoards and
possible conclusions about monetary history. Apart from Bcilint H6man’s
pioneering study, this latter aspect had also been mainly neglected.40 Studies
presenting possible social conclusions based on recently found or reevaluated
coin hoards are sorely lacking. Thus, in the following, only a
few studies can be quoted in this respect.
N. Panidi analysed those medieval coin hoards which were buried in
pots, and he also discussed certain related problems. 41 This source of information
is especially suitable for the reconstruction of social history, since
coin hoards buried in pots can be generally regarded as closed assemblages,
insofar as the find circumstances also support this. Taking them as separate
units they can provide information on the financial situation of a
person or a family. Panidi tried to determine the values of these hoards
in relation to contemporary price conditions, and he drew the following
conclusion: „We are uncertain about the owners of earlier periods, the
1l’h-12’h century, but there are reasons for identifying them with members
of the lower classes and layers (serfs, craftsmen, tradesmen) to the extent
that they became engaged in the emergent commodity production and
38 Op. cit., note 9.
39 Op. cit., note 30.
40 B. Heman, Magyar penztörtenet (Budapest, 1916).
41 N . Paradi, „Magyarorszagi penzleletes közepkori cserepedenyek [Poteries medievales
hongroises contenants des rnonnaies],“ Archaeol6gia Ertesitö 90 (1963), 205-252.
45
money economy. All the same, the owners of Arpadian Age assemblages
could hardly have belonged to the lower layers of society. The 12’h-13’h
century assemblages, especially those hidden at the time of the Mongol
invasion, definitely include the treasures of lugher ranking persons. We
also know of a few Arpadian Age finds, e. g. the Richardpuszta assemblage
from the 12’h century, which definitely suggest a wealthy person, perhaps
a rich merchant“ .42
N. Paradi also studied the 13’h century jewellery hoards which consisted
mainly of widely worn types, often buried together with coins, a
feature wich made them especially suitable for archaeological research. He
also attempted to define the social status of their owners. These jewels
are fairly uniform in the sense that they were wrought from precious
metals, and in terms of their craftmanship. They are easily distinguishable
from the personal ornaments, often highlighted with stone inlays or
enamel-decoration, of the ’nobility‘. Moreover, the latter were never buried
together with money. The widespread use of the jewels contradicts to the
possibility that they belonged to higher-ranking persons. At the same
time, their worn conditions, indicating a long period use, argues against
the possibility that they were part of a trade’s merchandise. The majority
of these finds came to light in villages; consequently, their owners belonged
to the rural segment of Arpadian Age society which already had contact
with the emergent commodity production and money economy.43
The same group of assemblages was later discussed by K. Mesterhazy
when he studied the precious metal variants of the commoners‘ ornaments:
the gold and electron S-terminalled lock rings. He suggested that these can
in no way be associated with the attire of the commoners and, accepting
N. Paradi’s conclusions, they neither can be linked to the nobility. He
associated these finds with those peoples of unspecified status who are
frequently mentioned in the Varad Regestrum. They cannot be regarded
as members of the lower nobility, since that dass had not evolved yet, but
they were probably freeman possessing a smaller estate or village part with
42 Op. cit., note 41.
4 3 N . Paradi, „Penzekkel keltezett XIII. szazadi ekszerek. A Nyaregyhaza-Pusztap6tharaszti
kincslelet [Münzdatierte Schmuckstücke aus dem 13. Jahrhundert. Der Schatzfund
von Nyaregyhaza-Pusztap6tharaszt] ,“ Folia Archaeologia XXVI (1975), 119-163.
46
a few servant families. They can perhaps be identified with the lower layer
of court or castle people.44
A more detailed statistical analysis of .Arpadian Age coin hoards can
provide information on the further stratification of the rural population.
However, certain prerequisites must be met, since, only in this case, the
results thus obtained can be considered representative. On the one hand,
a considerable high number of hoards is needed, and on the other hand
it has to be proved that, in the period in question, money economy had
fl.ourished to such an extent that coin hoards formed the basis of thesauration
among the rural population. Several coin hoards are known from the
11 •h-12’h centuries, but their evaluation presents several diffi.culties because
the value and the purity of the silver in these coins was under constant
change, and, beside Hungarian copper coins, Byzantine copper and gold
coins were also in circulation. 45 The comparison is not an easy task, and
our knowledge of the price of various commodities is so scanty that the
buying value of these coins is practically undefinable.46 Nonetheless, it is
fairly clear that there was no money economy – in general – in the 11’h
century, and there are only sporadic indications of such in the 12’h century.
