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Szigetvár ( Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈsiɡɛtvaːr] ; Croatian : Siget ; Turkish : Zigetvar ; German : Inselburg, Großsiget ) is a town in Baranya County in southern Hungary . The name is a compound word composed of Sziget (Island) + vár (castle).  In October 2011, the city received the title Civitas Invicta from the Hungarian Parliament. Today it has a population of 12,000.

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110-565: The city and its vicinity were inhabited in prehistoric times, which is confirmed by the Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeological findings (stone axes, net weights, bones) found here. After Celtic, Roman, and Avar rule, the area was conquered by the Hungarians by 900 AD. The origin of a settlement by the name “Zygeth” dates back to 1391 when a wealthy Greek family named Anthemi settled in the nearby hills and forests, probably after fleeing

220-445: A bey or sanjakbey . The Tanzimat reforms initially placed some sanjaks under kaymakams and others under mutasarrifs ; a sanjak under a mutasarrif was known as a mutasarriflik . The districts of each sanjak were known as kazas . These were initially overseen by Islamic judges ( kadi ) and thus identical to their kadiluks . During the 1864 round of reforms, their administrative duties were given to kaymakams instead. Under

330-691: A Slavic name, while the name of Keszthely preserved the Latin word for fortress ( castellum ), with Slavic mediation. Besides the Slavs, the presence of a German-speaking population can be demonstrated, based on toponyms. For example, the Hungarians adopted the Germanized form of the name of the river Vulka (whose name is of Slavic origin) and the document known as the Conversion of the Bavarians and

440-565: A break of eleven years, the Hungarians returned to the Carpathian Basin in 892. They came to assist Arnulf of East Francia against Svatopluk I of Moravia. Widukind of Corvey and Liutprand of Cremona condemned the Frankish monarch for destroying the defense lines built along the empire's borders, because this also enabled the Hungarians to attack East Francia within a decade. Meanwhile Arnulf…could not overcome Sviatopolk, duke of

550-457: A grant of land, grass and water." When this message was delivered to the leader, he said with a smile: "Let them kill the horse with a wooden mallet, and throw the bridle on the field, and throw the golden saddle into the water of the Danube." To which the messenger replied: "And what loss will that be to them, lord? If you kill the horse, you will give food for their dogs; if you throw the bridle on

660-504: A great deal of attention and training to archery on horse-back. A huge herd of horses, ponies and mares, follows them, to provide both food and milk and, at the same time, to give the impression of a multitude. Based on extant Hungarian chronicles, it is clear that more than one (occasionally extended) list existed of the peoples inhabiting the Carpathian Basin at the time of the Hungarian landtaking. Anonymus, for instance, first writes of

770-514: A joint attack by the Pechenegs and Bulgarians in 894 or 895. They first took control over the lowlands east of the river Danube and attacked and occupied Pannonia (the region to the west of the river) in 900. They exploited internal conflicts in Moravia and annihilated this state sometime between 902 and 906. The Hungarians strengthened their control over the Carpathian Basin by defeating

880-631: A joint attack by the Pechenegs and the Bulgarians forced the Hungarians' hand. Kristó, Tóth and the theory's other adherents refer to the unanimous testimony provided by the Annals of Fulda , Regino of Prüm and Porphyrogenitus on the connection between the Hungarians' conflict with the Bulgar-Pecheneg coalition and their withdrawal from the Pontic steppes. An intermediate theory proposes that

990-489: A long period the Slavs settled beside the Danube, where the Hungarian and Bulgarian lands now lie. From among these Slavs, parties scattered throughout the country and were known by appropriate names, according to the places where they settled. (...) [T]he [Volkhi] attacked the Danubian Slavs, settled among them, and did them violence... The Magyars passed by Kyiv over the hill now called Hungarian and on arriving at

1100-534: A powerful opponent, captured him and kept him prisoner. In 1543, after failing to ransom Bálint, his wife, Katalin Pemflinger, gives the strategically important fortress to Habsburg Archduke Ferdinand, and King of Royal Hungary.  While in captivity, Bálint Török agrees to surrender all his forts to Süleymân in exchange for his freedom, but Sziget is no longer his to give. Bálint dies in Istanbul in 1550. By

1210-565: A sedentary (non-nomadic) way of life from the 8th century. The Avars' power was destroyed between 791 and 795 by Charlemagne , who occupied Transdanubia and attached it to his empire. Archaeological investigation of early medieval rural settlements at Balatonmagyaród , Nemeskér and other places in Transdanubia demonstrate that their main features did not change with the fall of the Avar Khaganate. New settlements appeared in

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1320-668: A small imperial troop. The Byzantines approached the Hungarians to hire them to fight the Bulgarians. Nicetas Sclerus, the Byzantine envoy, concluded a treaty with their leaders, Árpád and Kurszán (Kusan), and Byzantine ships transferred Hungarian warriors across the Lower Danube. The Hungarians invaded Bulgaria, forced Tzar Simeon to flee to the fortress of Dristra (now Silistra , Bulgaria) and plundered Preslav . An interpolation in Porphyrogenitus's work states that

1430-487: A smile, "In return for the gift let them have as much as they desire." ...Then [the Hungarians] sent another messenger to the leader and this was the message which he delivered: "Arpad and his people say to you that you may no longer stay upon the land which they bought of you, for with the horse they bought your earth, with the bridle the grass, and with the saddle the water. And you, in your need and avarice, made to them

