Early Hungarian History (-896 A.D.)
Early Hungarian History (-896 A.D.)
The ancient history of the Hungarian nation – just like that of other nations – can be illuminated only through an examination of linguistics, archeology, ethnography, anthropology etc. So, according to the conclusions of linguistics, the Hungarian language derives from the Ugrian branch of the Finno-Ugric group of the Ural family of languages. As regards the native land of the. Ural
people, we do not know whether it was in Europe or Asia. However, it is supposed that the common native-land of the Ugrians of the Ob river and the Hungarians was in the UraI region. Here, the predecessors of Hungarians were engaged in fishing, hunting and gathering. However, although most likely in a primitive way, they also understood agriculture and animal husbandry. Their first domestic animal was the hunting dog. They also had horses. They were versed in the crafting of wood and bone as well as leather and pottery making. They also understood how to fashion metals, but used it only in limited forms when they could get materials through barter.
The Ugors and the Hungarians were probably separated when, around 6-5th century B.C. a new people from the east, those representing the Ananyino culture, burst into the Káma river region.
It was at that time that the Hungarians who split from the Ugors must have come into close contact with the Ogur Turks. According to evidence in the Hungarian language, it was in the course of their coexistence with this Turkish people that the ancestors of the Hungarians learned about animal husbandry and agriculture. As a consequence the organization of the clans was formed into tribal allegiances.
The Hungarians were already living in a nomadic tribal organization when – around 463 the Avars attacked the Sabirs. Around that time the Onogur tribes – among them the Hungarians too – resettled on the grasslands of the northern coastal region of the Black Sea.
Around 515, waves of Sabirs quickly washed through the Hungarians who lived on the coast of the Sea of Azov (Maeotis), to be followed by waves of Avars who – in 558 – fled from the east to Europe.
However, after 552 the Hungarians established themselves for a longer period among the Turkic tribes. According to Byzantine sources, in 569 AD, the Onogurs who lived west of the river Volga, and then – in 575 – both the Alans and the Onogurs, filtered into the Turkic empire.
Around 630 the nomadic Turkic empire also dissolved. At that time, in the area bordered by the Caucuses, the Don and Volga rivers as well as the Caspian Sea, the Khazar empire became independent. Its rule gradually expanded to neighbouring peoples, and so to the Hungarians.
In the 9th century -just as the Khazar empire fell into decay – Hungarians living in the Caucuses region broke free.
It is thought that around 830 they broke away from the Khazar empire, to be joined by three Kabar tribes who revolted against Khazar rule.
In 839 they conducted independent campaigns against peoples in the lower Danube region.
In 862 Hungarians first appeared in Pannonia.
In the 9th century the Hungarians lived in Etelköz near the Don river. These people consisted of seven Hungarian (Nyék, Megyer, Kürtgyarmat, Tarján, Jenő, Kér, Keszi) and three Kabar tribes. They led a semi-nomadic life; in addition to animal husbandry they were engaged in fishing and agriculture. At the time of the conquest the leader who held actual power was Árpád. It was under these circumstances that the Hungarians were first hit by a Pecheneg attack in 889.
In 892 the German king Arnulf concluded an alliance with the Hungarians against the Moravian-Slav state, and later – in 894 – the Germans visited the land of Pannonia as their allies.
Then, in alliance with Byzantine emperor Leo the Wise, they attacked the Bulgarians in 895. However, the Hungarian army was beaten by the Bulgarians who made peace with Byzantium, and at the same time the Pechenegs (who also made an alliance with the Bulgarians) attacked Etelköz. To escape from these onslaughts the Hungarian tribes gradually picked their way into the Carpathian Basin. The conquest had started.
The conquest marked the closure of one very long chapter in the history of the Hungarian nation. Following the occupation of the Carpathian Basin, nomadic pastoral life had to cease because the occupied area was too limited for the nomadic way of life of the Hungarians. In the course of the settlement of the people, differences in wealth which had emerged earlier deepened even further. Slavic populations enriched the wealth of the tribal aristocracy, the majority of pastureland was occupied by the holders of large flocks of animals. So, for free Hungarians who represented the majority of society, there were only two options open: either they signed themselves into the guard of the tribal aristocracy and existed from the spoils of war, or they switched over to agriculture. At the beginning of this era predatory raids represented safety valves through which social tensions could be released. The raids achieved initial successes, made possible by the feudal anarchy which reigned at that time in the more developed European feudal states. However, as soon as the central power strengthened in those countries – not least precisely because of the Hungarian attacks – these cam-paigns ended in failure. The Hungarians were then threatened by the fact that if they continued their earlier way of life they too would fall victim to the eastward expansionist policy of the German empire.
At that time a Hungarian tribe which until then had been relatively obscure rose to the pinnacle of power under the family of the House of Árpád. In the course of the conquest this tribe invaded the central part of Transdanubia, which was most densely populated by Slav groups, and in the years directly following the conquest this tribe remained busy with the organization of its forces. Therefore they took only a limited part in foreign raids, and in the years following the defeat at Augsburg when these attacks came to an end crown prince Géza opened the gateway to western Christians. He invited priests and monks to Hungary and settled German knights Who strengthened his own armed forces. After his death, István – with Bavarian assistance defeated the uprisings of tribal aristocracies afraid of the newly emerging order) which threatened his own power. In the course of bloody battles he brought the feudal Hungarian state into being.
In the year 898 A.D. conquering Hungarians swept into the Carpathian Basin after crossing the northeast Verecke pass, and to a lesser extent through Transylvania along the lower Danube. In all probability, the final occupation of Transdanubia took place in 899, an event which was followed in 900 by attacks on Bavaria right down to Regensburg. It was also in this year that the Hungarians attacked Italy where after returning from the Adda they defeated Prince Berengar of Friaul at the Brenta river.