At the same time, the constant deprecation of money in the 12’h century
resulted in the increasing use of pure silver, another disturbing factor in the
evaluation of emergent money circulation. Contrarywise, the coin hoards
of the 13’h century offer an almost ideal analytical basis. A large number
of hoards are known from this period which in themselves imply a large
scale circulation. (Comparable rich hoards are known from 9’h-10th century
Scandinavia.) The majority of these hoards can be assigned to the
Friesach hoard type, i. e. they rnostly contained Friesach coins. Most of
these hoards were buried at the time of Mongoi invasion, thus they represent
a specific chronological horizon and are readily comparable with
each other in terms of value. As a consequence of the constant deprecation
of rnoney in the 12’h century, Hungarian silver coins which in the
1 1 •h century reached extremely faraway markets, disappeared from exter-
44 K. Mesterhazy, „Köznepi ekszerek nemesfem valtozata.i: arany S-vegü hajkarikak
[Edelmetallvarianten von Schmuckstücken des Gemeines Volkes: Goldene Schläfenringe
mit S-förmigen Ende],“ Alba Regia XX (1983), 143-153.
45 I. Gedai, „Fremde Münzen im Karpatenbecken aus dem 1 1 .-13. Jahrhundert,“ Acta
Archaeologica Hungarica 21 (1969), 105-148.
46 Ibid.
47
nal money circulation, and from the close of the 12’h century onwards we
witness the appearance of foreign coins in Hungary. Most numerous among
those are the high quality silver coins, the so-called Friesach coins, minted
in various mints of Styria by various persons. These became so widespread
in the 13’h century that even the Hungarian king demanded that certain
sums must be paid with this money, rather than with the coins of inferior
quality issued by himself.47 One Friesach coin was found, e. g., in a 13’h
century deserted house of an isolated farmstead in the Great Hungarian
Plain. The poor quality of archaeological material of this house can also
support the conclusion that Friesach coins were used as exchange tools
even by the poorest layer of society.48 lt yet remains to be established
which social layer hid these hoards at the time of the Mongol invasion.
One of the most valuable documents from this period, Rogerius‘ ‚Song of
Lamentations‘, contains the following passage w hen relating the siege of
Esztergom: „The Hungarians, the Waltons and the Lombards, who were
the lords of the city, upon seeing that they could no Ionger hold themselves
[ … ) burnt countless precious textiles and garments [ .. . ) the gold and silver
they buried in the earth, hiding all their valuables.“49 This passage would
suggest that the persons burying these hoards belonged to the wealthiest
layers or were rieb merchants. I. Gedai, who devoted an exhaustive study
to the circulation of foreign coins in Arpadian Age Hungary, was evidently
of similar opinion since he associated these hoards with the major trade
routes and trading centres.50 Nonetheless, there is evidence indicating that
this is a rather restricted view. Demographie analyses have clearly shown
that there exists a phenomenon called ‚inequality before death‘ in certain
historical situations, e. g. times of war, the rage of an epidemic, etc., in
which lower layers tend to be more affected by these plights. 51 Likewise,
at the time of the Mongoi invasion, the highest ranking nobles had better
prospects of escaping to the other countries, like the Hungarian king and
his court escaped to an island of the Dalmatian coast. Widely-travelled
merchants who had excellent sources of information about the Mongoi invasion
and good connections throughout the continent also found it easier
47 lbid.
48 Unpublished excavation at Tiszaug-Kisretpart.
49 T. Katona (ed.), A tatarjaras emlekezete (Budapest, 1981), 144.
50 Op. cit., note 45.
51 E. A. Wrigley, Nepesedes es törtenelem (Budapest, 1973).
48
to abandon their homes. As the young nobiles escaped from the town
in Bocaccio’s Decameron in the time of epidemic, highest ranking people
could easily run away with their coaches and horses carrying their most
valuables things with them. On the other band, the rural population who
was strongly linked to the soil had fewer such possibilities. This population
could, at the most, flee to nearby artificial or natural hiding places,
burying their valuables before the flight. But they bad to return from
their hiding places after a short time, because the villages and the fields
were the basis of their everyday life. This was especially characteristic of a
somewhat wealthier layer that already possessed a !arger sum of money or
jewellery which could, e. g., be deposited into a pot and wich would have
hindered their flight. The insignificant riches of the poorest layer hardly
exceeded an amount which could not have been carried along in a purse,
and these, therefore, were rarely buried.
