Bakay Kornél: Régészeti tanulmányok a magyar államalapítás kérdéséhez. (Dunántúli Dolgozatok 1. A Pécsi Janus Pannonius Múzeum Kiadványai 1. Pécs, 1965)

Summary The recent achievements of our archaeological and historical research made a thorough analysis of the economic and social conditions of the Hungarian people in the tenth and eleventh centuries necessary: in this connection we have been led to the investigation of the origin of the Hungarian state. A critical revision of the written sources and the archaeological data made it clear that the popular masses and the leading stratum of the Hungarians, migrating into their future country, differred not only economically but also as to their social relations, nay even ethnically to a certain extent. The leading stratum of a Turkish character lived in the tribal system and wielded power over the animal breeding and partly agricultural settled common people by the help of armed retinues. But the settled masses of the Hungarian people did not live in a tribal organization even at the middle of the tenth century, cince the ever increasing inequality of fortune has dissolved the ties of kinship, supplanting them by the territorial forms of structure. The power of the prince was restricted to an ever decreasing area after Árpád's death, since some members of the leading stratum possessed military forces almost equal to that of the ruler. In the last third of the tenth century the dismemberment, an obstacle in the road of progress, jeopardized the very existence of the Hungarian people. Although the basic conditions of the formation of a state were given, one cannot doubt the greatness of the prince Géza (970?—997) as a ruler. Prince Géza regarded as his primary task the annihilation of the power wielded by the leading stratum of Turkish character. Since the existing military retinues served the leading stratum of Turkish features obediently, the organization of a new army, having a modern equipment and loyal to the prince, hecame necessary. Written statements are informing us on the main features of prince Géza's activity in organizing an army. However, a more detailed picture of the social situation and the equipment of the princely army may be obtained by the archaeological material only. Analyzing the cemeteries containing doubleedged swords in Hungary in the tenth and eleventh centuries, we have succeeded in proving that the new army, organized by the prince Géza, consisted of the free but not outstanding members of the Hungarian people, rewarded for their military service in land after a while, as it is proved by their occurrence in the laws of King Stephen I (997 — 1038), the son of Géza, as a developped and unitary social stratum (milites). Our graves with double-edged swords are known from pagan cemeteries of the common folk almost without exception, so these warriors died at a time when the Christian church was unable to enforce ist injunctions still, i.e. in the reign of prince Géza, tolerant towards paganism. Consequently the swords, dated to the last third of the tenth and the very beginning of the eleventh century, are the marks of the extension of Géza's power, proving at the same time that the princely army has occupied the strategic points of almost all the country. Chronologically the swords unearthed in Hungary fit into the chronology of European swords well, thus typological analysis supports the conclusions drawn of historical statements. The majority of Hungarian swords were imported from Western Europe. * * * This paper is being published also in German in vol. 17 (1965) of the Acta Archaeologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae.