Magyar News, 1999. szeptember-2000. augusztus (10. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2000-01-01 / 5. szám
THE YEARS BEFORE CROWNING THE FIRST KING by Dr. István Gedai , , v* f- -- TTfrintrrtr-- <' ^ Bertalan Székely’s painting depicting the Covenant of Blood Hungary has two historical events to celebrate back to back. In 1996 was 1100 years of the Conquest, then in the Millennium the 1000th year of the Hungarian statehood. These being close offers the opportunity to look at the connection that was between them. A most uniform and also properly enclosed territory of Central Europe is the Carpathian Basin. This is where in the IXth and Xth centuries the Hungarian tribal alliance settled. Arriving from the East, their life style was determined by different geographic and economic factors. They were herdsmen, livestock farmers. The herds and the temporary mobile shelters made them be in constant military-style alert. Their new land had a different character. The Carpathian Basin was always part of Europe. Before the Hungarians the Avars ruled the whole territory, but they weren't able to shed the lifestyle they were used to, and were not able to assimilate to Europeans. The Avars diminished in numbers in the many wars and Charles the Great easily broke their political power. Around the perimeter of the disintegrated Avar Khaganate the power of other nations became a formidable influence; Transdanubia by the Franks; Transylvania by Bulgare; the Moravians in the north. Many Slavic groups were wedged in between. There was a political vacuum waiting for the Hungarians who had no problem in blending with the Avar kinsmen. A century was sufficient for the Hungarians to change a tribal alliance into a Christian Kingdom including all of its institutions; the economy developed into a permanent agricultural nation. Also there should be an end to the military style oftaxing, destruction and looting of Europe. A century was needed to establish the Kingdom as a state. All these changes culminated in the crowning of Stephen as a King at Christmas in the year 1000. At that time the known world was polarized. There were two superpowers, the Byzantine and the Gallo-Roman Empires. It was unavoidable to have all other peoples fall subordinate to one of them. There was one exception; the Hungarians. The characteristic of Chieftain Arpad and his successors always was realpolitics and a great sense of diplomacy. Previously we had ties with the Byzantine Empire. As a matter of fact there the Hungarians were attacked by the Pechenegs due to this Byzantine connection and pushed towards the West where the Conquest of the Carpathian Basin took place. In the new land the Hungarians were connected to the German Kingdom and Roman Empire. For a few decades this only caused some military incidents. When some regions of the Empire became hostile to each other, the Hungarians joined one side or the other. The Hungarian military technique and their unfamiliar battlefield maneuvers made them invincible. This changed in the middle of the Xth century when they were overrun in Merseburg and Ausburg. This had no significant affect on any political, or military matter. Looking back to this era change became a necessity. The Hungarian Chiefs came to the conclusion that this was the ground for the new Hungarian state. Probably Géza’s father, Chieftain Taksony, realized the necessity of expanding of the Chieftain’s power and the centralizing it. It seemed like Taksony had a hand in the marriage of Géza to the daughter of the Transylvanian chief which merged the two strongest tribes. The eventual decisive measures are attributed to Géza. Practically, with the marriage he became the real ruler of the Tribal Alliance. His most important initiatives were in foreign policy. He never broke off the connection to the Byzantine Empire, but he also set new grounds for Page 3 A painting by Mihály Kovács depicting the Chieftains raising Arpad on his shield electing him as the sole ruler of the Hungarians
