Gesta Hungarorum
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''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 Anonymus is the Latin spelling of anonymous, traditionally used by scholars in the humanities for any ancient writer whose name is not known, or to a manuscript of their work. Such writers have left valuable historical or literary records through ...
in scholarly works. According to most historians, the work was completed between around 1200 and 1230. The ''Gesta'' exists in a sole
manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...
from the second part of the 13th century, which was for centuries held in
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
. It is part of the collection of Széchényi National Library in
Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
. The principal subject of the ''Gesta'' is the
Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin The Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin, also known as the Hungarian conquest or the Hungarian land-taking (), was a series of historical events ending with the settlement of the Hungarians in Central Europe in the late 9th and early 10t ...
at the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries, and it writes of the origin of the Hungarians, identifying the Hungarians' ancestors with the ancient
Scythians The Scythians or Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern * : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved f ...
. Many of its sources—including the
Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
,
Isidore of Seville Isidore of Seville ( la, Isidorus Hispalensis; c. 560 – 4 April 636) was a Spanish scholar, theologian, and archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of 19th-century historian Montalembert, as "the last scholar of ...
's ''
Etymologiae ''Etymologiae'' (Latin for "The Etymologies"), also known as the ''Origines'' ("Origins") and usually abbreviated ''Orig.'', is an etymological encyclopedia compiled by Isidore of Seville (c. 560–636) towards the end of his life. Isidore was ...
'', the 7th-century ''Exordia Scythica'', the late 9th-century
Regino of Prüm Regino of Prüm or of Prum ( la, Regino Prumiensis, german: Regino von Prüm; died 915 AD) was a Benedictine monk, who served as abbot of Prüm (892–99) and later of Saint Martin's at Trier, and chronicler, whose ''Chronicon'' is an important so ...
'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 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 a scholarly theory, he used place names when naming the opponents of the Hungarians.


Background

Although the
Hungarians 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 Urali ...
, 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 Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
,
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
and Western European authors. For instance, the '' Annals of Fulda'',
Regino of Prüm Regino of Prüm or of Prum ( la, Regino Prumiensis, german: Regino von Prüm; died 915 AD) was a Benedictine monk, who served as abbot of Prüm (892–99) and later of Saint Martin's at Trier, and chronicler, whose ''Chronicon'' is an important so ...
's ''Chronicon'', and Emperor Constantine VII's '' De administrando imperio'' contain contemporaneous or nearly contemporaneous reports of their conquest of 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 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 historiansincluding
Carlile Aylmer Macartney Carlile Aylmer Macartney FBA (1895–1978) was a British academic specialising in the history and politics of East-Central Europe and in particular the history of Austria and Hungary. He was also a supporter of Hungarian interests and causes i ...
and
András Róna-Tas András Róna-Tas (born 30 December 1931) is a Hungarian historian and linguist. He was born in 1931 in Budapest. Róna-Tas studied under such preeminent professors as Gyula Ortutay and Lajos Ligeti, and received a degree in folklore and easter ...
agree that
Simon of Kéza Simon of Kéza ( hu, Kézai Simon) was the most famous Hungarian chronicler of the 13th century. He was a priest in the royal court of king Ladislaus IV of Hungary. In 1270–1271, bearing the title "master" (''magister''), Simon was part of a d ...
's chronicle, the ''
Illuminated Chronicle The ''Chronicon Pictum'' (Latin for "illustrated chronicle", English: ''Illuminated Chronicle'' or ''Vienna Illuminated Chronicle'', hu, Képes Krónika, sk, Obrázková kronika, german: Illustrierte Chronik, also referred to as '' Chronica Hun ...
'' and other works composed in the 13th–15th centuries preserved texts which had been written before 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
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 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 The ''Chronicon Pictum'' (Latin for "illustrated chronicle", English: ''Illuminated Chronicle'' or ''Vienna Illuminated Chronicle'', hu, Képes Krónika, sk, Obrázková kronika, german: Illustrierte Chronik, also referred to as '' Chronica Hun ...
'' from 1358 refers to "the ancient books about 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.


