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116-506: Gesta Hungarorum , or The Deeds of the Hungarians , is the earliest book about Hungarian history which has survived for posterity. Its genre is not chronicle, but gesta , meaning "deeds" or "acts", which is a medieval entertaining literature. It was written in Latin by an unidentified author who has traditionally been called Anonymus in scholarly works. According to most historians,

232-606: A double-headed eagle , in the late 18th century. The manuscript, which was transferred to Hungary in 1933 or 1934, is held in the Széchényi National Library in Budapest . The author of the Gesta Hungarorum has been known as Anonymus ever since the publication of the first Hungarian translation of his work in 1790. The author described himself as "P who is called magister, and sometime notary of

348-528: A prologue and 57 chapters. In the prologue, Anonymus introduced himself and declared that he decided to write his work to put in writing the early history of the Hungarians and their conquest of the Carpathian Basin. In addition, he stated that he wanted to write of the genealogy of the royal Árpád dynasty and of the noble families of the Kingdom of Hungary . The first seven chapters describe

464-413: A " 'toponymic romance' that seeks to explain place-names by reference to imagined events or persons, and vice versa." For instance, Györffy writes that Gelou's story was based on the conquest of Gyula of Transylvania 's realm by Stephen I of Hungary in the early 11th century and Gelou was named after the town Gilău where he was killed in battle, according to Anonymus. Anonymus likewise wrote that

580-592: A Christian kingdom established in Central Europe. Stephen I of Hungary was canonized as a Catholic saint in 1083 and an Eastern Orthodox saint in 2000. Around the 11th century, the Kingdom of Hungary became a Christian state , and Catholicism in the Hungarian Kingdom was a state religion . After his death, a period of revolts and conflict for supremacy ensued between the royalty and

696-479: A Croatian-Hungarian nobleman, Nikola IV Zrinski , Ban of Croatia, accomplished an attack on an Ottoman military camp at Siklós. Suleiman I held off his attack of Eger for the time being, and began to set off towards Nikola IV Zrinski's fortress at Szigetvár . From 2 August to 7 September, the Ottoman forces had laid siege to the fortress with a force, at the least, of 150,000 against Zrinski's 2,300 defenders. While

812-662: A Hungarian-speaking population "near the great Etil River", identified by researchers as the Volga or the Kama . The lands to which the clergyman goes are those of the Volga Bulgarians and are located in present-day Bashkiria , in the southern European part of Russia. The academic controversy over whether Magna Hungaria is actually the original home of the Magyars or whether they settled there during their westward migration from

928-610: A century earlier work: The Deeds of the Christian Hungarians instead of Anonymus's work before departing for the ancient homeland of the Magyars in the early 1230s. Later chronicles did not use the Gesta , suggesting that Anonymus's contemporaries knew that he had invented most details of his account of the Hungarian Conquest, according to Gyula Kristó . The Gesta was first published as the first volume of

1044-546: A defeat for the Hungarian-French forces led by Sigismund and Philip of Artois, Count of Eu . However, Sigismund continued to successfully contain the Ottoman forces outside of the Kingdom for the rest of his life. Losing popularity among the Hungarian nobility, Sigismund soon became victim of an attempt against his rule, and Ladislaus of Anjou-Durazzo (the son of the murdered King of Naples Charles II of Hungary)

1160-489: A monography of the Gesta Hungarorum , concluded that the "analysis of several fragments of" the Gesta Hungarorum "has demonstrated that this work is generally credible, even if it ignores important events and characters and even if it makes some chronological mistakes". According to Neagu Djuvara , professor of international law and economic history, the factual accuracy of Anonymus's work is likely high, because it

1276-511: A powerful Ottoman army. By 1541, the fall of Buda marked a further division of Hungary into three areas. The country remained divided until the end of the 17th century. In 1547, the Truce of Adrianople was signed between Charles V and Suleiman the Magnificent . Through this treaty, Ferdinand I of Austria and Charles V recognized total Ottoman control of Hungary, and agreed to pay to

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1392-647: A scholarly theory, he used place names when naming the opponents of the Hungarians. Although the Hungarians , or Magyars , seem to have used their own alphabet before adopting Christianity in the 11th century , most information of their early history was recorded by Muslim , Byzantine and Western European authors. For instance, the Annals of Fulda , Regino of Prüm 's Chronicon , and Emperor Constantine VII 's De administrando imperio contain contemporaneous or nearly contemporaneous reports of their conquest of

1508-570: A thirteenth century Hungarian monk and explorer, also visited Magna Hungaria in the interest of finding the Eastern Hungarians , the group of Hungarians that travelled east rather than west with the rest of the people towards the Carpathian Basin during the ninth century. According to mainstream historiography, Magna Hungaria was located in the forest-steppe regions of Bashkortostan , now part of Russia or more precisely in

1624-444: A version of the late 11th-century "Hungarian Chronicle" the text of which has partially been preserved in his work and in later chronicles, but his narration of the Hungarian Conquest differs from the version provided by the other chronicles. Anonymus did not mention the opponents of the conquering Hungarians known from sources written around 900, but he wrote of the Hungarians' fight against rulers unknown from other sources. According to

1740-593: Is interesting to note that the two uses mentioned above are also found in Hungarian burial sites located in the Carpathian basin and dating from the 10th century. Most researchers claim that the Bolšie Tigany cemetery was used by Magyars who remained in Magna Hungaria when other groups left the territory, or who came from other regions inhabited by the Magyars during their migrations. If the original home of

