The (Grand) Principality of HungaryS. Wise Bauer
The history of the medieval world: from the conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade
W. W. Norton & Company, 2010, p. 586George H. Hodos
The East-Central European region: an historical outline
Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999, p. 19 or Duchy of Hungary ( hu, Magyar Nagyfejedelemség: "Hungarian Grand Principality" Byzantine gr, Τουρκία) was the earliest documented Hungarian state in the Carpathian Basin, established 895 or 896, following the 9th century

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 ...

. 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 ...

, a semi-nomadic people forming a tribal allianceLouis Komzsik
Cycles of Time: From Infinity to Eternity
Trafford Publishing, 2011 p. 54 led by

Árpád Árpád (; 845 – 907) was the head of the confederation of the Magyar tribes at the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries. He might have been either the sacred ruler or '' kende'' of the Hungarians, or their military leader or '' g ...

(founder of the

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 King ...

) arrived from Etelköz which was their earlier principality east of the Carpathians.Paul Lendvai
The Hungarians: a thousand years of victory in defeat
C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2003, p. 15-29, p. 533 During the period, the power of the Hungarian Grand Prince seemed to be decreasing irrespective of the success of the Hungarian military raids across Europe. The tribal territories, ruled by Hungarian warlords (chieftains), became semi-independent polities (''e.g.'', the domains of Gyula the Younger in Transylvania). These territories were united again only under the rule of

St. Stephen Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ''Stéphanos'', meaning "wreath, crown" and by extension "reward, honor, renown, fame", often given as a title rather than as a name; c. 5 – c. 34 AD) is traditionally venerated as the protomartyr or first ...

. The semi-nomadic Hungarian population adopted settled life. The chiefdom

society A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soc ...

changed to a state society. From the second half of the 10th century,

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...

started to spread. The principality was succeeded by the Christian

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 Hungarian monarch, c ...

with the coronation of St Stephen I at

Esztergom Esztergom ( ; german: Gran; la, Solva or ; sk, Ostrihom, known by alternative names) is a city with county rights in northern Hungary, northwest of the capital Budapest. It lies in Komárom-Esztergom County, on the right bank of the river ...

on Christmas Day 1000 (its alternative date is 1 January 1001).Peter F. Sugar, Péter Haná

A History of Hungary, Indiana University Press, 1994, pp 12-17 The Hungarian historiography calls the entire period from 896 to 1000 ''"the age of principality"''.

Name

The ethnonym of the Hungarian tribal alliance is uncertain. According to one view, following Anonymus (notary of Béla III), Anonymus's description, the federation was called "Hetumoger / 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" prior to 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, in 881 "Ungari" by the ''

Annales ex Annalibus Iuvavensibus The ''Annales iuvavenses'' or Annals of Salzburg were a series of annals written in the 9th and 10th centuries at Salzburg (the former Roman ''Iuvavum'') in the East Frankish stem duchy of Bavaria. They are a useful source for southeastern German ...

''). In contemporary

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 ...

sources, written in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

, the country was known as "Western '' Tourkia''" in contrast to eastern or Khazar ''Tourkia.'' The Jewish Hasdai ibn Shaprut around 960 called the polity "''the land of the Hungrin''" (the land of the Hungarians) in a letter to Joseph of the Khazars.

History

Background

On the eve of the arrival of the Hungarians (Magyars), around 895,

East Francia East Francia (Medieval Latin: ) or the Kingdom of the East Franks () was a successor state of Charlemagne's empire ruled by the Carolingian dynasty until 911. It was created through the Treaty of Verdun (843) which divided the former empire int ...

, the

First Bulgarian Empire The First Bulgarian Empire ( cu, блъгарьско цѣсарьствиѥ, blagarysko tsesarystviye; bg, Първо българско царство) was a medieval Bulgar- Slavic and later Bulgarian state that existed in Southeastern Eur ...

and

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 Slavic to ...

