Gesta Hungarorum
Gesta Hungarorum (German "Taten der Hungarorum ") is the name of two historical works ( Gesta ) that report on the settlement of Hungarians around 895 AD and the early Middle Ages in Hungary .
The work of the "Notary King Belas"
The notary of either King Béla II or Béla III first reported about the acts of the Hungarians . , Master P. (known as Anonymus ), in the 12th or 13th century in Latin. The author dealt with the history of Hungarians from the exodus from their homeland east of the kingdom of Kiev in the "Land of the Scythians " to the coronation of Stephen I. In his gesta there are interesting facts to be read about the lifestyle of the settling Hungarians, but in many places the historical description is not authentic, rather fabulous. These include, for example, invented names and descriptions of fairytale events. The development that took place in the 11th century up to the conquest of the Pannonian Basin is instead presented in the political geography of the 13th century, underpinning the current territorial claims of the Hungarian kings.
The original of the Gesta Hungarorum has not survived; a copy from the 13th century is kept in the National Széchényi Library.
Simon Kezai's work
The "Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum" (German "Deeds of the Huns and the Hungarians") was written by Simon Kézai around 1280, also in Latin. The work deals with the then assumed relationship between the Huns and Hungarians as well as the legends of the early medieval Hungarians, such as the story of the miracle deer or the turul ( quae Hungarice turul dicitur , as Kézai writes). For example, Kézai considers the Szeklers to be descendants of the Huns. The original has not been preserved here either.
Text output
- László Veszprémy, Gabriel Silagi: The “Gesta Hungarorum” of the anonymous notary. The oldest representation of Hungarian history . Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1991, ISBN 3-7995-2910-1 .
- László Veszprémy, Frank Schaer (ed.): Simonis de Kéza Gesta Hungarorum. Simon of Kéza: The Deeds of the Hungarians. Central European University Press, Budapest / New York 1999, ISBN 963-9116-31-9 (critical edition with English translation; online at Google Books )
literature
- György Györffy: Anonymous. Rejtély avagy történeti forrás? Válogatott tanul-mányok Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó 1988, ISBN 978-9630548687 (= riddle or historical source? Selected studies )
- Gábor Thoroczkay: Az Anonymus-Kérdés kutatástörténeti áttekintése (1977-1993) , In: Fons - Forráskutatás és történeti segédtudományok, Vol. 1, Budapest 1994, pages 93-149 (= On the research history of the anonymous question : 1977 /-1993 ) /epa.oszk.hu/03300/03304/00002/pdf/EPA03304_fons_1994_02_093-149.pdf
Web links
- Ladislaus Juhász (ed.): GESTA HVNGARORVM by P. MAGISTER (in Latin)
- Gesta Hungarorum by Anonymous (in Hungarian)
- Gesta Hungarorum, translation by Martyn Rady (with introduction )
- Gesta Hungarorum by Simon Kézai (in Hungarian)
Individual evidence
- ↑ The historian György Györffy in his studies goes so far as to deny this source any authenticity with regard to the previous tradition. Even the traditional, archaic-looking personal names are contemporary new formations of geographical names. See: der .: Anonymous. Rejtély avagy történeti forrás? Válogatott tanul-mányok . Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó 1988