Monastic Landscapes of Medieval Transylvania (Between the Eleventh and Sixteenth Centuries)
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DOI: 10.14754/CEU.2020.02 Doctoral Dissertation ON THE BORDER: MONASTIC LANDSCAPES OF MEDIEVAL TRANSYLVANIA (BETWEEN THE ELEVENTH AND SIXTEENTH CENTURIES) By: Ünige Bencze Supervisor(s): József Laszlovszky Katalin Szende Submitted to the Medieval Studies Department, and the Doctoral School of History Central European University, Budapest of in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Medieval Studies, and CEU eTD Collection for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Budapest, Hungary 2020 DOI: 10.14754/CEU.2020.02 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My interest for the subject of monastic landscapes arose when studying for my master’s degree at the department of Medieval Studies at CEU. Back then I was interested in material culture, focusing on late medieval tableware and import pottery in Transylvania. Arriving to CEU and having the opportunity to work with József Laszlovszky opened up new research possibilities and my interest in the field of landscape archaeology. First of all, I am thankful for the constant advice and support of my supervisors, Professors József Laszlovszky and Katalin Szende whose patience and constructive comments helped enormously in my research. I would like to acknowledge the support of my friends and colleagues at the CEU Medieval Studies Department with whom I could always discuss issues of monasticism or landscape archaeology László Ferenczi, Zsuzsa Pető, Kyra Lyublyanovics, and Karen Stark. I thank the director of the Mureş County Museum, Zoltán Soós for his understanding and support while writing the dissertation as well as my colleagues Zalán Györfi, Keve László, and Szilamér Pánczél for providing help when I needed it. Special thanks go to Oana Toda for helping me with the elaboration of maps and the interpretation on the research on the Kajántó Valley. I owe special gratitude to those colleagues, who took the time and accompanied me on the field surveys: Dóra Mérai, Csilla Siklódi, Oana Toda, and Koppány Ötvös. I am grateful for my supervisor József Laszlovszky for taking part in some of the field walks and providing essential insights in the art of reading the landscape. The patience and tireless assistance I received from Katalin Szende in going through the charter evidence is unsurpassable. I gratefully acknowledge the encouragement of Professor Grenville Astill, who during my three-month stay at Reading University nurtured my interest in monastic landscape archaeology and supported me with practical advice. I am grateful for the discussions I had on related topics to this dissertation with Aleks Pluskowski and Alex Brown in Reading. For the interesting talks on the topic of the Cistercians and their spread towards the east I thank Cristopher Schabel from the University of Cyprus. My appreciation goes also to Anna Eplényi for the inspiring talks we had on the topic of understanding the landscape CEU eTD Collection and for accompanying me on field in the Nádas Valley. I am grateful for the research grants provided by CEU and the Domus Hungarica scholarship from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences which enabled me to pursue my research abroad as well as in Budapest. Last but not least, my large and small family, my husband, my son and daughter, who were immensely supportive throughout my research, assisted me on field surveys, and motivated me not to give up. 2 DOI: 10.14754/CEU.2020.02 CONTENTS List of Figures List of Appendices CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ___________________________________________________ 7 1.1. AIM AND STRUCTURE OF THE DISSERTATION ____________________________ 9 1.2. SOURCES AND METHODOLOGY ________________________________________ 11 1.2.1. WRITTEN SOURCES _____________________________________________ 11 1.2.2. TOPONYMS ____________________________________________________ 14 1.2.3. CARTOGRAPHIC SOURCES ______________________________________ 15 1.2.4. ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE AND NON-INVASIVE RESEARCH METHODS ________________________________________________ 16 1.3. THE LANDSCAPE APPROACH ___________________________________________ 18 CHAPTER 2. MONASTERIES IN TIME AND SPACE _______________________________ 23 2.1. MEDIEVAL TRANSYLVANIA: LOCAL CHARACTERISTICS AND DIFFERENCES ____________________________________________________________ 23 2.2. OVERVIEW OF THE MONASTIC ORDERS IN TRANSYLVANIA ______________ 27 2.2.1. THE BENEDICTINES _____________________________________________ 28 2.2.2. THE CISTERCIANS ______________________________________________ 37 2.2.3. THE PREMONSTRATENSIANS ____________________________________ 40 2.2.4. THE PAULINES _________________________________________________ 45 2.2.5. NUNNERIES ____________________________________________________ 47 2.3. THE