1540-432: Is located in the regions on the northern Morava river , in the territory of the present-day Czech Republic and Slovakia. However, Constantine Porphyrogenitus places "great Moravia, the unbaptized" somewhere in the regions beyond Belgrade and Sirmium ( Sremska Mitrovica , Serbia). His report supported further theories on Moravia's location . For instance, Kristó and Senga propose the existence of two Moravias (one in

1650-577: The timar system of the early empire, fiefs held by timariot sipahis were also an important feature of each sanjak. Sanjaks were initially carried over into the Republic of Turkey before being reorganized as provinces ( Turkish : il ) in the 1920s. Sanjak ( / ˈ s æ n dʒ æ k / ) is one English transcription of the Ottoman Turkish name sancak ( سنجاق ). The modern transcription varies as modern Turkish uses

1760-514: The Baghdad , Al-Hasa , Egypt , Tripoli , Tunis and Algiers . He adds to the list Yemen , with the note that ‘at the moment the Imams have usurped control’. These eyalets were, however, exceptional: the typical pattern was the eyalet subdivided into sanjaks. By the 16th century, these presented a rational administrative pattern of territories, based usually around the town or settlement from which

1870-728: The Bavarian army in a battle fought at Brezalauspurc on 4 July 907. They launched a series of campaigns to Western Europe between 899 and 955 and also targeted the Byzantine Empire between 943 and 971. However, they gradually settled in the basin and established a Christian monarchy, the Kingdom of Hungary , around 1000. The Hungarians arrived in the Carpathian Basin , a geographically unified but politically divided land, after acquiring thorough local knowledge of

1980-553: The Carpathian Mountains were familiar with what would become their homeland when their conquest started. The Hungarian conquest started in the context of a "late or 'small' migration of peoples ". The Hungarians took possession of the Carpathian Basin in a pre-planned manner, with a long move-in between 862–895. Other theories assert that the Hungarians crossed the Carpathian Mountains following

2090-597: The First Bulgarian Empire was also deeply involved in the Carpathian Basin in the 9th century. A late 10th-century Byzantine lexicon known as Suda adds that Krum of Bulgaria attacked the Avars from the southeast around 803. The Royal Frankish Annals narrates that the Abodrites inhabiting " Dacia on the Danube", most probably along the lower courses of the river Tisza, sought the assistance of

2200-661: The Franks against the Bulgars in 824. Bulgarian troops also invaded Pannonia, "expelled the Slavic chieftains and appointed Bulgar governors instead" in 827. An inscription at Provadia refers to a Bulgarian military leader named Onegavonais drowning in the Tisza around the same time. The emerging power of Moravia brought about a rapprochement between Bulgaria and East Francia in the 860s. King Arnulf of East Francia sent an embassy to

2310-708: The Illuminated Chronicle , the Hungarians "remained quietly in Erdelw and rested their herds" there after their crossing because of an attack by eagles. The Hungarian chronicles preserved two separate lists of the Hungarians' leaders at the time of the conquest. Anonymus mentions Álmos, Előd , Künd , Ónd, Tas, Huba and Tétény, while Simon of Kéza and the Illuminated Chronicle list Árpád, Szabolcs, Gyula, Örs, Künd, Lél and Vérbulcsú. Contemporaneous or nearly contemporaneous sources make mention of Álmos (Constantine Porphyrogenitus), of Árpád ( Continuation of

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2420-627: The Van Eyalet where the Khans of Bitlis ruled independently until the 19th century. There were other areas, too, which enjoyed autonomy or semi-autonomy. In the second half of the 16th century, Kilis came under the hereditary governorship of the Janbulad family, while Adana remained under the rule of the pre-Ottoman dynasty of Ramazanoghlu . In Lebanon, Ayn Ali refers to the Druze chieftains with

2530-642: The khagan asked Charlemagne to let his people settle in the region between Szombathely and Petronell in Pannonia. His petition was accepted in 805. The Conversion of the Bavarians and the Carantanians lists the Avars among the peoples under the ecclesiastic jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Salzburg around 870. According to Pohl, it "simply proved impossible to keep up an Avar identity after Avar institutions and

2640-581: The "Slavs, Bulgarians, Vlachs and the shepherds of the Romans " as inhabiting the territory, but later he refers to "a people called Kozar" and to the Székelys . Similarly, Simon of Kéza first lists the "Slavs, Greeks , Germans, Moravians and Vlachs", but later he adds that the Székelys also lived in the territory. According to Macartney, those lists were based on multiple sources and do not document

2750-534: The 11th century. Pribina died fighting the Moravians in 861, and his son Kocel inherited his estates. Kocel was succeeded around 876 by Arnulf , a natural son of Carloman , king of East Francia . Under his rule, Moravian troops interved into the conflict known as the " Wilhelminer War " and "laid waste from the Raab eastward" between 882 and 884, according to the Annals of Fulda . Moravia emerged in

2860-658: The 1550s, the Ottoman advance had captured all the small castles (forts) in the region, leaving mighty Szigetvár surrounded and alone in Ottoman occupied territory. Toygun Paşa, the governor of the Budin Eyalet , attacked in 1555, but László Kerecsényi kept the fortress safe. Disillusioned with Habsburg support, Kerecsényi resigns. Toygun Paşa was replaced by Hadım Ali Paşa, who besieged Szigetvár in 1556, but could not take it from Croatian castellan Marko Horvat Stančić. Stančić, disillusioned with Vienna’s support, resigns from

2970-406: The 820s under its first known ruler, Mojmir I . His successor, Rastislav , developed Moravia's military strength. He promoted the proselytizing activities of the Byzantine brothers, Constantine and Methodius in an attempt to seek independence from East Francia. Moravia reached its "peak of importance" under Svatopluk I who expanded its frontiers in all directions. Moravia's core territory

