Levéltári adatok a homoródszentmártoni unitárius templom történetéhez
New Research Data Regarding the Unitarian Church of Homoródszentmárton

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of the paper is to present and to sum up the results of the archaeological and archival research of the fortified Unitarian church in Homoródszentmárton. Homoródszentmárton was one of the most important parishes in the region of the Homoród valley before and after the Reformation. Its medieval church and parish is mentioned in the Papal tax registration in the 14th century, but it is assumed that its history started long before that date. Regarding the medieval period there are numerous written papers and studies. In our paper we summarized and updated these results in the light of the archaeological research done in 2011, which offered us a fresh perspective about the church’s fortifi cation built in the 17th century. During our archival research we followed the steps of the construction and history of the new church building. The village was raided and devastated three times in the 17th century: in 1612, 1661 and in 1690. All three raids resulted in huge material loss and human casualties, and the little fortification was not able to withstand these attacks. As a result of the last raid, the fortification suffered considerable damage. During the peaceful decades of the previous (20th) century the fortification lost its defensive role and therefore a slow degradation started in spite of efforts in the 18th and 19th centuries to preserve its integrity. In the second half of the 19th century the towers were demolished one after the other and the locals started to use the walls as a stone quarry. As a result, in the 20th century and up to the present, only the ruins and the renovated tower gate survived. Unfortunately nothing original remained from the medieval church. In 1887 the whole building was demolished and a new one was erected. Focusing on these questions, we tried to present a broad and overall picture of the history of the Unitarian church in Homoródszentmárton during the 17–19th centuries.

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