Manuscript

The work exists in a sole
manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...
. The
codex The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...
is in size and contains 24
folio The term "folio" (), has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for a book ma ...
s, including two blank pages. The first page of the codex originally contained the beginning of the ''Gesta''. It was blanked because the
scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of automatic printing. The profession of the scribe, previously widespread across cultures, lost most of its promi ...
had made mistakes when writing the text. The work was written in a
Gothic minuscule Blackletter (sometimes black letter), also known as Gothic script, Gothic minuscule, or Textura, was a script used throughout Western Europe from approximately 1150 until the 17th century. It continued to be commonly used for the Danish, Norweg ...
. The style of the letters and decorations, including the elaborate
initial In a written or published work, an initial capital, also referred to as a drop capital or simply an initial cap, initial, initcapital, initcap or init or a drop cap or drop, is a letter at the beginning of a word, a chapter, or a paragraph that ...
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 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 The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
although the context clearly shows that the author of the ''Gesta'' referred to
Neopatras Ypati ( el, Υπάτη) is a village and a former municipality in Phthiotis, central peninsular Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality of Lamia, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an a ...
(now Ypati in
Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
). The history of the manuscript up until the early 17th century is unknown. It became part of the collection of the Imperial Library in
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
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 Bound or bounds may refer to: Mathematics * Bound variable * Upper and lower bounds, observed limits of mathematical functions Physics * Bound state, a particle that has a tendency to remain localized in one or more regions of space Geography *B ...
with a leather book cover, impressed with a
double-headed eagle In heraldry and vexillology, the double-headed eagle (or double-eagle) is a charge associated with the concept of Empire. Most modern uses of the symbol are directly or indirectly associated with its use by the late Byzantine Empire, origina ...
, 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 Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
.


The author

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 the most glorious Béla,
king of Hungary The King of Hungary ( hu, magyar király) was the ruling head of state of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1000 (or 1001) to 1918. The style of title "Apostolic King of Hungary" (''Apostoli Magyar Király'') was endorsed by Pope Clement XIII in 175 ...
of fond memory"''Anonymus, Notary of King Béla: The Deeds of the Hungarians'' (Prologue), p. 3. 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 Béla III ( hu, III. Béla, hr, Bela III, sk, Belo III; 114823 April 1196) was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1172 and 1196. He was the second son of King Géza II and Géza's wife, Euphrosyne of Kiev. Around 1161, Géza granted Béla a ...
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 the ''Trojan History'', a work attributed to
Dares Phrygius Dares Phrygius ( grc, Δάρης), according to Homer, was a Trojan priest of Hephaestus. He was supposed to have been the author of an account of the destruction of Troy, and to have lived before Homer. A work in Latin, purporting to be a transla ...
, 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 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 Óbuda was a town in Hungary that was merged with Buda and Pest on 17 November 1873; it now forms part of District III-Óbuda-Békásmegyer of Budapest. The name means ''Old Buda'' in Hungarian (in German, ''Alt-Ofen''). The name in Bosnian ...
and
Csepel Island Csepel Island (Hungarian: ''Csepel-sziget'', ) is an island on the Danube in Hungary. It is long; its width after sections of bifurcation and rejoining (confluence) varies from . It has an area of and its population is 165,000. The isle extend ...
(in and to the south of present-day
Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
) and of the lands along the upper courses of the river
Tisza The Tisza, Tysa or Tisa, is one of the major rivers of Central and Eastern Europe. Once, it was called "the most Hungarian river" because it flowed entirely within the Kingdom of Hungary. Today, it crosses several national borders. The Tisza be ...
. 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 Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
.