1856-615: Is not evidence that he introduced the whole person of Gelou or the presence of Vlachs in Transylvania". Paul Robert Magocsi also regarded the Gesta as an unreliable work. Romanian-British historian Dennis Deletant joins the opinion that it is a debatable chronicle, criticizing how Anonymous has the Hungarians fighting Bulgarians while making no mention of the Moravians, Carinthians, Franks and Bavarians, and also his reliance upon legends and historical tradition than facts, such as in

1972-416: Is the earliest preserved Hungarian chronicle and is based on even older Hungarian chronicles. On the other hand, Carlile Aylmer Macartney described Anonymus's work as "the most famous, the most obscure, the most exasperating and most misleading of all the early Hungarian texts" in his book of medieval Hungarian historians. Carlile Aylmer Macartney writes in his critical and analytical guide of Anonymus "this

2088-551: The Chronicon Pictum , ended his war of reunification . He implemented considerable economic reforms and defeated the remaining nobility who were in opposition to royal rule, led by Máté Csák III . The kingdom of Hungary reached an age of prosperity and stability under Charles I. The gold mines of the Kingdom were extensively worked and soon Hungary reached a prominent standing in European gold production. The forint

2204-614: The Bible and Dares Phrygius's Trojan History . He borrowed texts from the latter work and adopted its "overall structure of short but informative accounts naming important protagonists and main events", according to historians Martyn Rady and László Veszprémy. Anonymus also referred to "historians writing of the deeds of the Romans" when narrating the history of the Scythians . According to Kristó, Györffy and Thoroczkay, Anonymus obviously read

2320-679: The Caranthians of the Mura " ( Carinthinorum Moroanensium fines ) instead of the "lands of the Carinthians, Moravians " ( Carantenorum, Marahensium ... fines ) of which he read in Regino of Prüm's Chronicon , which shows that Anonymus did not understand Regino of Prüm's reference to the Moravians. Direct borrowings from Isidore of Seville 's Etymologiae , Hugh of Bologna 's Rationes dictani prosaice , and medieval romances about Alexander

2436-614: The Cumans and acquired parts of Croatia in 1091. Due to a dynastic crisis in Croatia, with the help of the local nobility who supported his claim, he managed to swiftly seize power in northern parts of the Croatian kingdom ( Slavonia ), as he was a claimant to the throne due to the fact that his sister was married to the late Croatian king Zvonimir who died without an heir. However, kingship over all of Croatia would not be achieved until

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2552-574: The Gesta proves the existence of Romanian polities in the territory of present-day Romania at the time of the Hungarian Conquest. The Romanian government even published a full-page advertisement about the reliability of Anonymus's reference to the Romanians in The Times in 1987. The view of modern historians on the Gesta Hungarorum is mixed: some consider it a reliable source; others consider its information doubtful. Alexandru Madgearu, who wrote

2668-755: The Gesta Hungarorum wrote of a battle between the Greeks and the Hungarians at a ford by the River Tisza which was named after this event as "Ford of the Greeks", according to Anonymus, although it received this name after its revenues were granted to the Greek Orthodox monastery of Sremska Mitrovica in the 12th century. Late 9th-century sources mentioned the Avars , the Bavarians, the Bulgarians,

2784-718: The Hungarian Chamber , was directly subordinated to the Court Chamber in Vienna . The Hungarian language reform started under the reign of Joseph II . The reform age of Hungary was started by István Széchenyi a Hungarian noble, who built one of the greatest bridges of Hungary, the Széchenyi Chain Bridge . The official language remained Latin until 1836, when Hungarian was introduced. Between 1844 and 1849, and from 1867 onward, Hungarian became

2900-572: The Imperial Library in Vienna between 1601 and 1636. In this period, the court librarian Sebastian Tengnagel registered it under the title Historia Hungarica de VII primis ducibus Hungariae auctore Belae regis notario ("Hungarian History of the First Seven Princes of Hungary Written by King Béla's Notary"). Tengnagel added numbers to the folios and the chapters. The codex was bound with a leather book cover, impressed with

3016-543: The Kabars in the Hungarian tribal alliance based on oral tradition of the noble families of Kabar origin, according to Györffy. The existence of a sole manuscript of the Gesta Hungarorum shows that the chronicle "was not very popular during either its author's lifetime or the subsequent centuries", according to historian Florin Curta . For instance, the contemporary 13th century Friar Julian and his Dominican brethren studied

3132-624: The Kingdom of Croatia , being in personal union with it, united under the King of Hungary . According to the demographers, about 80 percent of the population was made up of Hungarians before the Battle of Mohács , however in the mid-19th century out of a population of 14 million less than 6 million were Hungarian due to the resettlement policies and continuous immigration from neighboring countries. Major territorial changes made Hungary ethnically homogeneous after World War I . More than nine-tenths of

3248-656: The Ottoman Empire led by Suleiman the Magnificent annihilated the Hungarian army. In trying to escape, Louis II drowned in the Csele Creek. The leader of the Hungarian army, Pál Tomori , also died in the battle. Due to a serious defeat by the Ottomans ( Battle of Mohács ) the central authority collapsed. The majority of Hungary's ruling elite elected John Zápolya (10 November 1526). A small minority of aristocrats sided with Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor , who

3364-574: The Serbian Empire and the Golden Horde , restoring the Hungarian monarchs' authority over territories along the frontiers which had been lost during the previous decades. In 1370 Louis's uncle, Casimir III of Poland , died without male issue. Louis succeeded him, thus establishing the first union of Hungary and Poland . This lasted until 1382 when Louis himself died without male issue; his two daughters, Mary and Jadwiga , then ascended

3480-462: The Treaty of Trianon and it covered what is today Hungary , Slovakia , Transylvania and other parts of Romania , Carpathian Ruthenia (now part of Ukraine ), Vojvodina (now part of Serbia ), the territory of Burgenland (now part of Austria ), Međimurje (now part of Croatia ), Prekmurje (now part of Slovenia ) and a few villages which are now part of Poland . From 1102 it also included

