The Eighth Tribe, 1977 (4. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1977-12-01 / 12. szám
December, 1977 THE EIGHTH TRIBE Page 11 many of the Magyar tribal and clan leaders were unwilling to accept this change without a fight. Thus, at the time of Geza’s death, a number of Stephen’s older male relatives put forth their own claims to the throne. The most powerful of these were Koppány of Somogy, a descendant of Geza’s second predecessor Prince Fájsz (c. 948) ; and the gyula of Transylvania, who may have been Stephen’s maternal uncle or the latter’s son. But there were also other lesser and greater chiefs who opposed Stephen’s accession to the throne and the consequent growth of central power at expense of their own regional lordships. The most noted of these chiefs was Ajtony, who controlled South-Central Hungary east of the Tisza and south of the Maros Rivers. But there was also “King Keán,” who was probably a Pechenieg (bessenyó) chief in the service of the Bulgarian Empire, but who may also have been — as claimed by B. Hóman — Tsar Samuel of Bulgaria himself. Before undertaking any of his major reforms, King Stephen had to face these challengers one after another. Although only one of these, Koppány of Somogy, was still pagan, they all represented the old ways of a tribalized society, against the new and fresh course represented by Stephen himself (Hóman: Magy. tört., I, 178-179). The first of these challengers to be defeated was Koppány, who wished to strengthen his claim to the throne by demanding Stephen’s widowed mother in marriage. In light of his attachment to paganism, his victory would have underminded Geza’s and Stephen’s grand design for the Christianization and Europeanization of Hungary; and this, in the long run, could have resulted in the extermination or absorption of the Magyars by Christian Europe. In this first of his several victories, Stephen relied heavily on the new “royal army,” composed partially of German knights, and partially of dispossessed Magyar tribesmen, who now began to congregate in his court. Because of the large percentage of foreigners in this army, some of the later Hungarian chroniclers tried to make the anti-Koppány crusade into a “war between Germans and Magyars,” as well as into a struggle between Christianity and paganism. This, however, is too simple an explanation. Without mass support by a large segment of the Magyars, Stephen’s German knights could never have defeated Koppány’s forces. Moreover, in light of the wide acceptance of Christianity among the Magyars by the end of the tenth century, an uprising motivated purely by anti-Christian emotions would have made no sense (Bogyay: Stephanus, 18-19). 73 trict of Houston Street and Avenue B to Sulzer’s Harlem River Park. Contests, games, speeches, and the display of folk costumes were included in the activities of the daylong festival. The Folk Festival became an annual event, and its revenue was used to fund the Hungarian Association of New York. The festival was duplicated in other cities, too. New York’s first Hungarian Conversational and Sickness Aid Association was founded in 1884. It propogated the Hungarian language in addition to providing benefits. February 1. A bimonthly journal, the American National Guard (Amerikai Nemzetőr) was published in New York. It united the Hungarians scattered in the United States. It was the only Hungarianlanguage newspaper until the Szabadság (Liberty) was founded. The guiding spirit of the newspaper was Gusztáv Sz. Erdélyi, for whom many journalists of the later Hungarian American Press worked. — To be continued — Now available from Bethlen Press: “A Condensed Geography of Hungary” 80 pages with maps, pictorial illustrations and other valuable information. * Hungarians in the U. S. An Immigration Study 84 pages with maps showing the Hungarian population in the U.S. Published 1967 by Leslie Könnyű $4.00 plus 50 cents postage - each. credited liners. The first Hungarian emigration law was ineffective since it was not strictly enforced. 1882 James Kovács, representative of the Hungarian Unitarian Church in the Saratoga Unitarian Conference, toured the large cities in the United States, speaking about Hungarians and the Hungarian Unitarian Church before university and Sunday audiences. He spent five months on this tour. 1884 The first Hungarian Folk Festival was held in New York with a parade through the Hungarian dis”ENERGY BOOM and SOLAR HEATING” Introductory Price: $6.00 To order make checks payable to: Sunwall Inc. Publications, c/o Bethlen Press, Inc. P.O. Box 637 Ligonier, Pa. 15658