Cited: "Great Moravia was a vassal state of the Germanic Frankish Kingdom and paid an annual tribute to it." ruled the territory of the Carpathian Basin. The Hungarians had much knowledge about this region because they were frequently hired as mercenaries by the surrounding polities and had led their own campaigns in this area for decades. This area had been sparsely populatedAlfried Wieczorek, Hans-Martin Hinz, Council of Europe. Art Exhibition
Europe's centre around AD 1000, Volume 1
Volume 1, Theiss, 2000, pp. 363-372 since Charlemagne's destruction of the Avar state in 803, and the Magyars were able to move in peacefully and virtually unopposed during the 9th century. The first mention of them living in the region dates back to 862. The

conquest Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms. Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, ...

proper started from 894, when armed conflicts opened with the

Bulgarians Bulgarians ( bg, българи, Bǎlgari, ) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and the rest of Southeast Europe. Etymology Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from the Bulgars. Their name is not completely underst ...

and

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 Si ...

after the requests for help from Arnulf, Frankish king and Leo VI, Byzantine emperor. During the occupation, the Hungarians found sparse population and met no well-established states or effective control of any empire in the plain. They were able to take over the basin quickly, defeating the First Bulgarian Tsardom, disintegrating the Principality of Moravia, and firmly establishing their state there by 900. The invasion wasn't aimed at plundering the acquired lands as attacks were led by '' gyula''

and ''

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 ...

'' Kurszán, the two highest-ranking leaders, who left no mass graves behind them showing that the transition back to an Avar-like system was peaceful for the locals. Archaeological findings indicate that they settled in the lands near the

Sava The Sava (; , ; sr-cyr, Сава, hu, Száva) is a river in Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. It flows through Slovenia, Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally t ...

and

Nyitra 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 l ...

by this time.

Military achievements

The principality as a warrior state, with a new-found military might, conducted vigorous raids ranging widely from Constantinople to central Spain. Three major Frankish imperial armies were defeated decisively by the Hungarians between 907 and 910. The Hungarians succeeded in extending the ''

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' ( ; , "by law") describes practices that are legally recognized, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. In contrast, ("in fact") describes situations that exist in reality, even if not legall ...

'' Bavarian-Hungarian border to the

River Enns The Enns (, ) is a southern tributary of the river Danube, joining northward at Enns, Austria. The Enns spans , in a flat-J-shape. It flows from its source near the village Flachau, generally eastward through Radstadt, Schladming, and Liezen, then ...

(until 955), and the principality was not attacked from this direction for 100 years after the Battle of Pressburg. The intermittent Hungarian campaigns lasted until 970, but two military defeats in 955 (Lechfeld) and 970 (Arcadiopolis) marked a shift in the evolution of the Hungarian principality.

Transition

The change from a ranked chiefdom

to a state society was one of the most important developments during this time. Initially, the Magyars retained a semi-nomadic lifestyle, practising

transhumance Transhumance is a type of pastoralism or nomadism, a seasonal movement of livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. In montane regions (''vertical transhumance''), it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and lower val ...

: they would migrate along a river between winter and summer pastures, finding water for their livestock.Lajos Gubcsi
Hungary in the Carpathian Basin
MoD Zrínyi Media Ltd, 2011 According to Györffy's theory derived from placenames, Árpád's winter quarters -clearly after his occupation of Pannonia in 900- were possibly in 'Árpádváros' (Árpád's town), now a district of Pécs, and his summer quarters -as confirmed by Anonymus (notary of Béla III), Anonymus- were on Csepel Island. Later, his new summer quarters were in Csallóköz according to this theory, however the exact location of the early center of the state is disputed. According to Gyula Kristó the center was located between the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

and

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 ...

rivers, but the archaeological findings imply a location in the region of the Upper Tisza.

Constantine VII Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (; 17 May 905 – 9 November 959) was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zoe ...

De Administrando Imperio ''De Administrando Imperio'' ("On the Governance of the Empire") is the Latin title of a Greek-language work written by the 10th-century Eastern Roman Emperor Constantine VII. The Greek title of the work is ("To yown son Romanos"). It is a domes ...

