Our vision:
Building a XII-th century fortified manor as center of gravity for medieval
reenactment, rural tourism and outdoor museum of Transylvanian Saxon colonists, to
emphasize the uninterrupted existence for over 800 years of Saxon village Felmer.
Historical background:
After the erection and fortification of several royal border castles (Földvár, Holm,
Ugrona, Rákos, Belavár) on the line of Olt river and Perşani Mountains to contain
incursions of Petcheneg and Cuman tribes, the Hungarian kingdom felt strongly
enough for methodical occupation of central and southern Transylvania. Lacking in
population, they adopted a method successfully applied in Saxony and Bohemia:
agricultural settlement. They invited here farmers from the Western Europe,
promising them land, protection and low taxation. This big project started during the
reign of king Geza II (1141-1162). The popularization of the initiative, transmission
of the message itself, followed by the successful relocation of several thousand
people (about 2500, according to certain estimates), was an undertaking of a
complexity and scale comparable to the recruitment of a Crusader army. Thus were
attracted people from the feudal estates of the most advanced western agricultural
regions: Flanders, Lotharingia (Moselle), Frisia, Westphalia, Franconia. Settlers
traveled with their wagons and livestock a journey of several months along the
Danube river to Gran/Strigonium, capital of the Hungarian kings, then being directed
to Féhérvár/Alba Iulia, the largest citadel in Transylvania, hometown of the Voyvode
and the Bishop. The first wave of settlement has grouped on neighboring valleys
around the city. After 1190, with the second wave of colonization, when the
settlement’s center of gravity shifted towards south and southeast, the intermediate
destination became Villa Hermani/Cibinium, today Sibiu. Here people were organized
and distributed. Groups of 5-10 families proceeded then to their final destination,
where they received a housing plot and farming land. The chronicles say that the
location was indicated by a royal official familiar with the area, the so-called “locator”.
Also we know that the settlement was made on land called in annals “fundus regius”
or “ad retinendam coronam”, meaning they were granted royal land, being dependent
only to the Hungarian throne, with legal and fiscal autonomy from the local
authorities. Each group of settlers was lead by an individual named by chronicles
“scultetus” (lat.), “schulthei” (germ.) or “soltész” (hun.), meaning “administrator”.
Interesting enough, settlers themselves named their leaders “gräv” (germ.),
“gerebus” (lat.) or “gróf” (hun.), with the meaning of “supreme chief”, showing a
slightly different perception of themselves in relation with their authority
representative, which was not just an administrator, but the unchallenged feudal
leader, civil, military and judicial. This medieval term derived from the Old German
“gravo” crosses from the XII-th century onwards the Transylvanian history until today
in names, both for people and places. Names like Greavu, Greab, Gref, Gereb are still
in use today in southern Transylvania.
Felmer valley constituted shelter and welcoming home for humans since the mists of
prehistory, on both sides of the valley being found traces of civil habitation in no less
than six different archaeological sites, showing a historical continuity over 5000
years, from the Paleolithic to the Age of Migrations. Towards the end of the XII-th
century in the Felmer valley arrived farmers coming from Lower Lotharingia
(Flanders, Brabant, Hainaut), being preserved into later chronicler’s memory as
“hospites flandrenses”. One donation Chart of September 6th, 1206, signed by King
Andrew II the Jerosolimitan (1205-1235) mentioning “villa Wellmer”, is the first and
only source of information regarding Felmer village earlier to the great Mongol
invasion of 1241. During the havoc, Felmer sustained catastrophic destruction, no
building previous the invasion being preserved. Also, the archaeology shows that the
village location situated on the right bank of the valley was abandoned and moved to
the left bank, where a new village, the one existing today, was erected. We can
presume that at least a fraction of the settlers survived the attack, this people putting
the foundation stone of the current church sometimes after year 1250. Nonetheless,
we cannot exclude the hypothesis of a resettlement.
Description of the project:
Several construction projects of experimental archeology which evokes the European
Middle Ages and being to-date at various stages of completion, encourages us to
begin our own journey. We have a perfect location on a hill above this multisecular
village, a solid project, clear reenactment ideas and the courage which very likely
animated the Western settlers who arrived in the valley of Felmer more than 800
years ago. It remains to gather around this vision those willing to the adventure of
their lives.
The construction is to be, as far as we know, the first XII-th century architectonic
reconstruction in Romania, using materials and some technical methods of the time.
We intend to build in Felmer one medium-sized fortification that constitutes the
possible image of the manor raised by the mythical village-founder Wellem. Villa
Wellmer Association has insufficient own resources, so the project completion is
mainly based on volunteer’s involvement. Our target groups are coming from the
studious Transylvanian, Romanian and European environment, superior grades high
school pupils and college students with focus on history, archeology and medieval
reenactment. The site activities will be seasonal, shaped as a summer outdoors
work camp. We shall try to gather around this endeavor experts in archaeology and
medievalism from the „Valer Literat” Museum of Făgăraş and master trainers in stone
carving, masonry and carpentry.
Graef’s Manor („villa gerebionis”) Project states the realization of an architectural
complex for housing and specific domestic activities, with a final built area of 4000
m2, conducted in 3 successive stages. The first stage consists in building of one gate
tower and a crenellated stone wall who will pave the southern side of the site. This
curtain wall, surfacing of about 700 m2, shall be built of shaped stone locally
collected, binded with mortar of sand and lime. It will have two rows of arrow loops,
battlements on top and oak hoardings. The gate tower will act when ready as peel
tower, the first housing place of the complex. It shall have rectangular footprint and
about 15 m height, built of shaped stone and oak wood, on two storey above one
main access zone towards the inner courtyard. Access is through a Romanesque
arched 3,5 m high entrance, two wings gate and retractable portcullis, both oak,
reinforced with cast iron. The first level of the tower, 3,5 m high, will be a technical
and storage one („der Fallgatterraum”), and the second will be a living room („der
Torwächterraum”) built on wooden frame, slightly bracket to the wall. Above shall
reign a 4 m high four-sloped Germanic-style roof. Behind the curtain wall, into a
second stage, we shall dig deep into the slope made of sandstone a number of
rectangular rooms in troglodytic style, reinforced with a wooden belt. Thus, the
natural sandstone wall will act as inertial thermal mass, providing the manor a few
degrees of natural heat in winter and cooling in summer. Here shall be the manorial
house („maison-forte”), organized on three levels: basement, ground and first floor.
The basement will be the sorage area. The ground floor will include a reception and
manorial court hall („salle-basse”) and a kitchen. An outer stair house connects with
the first floor, consisting of a reception hall for friends and notables („salle-haute”)
and private bedrooms. Both reception halls will function as Saxon civilization
museum. In the third stage, at the southeastern end of the curtain wall it would be
raised a polygonal tower with technical role, maintenance of the household.