3080-568: The 9th century. In the case of Doboka (Dăbâca), two pairs of bell-shaped pendants with analogues in sites in Austria, Bulgaria and Poland have been unearthed, but Florin Curta dates them to the 9th century, while Alexandru Madgearu to the period between 975 and 1050. Three main theories attempt to explain the reasons for the "Hungarian land-taking". One argues that it was an intended military operation, prearranged following previous raids, with

3190-692: The Almás stream. Bálint Török's fortified island estate was significant not only as a military base, but also as an intellectual base for the hinterland: Sebestyén Lantos Tinódi, the Hungarian creator of the genre of historical song, lived here until 1542, and Pál Istvánffy, the first Hungarian poet, had a house here the author of a poetic short story, and his son Miklós Istvánffy, a humanist historian, grew up here. During Sultan Suleiman's campaign to Hungary, in 1541, in addition to taking Buda, he also took Pécs and Siklós, which are east of Szigetvár. Also during that campaign, Suleiman, fearing that Bálint Török could be

3300-559: The Bulgarians in 892 in order "to renew the former peace and to ask that they should not sell salt to the Moravians". The latter request suggests that the route from the salt mines of the eastern Carpathians to Moravia was controlled around that time by the Bulgarians. The anonymous author of the Gesta Hungarorum , instead of Svatopluk I of Moravia and other rulers known from contemporary sources, writes of personalities and polities that are not mentioned by chroniclers working at

3410-602: The Carantanians from around 870 lists Germanic place names in Pannonia, including Salapiugin ("bend of the Zala ") and Mosaburc ("fortress in the marshes"). The name of the Barca , Barót and other rivers could be either Turkic or Slavic in origin. According to Béla Miklós Szőke's theory, the detailed description of the Magyars by western contemporary sources and the immediate Hungarian intervention in local wars suggest that

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3520-640: The Carpathian basin. According to historian Bálint Csanád "Not one single element (of the original theory) is tenable" and that a "compelling piece of evidence is that a genuine similarity between the Avar- and Conquest-period skeletal material could only be demonstrated in 4.5% of the theoretically potential cases". The Continuation of the Chronicle by George the Monk contains the earliest certain reference to

3630-518: The Carpathians in search of a new homeland. The memory of the destruction brought by the Pechenegs seems to have been preserved by the Hungarians. The Hungarian name of the Pechenegs (besenyő) corresponds to the old Hungarian word for eagle (bese) . Thus the 14th-century Hungarian chronicles' story of eagles compelling the Hungarians' ancestors to cross the Carpathians most probably refers to

3740-548: The Carpathians is also contested. Anonymus and Simon of Kéza have the invading Hungarians crossing the northeastern passes, while the Illuminated Chronicle writes of their arrival in Transylvania. Regino of Prüm states that the Hungarians "roamed the wildernesses of the Pannonians and the Avars and sought their daily food by hunting and fishing" following their arrival in the Carpathian Basin. Their advance towards

3850-481: The Chronicle by George the Monk and Constantine Porphyrogenitus), of Liountikas (Constantine Porphyrogenitus) and of Kurszán ( Continuation of the Chronicle by George the Monk ). According to the Illuminated Chronicle , Álmos , Árpád's father "could not enter Pannonia, for he was killed in Erdély". The episode implies that Álmos was the kende , the sacred ruler of the Hungarians, at the time of their destruction by

3960-478: The Danube seems to have stimulated Arnulf, who was crowned emperor to entrust Braslav (the ruler of the region between the rivers Drava and Sava ) with the defense of all Pannonia in 896. In 897 or 898 a civil war broke out between Mojmir II and Svatopluk II (two sons of the late Moravian ruler, Svatopluk I), in which Emperor Arnulf also intervened. There is no mention of the Hungarians' activities in those years. The next event recorded in connection with

4070-568: The Dnipro, they pitched camp. They were nomads like the Polovcians . Coming out of the east, they struggled across the great mountains and began to fight against the neighboring [Volokhi] and Slavs. For the Slavs had settled there first, but the [Volokhi] had seized the territory of the Slavs. The Magyars subsequently expelled the [Volkhi], took their land and settled among the Slavs, whom they reduced to submission. From that time this territory

4180-886: The German for the Mattsee Abbey may well attest that the Onogurs (another people of Turkic origin) were also present in the territory. The charter refers to the "Marches of the Wangars" (marcha uuangariourum) situated in the westernmost regions of the Carpathian Basin. The Wangar denomination seems to reflect the Slavic form of the Onogurs' ethnonym . The territories attached to the Frankish Empire were initially governed by royal officers and local chieftains. A Slavic prince named Pribina received large estates along

4290-831: The German, hired Hungarians to invade East Francia . Archbishop Theotmar of Salzburg clearly states in his letter of around 900 that the Moravians often allied with the Hungarians against the Germans. For many years [the Moravians] have in fact perpetrated the very crime of which they have only once falsely accused us. They themselves have taken in a large number of Hungarians and have shaved their own heads according to their heathen customs and they have sent them against our Christians, overcoming them, leading some away as captives, killing others, while still others, imprisoned, perished of hunger and thirst. Porphyrogenitus mentions that

4400-540: The Hungarian "Hetumoger" ("Seven Hungarians") denomination of the tribal confederation, although he writes of "seven leading persons" jointly bearing this name instead of a political organization. The Hetumoger confederation was strengthened by the arrival of the Kabars , who (according to Constantine) joined the Hungarians following their unsuccessful riot against the Khazar Khaganate . The Hungarians and

