The Magyar tribes ( , hu, magyar törzsek) or Hungarian clans were the fundamental political units within whose framework 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 ...

(Magyars) lived, before 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 ...

and the subsequent established the

Principality of Hungary The (Grand) Principality of HungaryS. Wise BauerThe history of the medieval world: from the conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade W. W. Norton & Company, 2010, p. 586George H. HodosThe East-Central European region: an historical outline ...

.George H. Hodos
The East-Central European region: an historical outline
Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999, p. 19

Etymology

The ethnonym of the Hungarian tribal alliance is uncertain. According to one view, following

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 ...

's description, the federation was called "Hetumoger" (modern Hungarian: '''hét magyar - Seven Magyars) (''"VII principales persone qui Hetumoger dicuntur"'', "seven princely persons who are called Seven Magyars"), though the word "Magyar" possibly comes from the name of the most prominent Hungarian tribe, called ''Megyer''. The tribal name "Megyer" became "Magyar" referring to the Hungarian people as a whole. Written sources called Magyars "Hungarians" before the conquest of the Carpathian Basin when they still lived on the Steppes of Eastern Europe (in 837 "Ungri" mentioned by Georgius Monachus, in 862 "Ungri" by

Annales Bertiniani ''Annales Bertiniani'' (''Annals of Saint Bertin'') are late Carolingian, Frankish annals that were found in the Abbey of Saint Bertin, Saint-Omer, France, after which they are named. Their account is taken to cover the period 830-82, thus contin ...

, in 881 "Ungari" by the '' Annales ex Annalibus Iuvavensibus''). The English term "Hungarian" is a derivative of the Latin "Ungri" or "Ungari" forms.

History

According to

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 ...

the locality in which the Hungarians, the ''Manicha-Er'' group, emerged was between the

Volga The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the List of rivers of Europe#Rivers of Europe by length, longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Cas ...

river and the

Ural Mountains The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western ...

.András Róna-Tas
Hungarians and Europe in the early Middle Ages: an introduction to early Hungarian history
Central European University Press, 1999, p. 319 Between the 8th and 5th centuries BC, the Magyars embarked upon their independent existence and the early period of the proto-

Hungarian language Hungarian () is an Uralic language spoken in Hungary and parts of several neighbouring countries. It is the official language of Hungary and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union. Outside Hungary, it is also spoken by Hungarian ...

began. Around 830 AD,Carl Waldman, Catherine Mason
Encyclopedia of European peoples, Volume 1
Infobase Publishing, 2006, p. 508 when

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 future

Grand Prince of the Hungarians Grand Prince ( hu, Nagyfejedelem) was the title used by contemporary sources to name the leader of the federation of the Hungarian tribes in the tenth century.Constantine VII mentioned Árpád in his book De Administrando Imperio as ', while Bru ...

, was about 10 years old, the seven related tribes (''

Jenő Jenő () is a Hungarian male given name, equivalent to Eugene. In Austria and Germany the name is often simplified to Jenö (which in Hungarian is a shorter vowel) and pronounced as German umlaut ö. Jenő is also the legendary founder of one of H ...

'', ''Kér'', '' Keszi'', '' Kürt-Gyarmat'', ', '' Nyék'' and '' Tarján'')Kevin Alan Brook
The Jews of Khazaria
Rowman & Littlefield, 2009, pp. 163-164. formed a confederation in Etelköz,Paul Lendvai
The Hungarians: a thousand years of victory in defeat
C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2003, p. 15-29, p. 533 called ''"Hétmagyar"'' ("Seven Magyars"). Their leaders, the

Seven chieftains of the Magyars The Seven chieftains of the Magyars (or Hungarians) were the leaders of the seven tribes of the Hungarians at the time of their arrival in the Carpathian Basin in AD 895. Constantine VII, emperor of the Byzantine Empire names the seven tribes i ...

, besides Álmos, included

Előd Előd was – according to the chronicler Anonymus (or "Master P."), author of the ''Gesta Hungarorum'' – one of the seven chieftains of the Magyars (Hungarians), who led them to the Carpathian Basin in 895. There are three somewhat differing ...

, Ond, Kond, Tas, Huba and Töhötöm, who took a blood oath, swearing eternal loyalty to Álmos. Presumably, the Magyar tribes consisted of 108

clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...

s. The confederation of the tribes was probably led by two high princes: the ''

kende The ''kende'' (or ''kündü'') was one of the kings of the dual-monarchy of the early Hungarians along with the '' gyula'' or war-chief. The function of the ''kende'' is believed to have been a religious one ("sacral prince").Victor SpineiThe Grea ...

'' (their spiritual ruler) and the '' gyula'' (their military leader). The high princes were either elected by the leaders of the tribes or appointed by the

Khagan Khagan or Qaghan (Mongolian:; or ''Khagan''; otk, 𐰴𐰍𐰣 ), or , tr, Kağan or ; ug, قاغان, Qaghan, Mongolian Script: ; or ; fa, خاقان ''Khāqān'', alternatively spelled Kağan, Kagan, Khaghan, Kaghan, Khakan, Khakhan ...

of the

Khazars The Khazars ; he, כּוּזָרִים, Kūzārīm; la, Gazari, or ; zh, 突厥曷薩 ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a semi-nomadic Turkic people that in the late 6th-century CE established a major commercial empire coverin ...

who had been exerting influence over the Magyars. Around 862 AD the seven tribes separated from the Khazars. Before 881 AD three Turkic tribes rebelled against the rule of the Khagan of the Khazars, but they were suppressed. After their defeat they left the Khazar Empire and voluntarily joined the ''Hétmagyar'' confederation. The three tribes were organised into one tribe, called

Kabar 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 the ...

, and later they played the roles of

vanguard The vanguard (also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force. History The vanguard derives fr ...

and

rear guard A rearguard is a part of a military force that protects it from attack from the rear, either during an advance or withdrawal. The term can also be used to describe forces protecting lines, such as communication lines, behind an army. Even more ...

during the joint military actions of the confederation. The joining of the three tribes to the previous seven created the On-ogur (''Ten Arrows''), one of the possible origins for the name ''Hungarian''.

Social organization

The Hungarian social structure was of Turkic origin.Makkai 2001, pp. 415-416.

Sources

* ''Korai Magyar Történeti Lexikon (9-14. század)'', főszerkesztő: Kristó, Gyula, szerkesztők: Engel, Pál és Makk, Ferenc (Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1994) * Kristó, Gyula: ''A Kárpát-medence és a magyarság régmúltja (1301-ig)'' (Szegedi Középkortörténeti Könyvtár, Szeged, 1993) * ''Magyarország Történeti Kronológiája I. – A kezdetektől 1526-ig'', főszerkesztő: Benda Kálmán (Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1981) * Makkai, László (2001). ''Transylvania in the medieval Hungarian kingdom (896-1526)'', In: Béla Köpeczi, HISTORY OF TRANSYLVANIA Volume I. From the Beginnings to 1606, Columbia University Press, New York, 2001,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Magyar Tribes Hungarian prehistory Hungarian tribes and clans Nomadic groups in Eurasia

Etymology

History

Social organization

See also

Sources

References