Sources

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 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 the gabbling song of
minstrel A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. It originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist entertainer who ...
s".''Anonymus, Notary of King Béla: The Deeds of the Hungarians'' (Prologue), p. 5. 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 Emese (fl. 9th century CE) was the daughter of Prince Önedbelia of Dentumoger, the consort of the Scythian (i.e. from Dentumoger, Scythia) lord Ügyek, and the mother of High Prince Álmos in Hungarian historical mythology; thus, she was the a ...
'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 the
Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
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 The Scythians or Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern * : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved f ...
. According to Kristó, Györffy and Thoroczkay, Anonymus obviously read the so-called ''Exordia Scythica'' ("Scythian Genesis"), a 7th-century abridgement of a work of the 2nd-century historian,
Justin Justin may refer to: People * Justin (name), including a list of persons with the given name Justin * Justin (historian), a Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire * Justin I (c. 450–527), or ''Flavius Iustinius Augustus'', Eastern Rom ...
. Anonymus used Regino of Prüm's ''Chronicon'', that he mentioned as "the annals of chronicles"''Anonymus, Notary of King Béla: The Deeds of the Hungarians'' (ch. 7.), p. 21. 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 the Caranthians of the Mura" (''Carinthinorum Moroanensium fines'') instead of the "lands of the Carinthians,
Moravians Moravians ( cs, Moravané or colloquially , outdated ) are a West Slavic ethnographic group from the Moravia region of the Czech Republic, who speak the Moravian dialects of Czech or Common Czech or a mixed form of both. Along with the Silesi ...
" (''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 Isidore of Seville ( la, Isidorus Hispalensis; c. 560 – 4 April 636) was a Spanish scholar, theologian, and archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of 19th-century historian Montalembert, as "the last scholar of ...
's ''
Etymologiae ''Etymologiae'' (Latin for "The Etymologies"), also known as the ''Origines'' ("Origins") and usually abbreviated ''Orig.'', is an etymological encyclopedia compiled by Isidore of Seville (c. 560–636) towards the end of his life. Isidore was ...
'', Hugh of Bologna's ''Rationes dictani prosaice'', and medieval romances about Alexander 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 The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were i ...
. For instance, Anonymus' descriptions of
tournaments A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...
seem to have been taken from
Arnold of Lübeck Arnold of Lübeck (died 1211–1214) was a Benedictine abbot, a chronicler, the author of the '' Chronica Slavorum'' and advocate of the papal cause in the Hohenstaufen conflict. He was a monk at St. Ägidien monastery in Braunschweig, then from 1 ...
's '' Chronicle of the Slavs''. Anonymus also used the ancient "Hungarian Chronicle" or its sources. However, there are differences between Anonymus' narration of the Hungarian Conquest and other works preserving texts from the ancient chronicle. For instance, the ''
Illuminated Chronicle The ''Chronicon Pictum'' (Latin for "illustrated chronicle", English: ''Illuminated Chronicle'' or ''Vienna Illuminated Chronicle'', hu, Képes Krónika, sk, Obrázková kronika, german: Illustrierte Chronik, also referred to as '' Chronica Hun ...
'' wrote of the Hungarians' arrival in
Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
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 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 Boris I, also known as Boris-Mihail (Michael) and ''Bogoris'' ( cu, Борисъ А҃ / Борисъ-Михаилъ bg, Борис I / Борис-Михаил; died 2 May 907), was the ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire in 852–889. At ...
, and Svatopluk I of Moravia. On the other hand, none of the persons whom Anonymus listed among the opponents of the conquering Hungarians—for instance, the
Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...
Salan ] Salan, Salanus or Zalan ( Bulgarian language, Bulgarian and Serbian Cyrillic: Салан or Залан; hu, Zalán; ro, Salanus) was, according to the Gesta Hungarorum, a local Bulgarianhttp://keptar.niif.hu/000500/000586/magyaro-honf-terke ...
, the Khazars, Khazar
Menumorut Menumorut or Menumorout (Modern hu, Ménmarót) was the ruler of the lands between the rivers Mureș River, Mureș, Someș River, Someș and Tisza at the time of the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin around 900, according to the ''Gesta ...
and the
Vlach "Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other Easter ...
Gelou Gelou ( ro, Gelu; hu, Gyalu) was the Vlach ruler of Transylvania at the time of the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin around 900 AD, according to the ''Gesta Hungarorum ''Gesta Hungarorum'', or ''The Deeds of the Hungarians'', i ...
