Hungarian Heritage Review, 1986 (15. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1986-01-01 / 1. szám
14 HUNGARIAN HERITAGE REVIEW JANUARY 1986 under their leader Tsar Simeon, and the Petchenegs, a Turkish people who were traditional foes of the Magyars. Arpad’s firstborn son, Prince Levente, was charged with holding off Tsar Simeon’s Bulgarians while Arpad led the main body of Magyars through the Carpathians. Fortune was against Levente, and he suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Simeon. His campaign against the Bulgarians did, however, win time for the tribes to make their way over the mountains. Against the Petchenegs the Magyars had less success, and it was only by fighting severe and painful rearguard actions against them that the Magyars were able to make their escape into the Carpathian Basin. The “Horseback” Parliament When they had defeated or simply fled their enemies, the Magyars had little initial difficulty in dealing with the few scattered peoples in the Carpathian Basin. And in 902 A.D. Arpad summoned the first Hungarian National Assembly. This Assembly revealed some of the qualities that were to become characteristic of the Hungarian nation for centuries to come. First, it revealed the desire to rule through consensus rather than simply through the dictates of any one man; advice and consent of the nobles was a heritage going back to the very first days of the nation. And the fact that many of the sessions of this Assembly were held on horseback showed how deeply the “horseman” trait of the tribes was ingrained. Indeed, much later in Hungarian history, Count Paul Teleki, Hungary’s Prime Minister, remarked: “We had a Parliament before we had chairs!” Arpad’s Legacy When Arpad died in 907, he left behind a proud legacy. He had unified a previously looseknit coalition of tribes; he had led his people, despite great difficulty, to the land which they would inhabit uninterruptedly for one thousand years. And he had laid the basis for a way of life that had survived to this day. The larger-than-life statue of Arpad, mounted on his great steed, that stands in Heroes’ Square in Budapest is a lasting tribute to this ancient “Father of His People.” The Period of Conquest For a period of almost one hundred years, the Magyars swept from their Carpathian base to harass their neighbors. Fierce raids carried them into Germany, Austria, France, Italy and Spain. The swiftly moving horses of Magyar horsemen became almost invincible. The purpose of the raids was basically to establish the boundaries of the new country. There was relatively little looting, pillage and plundering. For wherever possible, the Magyars entered into political alignments with their neighbors. It was the establish ment of firm frontiers that they desired more than anything else. A Sobering Experience The legend of Magyar invincibility lasted for nearly a century. The toughness and the tactics ol the Magyars confounded all their enemies. That was until the Tenth Century. In 933, at Lech, and in 955 at Augsburg the Magyar forces met disastrous defeat. Indeed, at Augsburg it was recorded that of 40,000 Magyar warriors only seven survived. And these, legend has it, were derided, scorned and condemned as cowards when they managed to make their way back to Buda. Whatever the legend, it is true that after these defeats the Magyar nation had to adjust to a different way of life. The nomadic, raiding existence that was their tradition had to be exchanged for something more settled. But for an entire people to change its ways, habits and manner of thinking is something that calls for great effort and concentration. And, in the case of a fortunate nation, it calls for the appearance of a great and strong leader. Here it was that one of Arpad’s great-grandsons came upon the scene. Prince Geza makes his appearance in Hungarian history. (In the following chapter, we will follow Prince Geza and how he led the Hungarians into the Western Christian fold.)