3596-692: The Trojan History and the romances about Alexander the Great, according to Macartney. Anonymus mentions an alliance between the Rus' people and the "Cumans" against the Hungarians. Macartney, Györffy, Spinei and many other historians agree that he misinterpreted the Hungarian word kun , which originally designated all nomadic Turkic peoples , and wrongly identified the Kuns mentioned in one of his sources with

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3712-525: The Trojan History , a work attributed to Dares Phrygius , which enjoyed popularity in the Middle Ages. He also referred to a work of the Trojan War that he had "brought most lovingly together into one volume" upon his masters' instructions. Anonymus stated that he had decided to write of "the genealogy of the kings of Hungary and of their noblemen" because he had no knowledge of any decent account of

3828-582: The Volokhi with the Vlachs, because the Volokhi were actually Franks who occupied Pannonia , but the Hungarians expelled them during the Conquest. But Spinei, Pop and other historians write that Russian Primary Chronicle confirms Anonymus's report of the Hungarians' fight against the Vlachs. Madgearu, who does not associate the Volokhi with the Vlachs, emphasizes that Anonymous "had no interest to invent

3944-442: The origin of the Hungarians , identifying the Hungarians' ancestors with the ancient Scythians and Huns . Many of its sources—including the Bible , Isidore of Seville 's Etymologiae , the 7th-century Exordia Scythica , the late 9th-century Regino of Prüm 's Chronicon , and early medieval romances of Alexander the Great —have been identified by scholars. Anonymus also used folk songs and ballads when writing his work. He knew

4060-539: The siege turned into a victory for the Ottomans, it came at the cost of: 25,000 Ottoman soldiers and Suleiman I, who before the final battle of Szigetvár, due to natural causes of old age and illness. In the following centuries there were numerous attempts to push back the Ottoman forces, such as the Long War or Thirteen Years' War (29 July 1593 – 1604/11 November 1606) led by a coalition of Christian forces. In 1644

4176-419: The totemistic pre-Christian tradition of the origin of the Árpád dynasty, narrating Emese's dream of the falcon impregnating her before the birth of her son, Álmos . The next section describes Álmos, mentioning that he was "more powerful and wiser than all the princes of Scythia", which may have derived from oral tradition or from the common wording of contemporaneous legal documents. The fifth chapter writes of

4292-559: The 1780s, pointing out that Anonymus failed to mention Great Moravia .. When demanding the emancipation of the Romanians of Transylvania in the late 18th century, the authors of the Supplex Libellus Valachorum referred to Anonymus's work. Anonymus's three heroes—Gelou, Glad and Menumorut—play a preeminent role in Romanian historiography. Romanian historians have presented them as Romanian rulers whose presence in

4408-650: The Bulgarian Laborec had died at the River Laborec and the Czech Zubur on the Mount Zobor near Nitra . Anonymus did not allude to the Hungarians' decisive victory over the united Bavarian forces in the Battle of Pressburg in 907, but he narrated battles unknown from other works. Anonymus seems to have applied place names when creating these battles, according to Győrffy. For instance,

4524-580: The Carpathian Basin at the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries. Among the Hungarians, oral tradition—songs and ballads—preserved the memory of the most important historical events. The Illuminated Chronicle explicitly stated that the "seven captains" who led the Hungarians during the Conquest "composed lays about themselves and sang them among themselves in order to win worldly renown and to publish their names abroad, so that their posterity might be able to boast and brag to neighbours and friends when these songs were heard". The Gesta Hungarorum , or The Deeds of

4640-500: The Cumans of his age. The latter had at least twice supported the Rus' princes against the Hungarian monarchs in the 12th century, which explains Anonymus's mistake. The ninth chapter of the Gesta describes the submission of the Rus' and "Cuman" princes to Álmos. Anonymus also writes how seven Cuman chieftains joined the Hungarians, which may have preserved the memory of the integration of

4756-958: The Danubian Slavs , the Gepids and the Moravians among the peoples inhabiting the Carpathian Basin. Anonymus did not mention the Avars, the Bavarians, the Gepids and the Moravians, but he listed the Czechs , the Greeks , the Khazars, the "Romans" and their shepherds, the Székelys , and the Vlachs besides the Bulgarians and the Slavs. According to Györffy and Madgearu, Anonymus may have based his list of

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4872-474: The Great prove that Anonymus also used these works. According to Macartney, textual coincidences show that Anonymus adopted parts of late 12th-century chronicles narrating Frederick Barbarossa 's crusade . For instance, Anonymus' descriptions of tournaments seem to have been taken from Arnold of Lübeck 's Chronicle of the Slavs . Anonymus also used the ancient "Hungarian Chronicle" or its sources. However, there are differences between Anonymus' narration of

4988-522: The Habsburg Empire, and its constitution was kept, even though it was only a formality. After the departure of the Ottomans, the Habsburgs dominated the Hungarian Kingdom. The Hungarians' renewed desire for freedom led to Rákóczi's War for Independence. The most important reasons of the war were the new and higher taxes and a renewed Protestant movement. Rákóczi was a Hungarian nobleman, son of

5104-411: The Hungarian Conquest and other works preserving texts from the ancient chronicle. For instance, the Illuminated Chronicle wrote of the Hungarians' arrival in Transylvania across the Carpathian Mountains from the east at the beginning of the Conquest, but according to Anonymus the Hungarians invaded Transylvania across the valleys of the Meseş Mountains from the west at a later stage. Sources from

