Bulcsú

Bulcsú († 955 in Regensburg ) was the driving force behind the Magyar campaigns of the years 954/955.

Bulcsú, lithograph by Josef Kriehuber after a drawing by Moritz von Schwind , ca.1828

He united in his person the offices of Horka (judge) and Gyula (supreme warlord) and was thus the most powerful man next to the Kende (grand prince) in the Magyar people.

After an armistice with Byzantium , Bulcsú (in Byzantine sources Botosudes) was "invited" to Constantinople by Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetus . He was probably a hostage. There, impressed by the splendor of the Orthodox Church , he had adopted the Christian faith and was baptized in 948. Back in Pannonia, however, he was converted back to the old, pagan faith in 952.

In the spring of 954 the Magyars invaded Bavaria and met no resistance, since the German dukes were bound by the Liudolfin uprising . Duke Konrad the Red bought himself and Lotharingia free with a high ransom and sent the Magyars against his enemies, especially Archbishop Bruno of Cologne , Otto's brother, who was loyal to the king. Then their train went on via Belgium to France. There Bulcsú suffered a personal defeat when his grandson was killed during the siege of Cambrai and his severed head was exhibited on the city wall. The Magyars moved on to Italy, supposedly as far as Benevento and finally back via Croatia.

In the following year 955 Bulcsú was defeated by Otto I in the battle of the Lechfeld . Together with the other leaders Lehel and Sûr, he was executed in Regensburg in the late summer of 955 . Under the impression of the devastating defeat, the title of Horka was not awarded again.

literature

• Karl Leyser : Medieval Germany and its Neighbors 900-1250, London 1982, “The Battle at the Lech, 955, a study in Tenth-Century Warfare”, ISBN 0-907628-08-7 .
• Ferenc Majoros / Bernd Rill: Bavaria and the Magyars. The history of an eleven hundred year relationship , Regensburg 1991, ISBN 3-7917-1303-5 .

Web links

• Magyar army structure