The historical evidence supports tbe assumption that the hiders of
these hoards included numerous peasants who had been actively engaged
in money economy. By the mid-13’h century a number of monasteries
and private landowners demanded that certain deliveries be redeemed in
money. This development most probably first occurred in and around
major trading and craft centres52 , as indicated by the 12’h-13’h century
Friesach hoards. This appears to be a more likely explanation for the more
frequent occurrence of hoards in these areas. The hiders of those hoards
need not necessarily have been merchants.
I made a study of social implications of these hoards with two basic
objectives in mind: to establish whether certain groups can be statistically
distinguished, and to estimate the value represented by the hoards. I obtained
the following results in the case of hoards consisting exclusively of
coins. The majority of the hoards, 60-70 %, range between 50 and 500
coins. Even though smaller hoards have also been found, it is doubtful
whetber all coins were collected. Several subgroups can be distinguished
within this category: assemblages containing less than 100 coins, and assemblages
containing 150-400 coins. Within the latter group, there is a
weak internal borderline which can be drawn at around 250 coins. Assernblages
containing over 500 coins constitute about 30-40 % of the hoards.
One subgroup in this category ranges between 700 and 1500 coins, the next
between 2000-2500 coins, the third around 4000 and the fourth around
52 Op. cit., note 45.
49
8000 coins. Those latter represent about the same proportion. This statistical
compilation does contain certain sources of error since the majority
of hoards were not retrieved to the last coin, and in some cases a part of the
l10ard remained in the hands of its modern finders. In other cases, ploughing
displaced the coins and again only a part could be collected. Therefore,
in order to control the above results, I also analysed those hoards which
can be regarded as complete, either because their findspot was extensively
investigated, or because they were found in intact pots and their finders
can be trusted to have handed over all coins. This is not the occasion
to Iist all these hoards and present their critical survey. The statistical
analysis of the hoards revealed that the above subgroups according to the
nurober of coins are by and large the same, the only difference being that
the proportion of assemblages ranging between 50-500 coins to the others
is 50 : 50 %. This appears to refiect more realistically the actual situation,
since the incompletely collected hoards obviously raise the proportion of
the subgroup with fewer coins.
Let us now review the contemporary value of these hoards. According
to N. Paradi, who based his conclusions on B. Homan’s studies on the
history of prices, the purchase value of some 13’h century hoards was the
following:53
Abony
Örkenypuszta
Hajduszoboszlo·Aranyszeg
Nagytarcsa
Balkany-Abapuszta
52 coins = 1 ox or 1 and half buckets of ale
57 coins = 1 cattle or 3 buckets of ale
770 coins = a place for mill with house plot
and pasture
4707 coins = 37 oxen or two coats of mail
7549 coins = 1 house in the town of Veszprem
and 32 acres of land betonging to it
The smallest hoards represented the value of 1 or 2 draught animals,
whereas !arger ones were equivalent to the value of considerable holdings.
