Dr. László Magocsa

An exciting Early History

of Hungary

Earliest Times From the Ancient Society and the Settlement of Hungarians to the Creation of the Christian Hungary by Stephen

www.digitalpaper.hu

Proof read by Ruth Taylor

Publisher:

Virágmandula Kft.

Hungary – Pécs

2012

ISBN 978-615-5181-74-0

All rights reserved

© dr. László Magocsa

© Virágmandula Kft.

Tartalom

Preface

The Origin of the Magyars and their Original Homeland

The Wandering of the Magyars on the Russian Prairie

Formulation of the First Nation

The Second Nomadic Period

Wandering Westwards

The Area of the Rivers Prut, Lower Danube and Dnjester as the Place of Temporary Settlement of the Magyars

The Stud Farm of the Magyars

The Beginning of Class Division

The Karpathian Basin Before the Settlement of the Magyars

The Settlement of the Magyars in the Karpathian Basin

The Adventurous Raids

Society and Way of Life

Regime System

The Horn of Lehel

Decline of the Magyars’ Principality

Founding the State

New Regulations

The XI. Century Which was a Significant era in the Magyars’ Society

Stephen and Christianity

Literature

Preface

This book covers probably the most interesting part of the history of the Hungarian nation from the very beginnings to the era of Saint Stephen, the founder of the Hungarian state.

The style of it is deliberately easy because the author wanted to provide the readers with real pleasure while reading it. Beside the historical facts there are enclosed enjoyable legends in connection with both significant people and events of Hungarian history.

It is sure that after reading (and probably rereading) this book everybody can get closer to this nation because there is a mass of information in it about everyday life of the nomadic Magyars, their warfare, reigning principles, marriage alliances, wanderings from the far side of Siberia to the other side of the Karpathian Basin and even to the Ocean.

An interesting mixture of people live in the Karpathian Basin nowadays because the ancestors of the Magyars, the new settlers at those times came here together with some other tribes and found here some other nations not mentioning those who were captured during wanderings and taken here into the Karpathian Basin to serve the Magyars and to live with them in peace.

This diversity makes the people living in Hungary today really exciting, friendly and adventurous and their history is worth reading.

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The Origin of the Magyars and their Original Homeland

There are no written sources about the beginning of the Hungarian nation, but according to some assumptions the language of this nation is similar in many ways to Finnish, originated from the so-called Finno-Ugric family of languages.

At the beginning the ancestors of the Magyars probably lived together with people who populated the area of the Volga, Kama, Vjatka rivers in Russia and in the Ural region.

The so-called linguistic relatives of the Magyars include the Estonians, Finns or even Mongolians and a lot of small nations living in the territory of Siberia. This community was very heterogenous. Only the common language indicated a kind of language relation among them.

This language was the so-called Ural basic language spoken by the people living in the territory of the Urals. The main activity at that time was hunting, fishing and gathering food. The following words came from this period: root, berry, honey, fishing net, arrow, bow.

The language relationship is more or less evident considering the above mentioned facts but there is big uncertainty about the location of the ancient homeland of the Magyars. Sandor Kőrösi Csoma was determined to find the cradle of the Hungarians in Middle Asia. There are assumptions even today that this territory could be the place where the Magyars originated from. But according to other researchers the ancient homeland of the Finno-Ugric is the land of Western Siberia. One thing is certain: in 1000 BC the Magyars lived together with other Finno-Ugric and probably Mongolian people in the area of the Urals, Volga Kama, Vjatka and Bjelaja rivers. Hunting, fishing and gathering food was the main occupation of these people up to the modern time. They hunted for different animals. Snakes were also hunted. In this activity probably the people of Mongolian origin were the best. They were called Magocsa which means ’snake killer’. The components of this language were the Samoyed, Hanty and Manshy. When the ancestors of the Samoyeds left the community it was the end of the basic common Ural language and the beginning of the Finno-Ugric era. It can be dated 4000-2000 BC.

As the years went by the ancestors of the Estonians and Finnish left the community and the ancestors of Magyars, Hanty and Manshy remained.

* * *

The Wandering of the Magyars on the Russian Prairie

These people left the region of the Urals and went to the South where they found dry plains which were perfect for keeping animals.

A kind of animal-keeping community was formulating in that way which kept the members closer to each other. These people were separated from the large community, a part of which was the community of Finnish people. The so called Ugric era began at that time and the language spoken by the people can be called Ugric ancient language.

The ancestors of Hanty and Manshy probably went towards the region of the river Ob where they live at present. That was the time when the language of the Magyars began its own life. It probably happened between 2000-500 BC. It is necessary to mention that those people who went South to the region of the Kuban and Don rivers and tried to find good grazing ground for their animals near the Black and Azov seas were not blood relatives. The only common thing was their language even at that time. The language that got its elements from those who joined these people. Some names of the present Hungarian settlements like Madocsa, Mágocs, Nagymágocs show a possibility of Mongolian influence, while the Hungarian equivalents of goat, ox, cheese, cottage cheese, bull, grape, apple are probably originated from the Turkish language.

Even in the most recent research there are indications that it is not excluded that the origin of the Hungarian nation can be a European-Mongolian one. It is possible that some people who joined the community speaking the language of the Magyars lost their mother tongue, the tongue which was spoken by them before they left their territory and the community living there. Of course all these make the situation more complicated because nobody knows for sure the exact number of people speaking Turkish or Mongolian who joined the community which is considered the predecessor of the Hungarian nation.

The genetic tests of part of the population living in Hungary show certain similarities with Finnish, German and Slavic people.

* * *