Magyar News, 1996. szeptember-1997. augusztus (7. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1996-10-01 / 2. szám
The Horse, the Cart, the Rowing-Boat EARLY TRANSPORTATION IN THE HUNGARIAN LAND by Gyula Antalffy In the last years of the ninth century, when the Magyar crowds descended through the Carpathian passes, seeking a home, only the warriors rode on horseback; the women, children, and old folk as well as their baggage and food supplies, were carried by wheeled vehicles. The Hungarian troops that scoured West Europe on marauding expeditions during the first half of the tenth century were also accompanied by a multitude of baggage carts. Frater Eckehart of Swiss Benedictine monastery of Saint Gallen, an eyewitness of the Hungarian raids in 926 A.D., left several reports in which he referred to the carts of the ‘Ugrians’. Their main form of transport, however, was the horse. The Magyars of this period galloped on horseback through Italy, the Balkans and the central and western parts of Europe, though they used carts, mostly two-wheeled, for the transport of their spoils. Accustomed to a nomadic, migratory life, the Magyars could find their bearings by the stars, but they also must have made use of guides and conductors, or they could scarcely have gone as far as the shores of the Atlantic Ocean and back again to the banks of the Danube. Students of mediaeval history believe the system of guides must have been extremely well developed in the period of Hungarian raiding expeditions into foreign lands between 900 and 950, for the fact that the nomadic Magyars could move so swiftly, and with so much assurance through hostile lands would otherwise seem to be inexplicable. Italy indeed could be reached by an established military road, but the raiding Hungarians found their way equally efficiently through the Balkan Peninsula, in Central and West Europe, and the Alps. Apart from all other problems of military history, it would, therefore, be interesting to know how, when they came from Burgundy in 937 A.D. they managed to invade the regions of the river Po through what is today northern Italy and over the rocky paths of Mont Cenis, then believed impassable, and how they carried out enterprises for which even modem military maps are madequate. The highroads of Europe already presented a busy scene in the beginning of the Middle Ages, and earned a fairly substantial body of traffic in Hungary very soon after the Magyar conquest of the country and their occupation of it in 896 A.D. Apart from the fact that the nomadic system of cattle breeding as practiced by Hungarians obliged the greater part of the population to be continually on the move, there was considerable intercourse between the heads of the different clans travelling between their various headquarters and princely seats. The fastest travellers were the messengers, carrying the orders of their superiors by word of mouth. They rode at full speed through the endless steppes and were empowered to requisition saddle or draught-horses on the way. This regulation indicates that in the ninth and tenth centuries baggage carts were already travelling on the primitive roads of the country. These wheeled vehicles were used in ordinary domestic life as well as by warriors. Domestic trade in the form of fairs began under Prince Arpad (889-907) who led the forces that conquered the country. Stephen I (1000-1038), later canonized, the founder of the Hungarian State, mentions them m his official communications as long-standing trading institutions of the country, and some of the more important markets drew people coming from distant parts of Hungary to buy and sell. A part of the goods were transported in carts and wagons. Carts, for instance, were used to transport square-cut blocks of salt from Transylvania to different parts of the country. By this time trade was well established and foreign traders set out on horseback for Hungary in long convoys with carts and packhorses. Greek and Khazar merchants arrived with their ornaments, gold and silver objects and jewellery, but they also brought iron, arms, and Arab blades. Ukrainian and Russian merchants brought their wares from the north and the traders from Germany began their incursions in the tenth century. The Hungarians themselves in the meanwhile were reversing the process, journeying abroad to sell their products. Immediately after the conquest of the country they set out for the Byzantine markets, also travelling to Prague and Regensburg to sell their goods and buy others. Although means of transport were restricted, the horse and the cart alone made for a lively traffic ón the Hungarian “highways” during the reign of the Hungarian princes, before Stephen became the first king in 1000 A.D., when no man-built roads proper existed as yet. Travelling increased with the institution of the State of Hungary and the first dynasty of kings, beginning with Stephen I. More and more fairs came into being; craftsmen, artisans, traders and buyers made longer and more frequent journeys to the various markets springing up in the country; foreign merchants also came in ever-larger numbers to swell their growing prosperity. Serfs of the Church carried food supplies in their heavy carts to the monasteries, plaintiff, defendant and witnesses travelled to submit themselves to the ordeal by fire; the estates of the realm hastened to attend the periodical Diets, and foreign ambassadors arrived with their retinues. A royal marriage was always preceded by a series of visits by envoys preoccupied with making the necessary arrangements. The first Hungarian kings and their heirs generally married foreign princesses, which led to an influx of German, Russian, Polish, Italian, Bohemian and Byzantine guests to Hungary. The kings themselves journeyed frequently covering large regions in the company of highranking dignitaries, whether going to war, dispensing justice, or simply for amusement, travelling from one of their castles or hunting grounds to others in distant parts of the country. Thousands of pilgrims also passed up and down the roads. Hungarians seeking absolution bent their steps towards Rome, and many foreign pilgrims sought spiritual salvation at the tombs of the first canonized king and prince of Hungary. We know from the legend of Prince Imre, the canonized son of Stephen I, that in the eleventh century a contemporary of Pope Gregory VII, by the name of Conrad, having heard of the miracles performed at Prince Imre’s tomb, endured much hardship in order to visit Szekesfehervar, where the Prince was buried, after he had failed to find salvation in Jerusalem or at the grave of any other saint. There, beside the grave of the canonized Prince, the heavy shackles with which he had fettered his wrists before the start of his pilgrimage of repentance fell off by themselves. In the later Middle Ages the number of wayfarers increased as students bound for famous centers of study abroad also took to the roads. Young men in pursuit of knowledge walked long distances to Cracow, Padua, Bologna or even Paris in search of greater knowledge, theological, legal or medical. In addition, travelling journeymen, mercenaries looking for employment, wandering monks and friars dispensing medicaments and cures, were also constantly on the move between Hungary and other European countries. Life on the roads was almost as lively as in our days, except that the host of travellers were decked in brighter colors, the pace was slower, the means of transport more primitive and above all, the roads carrying all this bustling traffic were quite different from what we mean by roads today. This is a chapter of the book "A Thousand Years of Travel in Old Hungary ” by Gyula Antalffy. We were given permit by Corvina Books and KULTURA Publishing Companies to print it in the Magyar News Page 3
