The Eighth Tribe, 1978 (5. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1978-11-01 / 11. szám
Page 10 THE EIGHTH TRIBE November, 1978 who crossed Hungary with the Second Crusade in 1147. Thus, while Abu Hamid spoke of a number of Hungarian towns and fortresses in praising terms, Otto of Freising seems to have encountered few worthwhile stone or even wooden structures in Hungary. But this may have been due to the reigning monarch’s unwillingness to permit the generally destructive crusaders to come close to some of the more respectable towns of his kingdom. We know from several sources, including archeological evidence, that the larger Hungarian towns at this time included the royal residences of Esztergom and Székesfehérvár, as well as Sopron in the West, Bács in the South, and Csongrád in the East. Writing in 1154, the Sicilian Arab geographer Idrisi, described Bacs — the see of the second archdiocese in the country — as a major town with large market places, regular fares, and numerous artisans. Idrisi also mentioned Pest (the eastern part of future Budapest) as a notable town. Other sources on the other hand, point to Óbuda (the northwestern part of Budapest) as a marketplace and a rivercrossing of considerable importance. A number of these Hungarian towns were built on or close to Roman ruins (e.g. Esztergom, Óbuda, Pozsony, etc.). Yet, the presence of these ruins appears to have been only of secondary importance in the development of these towns. Nor was the presence of royal or county administration of great consequence. They still remained small towns, unless nourished by a flourishing manufacturing and trade — which were the true sources of urbanization throughout medieval Europe. While we know of no road building in twelfth-century Hungary, the rise of commerce and urbanization soon led to the re-discovery and restoration of the existing Roman roads. Those that had been built of several layers of large flat slabs came to be known as öttevény roads, while those made of crushed stone — which was the later version of Roman roads — were referred to simply as the “stone road” (köves út). These re-discovered and restored Roman roads became the main avenues of twelfth-century Hungarian commerce; although a number of new trade routes were also established on previously unbroken northern and eastern territories. The merchants who traveled them constituted a separate social caste, themselves divided into at least three separate classes. This division can already be found in King Coloman’s laws in the first part of the twelfth century. The most significant of the merchant class were those that were involved in broad national and international trade, and who made large fortunes in this trade. At the other 119 the adult congregation. If this percentage is representative of the total population of Hungarian- Americans in 1944, then about 50,000 Hungarians were in military service during the Second World War. 1945 The American Hungarian Federation started the Hungarian Relief Program. A total of $1,457,743 was sent to the needy people of Hungary in the form of money, clothing, and drugs. At the end of the Second World War, the American government assumed custody of the Crown of St. Stephen and the concomitant crown jewels and treasures. These objects symbolized the thousandyear existence of Hungary as a Christian kingdom. They had been turned over to American authorities in Germany by the Hungarian crown guards who had left Hungary in the closing days of the war. Béla Bartók, the world-famous composer and musician, died in virtual poverty in New York City. He had in the late 1930s left a secure and respectable existence in Hungary and gone into voluntary exile because of his political and moral convictions. (By his departure, he meant to protest the gradual drifting of Hungary into a rightist orbit and the consequent restrictions on art as well as impending political and racial discrimination.) Bartók had been for nearly a half century one of the most original, productive, and gripping composers of modern classical music rooted in Hungarian folk music, which his researches with Kodály had helped to identify and to distinguish from gypsy and non-Hungarian ethnic admixtures. His famed monograph on the folk music of Hungary and adjacent countries established categories and methods of analysis which still serve as models for contemporary researchers and musicologists. He was a man who successfully synthesized scholarship and creativity, art and morality, thought and feeling. Eighteen years later, the Béla Bartók Archives were established in New York City to promote an understanding and appreciation of his life and work. AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR 1947 Cardinal Mindszenty, the Roman Catholic Primate of Hungary, visited the United States and