4510-433: The Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin. In this power vacuum, The Hungarian conqueror elite took the system of the former Avar Kaganate , there is no trace of massacres and mass graves, it is believed to have been a peaceful transition for local residents in the Carpathian Basin . Other scholars dismiss the continuity between late Avar and Hungarian Conquerors and/or the "double-conquest" ( kettős honfoglalás ) of

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4620-417: The Hungarian historical tradition together point to an early occupation of the eastern territories of the Carpathian Basin by auxiliary troops of the Hungarian tribal confederation. The Annals of Fulda narrated in 894 that the Hungarians crossed the Danube into Pannonia where they "killed men and old women outright and carried off the young women alone with them like cattle to satisfy their lusts and reduced

4730-476: The Hungarians "claimed for themselves the nation of the Moravians, which King Arnulf had subdued with the aid of their might" at the coronation of Arnulf's son, Louis the Child in 900. The Annals of Grado relates that the Hungarians defeated the Moravians after their withdrawal from Italy. Thereafter the Hungarians and the Moravians made an alliance and jointly invaded Bavaria, according to Aventinus. However,

4840-520: The Hungarians became the masters of the Carpathian Basin by the occupation of Pannonia. The Primary Chronicle may also reflect the memory of this event when relating how the Hungarians expelled the "Volokhi" or "Volkhi" who had earlier subjugated the Slavs' homeland in Pannonia, according to scholars who identify the Volokhi and Volkhi as Franks. Other historians associate them either with Vlachs ( Romanians ), or with ancient Romans . Over

4950-527: The Hungarians dwelled in a territory that they called " Atelkouzou " until their invasion across the Carpathians. He adds that it was located in the territory where the rivers Barouch , Koubou , Troullos , Broutos and Seretos run. Although the identification of the first two rivers with the Dnieper and the Southern Bug is not unanimously accepted, the last three names without doubt refer to

5060-536: The Hungarians had a prince named " Liountikas , son of Arpad" at that time, which suggests that he was the commander of the army, but he might have been mentioned in the war context by chance. Simultaneously with the Hungarian attack from the north, the Byzantines invaded Bulgaria from the south. Tzar Simeon sent envoys to the Byzantine Empire to propose a truce. At the same time, he sent an embassy to

5170-501: The Hungarians had already lived on the eastern territories of the Carpathian Basin since the middle of the 9th century. Regarding the right location of early Hungarian settlements, the Arabic geographer al-Jayhani (only snippets of his work survived in other Muslim authors' papers) in the 870s placed the Hungarians between the Don and Danube rivers. Szőke identifies al-Jayhani's Danube with

5280-544: The Hungarians had for decades been considering a westward move when the Bulgarian-Pecheneg attack accelerated their decision to leave the Pontic-Caspian steppe. For instance Róna-Tas argues, "[the] fact that, despite a series of unfortunate events, the Magyars managed to keep their heads above water goes to show that they were indeed ready to move on" when the Pechenegs attacked them. In fact, following

5390-550: The Hungarians is their raid against Italy in 899 and 900. The letter of Archbishop Theotmar of Salzburg and his suffragans suggests that Emperor Arnulf incited them to attack King Berengar I of Italy . They routed the Italian troops on 2 September at the river Brenta in a great battle and plundered the region of Vercelli and Modena in the winter, but the doge of Venice , Pietro Tribuno , defeated them at Venice on 29 June 900. They returned from Italy when they learned of

5500-490: The Hungarians knew "nothing about fighting hand-to-hand in formation or taking besieged cities", but he underlines their archery skills. Remains indicate that composite bows were the Hungarians' most important weapons. In addition, slightly curved sabres were unearthed in many warrior tombs from the period. Regino of Prüm noted the Hungarians' preference for deceptions such as apparent retreat in battle. Contemporaneous writers also recounted their viciousness, represented by

5610-454: The Hungarians purchased their future homeland in the Carpathian Basin from Svatopluk for a white horse harnessed with gilded saddle and reins. Then [ Kusid ] came to the leader of the region who reigned after Attila and whose name was Zuatapolug, and saluted him in the name of his people [...]. On hearing this, Zuatapolug rejoiced greatly, for he thought that they were peasant people who would come and till his land; and so he dismissed

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5720-609: The Hungarians. It states that Hungarian warriors intervened in a conflict between the Byzantine Empire and the Bulgarians on the latter's behalf in the Lower Danube region in 836 or 837. The first known Hungarian raid in Central Europe was recorded in the Annals of St. Bertin , which writes of "enemies, called Hungarians, hitherto unknown" who ravaged King Louis the German 's realm in 862. Victor Spinei and other historians argue that Rastislav of Moravia , at war with Louis

5830-403: The Kabars are mentioned in the longer version of the Annals of Salzburg , which relates that the Hungarians fought around Vienna , while the Kabars fought nearby at Culmite in 881. Madgearu proposes that Kavar groups were already settled in the Tisza plain within the Carpathian Basin around 881, which may have given rise to the anachronistic reference to Cumans in the Gesta Hungarorum at

5940-415: The Magnificent in the nearby destroyed settlement of Turbék . Szigetvár is twinned with: Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin The Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin , also known as the Hungarian conquest or the Hungarian land-taking ( Hungarian : honfoglalás , lit.   'taking/conquest of the homeland'), was a series of historical events ending with

