Templom körüli temető és az alapító Smaragd nemzetség sírjainak feltárása a zsámbéki premontrei prépostsági romban
Excavation of the cemetery around the church and the graves of the founding Smaragd family in the ruins of the Premontre provostship in Zsámbék

Author(s): Ilona Valter
Subject(s): Archaeology, Architecture, Visual Arts, 6th to 12th Centuries, 13th to 14th Centuries, History of Art
Published by: Pécsi Tudományegyetem Művészeti Kar Művészettörténet Tanszék
Keywords: Zsámbék; Premonstratensian provostry; Smaragd clan; medieval cemetery; private church; archaeological excavation; Árpád Age; burial practices; medieval Hungary; anthropological analysis
Summary/Abstract: The study presents the archaeological excavation of the church cemetery surrounding the Premonstratensian provostry ruins in Zsámbék and the graves of the founding Smaragd clan. The medieval church complex, originally built in the first half of the thirteenth century, survived for centuries before being severely damaged by the 1763 earthquake. Excavations conducted between 1986 and 1991 uncovered 487 burials dating from the eleventh to the eighteenth centuries. Archaeological evidence revealed that the earliest cemetery developed around a small eleventh-century rotunda that served as the first Christian church on the hill. Later, a semicircular-apsed private church was erected above the remains of the rotunda and became the burial place of the Smaragd family. Anthropological and serological examinations carried out by Imre Lengyel identified both Hungarian and Western European population groups within the cemetery. According to the study, French-origin settlers connected to the Smaragd clan probably arrived in Hungary during the reign of King Coloman in the late eleventh century. The paper reconstructs the history of the Smaragd family, whose members established the Premonstratensian provostry in the early thirteenth century. Special attention is devoted to the identification of elite burials, including the possible graves of Lady Pena and the founding brothers Egyed and Smaragd. The author concludes that the archaeological remains of Zsámbék provide important evidence for medieval settlement history, family burial traditions, private churches, and the development of ecclesiastical institutions in Hungary.

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