The lowest category (50-400) at the most covered the costs of acquiring
the necessary draught animals. On the other hand, the upper boundary
of this tategory came near the average price of a servant. At the same
time, the price of a war horse is comparable to the value represented by
assemblages of 700-1500 coins in the next category. 54
53 Op. cit., note 41.
54 For the publications of the hoards see: F. M. Fejer – L. Huszar, Bibliographia Numis-
50
Another type of hoard contains coins and jewellery. If considering only
the nurober of coins in the estimation of their value, we find approximately
the same categories as in the case of coin hoards. The composition of these
jewels, e. g. the proportion of male and female fingerrings, suggests that
they were the valuables of a single family, even though they were probably
also worn. They also played a thesaurational role.55 This is, moreover, indicated
by the presence of silver nuggets, jewellery fragments and polished
gems in these hoards. I shall quote a few characteristic assemblages of this
type:
The Abony find, already mentioned before, contained 2 silver buckles
and 2 silver nuggets beside the coins. The Zalaszentgrot assemblage, which
can be dated to the turn of the 14’h century, contained 85 Viennese pfennige,
3 ornamented silver rings and buckles. These were the characteristic
cheap jewels of the period, and can be simply regarded as the heirlooms of
a less wealthy family. Most of these hoards were similarly family heirlooms
amassed over a few generations. The doi:ci􀍅ance of money and jewellery
varied in the middle category, but regardless of what dominated the hoard,
their value was practically equal. The Nyaregyhaza-Pusztpotharaszt hoard
contained 1757 coins, a pair of silver and electron bracelets, several silver
and electron rings, an electron lock ring, and polished rock crystal. It can
thus be assigned to a wealthier group. Similarly rich hoards, but without
coins, have also been recovered {Tiszaörveny). It would, nonetheless,
appear that hoards with the highest nurober of coins contained relatively
modest jewels, and the thesauration was based rather on money. 56
In associating these hoards with social layers, the most fruitful approach
appears to be the study of the richest hoards. We have seen that
these differ considerably from the jewels of the ’nobility‘ and they are
basically more sophisticated variants of the trinkets of the commoners.
Unfortunately, none of these can be linked to definite historical persons,
the first such find comes from the 14’h century. One of the silver discs of
the Kiskunhalas-Fehert6 hoard bears the inscription Magister Sinka, who
is known to have been active at the beginning of the 14’h century at the
royal court. He was endowed with land in recognition of his services in
maticae Hungaricae (Budapest, 1977), 73-89, the publications in the „Numizmatikai
Közlemenyek“, and op. cit., note 45.
55 Op. cit., note 43.
56 Ibid.
51
war, and he belonged to the first generation of an emergent political power.
Likewise, one of the finds in the Kelebia hoard reveals that its owner was
the wife of Pal who, after holding several important posts, became the
head of the queen’s court.57 The nature of these hoards differs from the
13’h century ones, not only because there were changes in fashion, but also
since they belonged to another social dass. Similarly to the observations
made regarding the precious metal variants of ‚commoners‘ jewels or trinkets,
it would appear that the owners belonged to a layer whose social
designation – liber – did not adequately express the wealth in their posession
as a consequence of their involvement in money economy. The owners
of the hoards containing over 1000 coins can probably be sought in the
groups of differing wealth of this layer, whose legal definition does present
some diffi.culties. They were persons who, during the social upheavals of
the 13’h century, acquired considerable estates and become a distinct, but
not the highest-ranking group of the later nobility.
The owners of hoards smaller than the above can be identified confidently
with members of the rural population. The stratification reflected
by these hoards, however, is by no means as complex and multilaterally
subordinate as implied by the historical sources. Thus, the financial stratification
did not necessarily express social status in classical sense. There is
increasing evidence for similar phenomena in the later Middle Ages. At the
same time, contemporary sources also offer examples of this phenomenon,
since whe know manumission where the former servant paid a sum of 5
marks for his freedom. In other words, in spite of being servant, he managed
to acquire enough wealth which, in terms of hoard, would correspond
to one of about 1000 coins. The dichotomy is even more striking considering
that the gross production of an average peasant economy corresponded
to about 1.5 rnarks.
This financial stratification among the middle and lower classes of the
rural population in fact generated considerably less layers than implied by
the legal terms employed in the written source. The same can be concluded
from the study of the houses and the material culture of rural Settlements.
A significant example for the complex problems of the 12’h-13’h century
social stratification and for the rclated conditions of the material
culture are the sources of the canonization process of Saint Margaret, the
57 M. Zsambeky, „14-15. szazadi magyarorszagi kincsleletek [Schatzfunde aus dem 14.-
15. Jahrhundert aus Ungarn],“ Müveszettörteneti Ertesitö 23 {1983), 105-129.
52
daughter of King Bela IV. According to the reports of the miracles, Niealaus
de Tarnach lived in the village Nevegy in 1270. He had moved to
this place from the woodland area of Nograd, and started to keep animals
in the area of the village Nevegy. The animal busbandry must have been
a good business for him, because vast areas of free greens and meadows
were around the village. On the other hand, the market of Pest played an
important role in the economic life of the region, thus Nicolaus could sell
his animals there. He lived in a small one-roomed house nearby the village
which was in the hand of daminus Veligh. The village consisted of five
houses of the people of daminus Veligh, and they were in servus status.