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 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 Stephen I, also known as King Saint Stephen ( hu, Szent István király ; la, Sanctus Stephanus; sk, Štefan I. or Štefan Veľký; 975 – 15 August 1038), was the last Grand Prince of the Hungarians between 997 and 1000 or 1001, and the ...
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 the Bulgarian
Laborec The Laborec ( ukr, Лаборець; hu, Laborc) is a river in eastern Slovakia that flows through the districts of Medzilaborce, Humenné, and Michalovce in the Košice Region, and the Prešov Region. The river drains the Laborec Highlands. ...
had died at the River
Laborec The Laborec ( ukr, Лаборець; hu, Laborc) is a river in eastern Slovakia that flows through the districts of Medzilaborce, Humenné, and Michalovce in the Košice Region, and the Prešov Region. The river drains the Laborec Highlands. ...
and the Czech Zubur on the Mount Zobor near
Nitra Nitra (; also known by other alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, situated at the foot of Zobor Mountain in the valley of the river Nitra. It is located 95 km east of Bratislava. With a population of about 78,353, it is the fifth la ...
. Anonymus did not allude to the Hungarians' decisive victory over the united Bavarian forces in the
Battle of Pressburg The Battle of Pressburg (german: Schlacht von Pressburg) or Battle of Pozsony ( hu, Pozsonyi csata), or Battle of Bratislava ( sk, Bitka pri Bratislave) was a three-day-long battle, fought between 4–6 July 907, during which the East Francian arm ...
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, the ''Gesta Hungarorum'' wrote of a battle between the Greeks and the Hungarians at a ford by the River
Tisza The Tisza, Tysa or Tisa, is one of the major rivers of Central and Eastern Europe. Once, it was called "the most Hungarian river" because it flowed entirely within the Kingdom of Hungary. Today, it crosses several national borders. The Tisza be ...
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 The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek language, Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the Eastern Orthodox Church, entire body of Orthodox (Chalced ...
monastery of
Sremska Mitrovica Sremska Mitrovica (; sr-Cyrl, Сремска Митровица, hu, Szávaszentdemeter, la, Sirmium) is a city and the administrative center of the Srem District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is situated on the left bank ...
in the 12th century. Late 9th-century sources mentioned the Avars, the Bavarians, the Bulgarians, the Danubian
Slavs Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...
, the
Gepids The Gepids, ( la, Gepidae, Gipedae, grc, Γήπαιδες) were an East Germanic tribe who lived in the area of modern Romania, Hungary and Serbia, roughly between the Tisza, Sava and Carpathian Mountains. They were said to share the religion a ...
and the
Moravians Moravians ( cs, Moravané or colloquially , outdated ) are a West Slavic ethnographic group from the Moravia region of the Czech Republic, who speak the Moravian dialects of Czech or Common Czech or a mixed form of both. Along with the Silesi ...
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 Czechs ( cs, Češi, ; singular Czech, masculine: ''Čech'' , singular feminine: ''Češka'' ), or the Czech people (), are a West Slavic ethnic group and a nation native to the Czech Republic in Central Europe, who share a common ancestry, c ...
, the
Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...
, the Khazars, the "Romans" and their shepherds, the
Székelys The Székelys (, Székely runes: 𐳥𐳋𐳓𐳉𐳗), also referred to as Szeklers,; ro, secui; german: Szekler; la, Siculi; sr, Секељи, Sekelji; sk, Sikuli are a Hungarian subgroup living mostly in the Székely Land in Romania. ...
, and the Vlachs besides the Bulgarians and the Slavs. According to Györffy and Madgearu, Anonymus may have based his list of the peoples inhabiting the Carpathian Basin on the local Slavs' oral tradition which was preserved in the early 12th-century ''
Russian Primary Chronicle The ''Tale of Bygone Years'' ( orv, Повѣсть времѧньныхъ лѣтъ, translit=Pověstĭ vremęnĭnyxŭ lětŭ; ; ; ; ), often known in English as the ''Rus' Primary Chronicle'', the ''Russian Primary Chronicle'', or simply the ...
''. 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 the ''Volokhi'' with the Vlachs, because the ''Volokhi'' were actually
Franks The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...
who occupied
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 ...
, 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 the presence of the
lachs Lachs (German language, German for "salmon") is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Charles Lachs (1879-1979), Bavarian-Swedish visual artist * Charlotta Lachs (1867-1920), Bavarian-Swedish singer * Friedrichs Lachs (1832-1910), B ...
in Transylvania in the 10th century, because if
lachs Lachs (German language, German for "salmon") is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Charles Lachs (1879-1979), Bavarian-Swedish visual artist * Charlotta Lachs (1867-1920), Bavarian-Swedish singer * Friedrichs Lachs (1832-1910), B ...
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.