In 906, they devastated Saxony.
Prince Árpád probably died early in 907. In June, German king Ludwig opened a campaign of revenge. At Pozsony his army was defeated by the Hungarians, and as a response the Hungarians then devastated Bavaria.
In 908, they broke into Thuringia and set Bremen on fire.
In 910, just outside the town of Augsburg, the Hungarians defeated an combined army of Bavarians, Franks and Allemanns, and proceeded to devastate the German empire up to the river Rhine. They obliged German King Lajos and his successors to pay an annual tribute. In the course of subsequent raids, in fact in 912, Bavarian prince Arnulf dealt the first defeat to adventuring Hungarian soldiers at the Inn river. However, these campaigns helped the German crows princes in their internal disputes; indeed, they increasingly took on the services of the raiding Hungarians.
In 916 it was Arnulf who invited them to fight against German king Konrad. At that time they destroyed Saxony, and went as far as Basel, indeed to Alsace-Lorraine.
In 917 German king Konrad marched against Arnulf, who fled to Hungary. It was Hungarian troops who helped him return to Bavaria. In the following years the direction of campaigns turned towards Italy.
In 921 Hungarian raids penetrated right down to Verona, when Berenga invited them to join him in his fight against the opposing aristocrats. Together they defeated the revolutionaries, and in 922 they pushed into southern Italy and Apulia.
In 924 – in alliance with Berengar – they again attacked Italy, taking Padua, then broke into Switzerland and – passing through the Jura mountains – they marched to southern France and returned via Lombardy.
In 924 they attacked Germany. The Hungarian armies rushed to Thuringia, although one of the Hungarian feeders was taken prisoner by German king Henry the Fowler. After this they concluded a peace for nine years whereupon instead of German territories, the Hungarian raiding parties continued breaking into Italy.
In 926 the Hungarians joined forces with Count Hugo of Provence against Rudolf, king of Italy, and broke into Lombardy, Tuscia and around Rome. Another Hungarian army conducted operations in southern Germany Saint Gallen raid), and then moved into Alsace-Lorraine.
When the nine years had elapsed, Henry who used this period of peace to strengthen his forces and train his army for the fight against Hungarians, refused to pay tributes.
With that, in 933, a major Hungarian force moved into Saxony and Thuringia. However, the Hungarian army which was divided into two parts was defeated by the German army of knights at Sondershaussen and Merseburg (near the Riade) on March 15. This was the first major defeat in the course of the campaigns. In the same year Hungarians also attacked Byzantium and moved as far as Constantinople.
In the following years the Hungarian armies conducted raids on the Rhine, Alsace-Lorraine, Burgundy and southern France.
In 938 in alliance with the Bavarians they again broke into Saxony, although King Otto I strengthened the central power. and dealt the raiding farces a severe blow. Later, the Hungarians avoided northern Germany.
In 941 they again attacked Italy and then moved into Spain. However, it was becoming clear that the opportunities for looting were beginning to narrow.
In 944 the Hungarians were defeated by Bavarian prince Berchtold. In the same year the Hungarian army which broke into the Byzantium empire also suffered a defeat and signed a fiveyear treaty.
Meanwhile, albeit slowly, Christianity made headway in the Carpathian Basin. Transylvanian tribal leaders learnt about Christianity in Byzantium.
In 948 two Transylvanian leaders – Bulcsú and Gyula – were baptized in Constantinople.
In 950 Hungarian armies caused enormous damage in Bavaria.
In 951 they attacked Italy, and from there they burst into southern France.
In 953 the chieftain prince signed an alliance with Allemann prince Ludolf against Otto, and in the spring of 954 – under the leadership of Prince Konrad of Lorraine – they razed the southern provinces of the German empire. The return home took the army through Burgundy, Switzerland and the northern part of Italy.
In 955 they broke into Bavaria in two waves. King Otto I made peace with his relatives and caused disarray among the Hungarian army at Augsburg, and then beat them in the field of Lech on 10 August. Although the other Hungarian army returned without defeat, raids against the German empire halted, and indeed it was the latter which started to launch attacks which threatened the complete annihilation of the Hungarians:
Prince Taksony ruled between 955-972. It was during this time that – following the defeat at Augsburg – the possibility of raids remained open only towards Byzantium, but even so in 958 they suffered a defeat near Constantinople. Nevertheless, Hungarians continued to attack Macedonia with varying results.
Finally, in 970, raids against Byzantium also stopped.
Between 912-997 during the rule of Prince Géza the influx of foreign feudal knights began.
In 973 Géza sent emissaries to Quedlinburgh to meet King Otto I and asked him to send missionaries. In the course of this Bishop Pilgrim of Passau visited Hungary several times. At this time Géza married for the second time: to Polish princess Adelhaid.
In 994 Bishop Adalbert continued Pilgrim’s missionary work. This is thought to be the time when the baptism of Géza’s son Vajk (István) took place.
In 995 Géza as well as the sons of his already dead brother Mihály – Vazul and László Szár – were baptized. With the aim of strengthening the alliance with Bavaria, Istvan married Bavarian Princess Gizella.
Géza died in 997.
Following the death of Géza, his son István relying on his armed forces and the German knights – overcame the resistance of some members of the tribal aristocracy and having confiscat-ed their estates and strengthened his own power he brought about the feudal state. The external evidence of the independent Hungarian feudal state was the coronation.
State organization, of course, is a longer process, of which we know only the final results today. István took as his own the majority of the territory of the then country, and in the territorial centres of the royal estates he formed royal coun-ties headed by individual members of the tribal aristocracy. István also organized the Hungarian church: By inviting foreign – primarily German and Italian – priests and monks and through the foundation of bishoprics plus the donation of huge landed estates he helped root the Christian church in the country.