Nicolaus lived with his family on the edge of the village in his house which
was as far from the other houses as quantum passet sagittare u.nus hama
cum arcu. On the 1 1th of November 1271 his daughter died. She had a
twin boy brother, one sister and another brother. Three weeks later the
mother found that the twin boy, Sebastian, had died in the house in the
middle of the night. She started to cry and her husband, qui iacebam in
curte, prape animalia nastra, went into the house. The mother started
to pray and asked Saint Margaret for help, and after some hours the boy
became alive. He had been lying on the floor nearby the open fire place
for these hours.58
The story is very significant since it gives important details on the
everyday life of Nicolaus. The house must have been very similar to the
typical one-roomed house of the Arpadian Age, with an oven or an open
fire place. However, we do not know whether it was a sunken hut or
not. The animals must have been kept in farm buildings at night which
are well known from ethnographic studies of the Great Hungarian Plain,
and which were recently excavated in an isolated farmstead. The whole
situation Iooks very similar to the house, open fire-place, oven, pen and
other farm buildings and ditches excavated at Kengyel. 59
In the canonization process, Nicolaus and the members of his family
were asked interesting questions which shed light on the complex social
situation of this transformation period. Concerning the question of their
social status they gave significant answers. Gunig, the wife of Nicolaus,
interragata si est libera, vel ancilla, respandit: Libera et nabilis, while
58 Monumenta Romana Episcopi Vespremiensis, I. Ed. V. Fraknoi, 325-330.
59 J. Laszlovszky, „Einzelhofsiedlungen in der Arpadenzeit,“ Acta Archaeologica Hungarica
37 (1986), 227-257.
53
Nicolaus, interrogatus, si est servus, vel liber, respondit: Non sum servus.
Their daughter Anguilla answered in a third way: libera. Similar differences
can be seen in their answers of the questions about their financial
status. The wife of Nicolaus, interrogata, si maritus est dives, vel pauper,
respondit: Satis dives. The daughter answered: Nec dives, nec pauper.
(She spoke about her husband, since she had already married.) Nicolaus
answered again in a different way and said: Non sum dives.60 He was,
however, or became an extremely rich person, as we can follow his life
from some charters. In 1297, Nicolaus de Nevegy, who must have been the
same person, sold his land to the nuns of the Margaret Island for 27 marks,
which is an extremely high price. Thus, in this microhistorical context of
the personal life of Nicolaus, we can dernarrstrate the crucial social transformations
of the late 13’h century, but we can also make attention to the
fact that the social and the legal status, the living standards and qualities
and the material culture of a given persau were not necessarily adequate
to each other.
The same can be concluded from the study of the houses and the
material culture of the rural settlements. The excavations conducted on
settlements of the Arpadian Age have not revealed significant differences
in domestic architecture on the basis of which houses of the servus population
can be distinguished. This is all the more striking since contemporary
written sources and the dimensions of excavated houses imply nuclear families,
whereas a family structure can in no way be assumed for a part of
the servus population.
The excavations of the early small, privately owned „castles“ (mottetype
buildings, early feudal private castles, small castles, castles without
history, etc.) have also revealed a great number of new problems, since
this t/’pe of building can hardly be connected with a given stratum of the
late Arpadian Age society. 61
We can finally conclude that there is a growing need for studies based
on various types of sources and for diverse approaches for a better understanding
of the social structure of Arpadian Age society, since the analysis
of written sources can only shed light on one single aspect of social stratification.
60 Op. cit., note 58.
61 Castrum Bene. Varak a 13. szazadban (Gyöngyös, 1990}.
54
o)
——————- BOO m —————
b)
D
c)
0 Sm o …n ooD[{booO ‚-…t u– a Ooo 0
1. Gonquest period cemeteries of the different social layers
(After Bartha – Szekely, 1984)
55
2. Grave at Rezi-Gyöngyös csarda (After Müller, 1987)
56
9 o· · o I
I I I 1 􀀵
2
6
.0
0 11
a
􀀍 Qp 12
QQ 0 0 18 19
0 I I
0′
15
f) Q
3. 12’h century jewels from cemeteries (After B6na, 1978)
57
C.“00
4. Reconstruction of the grave of Queen Gertrudis
from Pilis Abbey (After Gerevich, 1984)
liberae conditionis homines
conditionales homines.