6050-415: The Moravians if they received the lands they were to occupy. Accordingly, Aventinus continues, the Hungarians took possession of "both Dacias on this side and beyond" the Tisza east of the rivers Danube and Garam already in 893. Indeed, the Hungarian chronicles unanimously state that the Székelys had already been present in the Carpathian Basin when the Hungarians moved in. Kristó argues that Aventinus and

6160-415: The Moravians…and – alas! – having dismantled those very well fortified barriers which…are called "closures" by the populace. Arnulf summoned to his aid the nation of the Hungarians, greedy, rash, ignorant of almighty God but well versed in every crime, avid only for murder and plunder. A late source, Aventinus adds that Kurszán (Cusala) , "king of the Hungarians" stipulated that his people would only fight

6270-411: The Osmanlı conquest of the lands between Edirne (Adrianople) and Plovdiv in the 1360s.  The fortress of Sziget had its start in 1420 when Ozsvát Anthemi (aka Oswald Antheminus or Antimus) built the first brick buildings on a hill named Lázár Island in the floodplain (marshland) of the Almás River.  The brick buildings enclosed a courtyard, and later a three-story (14 metres) high round stone tower

6380-417: The Ottoman garrison surrendered the fortress in February 1689. It retained its military role, with stationed within its walls, until the end of the 18th century. Some other monuments in the town date back to Ottoman times. Two years after the siege, the mosque of Ali Pasha was built, later – in 1788 – to be transformed into a Christian church: the Roman Catholic parish church. The two minarets, as well as

6490-551: The Pechenegs had their dwelling on the river [Volga] and likewise on the river [Ural] (…). But fifty years ago the so-called Uzes made common cause with the Chazars and joined battle with the Pechenegs and prevailed over them and expelled them from their country (…). The relationship between Bulgaria and the Byzantine Empire sharpened in 894, because Emperor Leo the Wise forced the Bulgarian merchants to leave Constantinople and settle in Thessaloniki . Subsequently, Tzar Simeon I of Bulgaria invaded Byzantine territories and defeated

6600-423: The Pechenegs to incite them against the Hungarians. He succeeded, and the Pechenegs broke into Hungarian territories from the east, forcing the Hungarian warriors to withdraw from Bulgaria. The Bulgarians, according to Constantine Porphyrogenitus, attacked and routed the Hungarians . The Pechenegs destroyed the Hungarians' dwelling places. Those who survived the double attack left the Pontic steppes and crossed

6710-464: The Pechenegs' attack. The Hungarians were (…) driven from their home (…) by a neighboring people called the Petchenegs, because they were superior to them in strength and number and because (…) their own country was not sufficient to accommodate their swelling numbers. After they had been forced to flee by the violence of the Petchenegs, they said goodbye to their homeland and set out to look for lands where they could live and establish settlements. [At]

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6820-466: The Pechenegs, which caused his sacrifice. If his death was in fact the consequence of a ritual murder , his fate was similar to that of the Khazar khagans who were executed, according to Ibn Fadlan and al-Masudi, in the case of disasters affecting their whole people. The death of Arnulf released the Hungarians from their alliance with East Francia. On their way back from Italy they expanded their rule over Pannonia. According to Liutprand of Cremona ,

6930-404: The area from the 860s onwards. After the end of the Avar Kaganate (c. 822), the Eastern Franks asserted their influence in Transdanubia , the Bulgarians to a small extent in the Southern Transylvania and the interior regions housed the surviving Avar population in their stateless state. According to one theory the archaeological evidence, the Avar population survived the time of

7040-564: The area. A sanjak was typically divided into kazas , each overseeing a major city and its surrounding hinterland. Initially, the civil administration was headed by an Islamic judge ( kadi ) and the area equivalent to his jurisdiction ( kadiluk ). During the Tanzimat reforms, the kadis were eventually restricted to judicial functions and administration ceded to a kaymakam and treasurer. The kazas were further divided into subdistricts ( nahiye ) and villages, each overseen by an appointed official or local council. Following World War I ,

7150-448: The command of a sanjak-bey . The number of sanjaks in each eyalet varied considerably. In 1609, Ayn Ali noted that Rumelia Eyalet had 24 sanjaks, but that six of these in the Peloponnesos had been detached to form the separate Morea Eyalet . Anatolia had 14 sanjaks and the Damascus Eyalet had 11. There were, in addition, several eyalets where there was no formal division into sanjaks. These, in Ayn Ali's list were Basra and part of

7260-405: The contemporary Annals of Fulda only refers to Hungarians reaching the river Enns . One of the Hungarian contingents crossed the Danube and plundered the territories on the river's north bank, but Luitpold, Margrave of Bavaria gathered troops and routed them between Passau and Krems an der Donau on 20 November 900. He had a strong fortress erected against them on the Enns. Nevertheless,

7370-403: The death of Emperor Arnulf at the end of 899. According to Anonymous, the Hungarians fought with Menumorut before conquering Gelou's Transylvania. Subsequently, the Hungarians turned against Salan , the ruler of the central territories, according to this narrative. In contrast with Anonymus, Simon of Kéza writes of the Hungarians' fight with Svatopluk following their arrival. According to

7480-474: The duties of castellan. During the siege, the fortress suffered heavy damage and was later repaired and strengthened by Italian military engineer Pietro Ferrabosco, who used the most modern military techniques to make Szigetvár the most modern and strongest fortress in Hungary at that time. The construction of the new town began after 1556 to the south of the original town, which comes to be known as Old Town. Castellans of Szigetvar In 1561, Nikola IV Zrinski

