The ''kende'' (or ''kündü'') was one of the kings of the dual-monarchy of the early

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 ...

along with the '' gyula'' or war-chief. The function of the ''kende'' is believed to have been a religious one ("sacral prince").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. 42Kevin Alan Brook
The Jews of Khazaria
Rowman & Littlefield, 2009, p. 253 At the time of the Magyar migration to

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 ...

, the ''kende'' was named

Kurszán Kurszán (died 904), was a kende of the Magyars in the dual leadership with Árpád serving as a gyula - according to a mainstream theory. While ''kende'' probably corresponded roughly to the Khazar title ''khagan'', Kurszán's role equated to the ...

. Upon Kurszán's death in a raid in approximately 904 CE, the office was taken up by the ''gyula''

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 '' gy ...

, creating a single-head monarchy for

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 ...

. Though there are some scholars (for example

Gyula Kristó Gyula Kristó (11 July 1939 – 24 January 2004) was a Hungarian historian and medievalist, member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences The Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( hu, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, MTA) is the most important and pres ...

) who believe that Árpád was the ''kende'', who later took up the functions of the ''gyula''. Some scholars have speculated that the early Magyar dual kingship derived from their time as vassals 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 ...

. Indeed, the Khazars were described by

Ahmad ibn Fadlan Aḥmad ibn Faḍlān ibn al-ʿAbbās ibn Rāšid ibn Ḥammād, ( ar, أحمد بن فضلان بن العباس بن راشد بن حماد; ) commonly known as Ahmad ibn Fadlan, was a 10th-century Muslim traveler, famous for his account of hi ...

as having an officer titled

Kündür According to ibn Fadlan, the Kündür was an official in the Khazar government under the command of the Khagan Bek. Ibn Fadlan did not describe the duties of this officer, nor does any extant source. The Magyars had a dual-kingship system in which p ...

which may have been either identical to, a model for, or the forerunner of the office of kende.

House of Kende

''Kende'' also refers to the noble Hungarian House of Kende settled in the eastern region of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy of Kölcse. In 1181, the family received several settlements from the king: Kölcse, Istvándi, Kóród, Csécse, Cseke,

Milota Milota is a village in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county, in the Northern Great Plain region of eastern Hungary. Geography It covers an area of and is located on the river Tisza. Milota has a population Population typically refers to the ...

, Czégény.

Sources

Nagy Iván Nagy () is the most common Hungarian surname, meaning "great". The surname is also common among ethnic Hungarians in the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina, where it is spelled Nađ () and may be transliterated in other languages as Nadj. ...

, "Magyarország családai (Houses of Hungary)" * Borovszky Samu, "Szatmár vármegye (The County of Szatmár)"

References

{{Hungary-hist-stub Magyar tribal chieftains Hungarian prehistory