uuvornici
veri scrvi
manumissi
populi senitiales
ecclesiarum
perpetua (pura, plena, absoluta) libertas
5. Social stratification of the peasant society around 1240
(After Szücs, 1981)
59
libertas
CC\nditionalis
pcrpetua
libenas
conditionarii,
homines
conditionaJes
perpetua servitus
kmilyi royal
vtirblftOk I udvari birtok
castlf> f>c:t�tF· nr ••
veri et naturaJes
iobagioncs castri
– liberi sancti regis‘
liberi
(iobagioncs)
udvornicorum‘
􀂀g,·hti;i birrok e c c‘ l e s i a s t l c
estate
iobagiones eq uestrcs
(exercituantcs)
ecclesiarum
– liberi ecclesiarum‘
vi/tigi maglinbirtok
feudal p r i v a t e
e s t a t e
iobagiones‘
(e.g.: qui pre
est predio)
‚ Jiberae .conditionis homines. iobagioncs liberi solventes uibuta‘
‚ a servitute pcrpetua (plcna. pura etc.) libertate manumissi‘
iobagiones
castri a
castrensibus
exempti‘
1 castrenses udvorniciJ
aratores, vinitores etc. (serviles)‘
iobagiones
ecclesi·
arum1
ceteri populi
servitaJes
veri servi
‚ liberttni‘
servi cum terral
ara tra cum servis
6. Social stratification of the peasant society around 1240
{After Szücs, 198 1 )
60
libertas hospitum
castri,
solventes
quinque
pondera,
populi de
Thurocz et
Lipthou etc.
populi, rustici.
liberi iobagiones
ecclesiarum
rustici seu
io bagiones nobilium
glebae adstricti, -…. villani ecclesiarum
…..
‚
‚astrenses. udvornici regis. -..
conditionarii ecclesiarum
servi et ancillae
servitus
libertas io bagionalis
7. Social stratification of the peasant society around 1300
(After Szücs 1981)
61
libertas
nobilium
kirdlyi
vdr- is udvari bni ok
r o y a l ( c a s t l e ) e s t .
nobiles iobagiones
C:LStri
egyhdzi birrok
e c c l e s i a s t i c e s t .
nobiles iobagiones
ccclcsia.rum
– nobilts regni- nobiles predi:tles
villigi m.aganbirrok
f e u d a l p r i v a t e e s t a t e
officiales. famili=s
hospites
libertas
hospitum
tibetlas
conditionaJis
glebae adstricti.
:�dsscriptitii,
originarü
servitus
r – – – ,
1 hospites ca.stn. I r
t solventts quinque I
ponoeu. I I
populi de
Thurocz et
Liptho etc.
c:&strenses
udvornic1
conditaonarii
– , II II
– …, —
—
rwtici seu iobagiones nobilium
Oibena.s iobagionalis)
8. Social stratification of the peasant society around 1300 (After Szücs 1981)
62
0/ ! Ql Q􀀟 Ql Q/ 1 􀀲􀀳 2 3 4
1 – 􀀴 5 –
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63
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MEDIUM AEVUM QUOTIDIANUM
HERAUSGEGEBEN VON GERHARD JARITZ
22
Alltag und materielle Kultur
im mittelalterlichen Ungarn
HERAUSGEGEBEN VON
A N D RAS K U BINYI
UND
JOZSEF L A SZLOVSZ KY
K REMS 199 1
GEDRUCKT MIT UNTERSTÜTZU!\’G DER KULTURABTEILUNG
DES AMTES DER NIEDERÖSTERREICHISCHEN LANDESREGIERUNG
Umschlagbild: Die sieben Fürsten der Ungarn. Holzschnitt aus J. Thur6czi,
Chronica Hungarorum. Brünn 1486.