7590-404: The end of the 9th century. For instance, he refers to Menumorut residing in the castle of Bihar (Biharia, Romania ), to Zobor "duke of Nitra by the grace of the Duke of the Czechs ", and to Gelou "a certain Vlach " ruling over Transylvania. According to historian Ryszard Grzesik, the reference to Gelou and his Vlachs evidences that the Vlachs had already settled in Transylvania by

7700-402: The express purpose of occupying a new homeland. This view (expounded, for example, by Bakay and Padányi) mainly follows the narration of Anonymus and later Hungarian chronicles. The Hungarians took possession of the Carpathian Basin in a pre-planned manner, with a long move-in between 862–895. This is confirmed by the archaeological findings, in the 10th century Hungarian cemeteries,

7810-421: The field, their men will find the gold of the bridle when they mow the hay; if you throw the saddle into the Danube, their fishermen will lay out the gold of the saddle upon the bank and carry it home. If they have earth, grass and water, they have all." Ismail Ibn Ahmed , the emir of Khorasan , raided "the land of the Turks" (the Karluks ) in 893. Later he caused a new movement of peoples who one by one invaded

7920-488: The former borderlands with cemeteries characterised by objects with clear analogues in contemporary Bavaria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Moravia and other distant territories. A manor defended by timber walls (similar to noble courts of other parts of the Carolingian Empire) was unearthed at Zalaszabar . Avar groups who remained under the rule of their khagan were frequently attacked by Slav warriors. Therefore,

8030-505: The graves of women, children and elderly people are located next to the warriors, they were buried according to the same traditions, wore the same style of ornaments, and belonged to the same anthropological group. The Hungarian military events of the following years prove that the Hungarian population that settled in the Carpathian Basin was not a weakened population without a significant military power. The opposite view maintains that

8140-547: The high claims of their tradition had failed." The growing number of archaeological evidence in Transdanubia also presumes Avar population in the Carpathian Basin at the eve of the 10th century. Archaeological findings suggesting that there is a substantial late Avar presence on the Great Hungarian Plain , but it is difficult to determine the proper chronology. A charter issued in 860 by King Louis

8250-749: The invitation of Leo, the Christ-loving and glorious emperor [the Hungarians] crossed over and fought Symeon and totally defeated him, (…) and they went back to their own county. (…) But after Symeon (…) sent to the Pechenegs and made an agreement with them to attack and destroy [the Hungarians] And when [the latter] had gone off on a military expedition, the Pechenegs with Symeon came against [them] and completely destroyed their families and miserably expelled thence [those] who were guarding their country. When [the Hungarians] came back and found their country thus desolate and utterly ruined, they settled in

8360-615: The land where they live today (…). Passing through the kingdom of the Bessi and the Cumani Albi and Susdalia and the city named Kyo , they crossed the mountains and came into a region where they saw innumerable eagles; and because of the eagles they could not stay in that place, for the eagles came down from the trees like flies and devoured both their herds and their horses. For God intended that they should go down more quickly into Hungary. During three months they made their descent from

8470-642: The lands of their western neighbors in the Eurasian Steppe . Al-Masudi clearly connects the westward movement of the Pechenegs and the Hungarians to previous fights between the Karluks, Ouzes and Kimeks . Porphyrogenitus writes of a joint attack by the Khazars and Ouzes that compelled the Pechenegs to cross the Volga River sometime between 893 and 902 (most probably around 894). Originally,

8580-786: The letter ⟨c⟩ for the sound [dʒ] . The name originally meant "flag" or "banner", derived from Proto-Turkic reconstructed as * sančgak ("lance", "spear") from the streamers attached by Turkish riders. Shared banners were a common organization for Eurasian nomads, were used similarly by the Byzantine Empire 's banda , and continue to be used as the name for administrative divisions in Inner Mongolia and Tuva . Alternative English spellings include sanjac , sanjack , sandjak , sanjaq , sinjaq , sangiaq , and zanzack , although these are now all obsolete or archaic. Sanjaks have also been known as sanjakships and sanjakates , although these more appropriately refer to

8690-437: The messenger graciously. [...] Then by a common resolve [the Hungarians] despatched the same messenger again to the said leader and sent to him for his land a big horse with a golden saddle adorned with the gold of Arabia and a golden bridle. Seeing it, the leader rejoiced all the more, thinking that they were sending gifts of homage in return for land. When therefore the messenger asked of him land, grass and water, he replied with

8800-593: The middle Danube region, as opposed to the previously assumed lower Danube region because, following al-Jayhani's description, the Christian Moravians were the western neighbors of the Magyars. The Carpathian Basin was controlled from the 560s by the Avars , a Turkic-speaking people. Upon their arrival in the region, they imposed their authority over the Gepids , who had dominated the territories east of

8910-427: The mountains, and they came to the boundaries of the kingdom of Hungary, that is to Erdelw [...]. The date of the Hungarian invasion varies according to the source. The earliest date (677) is preserved in the 14th-century versions of the "Hungarian Chronicle", while Anonymus gives the latest date (902). Contemporaneous sources suggest that the invasion followed the 894 Bulgarian-Byzantine war. The route taken across

9020-530: The name for the initial first-level territorial divisions at the formation of the Ottoman Empire. Upon the empire's expansion and the establishment of eyalets as larger provinces, sanjaks were used as the second-level administrative divisions . They continued in this purpose after the eyalets were replaced by vilayets during the Tanzimat reforms of the 19th century. Sanjaks were typically headed by

