The Eighth Tribe, 1977 (4. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1977-04-01 / 4. szám
April, 1977 THE EIGHTH TRIBE Page 9 of his followers are now convinced that the “Late Avars” were in fact Magyars. They have allegedly split off from the main body of the nation, which was still in the Volga-Kama area, in the mid-seventh century. This split was the result of the attack by the Kangars, a Turkic tribe which later appeared as the Pechenegs. This Kangar attack had split the Magyars into three separate parts. One group remained in place, and their remnants were found there by Brother Julian as late as the 1230’s, only to be swept away by the Mongol conquest. A second group moved westward, and then in 671 they appeared in the tottering Avar Empire as the “Late Avars,” only to extend its life for another 130 years. The third and largest group worked itself gradually southward. They became subjects of the Khazar Empire, and then after a series of moves (Lebédia, Etelköz), they appeared at the end of the ninth century in the Carpathian Basin as Árpád’s Magyars, or as the “second conquerors” of the medieval Hungarian chronicles. There was also a fourth, small group that moved to the far south, across the Caucasian Mountains, where they allegedly merged with the Armenians and a number of other Trans-Caucasian people. These may have been the Savards or “Savard- Magyars” mentioned in the previous chapter. Professor László’s theory of “double conquest” is a well-founded hypothesis. It is being accepted by more and more scholars, both in Hungary and abroad, partially because of the growing number of archeological and linguistic proofs, and partially because it makes things fall into place. One of the most significant proofs is the analysis of geographical names, in conjunctions with recent archeological excavations. It is a well-known fact that the Carpathian Basin is filled with Magyar geographical names even in areas where no Magyars of the Árpádian conquest have settled. As substantiated by recent archeological excavations, these are precisely the regions where the “Late Avars” had their settlements. In fact, geographical areas with Magyar place names that were settled by the “Late Avars” and by Árpád’s Magyars complement one another like a picture puzzle. Magyar place names, however, can only be given to a geographical area by Magyar-speaking peoples. And so, our conclusion can only be that the “Late Avars” were also Magyarspeaking. If so, they were undoubtedly those Magyars who have split off from the main body of the nation as a result of the Kangar attack during the late 660’s. While the hypothesis of the “double conquest” is based largely on the analysis of geographical names, it is also substantiated by a wide 24 variety of other proofs. These include linguistic, archeological, ethnographical, anthropological, zoological and botanical evidences, as well as the recent re-evaluation and reinterpretation of known historical sources. This hypothesis would also explain why Árpád’s Magyars encountered so little resistance in the “Avar”-inhabited sections of the Carpathian Basin. Because they found there a kindred people, who spoke their own language, and who, therefore, were accepted by the new conquerors as partners in the future state that they were about to establish upon the ruins of the great Hunnic and Avar Empires. — to be continued self during his recent visit to Pittsburgh, when, on March 19th, he lectured before an audience of sixty people at Duquesne University. Born into an old Transylvanian-Hungarian family, Illyés is well equipped to deal with this question. He knows all of the languages, and respects all of the nationalities of his more immediate homeland, and he has also participated in the progressive Transylvanian populist movement (“Erdélyi Fiatalok” = Transylvanian Youth) already as a young man in the 1930s. In the early 1940s he received his doctorate in jurisprudence from the University of Kolozsvár (Cluj), and subsequently he also studied at the universities of Rome (Italy) and Heidelberg (Germany). Currently Illyés devotes all of his energies to the Transylvanian-Hungarian question, or rather to the problems of the Hungarian minorities in Roumania. He has published extensively on this topic in various European scholarly journals, and his above-mentioned major work has already appeared in two editions. We are aware that he intends to publish a revised version of his work also in English. Should that come about, Illyés’s Erdély változása will undoubtedly become the standard work on this question in the English speaking world. Perhaps we should also point out that Illyés is not an irreconcilable “revisionist,” nor a sonorious advocate of Magyar dominance of the Carpathian Basin. Rather, he is a spokesman of basic human rights and of the need for cooperation among the nations of East Central Europe in the spirit of mutual respect and equality — a spirit, which apparently is unknown to the present ruling regime of Roumania. HUNGARIAN RADIO PROGRAM WEDO — 810 AM, McKeesport, Pa. Sunday afternoon: 2:45 to 3:00 — Worship Service — Sponsored by the Western Pennsylvania Hungarian Protestant Churches. 3:00 to 3:30 — Hungarian Hour — Host: Dr. Victor Molnár. WDUQ — 90.5 FM, Pittsburgh, Pa. Saturday evening, 6 to 7 o’clock: “Music from Europe” — Host: Dr. Victor Molnár. If you know someone, who should receive this magazine, please send us their name and address. 25