Structure

The ''Gesta'' contains a
prologue A prologue or prolog (from Greek πρόλογος ''prólogos'', from πρό ''pró'', "before" and λόγος ''lógos'', "word") is an opening to a story that establishes the context and gives background details, often some earlier story that ...
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 Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kins ...
of the royal
Árpád dynasty The Árpád dynasty, consisted of the members of the royal House of Árpád (), also known as Árpáds ( hu, Árpádok, hr, Arpadovići). They were the ruling dynasty of the Principality of Hungary in the 9th and 10th centuries and of the Kingd ...
and of the noble families of the
Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...
. The first seven chapters describe the Hungarians' legendary homelandmentioned 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 Uzhhorod ( uk, У́жгород, , ; ) is a city and municipality on the river Uzh in western Ukraine, at the border with Slovakia and near the border with Hungary. The city is approximately equidistant from the Baltic, the Adriatic and the B ...
in
Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
). The third chapter preserved 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 Álmos (), also Almos or Almus (c. 820 – c. 895), was—according to the uniform account of Hungarian chronicles—the first head of the "loose federation" of the Hungarian tribes from around 850. Whether he was the sacred ruler (''kende'') of ...
. 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 the election of Álmos as "the leader and master"''Anonymus, Notary of King Béla: The Deeds of the Hungarians'' (ch. 5.), p. 17. 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 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 Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
which is called Suzdal" to
Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
. The next four sections of the ''Gesta'' describe the fights of the Hungarians with the
Rus' people The Rusʹ (Old East Slavic: Рѹсь; Belarusian language, Belarusian, Russian language, Russian, Rusyn language, Rusyn, and Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Русь; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki, Garðar''; Greek language, Greek: Ῥῶς, ''Rhos ...
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 Henry may refer to: People * Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portuga ...
's chronicles. In an attempt to make his work more entertaining, Anonymus supplemented this information with vivid battle-scenes borrowed from 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 The Turkic peoples are a collection of diverse ethnic groups of West, Central, East, and North Asia as well as parts of Europe, who speak Turkic languages.. "Turkic peoples, any of various peoples whose members speak languages belonging t ...
, and wrongly identified the ''Kuns'' mentioned in one of his sources with the Cumans of his age. The latter had at least twice supported the Rus' princes against the
Hungarian monarchs Hungarian may refer to: * Hungary, a country in Central Europe * Kingdom of Hungary, state of Hungary, existing between 1000 and 1946 * Hungarians, ethnic groups in Hungary * Hungarian algorithm, a polynomial time algorithm for solving the assignm ...
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 the
Kabars The Kabars ( el, Κάβαροι), also known as Qavars (Qabars) or Khavars were Khazar rebels who joined the Magyar confederation possibly in the 9th century as well as the Rus' Khaganate. Sources The Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII is th ...
in the Hungarian tribal alliance based on oral tradition of the noble families of Kabar origin, according to Györffy.