5220-399: The Hungarian Conquest. According to scholars who identify Anonymus as King Béla III's notary, he wrote his Gesta around 1200 or in the first decades of the 13th century. The study of place names mentioned in the Gesta suggests that Anonymus had a detailed knowledge both of the wider region of Óbuda and Csepel Island (in and to the south of present-day Budapest ) and of the lands along

5336-429: The Hungarian crown were incorporated into Austria-Hungary under the name of Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen . The monarchy ended with the deposition of the last king Charles IV in 1918, after which Hungary became a republic. The kingdom was nominally restored during the " Regency " of 1920–46, ending under the Soviet occupation in 1946. The Kingdom of Hungary was a multiethnic state from its inception until

5452-438: The Hungarians , is the first extant Hungarian chronicle. Its principal subject is the conquest of the Carpathian Basin and it narrates the background and the immediate aftermath of the conquest. Many historians—including Carlile Aylmer Macartney and András Róna-Tas —agree that Simon of Kéza 's chronicle, the Illuminated Chronicle and other works composed in the 13th–15th centuries preserved texts which had been written before

5568-494: The Hungarians with the Rus' people and the "Cumans". Anonymus's report of the Hungarians' passing by Kiev was based on the ancient "Hungarian Chronicle", according to Macartney. References to the Hungarians' march by Kiev towards the Carpathian Basin can also be found in the Russian Primary Chronicle , and in Simon of Kéza's and Henry of Mügeln 's chronicles. In an attempt to make his work more entertaining, Anonymus supplemented this information with vivid battle-scenes borrowed from

5684-438: The Hungarians' legendary homeland—mentioned as Scythia or Dentumoger —and their departure from there. According to Macartney, the first chapter was based on the late 11th-century "Hungarian Chronicle", and it contains interpolations from the Exordia Scythica and Regino of Prüm's chronicle. The second chapter explains that the Hungarians were named after "Hunguar" (present-day Uzhhorod in Ukraine ). The third chapter preserved

5800-443: The King of Hungary and Archduke of Austria. In 1708, the Habsburgs finally defeated the main Hungarian army at Battle of Trencsén , and this diminished the further effectiveness of the Kuruc army. While the Hungarians were exhausted by the fights, the Austrians defeated the French army in the War of the Spanish Succession . They could send more troops to Hungary against the rebels. Transylvania became part of Hungary again starting at

5916-442: The Magyars was in Western Siberia , rather than Magna Hungaria, their ancestors moved from Western Siberia towards Eastern Europe . This movement probably occurred during the period between 500 BC and 700 AD, a period during which the steppes became a heavily used place of passage. An important point of reference for historians is that of the culture of Prohorovo , which, according to available archaeological data, certainly spread to

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6032-411: The Mongols finally destroyed the combined Hungarian and Cuman armies at the Battle of Muhi . In 1242, after the end of the Mongol invasion, numerous fortresses to defend against future invasion were erected by Béla IV of Hungary . In gratitude, the Hungarians acclaimed him as the "Second Founder of the Homeland", and the Hungarian Kingdom again became a considerable force in Europe. In 1260 Béla IV lost

6148-411: The Ottoman and Wallachian troops at the Battle of Breadfield . The army of Hungary destroyed its enemies almost every time when Matthias was king. Matthias died without legitimate heir, and was thus succeeded by Vladislaus II Jagiellon (1490–1516), the son of Casimir IV of Poland . In turn, Vladislaus was succeeded by his son Louis II (1516–26). In 1526, at the Battle of Mohács , the forces of

6264-405: The Ottomans a yearly tribute of 30,000 gold florins for their Habsburg possessions in northern and western Hungary. On 1 May 1566, Suleiman I led an Ottoman invasion of Habsburg-controlled Hungary, the Ottoman forces of which was one of the most sizable armies he had led in his rule of 46 years. After reaching Belgrade and met with John II Sigismund Zápolya on 27 June, Suleiman I learned that

6380-517: The War of Babenberg Succession, his army was defeated at the Battle of Kressenbrunn by the united Bohemian forces. However, in 1278, Ladislaus IV of Hungary and Austrian troops fully destroyed the Bohemian army at the Battle on the Marchfeld . The Árpád dynasty died out in 1301 with the death of Andrew III . Subsequently, Hungary was ruled by the Angevins until the end of the 14th century, and then by several non-dynastic rulers – notably Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor and Matthias Corvinus – until

6496-431: The West Siberian Plain is doomed to remain unanswered.567 According to a different scientific hypothesis, Magna Hungaria is neither the original home of the Magyars nor their first permanent stop on their long journey towards Europe. Indeed, according to this hypothesis, the ancestors of the Eastern Magyars met by Brother Julien would have moved towards Magna Hungaria from the south. According to another academic hypothesis,

6612-410: The Winter Campaign by Miklós Zrínyi burnt the crucial Suleiman Bridge of Osijek in eastern Slavonia , interrupting a Turkish supply line in Hungary. At the Battle of Saint Gotthard (1664) , Austrians and Hungarians defeated the Turkish army. After the Ottoman siege of Vienna failed in 1683, the Habsburgs went on the offensive against the Turks. By the end of the 17th century, they managed to invade

6728-440: The area of the Kushnarenkovo and Karayakupovo cultures, in the region of the Southern Urals . In the 1230s, inspired by the version provided by a Hungarian chronicle, Brother Julien set out in search of the legendary homeland of the Magyars, Magna Hungaria, after learning of its existence and the fact that a group of Hungarians had separated from others by not moving towards Eastern Europe . During his journey, he encountered

6844-412: The campaigns of the Hungarian general, Artúr Görgey , forced the Austrians on the defensive. One of the most famous battles of the revolution, the Battle of Pákozd , was fought on 29 September 1848, when the Hungarian revolutionary army led by Lieutenant-General János Móga defeated the troops of the Croatian Ban Josip Jelačić . Fearing defeat, the Austrians pleaded for Russian help. The combined forces of

