The Fourth International Conference on History and Political Sciences 9th November, 2014 «East West» Association for Advanced Studies and Higher Education GmbH, Vienna, Austria Vienna 2 014 «The Fourth International Conference on History and Political Sciences». Proceedings of the Conference (November 9, 2014). «East West» Association for Advanced Studies and Higher Education GmbH. Vienna. 2014. 216 P. ISBN–13 978-3-902986-55-9 ISBN–10 3-902986-55-7 The recommended citation for this publication is: Orzechowska K. (Ed.) (2014). The Fourth International Conference on History and Political Sciences. Proceedings of the Conference (November 9, 2014). Vienna, OR: «East West» Association for Advanced Studies and Higher Education GmbH, Vienna. Editor Kamila Orzechowska, Poland Editorial board Valery Gurchin, Ukraine Nóra Szekeresné, Hungary Jessica Nadel, Austria Rangel Bonev, Bulgaria Jacek Mikołajczyk, Poland Proofreading Andrey Simakov Cover design Andreas Vogel Contacts “East West” Association for Advanced Studies and Higher Education GmbH, Am Gestade 1 1010 Vienna, Austria Email: [email protected] Homepage: www.ew-a.org Material disclaimer The opinions expressed in the conference proceedings do not necessarily reflect those of the “East West” Association for Advanced Studies and Higher Education GmbH, the editor, the editorial board, or the organization to which the authors are affiliated. © «East West» Association for Advanced Studies and Higher Education GmbH All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of the Publisher. Typeset in Berling by Ziegler Buchdruckerei, Linz, Austria. Printed by «East West» Association for Advanced Studies and Higher Education GmbH, Vienna, Austria on acid-free paper. Archaeology 3 Section 1. Archaeology Hroshyk Valentyn, Uzhhorod National University, student, Faculty of History, E‑mail: [email protected] The History of the research of the Royal Castle Nyalab In terms of the cultural and historical aspects, one of the most striking features of the Transcarpathia are mysteries of the past that are still not completely solved. Particularly those hidden in the grandeur of the castle buildings of the Middle Ages. The fortresses in this area were constructed in different times by various rulers of different nations. They are scattered in time, but share common purpose and geogra- phy, i. e. to be a stronghold guarding not only of its master’s life, wealth and interests but those of his vassals as well. They were the wardens of the rocky domain, protecting it from the enemies of both West and East 1. The first defensive fortifications on the Transcarpathian land date back to the Bronze Age. These settlements, fortified with an earth rampart, gradually acquired the form of a castle during the 13th – 17th centuries. The ruins and the buildings of the following eleven medieval castles are currently known in Transcarpathia: 1. Uzhhorod Castle (Uzhhorod) — now a museum; 2. Palanok Castle (Mukachevo) — now a museum; 3. Nevytsky Castle (Nevytske, Uzhgorod district) — ruins; 4. Seredne Castle (Seredne, Uzhgorod district) — ruins; 5. The castle of the Chinadievo “Saint Miklos” (Chynadiyovo, Mukachevo dis- trict) — a private museum; 6. Kvasovo castle (Kvasovo, Beregovsky district) — ruins; 7. Borzhava Castle (Varievo, Beregovsky district) — hillfort ruins; 8. Royal Castle Nyalab (Korolevo, Vynohradiv district) — ruins; 9. Ugocsa Castle (Vynohradiv) — ruins; 1 Prohnenko I. A. , Gomolyak E. M. , Zombor I. T. Issledovanie zamkov Zakarpat’ya. – 2009. 4 Section 1. 10. Khust Castle (Khust) — ruins; 11. Vyshkivsky castle (Khust district) — watchtower 1. They rose up in the Carpathians on the border line of the Principality of Halych and the Kingdon of Hungary. The most interesting of them in terms of archaeological findings bears a proud name of Nyalab, or Királyháza in Hungarian, or the Royal Castle. It is situated in the village of Korolevo on an igneous mountain of 50–60 metres high above the sea line. In the years of its heyday (16th century) this fortification was an important strategic and military object. Its purpose was to defend the trade routes, as well as, the hunting lands of the Hungarian king and his vassals. The main buildings of the castle are located on the highest part of hill. From an areal viewpoint it is asymmetric and has a form of a trapezium, fitted to the roughness of the slopes, which gives it an advantageous position in military terms. A semicircular tower is located in the south-western corner, with a well is in the middle of the yard. The length of the upper castle is 57 m., the width is 47, with the height of the walls up to 9.5 m. and thickness of more than 1.5 m. Fortifications forming a rectangle with sides of 24 x 32 m, adjoin the main building of the castle. A separate watchtower of a circular form is situated In the south-eastern part