Hungarian Heritage Review, 1989 (18. évfolyam, 1-9. szám)
1989-06-01 / 6. szám
Hungarian Heritage Calendar According to the "Gestae", the chronicles of medieval Hungary, not all of the Magyars under the leadership of Arpad "rode into history on horseback" through the Pass of Vereczke in 895 A.D. to lay the foundation for a new nation in the Carpathian Basin. Most of the original Magyar tribe remained behind in the Volga River-Ural Mountain region of what is now the U.S.S.R. How the early Magyars got there and from where before they split up, remains a controversial issue to this very day. But, be this as it may, 753 years ago this month, on the 21st of June 1236, a Dominican monk began his return to Hungary from a 2,000-mile, two-year-long expedition to report to King Bela IV (1235- 1270) that he had found the lost Magyar nation of "Magna Hungária". The sole survivor of afour-man expedition, this monkwas Brother Julian, one of the greatest searchers for "Proto-Magyars" in Hungarian history. When King Bela IV ascended the throne of Hungary, he became so interested in rumors of the existence of Magyar nation "in the East" that he dispatched a team of four monks to find it. After incredible hardships en-route, they did, and named the lost Magyar nation "Magna Hungária" (Greater Hungary). Three members of this expedition died on the way home, while the sole survivor died so soon after arriving in Hungary that his report to the king was not conclusive. So, King Bela IV dispatched a second team of four monks, among them Brother Julian, the most learned among them, the most determined to carry out the mission, and the sole survivor of it. What Brother Julian found was a powerful and prosperous Magyar nation of two THE LOST MAGYAR NATION OF "MAGNA HUNGÁRIA" "Of all the words of life and dream, the saddest are: it might have been . . ”- Omar Khayyam Magyar-speaking people, who had already repelled several probes by Mongol-Tatar hordes. This great nation of tradesmen, agriculturalists, and superb fighters, he also learned, practiced a Christianlike, monotheistic religion, maintained high standards of morality, and were widely respected throughout the region. Anxious to return home with these and other findings, Brother Julian bid farewell to his generous hosts and hit-the-road back to Hungary. He did not know at the time that he would be the last Hungarian ever to meet the people of "Magna Hungária" again. Upon receiving Brother Julian’s report and already aware of the Mongol- Tatar threat to Hungary, King Bela IV sent the monk and three others back to "Magna Hungária" with an important message. This message was an urgent invitation to the "lost brothers" to come home to helpform aunited nation of Magyars strong enough to defeat the coming invasion of Hungary. But, it was too late. By the time Brother Julian and his team of Monks arrived in the Ukraine, the Mongols had wiped out "Magna Hungária" and had killed every man, woman, and child ! In retrospect, it is not unreasonable to assume that, had the Magyars of "Magna Hungária" received King Bela’s message in time and had they wasted no time returning to the fold, the Mongol-Tatar invasion of Hungary would not have succeeded and, as a result, Hungary would have become the most powerful nation in Europe. The tragic course of Hungarian history would have also turned out quite differently! ********** JUNE 1989 HUNGARIAN HERITAGE REVIEW 9
