Művészet, 1988 (29. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1988 / 10. szám

CUMANIAN ART From Central Asia to the Carpathian Bas­in. But who are in fact these Cumanians? They are oriental mounted nomads who conquered the grassy steppe, North to the Black Sea extending from the Volga to the Lower Danube, from the Uzes and the Pechenegs in the mid Xlth century. The Cumanian "Empire" was also forged together from the surrendered remain­ders of tribes of different origin. The leading Cumanian and Shari tribes of the union after a long migration that started from present Mongolia's territory and the Chinese border region joined with the Kipchaks, also Turkish speaking nomads of the Kazahstanian steppes, at the same time when the Hungarian State was founded. As these latter were prewailing in number the language and the charac­ter of the culture of the tribes-union be­came mainly Kipchak. The remainders of the Cumanian tribes that fell apart under the Mongol blows moved to Hungary for the first time in 1 239, on the eve of the Mongol invasion. The spreading scare at the news of the Mongol invasion turned a part of the Hungarians against the Cumanians. In the course of the rioting in Pest the fu­rious mass murdered khan Kötöny be­lieved to have been a Mongol spy. Then his people left the country putting every­thing to fire and sword. In 1 246 Béla IV—fearing a new Mon­gol attack—called back the Cumanians from the Balkans and settled them on the depopulated royal estates and from this time on they became the most important light cavalry military force of the Hun­garian kings until the reign of Sigismund. The way of life and the rights of the Cumanians were regulated by the "Cumanian Laws" of 1279: as a com­pensation for their military services col­lective noble privileges were granted to them, that is, immunity from taxes, au­tonomy and own jurisdiction. Neverthe­less, the pagan and nomadic Cumanians were unable to adapt themselves to the lifestyle of the Christian, feudal state from one day to the other: the conflicts between Hungarians and Cumanians were common occurences. For this rea­son the demand to change over to man­ners of people settled in villages, doing land cultivation and converted into Christianity became more and more compelling. For long decades the Cuma­nians faced this with fierce opposition as it is proved by the Lake Hód battle in 1280 and later by the assasination of the Cumanian Ladislas IV. But finally the several decades long coexistence of Cumanians and Hun­garians yielded its result. The leading stratum of the Cumanians, the heads of clans, later the captains of dwellings and regions gradually adjusted themselves to the social environment and assimilated with the Hungarian landowning noble class. There was a tendency to turn the dwellings of the Cumanian regions into heritable private estates while the free Cumanian commons became im­poverished and their majority de­generated into serfhood. The economic structure also underwent a total trans­formation as the big-animal husbandary, dying out anyway for the limited space, became gradually superseded by land cultivation. In the 14th century the mo­bile yurta-camps became substituted by stationary villages with solid houses, churches were built and they buried the dead around it. As they gave up the nomadic life and the military expeditions on royal order—reminiscences of the early Hungarians' "excursions"—ceased, the military importance of the Cumanian subsidiary force gradually also declined. In this way the privilaged distinction lost its sense and by the 15-16th century the Cumanians practically completely mer­ged in the Hungarian population. Cumanians in F'erkáta. There are few who know that in the Middle Ages Cuma­nians lived not only in Small- and Great- Cumania but also on the south-eastern part of today's Fejér county. The settlement group including 15 villages (dwellings) was called Hantos-szék (Hantos-region). The Directing Board of the Museums of Fejér County assisted by the Ministry of Culture has conducted excavations in the Kőhalmi-land, the outer vineyard-hill of Perkáta from the summer of 1986. In the course of the excavation it became evident that the remains of the long-searched Cumanian dwellings of Hantos-region, well known from numerous certificates of between 1417 and 1537, are hidden under the earth. Once the dwellings of the Cumanians were built on an island like hill surroun­ded by marsh land. On the northern part on the most elevated point stood the church and around it was the cemetery. The chance to discover the church is poor. At the beginning of this century on the same site a press-house was built of which only the cellar was left. The build­ers caused serious harm to the ruins of the church - possibly existing at that time - as they used it as a real stone­­quarry. The name of "Kőhalmi-land" ("Stonehill-land") was not given to the place by chance either. For a long period people in the region carried stones to the villages from this place to fill up pits and pot-holes. So far the research has been done on the site of the cemetery and in the course of the excavation nearly 300 graves have been explored. One of the most surprising points of the excavation was to discover that be­fore the Cumanians appeared here there had already been a Hungarian settle­ment. But as no written source preserved its memory it did not exist for the historic research before. The existence of the Hungarian village is proved by the S shaped lock-rings (braid ornaments) found in several graves. These figure among the most characteristic jewels of the Hungarians of the Árpád period (11-13th century). The majority of the shards collected on the place where the houses stood can also be dated from this time and judging by the fragments of the stone-carvings of the Roman period and found here the church might have been built at the same time as well. The settlement—as so many others—must have been devastated by the Mongol invasion. The eventual sur­vives did not return to the place after the raging, the village became depopulated and for this reason was occupied later by the Cumanians. The earliest evidence of the Cumanians' living in Transdanubia originates from 1399, even Perkáta is first mentioned in the certificates of 1417 only. This is why our history research supposed that the first time when the Cumanians moved in could not happen earlier than the beginning or middle of the 14th century. But our findings are indicating something completely dif­ferent. In the graves of the Cumanian times we also came across ear-rings and rings that seem to make it fair to think that the use of the cemetery was restarted as early as the last third or the end of the 13th century. The latest findings can not be dated later than the 15th century, that means that the Kőhalmi-land cemetery was used in the most interesting time of the mergion, in the period of transition. The findings or the exploration truely reflect this process as the memories of the eastern traditions fading gradually away and the local Hungarian elements becoming dominant mingled with each other into a single characteristic mixed culture. Our Cumanians rebuilt the church as it was "appropriate to true Christians" (we have a number of indirect proofs of it) and started to use it. They buried their dead laid in coffins apparently in the Christian manner, rigorously around the church—following the east-west direc­tion of it—, in the hallowed ground of the church-yard limited by a ditch. This is an important evidence of their Christian faith as it was one of the strictest points of the medieval church precepts and the greatest punishment was—inflicted up­on criminals, suicides, witches after their death—if their corpses could not be bu­ried in the hallowed ground. In their dresses—that was to some ex­tent the expression of their lingual and ethnic consciousness—the number of local elements increased. The jewels found in the cemetery: mainly small angular or rounded metal plates that could be sewed equally on dresses, girls' headbands, men's high fur-caps; rings and buttons are, without exception, al­ready Hungarian works of Gothic taste but at the same time many signs indicate 20

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