Alle Rechte vorbehalten
– ISBN 3-90 1094 02 4
Herausgeber: Medium Acvum Quotidianum. Gesellschaft zur Erforschung der materiellen
Kultur des Mittelalters, Körnermarkt 13, A-3500 Krems, Österreich – Druck:
CopyTU Gcs. m. b. H., Wiedner Hauptstraße 8-10, A-1050 Wien.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Vorwort 7
ANDRAS KUBINYI, Über das Alltagsleben im spätmittelalterlichen
Ungarn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
J OZSEF LASZLOVSZKY, Social Stratification and Material
Culture in 10’h-14’h Century Hungary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
IMRE HüLL, Die materielle Kultur im Mittelalter – die ungarische
Mittelalterarchäologie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
ERNÖ MAROSI, Zur Frage des Quellenwertes mittelalterlicher
Darstellungen. „Orientalismus“ in der Ungarischen
Bilderchronik . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 4
KATALIN SZENDE, “ … es sey vil oder wenig, groß oder
kchlain.“ Besonderheiten und Unterschiede in der materiellen
Kultur der Einwohnerschaft der königlichen Freistädte
Preßburg und Ödenburg {1450-1490) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Adressen der Verfasser 119
Vorwort
Der Lehrstuhl für mittelalterliche und frühneuzeitliche Archäologie an der
Philosophischen Fakultät der Eötvös Lorand-Universität Budapest hat sich
zum Ziel gesetzt, die Erforschung der materiellen Kultur Ungarns im Mittelalter
und in der frühen Neuzeit zu fördern. Da eine große Anzahl von
Sachgütern nur mit Hilfe der Archäologie erforscht werden können, gehört
diese zu den wichtigsten Disziplinen, die sich mit der Untersuchung materieller
Kultur beschäftigen. Im Sinne einer Interdisziplinarität sollen dabei
auch Schriftzeugnisse und Bildquellen berücksichtigt werden.
Finanzielle Unterstützung zur systematischen Durchführung der geplanten
Arbeiten erhalten wir vom ungarischen Wissenschaftlichen Landesforschungsfonds
(OTKA). Diese ermöglicht uns, Tagungen zu organisieren,
Ausgrabungen durchzuführen und das erforschte wissenschaftliche
Material mit Hilfe von EDV zu verarbeiten. Im Sommer 1990 begannen
wir mit der Ausgrabung der mittelalterlichen Dorfwüstung Sap und
der Marktwüstung Tiszavarsany. Daneben vergaben wir Themen zur Erforschung
der materiellen Kultur als Diplomarbeiten und Dissertationen.
Katalin Szende z. B. verglich die Soproner Bürgertestamente mit dem dortigen
Ausgrabungsmaterial, Sandor Petenyi bearbeitete mittelalterliches
Spielzeug und stellte einen Katalog der bei Ausgrabungen gefundenen diesbezüglichen
Objekte zusammen. Bisher wurde eine Tagung veranstaltet,
für Herbst 1991 ist eine weitere zur materiellen Kultur der frühen Neuzeit
geplant.
Dieser Band enthält die Vorträge der am 13. Dezember 1988 in Budapest
abgehaltenen Tagung „Mittelalterliche materielle Kultur in Ungarn“ .
Leider können nicht alle Manuskripte der Vorträge veröffentlicht werden,
da zum Zeitpunkt der Drucklegung des vorliegenden Bandes drei Beiträge
nicht eingelangt waren. Wir bedauern diesen Umstand sehr, da jene Abhandlungen
wichtige Informationen zu unserem Thema sowohl in ethnographischer
als auch archäologischer Hinsicht lieferten. Folgende Vorträge
fehlen: Tarncis Hofer, Die Erforschung der ungarischen mittelalterlichen
7
materiellen Kultur und die Ethnographie. – Istvan Fodor: Unsere materielle
Kultur in der Landnahmezeit. – Laszlo Selme·czi: Das Problem der
materiellen Kultur und des Ethnikums im mittelalterlichen Ungarn.
Ich habe eine Studie meiner Schülerin Katalin Szende hinzugefügt,
die sie an der Internationalen Konferenz zum 500. Todestag des Königs
Matthias Corvinus im Oktober 1990 vorgestellt hat.
Schließlich möchte ich mich bei der Schriftleitung von Medium Aevum
Quotidianum und besonders bei Gerhard Jaritz für die Publikation des
Tagungsbandes bedanken.
Dank gebührt auch meinem Oberassistenten Jozsef Laszlovszky, der
bei der Organisation der Tagung und der Einrichtung der Manuskripte
wichtige Arbeit geleistet hat.
Andras Kubinyi
8