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Weapons and Military Equipment Found in the German Settlement Area
(argentifodinis) at Rodna, also attests the existence of gold mines (aurifodinis),
equipped with hydraulic installations designed for crushing, washing and melting the
ore 18 .
The first documentary mention of the presence of blacksmith’s workshops is dated
in 1291 19 and attests the privileges that King Andrew III offered the hospites from
Rimetea, who had come from High Austria (Eisenwurzel), craftsmen specialized in
iron ore processing (ferri fabri, urburarii, carbonarii) and iron foundry (ferri fusores)
20 . The rights of miners from Central Europe represented a special category of
privileges and had little resemblance to those of the German settlements in southern
Transylvania. The mining industry and miners did not have any administrative
relations with the Germans in Transylvania and the economical ties that we know of
are of a later date, such as those of the patricians from Sibiu with the mining
settlements from the Apuseni Mountains 21 .
The activity of local workshops was also attested by the presence of metal parts in
the German settlement area in Transylvania – liturgical, secular and military objects,
manufactured in a Western style – which also act as a true indicator of the
technological, economical and cultural standards of the period. From an
archaeological perspective, another proof that validates the work of the foundry
workshops in Transylvania during the 13 th century was the discovery of a pit-deposit
in 1964 at Bratei, containing six iron items, including a plough knife marked with a
sign, possibly representing the trademark of the forging workshop 22 ; as well as the
discovery of numerous iron items at Şelimbăr in 1879, the toolkit of a blacksmith’s
workshop, dated in the first half of the 13 th century 23 , including an urceolus (aqua
manila), a sword and sword fragments 24 . The most important are the sword and the
urceolus, clearly attesting the fact that they were being manufactured when the
workshop was closed down, most likely due to the Mongol invasion in 1241-1242.
18
„balneatorum examinatorum vel kuthelhofforum” (Ub. I, no. 276; DIR. C, veacul XIII, no. 422; EO I,
no. 500).
19
Regarding the veracity of this document, see K. Gündisch 1993, p. 45 sqq; K. Gündisch 1996, p. 124.
Concerning the workers specialized in different professions, this phenomenon was also characteristic to
other regions in Europe (see M. Daumas et al. 1965, p. 10-11; R. Sprandel 1968, p. 5-31).
20
Ub. I, no. 250; DIR. C, veacul XIII, no. 414; the publisher of the diplomatic documents collection EO
considers this document a forgery (EO I, no. 483).
21 th
As already known, in the 15 century, the mountain and monetary treasury of the Apuseni Mountains
was established in Sibiu. This treasury, where a quarter of the European gold coins were made,
facilitated the wealth of Patricians from Sibiu and their being assigned the gold wash-houses and some
houses in mining towns from the Apuseni Mountains (R. Slotta, V. Wollmann, I. Dordea 1999, p. 41-
48, 380- 392).
22
A. Ioniţă 2009, p. 17-18. The author dates this hoard with six pieces (a chain with two locks, a plough
share, an axle pad, a pickaxe, a hatchet and a plough knife) in the 12 th – 13 th centuries, considering it
contemporary to the settlement from Bratei-Nisipărie which apparently belonged to a Szekely
community. However, it is not certain that the objects mentioned above, or at least one of them, were
made by a local blacksmith, or came from workshops of the future Transylvanian German towns.
23
Th. Nägler 1979, p. 24-29; K. Horedt 1957, p. 349 sqq; K. Horedt 1977, p. 450 sqq.
24 See cat. no. 1.
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