6960-448: The central and southern territories of Hungary in the 16th century, the country was partitioned into three parts: the Habsburg Royal Hungary , Ottoman Hungary , and the semi-independent Principality of Transylvania . The House of Habsburg held the Hungarian throne after the Battle of Mohács in 1526 continuously until 1918 and also played a key role in the liberation wars against the Ottoman Empire. From 1867, territories connected to

7076-411: The cities flourish and the folk are wealthy. Although it is hardly credible that they refer to all layers of society, the documents were inspired by the reality. In 1222 Andrew II of Hungary issued the Golden Bull which laid down the principles of law. In 1241, Hungary was invaded by the Mongols and while the first minor battles with Subutai's vanguard probes ended in seeming Hungarian victories,

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7192-403: The codex originally contained the beginning of the Gesta . It was blanked because the scribe had made mistakes when writing the text. The work was written in a Gothic minuscule . The style of the letters and decorations, including the elaborate initial on its first page, shows that the manuscript was completed in the middle or in the second part of the 13th century. Scribal errors suggest that

7308-421: The colloquial, and also the official name of Hungary. The names in the other native languages of the kingdom were: Polish : Królestwo Węgier , Romanian : Regatul Ungariei , Serbian : Kraljevina Ugarska , Croatian : Kraljevina Ugarska , Slovene : Kraljevina Ogrska , Slovak : Uhorské kráľovstvo , and Italian (for the city of Fiume ), Regno d'Ungheria . In Austria-Hungary (1867–1918),

7424-521: The completion of the Gesta . They say that the first " Hungarian Chronicle " was completed in the second half of the 11th century or in the early 12th century. The existence of this ancient chronicle is proven by later sources. One Ricardus's report of a journey of a group of Dominican friars in the early 1230s refers to a chronicle, The Deeds of the Christian Hungarians , which contained information of an eastern Magna Hungaria . The Illuminated Chronicle from 1358 refers to "the ancient books about

7540-408: The confirmation of the hereditary right of Álmos's descendants to rule and the right of his electors and his electors' offspring to hold the highest offices in the realm. In the seventh chapter, Anonymus writes of the Hungarians' departure from Scythia and their route across the river "Etil" and " Russia which is called Suzdal " to Kiev . The next four sections of the Gesta describe the fights of

7656-433: The country was divided between powerful lords hostile to each other. A coalition of some of these oligarchs first crowned Wenceslaus III , who quickly fled from the anarchy, then Otto III , who was forced to leave by the Kán family . Charles, remaining as the only candidate, was finally crowned King Charles I in 1310. His famous battle at Rozgony , described as "most cruel battle since the Mongol invasion of Europe " by

7772-414: The creation of the most luxurious building in all of central Europe. In his laws can be seen the traces of the early mercantilism . He worked hard to keep the nobility under his control. A great part of his reign was dedicated to the fight with the Ottoman Empire, which started to extend its frontiers and influence to Europe. In 1396 was fought the Battle of Nicopolis against the Ottomans, which resulted in

7888-403: The cults of the princesses Saint Elizabeth and Saint Margaret , which added relevance to the lineage inheritance through the feminine branches. Charles restored the royal power which had fallen into feudal lords' hands, and then made the lords swear loyalty to him. For this, he founded in 1326 the Order of Saint George , which was the first secular chivalric order in the world, and included

8004-415: The death of his brother Wenceslaus of Luxembourg , obtaining the formal control of three medieval states, but he struggled for control of Bohemia until the peace agreement with the Hussites and his coronation in 1436. In 1433 was crowned as Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope and ruled until his death in 1437, leaving as his only heir his daughter Elizabeth of Luxembourg and her husband. The marriage of Elizabeth

8120-457: The deeds of the Hungarians" in connection with the pagan uprisings of the 11th century . The earliest "Hungarian Chronicle" was expanded and rewritten several times in the 12th–14th centuries, but its content can only be reconstructed based on 14th-century works. The work exists in a sole manuscript . The codex is 17 by 24 centimetres (0.56 ft × 0.79 ft) in size and contains 24 folios , including two blank pages. The first page of

8236-436: The early 16th century. When Andrew III's predecessor, Ladislaus IV , was assassinated in 1290, another nobleman was set up as titular King of Hungary: Charles Martel of Anjou . Charles Martel was the son of King Charles II of Naples and Mary of Hungary , the sister of Ladislaus IV. However, Andrew III took the crown for himself and ruled without inconvenience after Charles Martel's death in 1295. Upon Andrew's death in 1301,

8352-434: The election of Álmos as "the leader and master" of the Hungarians, mentioning a blood-mingling ceremony . In this section, Anonymus states that the Hungarians "chose to seek for themselves the land of Pannonia that they had heard from rumor had been the land of King Attila " whom Anonymus describes as Álmos's forefather. The next chapter narrates the oath that the leaders of the Hungarians took after Álmos's election, including

8468-514: The end of the 17th century, and was led by governors. In 1711, Austrian Emperor Charles VI became the next ruler of Hungary. Throughout the 18th century, the Kingdom of Hungary had its own diet (parliament) and constitution, but the members of the Governor's Council ( Helytartótanács , the office of the palatine ) were appointed by the Habsburg monarch, and the superior economic institution,

8584-476: The exclusively used official language. The European revolutions of 1848 swept into Hungary, as well. The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 sought to redress the long suppressed desire for political change, namely independence. The Hungarian National Guard was created by young Hungarian patriots in 1848. In literature, this was best expressed by the greatest poet of the revolution, Sándor Petőfi . As war broke out with Austria, Hungarian military successes, which included

