Szászhermány

SZÁSZHERMÁNY After the Hungarian Conquest of Transylvania in 896, Szászhermány (Herman, Rumania today) became a Hungarian village. In 1211, Hungarian king András II (1205-1235) of the House of Árpád donated the Barcaság (an area in south-east Transylvania with the capital of Brassó) to the German Knight Order to protect the nearby borders of the Kingdom of Hungary. The German knights built five fortresses in Barcaság (Keresztvár [Kreuzbugh], Földvár [Marienburg], Feketehalom [Zeiden], Höltövény [Heltzdorf, and Törcsvár [Törtzburg]). According to an exemption order issued by the pope in 1224, the German knights wanted the Barcaság to be a break-away territory from the Kingdom of Hungary. Therefore, in 1225, king András II ousted them, but he allowed the peaceful Saxon settlers to remain in their villages. In 1240, Hungarian king Béla IV (1235-1270) gave them to the Cistercian order.
The church of Szászhermány was built in the 13th century in Romanesque style. In the 15th century, as a result of the increasing Ottoman (Turkish) attacks, it was fortified. 12-meter-high and 4 to 5-meter-thick walls were built around the church. The wall system has 8 enormous bastions. The main tower of the church was rebuilt to function as a fortress tower. The defenders designated storage compartments in the inside of the walls to store foodstuffs and valuables during siege periods. They use these compartments for food storage even today.
The fortified church of the Szászhermány is a typical example of the gorgeous architecture the wealthy Saxon towns could afford to build in Transylvania.