Reception and editions

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 Florin Curta (born January 15, 1965) is a Romanian-born American archaeologist and historian who is a Professor of Medieval History and Archaeology at the University of Florida. Biography Curta works in the field of the Balkan history and is ...
. For instance, the contemporary 13th century
Friar Julian Friar Julian ( hu, Julianus barát) was one of a group of Hungarian Dominican friars who, in 1235, left Hungary in order to find those Magyars who — according to the chronicles — remained in the eastern homeland. After travelling a gr ...
and his Dominican brethren studied 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 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 Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...
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 the 1780s, pointing out that Anonymus failed to mention
Great Moravia Great Moravia ( la, Regnum Marahensium; el, Μεγάλη Μοραβία, ''Meghálī Moravía''; cz, Velká Morava ; sk, Veľká Morava ; pl, Wielkie Morawy), or simply Moravia, was the first major state that was predominantly West Slavs, Wes ...
.. 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 heroesGelou, Glad and Menumorutplay a preeminent role in Romanian historiography. Romanian historians have presented them as Romanian rulers whose presence in 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 ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' 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 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 Neagu Bunea Djuvara (; 18 August 1916 – 25 January 2018) was a Romanian historian, essayist, philosopher, journalist, novelist, and diplomat. Biography Early life A native of Bucharest, he was descended from an aristocratic Aromanian family ...
, professor of international law and economic history, the factual accuracy of Anonymus's work is likely high, because it is the earliest preserved Hungarian chronicle and is based on even older Hungarian chronicles. On the other hand,
Carlile Aylmer Macartney Carlile Aylmer Macartney FBA (1895–1978) was a British academic specialising in the history and politics of East-Central Europe and in particular the history of Austria and Hungary. He was also a supporter of Hungarian interests and causes i ...
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 Carlile Aylmer Macartney FBA (1895–1978) was a British academic specialising in the history and politics of East-Central Europe and in particular the history of Austria and Hungary. He was also a supporter of Hungarian interests and causes i ...
writes in his critical and analytical guide of Anonymus "this is not evidence that he introduced the whole person of Gelou or the presence of Vlachs in Transylvania".
Paul Robert Magocsi Paul Robert Magocsi (born January 26, 1945 in Englewood, New Jersey) is an American professor of history, political science, and Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Toronto. He has been with the university since 1980, and became a F ...
also regarded the ''Gesta'' as an unreliable work. Dennis Deletant joins the opinion that it is a debatable chronicle, but he categorically states that the Romanians had continuity and that they were in Transylvania before the arrival of the Hungarians, as described in ''Gesta Hungarorum''.
Martyn Rady Martyn Rady (born 1955) is Masaryk Professor Emeritus of Central European History at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), University College London. He was from 1995 to 2009 Warden of Hughes Parry Hall, an intercollegiate h ...
, the translator of the first English version of the Gesta, states that "It is at best to project contemporary conditions backwards."


See also

*''
Chronicon Pictum The ''Chronicon Pictum'' ( Latin for "illustrated chronicle", English: ''Illuminated Chronicle'' or ''Vienna Illuminated Chronicle'', hu, Képes Krónika, sk, Obrázková kronika, german: Illustrierte Chronik, also referred to as ''Chronica Hun ...
'' (Viennese Illuminated Chronicle) *
Gallus Anonymus ''Gallus Anonymus'' ( Polonized variant: ''Gall '') is the name traditionally given to the anonymous author of ''Gesta principum Polonorum'' (Deeds of the Princes of the Poles), composed in Latin between 1112 and 1118. ''Gallus'' is generally rega ...
*
Hungarian prehistory Hungarian prehistory ( hu, magyar őstörténet) spans the period of history of the Hungarian people, or Magyars, which started with the separation of the Hungarian language from other Finno-Ugric or Ugric languages around , and ended with the ...
*
Origin of the Romanians Several theories address the issue of the origin of the Romanians. The Romanian language descends from the Vulgar Latin dialects spoken in the Roman provinces north of the "Jireček Line" (a proposed notional line separating the predominantly ...


Notes


Sources


Primary sources

*''Anonymus, Notary of King Béla: The Deeds of the Hungarians'' (Edited, Translated and Annotated by Martyn Rady and László Veszprémy) (2010). In: Rady, Martyn; Veszprémy, László; Bak, János M. (2010); ''Anonymus and Master Roger''; CEU Press; . *''The'' Chronicle ''of Regino of Prüm'' (2009). In: ''History and Politics in Late Carolingian and Ottonian Europe: The'' Chronicle ''of Regino of Prüm and Adalbert of Magdeburg'' (Translated and annotated by Simon MacLean); Manchester University Press; . *''The Hungarian Illuminated Chronicle:'' Chronica de Gestis Hungarorum (Edited by Dezső Dercsényi) (1970). Corvina, Taplinger Publishing. .


Secondary sources

* * * * * * * * * * * *
Google Books
* * * * * * * * * *


External links



(Hungarian)
Gesta Hungarorum
(English)

{{Authority control Hungarian chronicles 12th-century history books Medieval Kingdom of Hungary Hungarian invasions of Europe