Friar Julian ( hu, Julianus barát) was one of a group of Hungarian Dominican

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ol ...

s who, in 1235, left

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

in order to find those

Magyars Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Uralic ...

who — according to the chronicles — remained in the eastern homeland. After travelling a great distance, Friar Julian reached the capital of

Volga Bulgaria Volga Bulgaria or Volga–Kama Bulgaria, was a historic Bulgar state that existed between the 7th and 13th centuries around the confluence of the Volga and Kama River, in what is now European Russia. Volga Bulgaria was a multi-ethnic state wi ...

, where he was told that the Magyars lived only two days' travel away. Julian found them, and despite the gap of at least 300–400 years since the split between the Magyars that invaded and settled in

Pannonia Pannonia (, ) was a province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located in the territory that is now wes ...

and those that were found in Bashkiria, their language remained mutually intelligible, and they were able to communicate. Julian named the old country Magna Hungaria or Great Hungary. He became aware of stories about the

Tatars The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

, who were the enemies of the eastern Magyars and Bulgars. Two years after the original journey, Julian returned to Magna Hungaria, only to find it had been devastated by the Mongol Tatars. He returned to his kingdom with news of mortal danger and a Mongol

ultimatum An ultimatum (; ) is a demand whose fulfillment is requested in a specified period of time and which is backed up by a threat to be followed through in case of noncompliance (open loop). An ultimatum is generally the final demand in a series o ...

to Hungary.Magyar Utazok Lexikona (cyclopaedia of Hungarian travellers). Editor: Denes Balazs,Panorama, Budapest, 1993.

The Dominican order was established in Hungary in 1221 with the aim of evangelizing the East, which simultaneously raised the issue of discovering the Hungarians who had remained on the native soil. The significance of Julian’s travels: he was the first one to bring valid information about Hungarians living in Magna Hungaria, which contributes a lot to research on Hungarian history, he was the first one to bring news on the upcoming

Mongol invasion of Europe From the 1220s into the 1240s, the Mongols conquered the Turkic states of Volga Bulgaria, Cumania, Alania, and the Kievan Rus' federation. Following this, they began their invasion into heartland Europe by launching a two-pronged invasion of ...

, he was the first European traveler who gathered valid information on

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

, and his descriptions are of great importance from the geographical aspect, which gave essential motivation to future European

explorers Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

and researchers.

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De facto Ungariae Magnae
' Hungarian Dominicans Volga Bulgaria Hungarian explorers 13th-century Hungarian people 13th-century explorers History of Ural {{Hungary-bio-stub

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