8700-530: The extant manuscript is a copy of the original work. For instance, the scribe wrote Cleopatram instead of Neopatram in the text narrating a Hungarian raid in the Byzantine Empire although the context clearly shows that the author of the Gesta referred to Neopatras (now Ypati in Greece ). The history of the manuscript up until the early 17th century is unknown. It became part of the collection of

8816-526: The gabbling song of minstrels ". All the same, stylistic elements (including formulaic repetitions which can be found in his text) imply that he occasionally used heroic songs. According to Kristó, the legend of Emese 's dream of the "falcon that seemed to come to her and impregnate her" was one of the motifs that Anonymus borrowed from oral tradition. Anonymus, as Macartney says, claimed to "rely solely on written sources, as alone trustworthy" when writing his work. Among his sources, Anonymus explicitly mentioned

8932-416: The granddaughter of King Robert of Naples , in 1332. Robert died in 1343, bequeathing his kingdom to Joanna but excluding the claim of Andrew. In 1345, a group of noble Neapolitan conspirators murdered Andrew at Aversa . Almost immediately, Louis declared war on Naples , conducting a first campaign in 1347–1348 and a second in 1350. He eventually signed peace with Joanna in 1352. Louis also waged wars against

9048-636: The grasslands of the Eastern Europe more or less continuously for several centuries. Abu Saʿīd Gardēzī , a Persian geographer and historian active during the first half of the 11th century, ventured to consider the Magyars as being “a branch of the Turks” , a form of description taken up by Leo VI the Wise and Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus . Linguists have laboriously reconstructed the approximately 450 Hungarian terms borrowed from Turkic languages before

9164-406: The greatest Hungarian jurists and statesmen of the 16th century, István Werbőczy in his work Tripartitum treats Croatia as a kingdom separate to Hungary. Especially Arabic and Byzantine travelers from this time praised the richness country, the dense pastures, the nicely cultivated lands, the plentiful animals in waters and forests. They said that the wheat is cheap, the markets are populous,

9280-554: The inequality of power relations, led by Francis II Rákóczi (II. Rákóczi Ferenc in Hungarian). Its main aims were to protect the rights of the different social orders, and to ensure the economic and social development of the country. Due to the adverse balance of forces, the political situation in Europe and internal conflicts the freedom fight was eventually suppressed, but it succeeded in keeping Hungary from becoming an integral part of

9396-707: The influence and meddling of the Holy Roman Empire in Hungary's affairs. At the time of the initial Ottoman encroachment, the Hungarians successfully resisted conquest. John Hunyadi was leader of the Crusade of Varna , in which the Hungarians tried to expel the Turks from the Balkans. Initially, they were successful, but later at the Battle of Varna , the Ottomans won a decisive if Pyrrhic victory . Wladyslaw III

9512-560: The legendary heroine Ilona Zrínyi . He spent a part of his youth in Austrian captivity. The Kurucs were troops of Rákóczi. Initially, the Kuruc army attained several important victories due to their superior light cavalry. Their weapons were mostly pistols, light sabre and fokos . At the Battle of Saint Gotthard (1705) , János Bottyán decisively defeated the Austrian army. The Hungarian colonel Ádám Balogh nearly captured Joseph I ,

9628-466: The most glorious Béla, king of Hungary of fond memory" in the opening sentence of the Gesta . The identification of this King Béla is subject to scholarly debate, because four Hungarian monarchs bore this name. Most historians identify the king with Béla III of Hungary who died in 1196. Anonymus dedicated his work to "the most venerable man N" who had been his schoolmate in an unspecified school. Anonymus mentioned that they had found pleasure in reading

9744-516: The most important noblemen of the Kingdom. Charles married four times. His fourth wife was Elizabeth , the daughter of Władysław I of Poland . When Charles died in 1342, his eldest son by Elizabeth succeeded him as Louis I . In the first years of his reign, Louis was advised closely by his mother, making her one of the most influential personalities in the Kingdom. Charles had arranged the marriage of his second son, Andrew , with his cousin Joanna ,

9860-654: The name of at least one Magyar tribe, probably that of the Gyarmat, is linked to the name of a Bashkir population group, the Yurmatï.9 Traditional funeral rites, notably the use of death masks, as well as the presence of parts of horses in the tombs, could be reconstructed thanks to the discovery of a cemetery dating from the 9th or 10th century and located at the confluence of the Volga and the Kama, near present-day Bolšie Tigany . It

9976-406: The names used in official documents in Latin from the beginning of the kingdom to the 1840s. The German name Königreich Ungarn was used officially from 1784 to 1790 and again between 1849 and the 1860s. The Hungarian name ( Magyar Királyság ) was used in the 1840s, and then again from the 1860s to 1946. The unofficial Hungarian name of the kingdom was Magyarország , which is still

10092-488: The nobles. In 1051 armies of the Holy Roman Empire tried to conquer Hungary, but they were defeated at Vértes Mountain . The armies of the Holy Roman Empire continued to suffer defeats; the second greatest battle was at the town now called Bratislava , in 1052. Before 1052 Peter Orseolo, a supporter of the Holy Roman Empire , was overthrown by king Samuel Aba of Hungary . This period of revolts ended during

10208-604: The opponents of the conquering Hungarians—for instance, the Bulgarian Salan , the Khazar Menumorut and the Vlach Gelou —were mentioned in other sources. According to Györffy, Engel, and other historians, Anonymus either invented these personalities or listed them anachronistically among the conquering Hungarians' opponents. Martyn Rady and László Veszprémy explicitly describe the Gesta Hungarorum as

