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A Nation's Sacred Destiny, Part Two
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13670 |
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CULTURE
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8 / 1988 |
1,161 Words |
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Steven Béla Várdy and Agnes Huszár Várdy
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Following their defeat of Svatopluk of Moravia in the late ninth century, the Magyars, or Hungarians, soon extended their control over all of the Carpathian Basin from the Alpine foothills in Austria to the eastern corners of Transylvania. They still worshiped their pagan gods, and thus were viewed with distrust by their Christian neighbors.
This distrust and the Magyars' desire to extend their power beyond the Carpathian Mountains led to a series of campaigns. Their forays lasted through much of the tenth century, and took the Magyar armies as far west as the Swiss Alps and Gallia (France), and as far south as the Po Valley in Italy and Constantinople.
These military incursions into the civilized lands of western and southern Europe brought some temporary gains, but they also made the Magyars hated and feared among the peoples of western Europe. The latter would often implore God to deliver them from these accursed equestrian warriors: "A sagittis Hungarorum, libera nos, Domine!" (Free us, O Lord, from the arrows of the Hungarians!)
The campaigns of the pagan Magyars also produced numerous heroic deeds, which were recorded and retold by minstrels, enriching the folklore of the Hungarians. One of these legends is connected with their betrayed hero, named Lél or Lehel. The version of "The Horn of Lehel" repeated here is based on the fourteenth-century Chronican Pictum Vindobonense (Viennese Illuminated Chronicle) and Hungarian folk traditions recorded by the folklorist-historian Freda B. Kovács.
The defeat suffered by the Magyars at Augsburg in the year 955--in the battle the Germans call Ungarnschlacht (Destruction of Hungarians)--was also a turning point in Hungarian history. Dukes Taksony (reigned 952-72) and Géza (reigned 972-77) gradually extended their control over the regional princes and put a stop to their marauding expeditions. Géza also began to toy with the idea of Christianizing his people and turning Hungary into an accepted member of the European community of nations. This goal, however, was not reached until his son Vajk, the later King Saint Stephen, ascended the throne, first as duke (907) and then as king of Hungary (1000-1038).
The Legend of Kind Saint Stephen
In his efforts to Christianize his people, King Stephen often had to use harsh methods. The regional princes were still very much attached to their pagan faith and ways, and to the relative independence that went along with them. But Stephen pursued his policy of Christianization and centralization relentlessly. He was driven both by his dedication to the new faith, and by the conviction that unless they accepted Christianity, his people would ultimately be defeated and expelled from Christian Europe. He thus became the second founder of the Hungarian state and the first hero of Hungarian Christianity.
There are many legends connected with King Stephen's life, which have been preserved in medieval chronicles, hagiographies, and folk traditions. Sections of these are reproduced here, based on Stephen's Legenda Minor (short legend) Legenda Maior (Long legend), and the Chronicon Pictum (Illustrated chronicle).
King Stephen was the first of
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