, written around 950 AD, tries to define precisely the whole land of the Hungarians, or ''Tourkia''.Günter Prinzing, Maciej Salamon
Byzanz und Ostmitteleuropa 950 - 1453: Beiträge einer table-ronde während des XIX. International Congress of Byzantine Studies, Copenhagen 1996
Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 1999, pp. 27-33 Constantine described the previous inhabitants of Hungary (''e.g.'', the

), described early Hungarian settlements and neighbors, and located Hungarian rivers (Temes, Maros, Körös, Tisza, Tutisz). Constantine had much more knowledge about the eastern parts of Hungary; therefore, according to one theory, ''Tourkia'' did not mean the land of the whole federation, but a tribal settlement and the source of the description of Hungary could have been Gyula whose tribe populated the five rivers around 950. According to another hypothesis, mainly based on Constantine's description, the Hungarians started to really settle western Hungary ( Transdanubia) only after 950, because the eastern part of the country was more suitable for a nomadic lifestyle. Due to changed economic circumstances, insufficient pasturage to support a nomadic society and the impossibility of moving on,Nóra Berend,
At the gate of Christendom: Jews, Muslims, and "pagans" in medieval Hungary, c. 1000-c. 1300
Cambridge University Press, 2001, p. 19 the semi-nomadic Hungarian lifestyle began to change and the Magyars adopted a settled life and turned to agriculture, though the start of this change can be dated to the 8th century.Antal Bartha
Hungarian society in the 9th and 10th centuries
Akadémiai Kiadó, 1975, pp- 53-84, The society became more homogeneous: the local Slavic and other populations merged with the Hungarians. The Hungarian tribal leaders and their clans established fortified centers in the country and later their castles became centers of the counties.Dora Wiebenson, József Sisa, Pál Lövei
The architecture of historic Hungary
MIT Press, 1998, p. 11, The whole system of Hungarian villages developed in the 10th century. Fajsz and Taksony, the Grand Princes of the Hungarians, began to reform the power structure.László Kósa, István Soós
A companion to Hungarian studies
Akadémiai Kiadó, 1999, p. 113 They invited Christian missionaries for the first time and built forts. Taksony abolished the old center of the Hungarian principality (possibly at Upper

) and sought new ones at

Székesfehérvár Székesfehérvár (; german: Stuhlweißenburg ), known colloquially as Fehérvár ("white castle"), is a city in central Hungary, and the country's ninth-largest city. It is the regional capital of Central Transdanubia, and the centre of Fej� ...

and

. Taksony also reintroduced the old style military service, changed the weaponry of the army, and implemented large-scale organized resettlements of the Hungarian population. The consolidation of the Hungarian state began during the reign of Géza. After the battle of Arcadiopolis, 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 ...

was the main enemy of the Hungarians.József Attila Tudományegyetem., Bölcsészettudományi Kar (University of József Attila), Acta historica, Volumes 92-98, 1991, p. 3 The Byzantine expansion threatened the Hungarians, since the subjugated First Bulgarian Empire was allied with the Magyars at that time. The situation became more difficult for the principality when the Byzantine Empire and the Holy Roman Empire made an alliance in 972. In 973, twelve illustrious Magyar envoys, whom Géza had probably appointed, participated in the Diet held by

Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), traditionally known as Otto the Great (german: Otto der Große, it, Ottone il Grande), was East Frankish king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the oldest son of He ...

. Géza established close ties with the Bavarian court, inviting missionaries and marrying his son to Gisela, daughter of Duke Henry II. Géza of the Árpád dynasty, Grand Prince of the Hungarians, who ruled only part of the united territory, the nominal overlord of all seven

Magyar tribes The Magyar tribes ( , hu, magyar törzsek) or Hungarian clans were the fundamental political units within whose framework the Hungarians (Magyars) lived, before the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin and the subsequent established the ...

, intended to integrate Hungary into Christian Western Europe, rebuilding the state according to the Western political and social model. Géza's eldest son St Stephen (István,

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 ...

) became the first King of Hungary after defeating his uncle Koppány, who also claimed the throne. The unification of Hungary, the foundation of the Christian state and its transformation into a European feudal monarchy was accomplished by Stephen.