10324-476: The parts where he makes the dubious claim that the Hungarian leader Almos was descended from Attila. Deletant further concludes that the cases for and against the existence of Gelou and the Vlachs simply cannot be proven. Martyn Rady , the translator of the first English version of the Gesta, states that "It is at best to project contemporary conditions backwards." Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary

10440-458: The peoples inhabiting the Carpathian Basin on the local Slavs' oral tradition which was preserved in the early 12th-century Russian Primary Chronicle . The latter source described the Slavs as the first settlers in the Carpathian Basin and mentioned that they were conquered by the "Volokhi" before the Hungarians arrived and expelled the Volokhi . According to Györffy, Kristó and other historians, Anonymus misinterpreted his source when identifying

10556-428: The population of modern Hungary is ethnically Hungarian and speaks Hungarian as their mother tongue. Today, the feast day of the first king Stephen I (20 August) is a national holiday in Hungary, commemorating the foundation of the state (Foundation Day). The Latin forms Regnum Hungariae or Ungarie ( Regnum meaning kingdom); Regnum Marianum (Kingdom of Mary ); or simply Hungaria , were

10672-430: The presence of the [Vlachs] in Transylvania in the 10th century, because if [Vlachs] had indeed arrived there in the 12th century, his readers would not have believed this assertion". Györffy says that the Vlachs, Cumans, Czechs and other peoples whose presence in the late-9th-century Carpathian Basin cannot be proven based on sources from the same period reflects the situation of the late 13th century. The Gesta contains

10788-758: The present-day region of Bashkiria around 400 BC. The migration of the Huns towards the west forced many population groups established in Western Siberia to flee towards Europe between 350 and 400 AD. circa 550 B.C. move. The arrival of the Huns put an end to the domination of the Iranian peoples over the Eurasian steppes . Subsequently, the Sabirs , Avars , Onogurs , Khazars , as well as other Turkic peoples kept

10904-420: The reign of Béla I . Hungarian chroniclers praised Béla I for introducing new currency, such as the silver denarius, and for his benevolence to the former followers of his nephew, Solomon. The second greatest Hungarian king, also from the Árpád dynasty, was Ladislaus I of Hungary , who stabilized and strengthened the kingdom. He was also canonized as a saint. Under his rule Hungarians successfully fought against

11020-455: The reign of his successor Coloman . With the coronation of King Coloman as " King of Croatia and Dalmatia " in Biograd in 1102, the two kingdoms of Croatia and Hungary were united under one crown. Although the precise terms of this relationship became a matter of dispute in the 19th century, it is believed that Coloman created a kind of personal union between the two kingdoms . The nature of

11136-406: The relationship varied through time, Croatia retained a large degree of internal autonomy overall, while the real power rested in the hands of the local nobility. Modern Croatian and Hungarian historiographies mostly view the relations between Kingdom of Croatia (1102–1526) and Kingdom of Hungary from 1102 as a form of a personal union , i.e. that they were connected by a common king. Also, one of

11252-497: The remainder of the historical Kingdom of Hungary and the principality of Transylvania. For a while in 1686, the capital Buda was again free from the Ottoman Empire, with the aid of other Europeans. Rákóczi's War for Independence (1703–1711) was the first significant freedom fight in Hungary against absolutist Habsburg rule. It was fought by a group of noblemen, wealthy and high-ranking progressives who wanted to put an end to

11368-471: The series Scriptures rerum Hungaricarum in 1746 by Johann Georg von Schwandtner . Matthias Bél wrote a preface to this first edition. Professors of the Universities of Halle and Göttingen soon raised their doubts about the reliability of the Gesta , emphasizing, for instance, the anachronistic description of the Rus' principalities. The Slovak scholar Juraj Sklenár dismissed Anonymus's work in

11484-481: The so-called Exordia Scythica ("Scythian Genesis"), a 7th-century abridgement of a work of the 2nd-century historian, Justin . Anonymus used Regino of Prüm's Chronicon , that he mentioned as "the annals of chronicles" in his Gesta . He accepted Regino of Prüm's view when identifying the Scythians as the Hungarians' ancestors. Sometimes, he misinterpreted his sources. For instance, he wrote of "the boundaries of

11600-402: The spurious tales of peasants who have not forgotten the brave deeds and wars of the Hungarians" even to his time. However, he did not conceal his scorn for oral tradition, stating that it "would be most unworthy and completely unfitting for the so most noble people of Hungary to hear as if in sleep of the beginning of their kind and of their bravery and deeds from the false stories of peasants and

11716-474: The support of the Ottoman Sultan. A three-sided conflict ensued as Ferdinand moved to assert his rule over as much of the Hungarian kingdom as he could. By 1529 the kingdom had been split into two parts: Habsburg Hungary and the "eastern-Kingdom of Hungary". At this time there were no Ottomans on Hungarian territories, except Srem's important castles. In 1532, Nikola Jurišić defended Kőszeg and stopped

11832-548: The thrones of Hungary and Poland respectively. Louis I of Hungary always kept good and close relationships with the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV of Luxembourg and finally proclaimed Charles's son Sigismund of Luxembourg to succeed him as King of Hungary. Sigismund became a renowned king who created many improvements in the Hungarian law system and who rebuilt the palaces of Buda and Visegrád. He brought materials from Austria and Bohemia and ordered

11948-404: The turn of the 9th and 10th centuries mentioned more than a dozen persons who played an important role in the history of the Carpathian Basin at the time of the Hungarian Conquest. Anonymus did not mention any of them; he did not refer, for instance, to Emperor Arnulf of Carinthia , Boris I of Bulgaria , and Svatopluk I of Moravia . On the other hand, none of the persons whom Anonymus listed among

