In Search of a New Homeland

Fülszöveg

The origin and descent of the Hungarian people
is probably one of the most obscure chapters in
the history of all the European ethnic groups.
This nomadic race, described in various sources
as Onogurs, Turks and by still other names,
but calling themselves Magyars, crossed the
Carpathians from the east in A.D. 895 and
within a few years took possession of the entire
Carpathian Basin as far as the Alps. They were
not the first conquerors to arrive here from the
east, since the Huns and Avars had been here
before them; but they were the first to settle on
a permanent footing, and a century later they
created one of the region's strongest feudal
states. The newcomers from the east managed to
settle down amongst the European peoples in
a relatively short space of time.
Clearly this spectacular moment in history
could not have occurred without certain anteced-
ents. The problem is that there are scarcely
any written sources to tell us about the history
of the... Tovább

Fülszöveg

The origin and descent of the Hungarian people
is probably one of the most obscure chapters in
the history of all the European ethnic groups.
This nomadic race, described in various sources
as Onogurs, Turks and by still other names,
but calling themselves Magyars, crossed the
Carpathians from the east in A.D. 895 and
within a few years took possession of the entire
Carpathian Basin as far as the Alps. They were
not the first conquerors to arrive here from the
east, since the Huns and Avars had been here
before them; but they were the first to settle on
a permanent footing, and a century later they
created one of the region's strongest feudal
states. The newcomers from the east managed to
settle down amongst the European peoples in
a relatively short space of time.
Clearly this spectacular moment in history
could not have occurred without certain anteced-
ents. The problem is that there are scarcely
any written sources to tell us about the history
of the Hungarians before the Conquest. It is
the history of the Hungarian language, which
has preserved a great many relics from the
past, that is capable of shedding the most
light on the history of the Hungarians, shrouded
for so long in the mists of time. In recent decades
archaeology has made the most substantial con-
tribution towards the clarification of questions
which remain obscure. Archaeological finds, mute
witnesses to bygone eras, can be made to speak
only with the aid of associated branches of science
such as linguistics, ethnography and anthropol-
ogy. The intelligent use of such acomplex method
along with detailed analysis of the archaeological
material provides a means for tracing the history
of the Hungarians from the New Stone Age right
up to the Middle Ages and a period of abundant
written source material. This is the challenge
accepted by the author of this book, and it
breaks new ground in the specialist literature.
Of course the data are often missing and the
path of the proto-Hungarians is riddled with
puzzles and century-long gaps. Hence the author
is frequently obliged to rely on conjecture and
hypotheses which he is careful to justify scien-
tifically. Only further research will decide which
suppositions are to stand and which must be
replaced by new ones. Vissza