RESEARCH OF MEDIEVAL MONASTERIES IN TRANSYLVANIA: AN ASSESSMENT _____________________________________________________________ 47 CHAPTER 3. KOLOZSMONOSTOR ABBEY AND MONASTIC LAND USE ____________ 53 3.1. INTRODUCTION _______________________________________________________ 53 3.2. LITERATURE REVIEW __________________________________________________ 54 3.3. RELEVANT SOURCES __________________________________________________ 59 3.4. THE MAIN DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSFORMATION PERIODS OF THE ABBEY ___________________________________________________________________ 61 3.5. MONASTIC PROPERTIES AND LAND USE ________________________________ 72 3.5.1. KOLOZS COUNTY _______________________________________________ 76 3.5.1.1. Topographic and Landscape Analysis of the Area ____________________ 86 CEU eTD Collection 3.5.1.1.a. Natural Factors ____________________________________________ 86 3.5.1.1.b. Anthropogenic Interventions _________________________________ 87 3.5.1.2. Medieval Land Use: An Attempt at Reconstruction ____________________ 89 3.5.1.2.a. Arable Lands ______________________________________________ 89 3.5.1.2.b. Lands used for Animal Husbandry _____________________________ 92 3.5.1.2.c. Water and Marshland _______________________________________ 94 3.5.1.2.d. Forests and Woodland ______________________________________ 98 3 DOI: 10.14754/CEU.2020.02 3.5.1.2.e. Roads and Road Networks __________________________________ 102 3.5.1.2.f. Settlements ______________________________________________ 105 3.5.1.3. Changes in the Boundary of Kajántó ______________________________ 105 3.5.1.4. The Nádas and Kis-Szamos Valley Clusters ________________________ 113 3.5.2. TORDA COUNTY AND MAROS SEAT _____________________________ 127 3.5.3. KÜKÜLLŐ COUNTY ____________________________________________ 130 3.5.4. SEGESVÁR SEAT AND SZEBEN COUNTY _________________________ 132 3.6. CONCLUSIONS _______________________________________________________ 133 3.6.1. THE ABBEY’S POWER RELATIONS AND ITS IMPACT ON THE LANDED PROPERTY _________________________________________________ 133 3.6.2. LAND USE AND EXPLOITATION OF REVENUES OVER TIME ________ 134 3.6.3. COMPARISON BETWEEN DIFFERENT ESTATES OF THE ABBEY ____ 136 CHAPTER 4. KERC ABBEY AND ITS LANDS _____________________________________ 139 4.1. INTRODUCTION ______________________________________________________ 139 4.2. HISTORIC SETTING ___________________________________________________ 139 4.3. LITERATURE – THE FOUNDATION OF KERC_____________________________ 144 4.4. ESTATE STRUCTURE AND THE MONASTIC PRECINCTS __________________ 148 4.4.1. THE LANDS OF THE ABBEY: A CHRONOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ______________________________________________________ 149 4.4.2. THE ABBEY PRECINCTS AND THEIR WATER SYSTEMS ____________ 180 4.4.2.1. Identification, Survey, and Interpretation of the Landscape Features ____ 186 4.4.2.2. Geophysical Survey ___________________________________________ 199 4.5. CONCLUSIONS _______________________________________________________ 201 CHAPTER 5. THE PAULINE MICRO LANDSCAPES ______________________________ 206 5.1. INTRODUCTION ______________________________________________________ 206 5.2. RELEVANT SOURCES _________________________________________________ 207 5.3. THE PAULINES AT MAROSSZENTKIRÁLY– A CASE STUDY _______________ 210 5.3.1. HISTORIC OVERVIEW __________________________________________ 210 5.3.2. SITING, LOCATION _____________________________________________ 213 5.3.3. EXTENDING THE PROPERTIES: DONATIONS ______________________ 216 5.3.4. LAND USE – A PURSUIT AT RECONSTRUCTION ___________________ 221 5.4. PAULINE LANDSCAPES IN TRANSYLVANIA ____________________________ 234 5.4.1. SZENTMIHÁLYKŐ _____________________________________________ 234 CEU eTD Collection 5.4.2. PÓKAFALVA __________________________________________________ 236 5.5. CONCLUSIONS _______________________________________________________ 239 CHAPTER 6. CONCLUSIONS ___________________________________________________ 244 SOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY _______________________________________________ 257 SOURCES ________________________________________________________________ 257 BIBLIOGRAPHY __________________________________________________________ 258 4 DOI: 10.14754/CEU.2020.02 List of Figures Fig. 1. Transylvania with the counties, lands, and districts Fig. 2. Monastic orders in medieval Transylvania Fig. 3. Benedictine houses and nunneries in medieval Transylvania Fig. 4. Premonstratensian provostries and nunneries in medieval Transylvania Fig. 5. The documented properties of Meszes Abbey Fig. 6. Pauline monasteries in medieval Transylvania Fig. 7. General site plan of the plateau (up) and ground plan of the excavated areas around the church (down) in Kolozsmonostor, without scale Fig. 8. List of abbots, commendatory abbots, governors, and administrators of Kolozsmonostor