Christianization

The new Hungarian state was located on the border with

Christendom Christendom historically refers to the Christian states, Christian-majority countries and the countries in which Christianity dominates, prevails,SeMerriam-Webster.com : dictionary, "Christendom"/ref> or is culturally or historically intertwin ...

. Since the second half of the 10th century AD,

was flourished in

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, Cr ...

as the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

arrived from the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 unt ...

. Between 945 and 963, the main office-holders of the Principality (the gyula and the horka) agreed to convert to Christianity. In 973 Géza I and all his household were baptised, and a formal peace concluded with the

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...

Otto I Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), traditionally known as Otto the Great (german: Otto der Große, it, Ottone il Grande), was East Frankish king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the oldest son of He ...

; however he remained essentially pagan even after his baptism: Géza had been educated by his father Taksony as a

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. I ...

prince. The first Hungarian Benedictine monastery was founded in 996 by Prince Géza. During Géza's reign, the nation conclusively renounced its nomadic way of life and within a few decades of the battle of Lechfeld became a Christian kingdom.

Organization of the state

Until 907 (or 904), the Hungarian state was under joint rule (perhaps adopted from 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 ...

). The kingship had been divided between the sacral king (some sources report the titles "prince" or "

khan Khan may refer to: *Khan (inn), from Persian, a caravanserai or resting-place for a travelling caravan *Khan (surname), including a list of people with the name *Khan (title), a royal title for a ruler in Mongol and Turkic languages and used by ...

"Victor Spinei
The Great Migrations in the East and South East of Europe from the Ninth to the Thirteenth Century: Hungarians, Pechenegs and Uzes
Hakkert, 2006, p. 42), or

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 ...

, and the military leader, or gyula. It is not known which of the two roles were assigned to Árpád and which to Kurszán. Possibly, after the Kende Kurszán's death, this division ceased and

became the sole ruler of the principality. The Byzantine

Constantine Porphyrogennetos Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (; 17 May 905 – 9 November 959) was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zoe K ...

called Árpád "''ho megas Tourkias

archon ''Archon'' ( gr, ἄρχων, árchōn, plural: ἄρχοντες, ''árchontes'') is a Greek word that means "ruler", frequently used as the title of a specific public office. It is the masculine present participle of the verb stem αρχ-, mean ...

''" (the great prince of Tourkia), and all of the 10th-century princes who ruled the country held this title. According to the

Agnatic seniority Agnatic seniority is a patrilineal principle of inheritance where the order of succession to the throne prefers the monarch's younger brother over the monarch's own sons. A monarch's children (the next generation) succeed only after the males ...

the oldest members of the ruling clan inherited the principality. The Grand Princes of Hungary probably did not hold superior power, because during the military campaigns to the west and to the south the initially strong princely power had decreased.Timothy Reuter
The New Cambridge Medieval History: c. 900-c. 1024
Cambridge University Press, 1995, p. 543-545, Moreover, the records do not refer to Grand Princes in the first half of the 10th century, except in one case, where they mention

Taksony Taksony (german: Taks) is a town of roughly 6,000 inhabitants roughly 23 kilometers south of Budapest, on the bank of the Ráckeve branch of the Danube known as Kisduna (Little Danube). Taksony is known for its many natural springs and tranquil s ...

as 'duke of Hungary' (''Taxis-dux, dux Tocsun'') in 947. The role of military leaders (''

Bulcsú Bulcsú (or Vérbulcsú; died 10 August 955) was a Hungarian chieftain, one of the military leaders of prince Taksony of Hungary, a descendant of Árpád. He held the title of horka. He was one of the most important figures of the Hungarian inv ...

Lél Lehel ( hu, Lél; died 955), a member of the Árpád dynasty, was a Magyar chieftain and, together with Bulcsú, one of the most important figures of the Hungarian invasions of Europe. After the Magyar defeat at the Battle of Lechfeld, he was ex ...

'') grew more significant. The princes of the

bore Turkic names as did the majority of the Hungarian tribes.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 ...

Name

History

Background

Military achievements

Transition

Christianization

Organization of the state

Population

Further theories

See also

References

Secondary sources

Further reading