of the hill at a considerable distance from the central fortifications. Its size is 9.65 x 10.15 m., the height is 6.8 m., the thickness of the walls — 2.65 m. The rock behind the tower is slotted with a deep moat, which corroborates that the castle was practically impregnable, and a small garrison could hold it for a few months 2. The first archaeological research on the territory of the Royal Castle was carried out by an expedition financed by the Hungarian government. They started their work in the middle of the 19th century (1848). It resulted in a remarkable material that was sent to a museum in Budapest. In the course of excavations, the expedition found a double cross of Lorraine, which is also known as englopion, and some jewellery, which was most likely from the burial in the crypt 3. After this expedition, nobody carried out any archaeological excavations in the Royal Castle for about a hundred years. The rumours about the Czech expedition excavations carried out on site in the twenties of the 20th century are not confirmed. At the end of the 20th century an expedition from Kyiv, which was looking for findings of the palaeolithic era, made a small bore pit in the area of the so-called arch at the site of the Nyalab castle. The remnants of ceramic pottery of the late Middle Ages and 1 Pop Dmitrij, Pop Ivan. Puteshestvie po arhitekturnym pamyatnikam Podkarpatskoj Rusi. – 2007. 2 Mihok L., Prohnenko I. A. Analysis of Iron Objects From Korolevo And Vinogradovo Cast- les. – 2008. 3 Sova Petr. Arhitekturnye pamyatniki Zakarpat’ya. – 1961. Archaeology 5 the coin of King Matthias Corvinus, (1458–1490), which was one of the Hunyadies, were found there. The coin was sent for research to the archaeological laboratory of the Uzhhorod National University. The next stage of archaeological research on site was carried out in 1990, during the registration of all Ukrainian castles, including those in Transcarpathia. In this re- gion it was entrusted with Lviv-West Restoration project. A group of archaeologists from Lviv undertook the work. However, they carried out only surface exploration of the site, not a complete research. The expedition concerned itself only with the excavations of the central part. Their aim was to find the walls of the castle in order to clarify the planning of the fortification. The expedition made about thirty bore pits, with a total area of 15 square metres. The area of a separate bore pit was 50 x 50 cm., depth — 40–50 cm. In other words, only the upper layer of the soil was removed 1. Given that the castle was blown up by the decree of the Austrian Emperor Leopold in 1672, the Lviv archaeologists found stones from the walls everywhere on the site. Since complete archaeological excavations were not conducted and a poor historical research of the monuments was carried out, we can characterize this expedition as unprofessional. Starting from 2007, Uzhhorod National University undertook the research of the Royal Castle, as well as of the ten other Transcarpathian castles, such as Chinadievo Castle, Vyshkivsky Castle, Ugocsa Castle, Nevytsky Castle, Kvasovo Castle and others. A fully-fledged exploratory archaeological expedition was held, which enabled us to clarify a rather significant unresolved question concerning the chronology of the castles, It should be noted that in the course of excavations the scientists gave priority to the Royal Castle, which was of the utmost archaeological significance. After 2007, excavations continued only in 2011 and have been carried out until present time. Basing on the materials gathered during the excavations, the following conclusions were made: the findings mainly represent a significant quantity of ceramics, including the fragments of unique for the region graphite ware (Austrian import) and two goblets of the Loshtits type (Moravian import), as well as other individual findings: nails, shoes parts, arrowheads of crossbow quarrels, Polish and Hungarian coins and a St. Francis medallion. It is speculated, that the Hungarian sword of the14th century BC, which is stored in the Central Museum of Armed Forces of Ukraine (Kyiv), comes from the Royal Castle as well 2. The analysis of the material obtained in the course of excavations of the Nyalab Castle allows us to determine the following stratigraphical image. 1 Macyuk Orest. Zamki і fortecі Zahіdnoї Ukraїni. – 2005. 2 Gomolyak O. M. Do pitannya pro іstorіyu zamkіv Zakarpattya. – 2007. 6 Section 1. The building of the stone fortifications dates back to the beginning of the th14 cen- tury AD, however low life intensity and poor cultural layer were recorded during that time. The Castle was reconstructed in the first half off the 16th century AD. After the reconstruction of the fortifications, a more massive cultural layer was formed. In the 16th century AD the castle was assaulted.