9130-577: The names of the dynasties that had ruled there before the Ottoman conquest. In 1609, Ayn Ali made a note on their formal status. In listing the sanjaks in the Diyarbekir Eyalet , he notes that it had ten ‘Ottoman districts’ and, in addition, eight ‘districts of the Kurdish lords’. In these cases, when a lord died, the governorship did not go to an outsider, but to his son. In other respects, however, they resembled normal Ottoman sanjaks, in that

9240-460: The north and other one in the south), while Boba, Bowlus and Eggers argue that Moravia's core territory is in the region of the southern Morava river , in present-day Serbia. The existence of a southern Moravian realm is not supported by artifacts, while strongholds unearthed at Mikulcice , Pohansko and other areas to the north of the middle Danube point at the existence of a power center in those regions. In addition to East Francia and Moravia,

9350-452: The note: ‘there are non-Muslim lords in the mountains.’ There were other autonomous enclaves in the Empire, whether or not they received formal recognition as sanjaks but, by the 16th century, these were exceptional. In the 1840s, the boundaries of sanjaks were redrawn to establish equal units of comparable population and wealth. Each of these sanjaks was headed by a muhassil . The sanjak

9460-1032: The office of a sanjakbey . Sanjaks were also known as livâ ( لوا ) from their name's calque in Arabic ( لواء , liwāʾ ) and Persian . In the other languages of the Ottoman Empire , they were known as nahang ( նահանգ , "province") in Armenian ; as okrǔg ( окръг , "province") in Bulgarian ; as santzáki ( σαντζάκι ), libás ( λιβάς ), dioikēsis ( Διοίκησις , "diocese"), eparchia ( επαρχία , "eparchy") in Greek ; and as sancak in Ladino . The first sanjaks appear to have been created by Orhan c.  1340 or earlier. These were Sultan-öyügü (later Sultan-önü), Hudavendigar-eli, Koca-eli and Karasi-eli. The districts which made up an eyalet were known as sanjaks, each under

9570-402: The real ethnic conditions of the Carpathian Basin around 900. Ioan-Aurel Pop says that Simon of Kéza listed the peoples who inhabited the lands that the Hungarian conquered and the nearby territories. The Hungarians adopted the ancient ( Celtic , Dacian or Germanic ) names of the longest rivers in the Carpathian Basin from a Slavic-speaking population. For instance, the Hungarian names of

9680-419: The revenues were registered and allocated to fief holders who went to war under their lord. In addition, however, Ayn Ali noted that there were five ‘sovereign sanjaks’, which their lords disposed of ‘as private property’, and which were outside the system of provincial government. Ayn Ali records similar independent or semi-independent districts in the Çıldır Eyalet in north-eastern Turkey and, most famously, in

9790-577: The river Tisza . However, the Gepids survived up until the second half of the 9th century, according to a reference in the Conversion of the Bavarians and the Carantanians to their groups dwelling in Lower Pannonia around 870. The Avars were initially nomadic horsemen, but both large cemeteries used by three or four generations and a growing number of settlements attest to their adoption of

9900-438: The river Zala around 840. He promoted the colonisation of his lands and also erected Mosaburg , a fortress in the marshes. Initially defended by timber walls, this "castle complex" (András Róna-Tas) became an administrative center. It was strengthened by drystone walls at the end of the century. Four churches surrounded by cemeteries were unearthed in and around the settlement. At least one of them continued to be used up to

10010-451: The rivers Dniester , Prut and Siret . In the wider region, at Subotsi on the river Adiamka, three graves (one of them belonging to a male buried with the skull and legs of his horse) are attributed to pre-conquest Hungarians. However, these tombs may date to the 10th century. The Hungarians were organized into seven tribes that formed a confederation. Constantine Porphyrogenitus mentions this number. Anonymous seems to have preserved

10120-515: The rivers Danube (Duna) , Dráva , Garam , Maros , Olt , Száva , Tisza and Vág were borrowed from Slavs. The Hungarians also adopted a great number of hydronyms of Slavic origin, including Balaton ("swamp"), Beszterce ("swift river"), Túr (" aurochs ' stream") and Zagyva ("sooty river"). Place names of Slavic origin abound across the Carpathian Basin. For instance, Csongrád ("black fortress"), Nógrád ("new fortress"), Visegrád ("citadel") and other early medieval fortresses bore

10230-416: The sanjak took its name, and with a population of perhaps 100,000. However, this had not always been the case. It seems more likely that before the mid-15th century, the most important factor in determining the pattern of sanjaks was the existence of former lordships and principalities, and of areas where marcher lords had acquired territories for themselves and their followers. Some sanjaks in fact preserved

10340-517: The sanjaks were used as the basis for the Occupied Enemy Territory Administration . OETA South was formed from the sanjaks of Jerusalem , Nablus , and Acre . OETA North—later renamed OETA West—was formed from the sanjaks of Beirut , Lebanon , and Latakia , along with a number of surrounding subdistricts. OETA East was formed from the sanjaks of Syria Vilayet and Hejaz Vilayet . The Sanjak of Alexandretta

10450-607: The settlement of the Hungarians in Central Europe in the late 9th and early 10th century. Before the arrival of the Hungarians, three early medieval powers, the First Bulgarian Empire , East Francia , and Moravia , had fought each other for control of the Carpathian Basin . They occasionally hired Hungarian horsemen as soldiers. Therefore, the Hungarians who dwelt on the Pontic-Caspian Steppe east of

10560-604: The siege, Szigetvár regained its old rank of a chartered ancient city. Development began to gather speed. In 1994, the Hungarian-Turkish Friendship Park ( Hungarian : Magyar-Török Barátság Park ) was established as a public park, dedicated in memorial to the Battle of Szigetvár. Archaeological digs conducted by the University of Pécs starting in 2016 revealed the tomb of Sultan Suleiman