12064-575: The two empires quelled the revolution. The desired political changes of 1848 were again suppressed until the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 . Population 1910 (Kingdom of Hungary without Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia ) Magna Hungaria Magna Hungaria was mentioned by the thirteenth-century Franciscan Giovanni da Plano Carpini in his reports of his travels in Northern Asia and Central Asia . Friar Julian ,

12180-690: The unofficial name Transleithania was sometimes used to denote the regions of the Kingdom of Hungary. Officially, the term Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen was included for the Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary, although this term was also in use prior to that time. The Hungarians, led by Árpád , settled the Carpathian Basin in 895 and established the Principality of Hungary (896–1000). The Hungarians led several successful incursions to Western Europe, until they were stopped by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor in Battle of Lechfeld . The principality

12296-440: The upper courses of the river Tisza . For instance, he mentioned a dozen places—settlements, ferries and streams—in the former region, including "a small river that flows through a stone culvert" to Óbuda. He did not write of the southern and eastern parts of Transylvania . Minstrels and folk-singers reciting heroic songs were well-known figures of the age of Anonymus. He explicitly referred to "the gabbling rhymes of minstrels and

12412-405: The work was completed between around 1200 and 1230. The Gesta exists in a sole manuscript from the second part of the 13th century, which was for centuries held in Vienna . It is part of the collection of Széchényi National Library in Budapest . The principal subject of the Gesta is the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin at the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries, and it writes of

12528-1203: The year 900. Certain particularly atavistic characteristics of the songs Hungarian folklore shows similarities with those of the Chuvashes , a Turkic ethnic group established mainly in Russia and Kazakhstan . Based on these characteristics, it is concluded that the Magyars were closely related to the Turks during the long period that they spent in the Pontic steppes . 1.Macartney 1953, p. 85-86. 2.Fodor 1975, p. 197. 3.Fodor 1975, p. 198 & 201. 4.Róna-Tas 1999, p. 429. 5.Tóth 1998, p. 15. 6.Fodor 1975, p. 201. 7.Kristó 1996, p. 87. 8.Kristó 1996, p. 68. 9.Kristó 1996, p. 67-68. 10.Fodor 1975, p. 122-123. 11.Róna-Tas 1999, p. 121 & 429. 12.Kristó 1996, p. 32. 13.Fodor 1975, p. 202. 14.Fodor 1975, p. 203. 15.Róna-Tas 1999, p. 209. 16.Róna-Tas 1999, p. 209-213 & 230-231. 17.Engel 2001, p. 10. 18.Róna-Tas 1999, p. 105. 19.Csorba 1997, p. 32. 20.Engel 2001, p. 9-10. 21.Kristó 1996, p. 35. 22.Róna-Tas 1999, p. 323. 23.(en) Denis Sinor, « The outlines of Hungarian prehistory », International Commission for

12644-527: Was Archduke of Austria , and was related to Louis by marriage. Due to previous agreements that the Habsburgs would take the Hungarian throne if Louis died without heirs, Ferdinand was elected king by a rump diet in December 1526. Although the borders shifted frequently during this period, the three parts can be identified, more or less, as follows: On 29 February 1528, King John I of Hungary received

12760-473: Was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen I at Esztergom around the year 1000; his family (the Árpád dynasty ) led the monarchy for 300 years. By the 12th century, the kingdom became a European power. Due to the Ottoman occupation of

12876-610: Was arranged with the Duke Albert V of Austria , who was later crowned as King Albert of Hungary in 1437. The Hungarian kingdom's golden age was during the reign of Matthias Corvinus (1458–1490), the son of John Hunyadi . His nickname was "Matthias the Just". He further improved the Hungarian economy and practised astute diplomacy in place of military action whenever possible. Matthias did undertake campaigning when necessary. From 1485 until his death, he occupied Vienna, aiming to limit

12992-601: Was called in and crowned. Since the ceremony was not performed with the Hungarian Holy Crown, and in the city of Székesfehérvár , it was considered illegitimate. Ladislaus stayed only few days in Hungarian territory and soon left it, no longer an inconvenience for Sigismund. In 1408 he founded the Order of the Dragon , which included most of the relevant monarchs and noblemen of that region of Europe at that time. This

13108-580: Was decapitated during this battle. In 1456, John Hunyadi delivered a crushing defeat of the Ottomans at the Siege of Belgrade . The Noon Bell commemorates the fallen Christian warriors. In the 15th century, the Black Army of Hungary was a modern mercenary army, with the Hussars the most skilled troops of the Hungarian cavalry . In 1479, under the leadership of Pál Kinizsi , the Hungarian army destroyed

13224-476: Was introduced as a currency, replacing the denars , and soon after Charles's reforms were implemented, the economy of the Kingdom started to prosper again, having fallen into a parlous state following the Mongol invasion. Charles exalted the cult to Saint Ladislaus I, using him as a symbol of bravery, justice and purity. He also venerated his uncle, Saint Louis of Toulouse . On the other hand, he gave importance to

13340-668: Was just a first step for what was coming. In 1410 he was elected King of the Romans , making him the supreme monarch over the German territories. He had to deal with the Hussite movement, a religious reformist group that was born in Bohemia, and he presided at the Council of Constance , where the theologist founder Jan Hus , was judged. In 1419 Sigismund inherited the Crown of Bohemia after

13456-536: Was succeeded by the Christian Kingdom of Hungary with the coronation of St Stephen I (son of principal Géza. Originally called Vajk until baptized) at Esztergom on Christmas Day 1000. The first kings of the kingdom were from the Árpád dynasty . He fought against Koppány and in 998, with Bavarian help, defeated him near Veszprém . The Catholic Church received powerful support from Stephen I, who with Christian Hungarians and German knights wanted

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