The Eighth Tribe, 1978 (5. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1978-06-01 / 6. szám
I Page 8 THE EIGHTH TRIBE June, 1978 display for the experience of sharing a bit of other people’s cultural artifacts of this past as well as previous holiday times. The toys and mementos all appeared evident of lovingly-created, carved, painted, sewn, or otherwise handcrafted items of gift-giving sorts made to please the recipients, which may be considered as symbolic tokens of warm relationships between the young and young-inheart generational members. There were toys from various times and places such as Early American, South American, American Indian, Oriental and European among others. Photographically portrayed herewith is a portion of the toy display from Eastern Europe, comprising objects from Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Roumania, Yugoslavia, and Russia — also Germany nearby. All in all, the inanimate miniatures created a relaxed atmosphere of toyland gaiety far more enjoyable than the frenzied seasonal toyshop commercialism that contemporary society has become familiar with! More importantly, however, this display helped give some idea of similarities among most, if not all, children over the earth, especially in the delightful universality of dolls, both female and male types, which were made out of diverse materials available to the various cultures — some were soft, cuddly or manipulable but others were firm to the touch since some were formed out of corn husks, pine cones, etc. But whatever the construction, basically the significance of the creative objects seemed to denote an overall sense of immeasurably deeper, meaningful attitudes underlying the thoughtful act of gift-giving as well as invisible links imparting positive relationships among human beings. —M. Takacs Barboe would receive Croatia and Dalmatia as his legacy. Manuel’s offer was almost immediately accepted by the Hungarian Court, and Béla was taken to Constantinople. There he was converted to the Orthodox faith, renamed Alexios, and given the title “despot,” which hitherto had been used only in reference to the emperor himself. This title reflected Béla’s new status as the heir to the Byzantine throne. But Manuel had other goals too for Béla-Alexios. He also regarded the young boy as the heir to the Hungarian throne, who was destined to carry out his long cherished dream of unifying Hungary with Byzantium. Given future developments, this goal would probably have been realized had Manuel’s second wife not given him a son, which immediately altered the emperor’s plans. The young boy, who was also named Alexios, now replaced Béla-Alexios as the heir to the Byzantine throne. Moreover, in order to eliminate the latter as a possible rival, his engagement to Manuel’s daughter was also terminated, and his rank was changed to that of a “kaisar” (caesar). (Moravcsik: Byzantium, 79-90; Ostrogorsky: Byzantine State, 337-44.) King Béla’s Plans for a Hungaro-Byzantine Union After spending nine years at the Byzantine Court, in 1172 Béla- Alexios was recalled to Hungary. In wake of the death of his brother Stephen III, it was now Béla III (1172-96) who ascended the Hungarian throne. Before departing from Constantinople, however, Emperor Manuel obliged him to promise his continued support of the Byzantine Empire. As recorded by the chronicler Cinnamus, Béla “vowed an oath that he would always pay due regard to the interests of the emperor and the Romans (Byzantines).” (As cited by Moravcsik: Byzantium, 90). And Béla remained faithful to his promise, even though his faithfulness created considerable problems for him with Rome and with the Latin Church. In point of fact, Béla’s loyalty went so far as to attempt to save the Byzantine throne for Manuel's son, Alexios II (1180-83), against the treacherous cousin, Andronicos. But Béla’s military intervention — which resulted in his conquest of much of Bulgaria, including the city of Sardike (Sofia) — could not prevent Andronicos’s triumph, nor his execution of young Alexios II, his mother, and most of Emperor Manuel’s close relatives. Béla III, however, did not give up. He continued to pursue his campaign against the usurper; now with the hope of having himself accepted as the emperor of Byzantium, and thus bring about the old dream of a Hungaro-Byzantine union. With the support of the anti-Andronicos “Latin Party” — which would also have involved 110