10670-491: The slaughter of adult males in settlement raids. [The Hungarians] are armed with swords, body armor, bows and lances. Thus, in battles most of them bear double arms, carrying the lances high on their shoulders and holding the bows in their hands. They make use of both as need requires, but when pursued they use their bows to great advantage. Not only do they wear armor themselves, but the horses of their illustrious men are covered in front with iron or quilted material. They devote

10780-545: The suburbs. The citadel itself was strengthened with brick and stone walls. Szigetvár and the region around it were organized into an Ottoman sanjak , first in the Budin Eyalet (1566–1601), later in the Kanije Eyalet (1601–1689). Szigetvár remained in Ottoman hands until the late 17th century. With the liberation of Buda, in 1686, the southern part of Transdanubia came under Habsburg control but Szigetvár remained in Ottoman. Isolated and besieged, nearing starvation,

10890-432: The time of the Hungarian conquest. The Hetumoger confederation was under a dual leadership, according to Ibn Rusta and Gardizi (two Muslim scholars from the 10th and 11th centuries, respectively, whose geographical books preserved texts from an earlier work written by Abu Abdallah al-Jayhani from Bukhara ). The Hungarians' nominal or sacred leader was styled kende , while their military commander bore

11000-520: The time the Gesta was completed, while the stories about Zobor and Menumorut preserved the memory of the Hungarians' fight against the Moravians. Translating Menumorut's name as "Great Moravian", Grzesik associates him with Svatopluk I and refutes the report of Menumorut's rule in Bihar. Early medieval fortresses were unearthed at Bihar and other places east of the Tisza, but none of them definitively date to

11110-563: The title gyula . The same authors add that the gyula commanded an army of 20,000 horsemen, but the reliability of this number is uncertain. Regino of Prüm and other contemporary authors portray the 9th-century Hungarians as nomadic warriors. Emperor Leo the Wise underlines the importance of horses to their military tactics. Analysis of horse skulls found in Hungarian warriors graves has not revealed any significant difference between these horses and Western breeds. Regino of Prüm states that

11220-592: The whole" province "to desert". Although the annalist writes of this Hungarian attack after the passage narrating Svatopluk I's death, Györffy, Kristó, Róna-Tas and other historians suppose that the Hungarians invaded Pannonia in alliance with the Moravian monarch. They argue that the "Legend of the White Horse" in the Hungarian chronicles preserved the memory of a treaty the Hungarians had made with Svatopluk I according to pagan customs. The legend narrates that

11330-601: The windows and niches with ogee arches indicate its original function. The Turkish House of red raw brick walls and interlaced steel window grills in Bástya Street was originally destined to be a caravanserai . The two holy-water basins of the Franciscan Church were made of Turkish washbasins . The carved main altar of the Baroque Church is another sight to see. In 1966, on the 400th anniversary of

11440-402: Was besieged on August 6, Suleiman died of natural causes (old age) on September 6 or 7, and Szigetvár fell the next day, on either September 7 or 8. The siege is known for the final valiant charge by Nikola Zrinski and many of his men who preferred to die with honour than be captured and live in dishonourable captivity. After taking the castle, the Ottoman immediately rebuilt the fortress and

11550-480: Was appointed castellan of Szigetvár and tasked to keep the important fortress in Habsburg control. Under Zrinski's command, raiders from Szigetvár raided as far as the Danube, and thus threatened the security of the military and trade route between Belgrade and Buda. In 1566, Sultan Suleiman , now 72 years old and in poor health, personally leads his army to Szigetvár, which is a big thorn in his side. The fortress

11660-536: Was built.  Over the decades, Ozsvát built strong ramparts and moats around the brick buildings which become the inner core of the Citadel.  By 1449, there was a castrum (castle) and by 1463, a oppidum (field town), which was small town.  In 1463, after Ozsvát’s death, Sziget was given to the Garai family and, by 1473, it was in the possession of Ambrus Török de Enying, After Ambrus' death, in 1491, Sziget

11770-515: Was called Hungarian. Sanjak A sanjak ( Ottoman Turkish : سنجاق , sancak , "flag, banner") was an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire . The Ottomans also sometimes called the sanjak a liva ( لوا , livâ ) from the name's calque in Arabic and Persian . Banners were a common organization of nomadic groups on the Eurasian Steppe including the early Turks , Mongols , and Manchus and were used as

11880-574: Was ceded by the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon to Turkey in 1939, becoming its Hatay Province . After the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century, the liwa was used by some of its Arab successor states as an administrative divisions until it was gradually replaced by other terms like mintaqah . It is still used occasionally in Syria to refer specifically to

11990-605: Was governed as a vilayet, just on a smaller scale. The mutesarrif was appointed by Imperial decree and represented the vali , corresponding with the government through him except in some special circumstances where the sanjak was independent. In such cases, the mutesarrif then corresponded directly with the Ministry of the Interior . Most of the sanjaks throughout the Empire were under the rule of non-hereditary appointees, who had no permanent family of territorial connections with

12100-473: Was inherited by his son Imre and in 1521 inherited by Bálint Török [ hu ], who, by 1530, expanded it, strengthened it, and turned it into a true stronghold. The Inner Castle (Citadel) was expanded and reinfoced by bastions at the corners, and a drawbridge connected the Inner and Outer citadels. The marshland surrounding Sziget was turned into an artificial lake by the use of a moat system that channeled water from

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