The early history of the Magyar tribes

Finno-Urgrian people, the Magyars migrated southward from central Russia to the steppes of the Urals where they were engaged as nomadic herders. By the beginning of the fifth century AD the Magyars were on the move again, settling in the lands between the lower Volga and Don Rivers to the Caucasus Mountains, as tributaries of the turkic Khazars. Their kin, the Huns-Avars, had already moved westward and settled beyond the Carpathian Mountains.

The Muslim victory at Al Laks (739-740 AD) caused great unrest in the Khazar empire and dislocated several tribes from the region of the Caucasus Mountains. Population growth in the region also increasingly exascerbated pressures among the nomadic tribes. Gradually, the Khazars hold on the steppes weakened. Surrounded by hostile horse tribes, some Magyars filtered northward to Baskiria at the foot of the Ural Mountains, where they were later overrun by the Mongols. The Khagan or chieftains of the seven Magyar tribes (Nyék, Megyer, Kürt-Gyarmat, Tarján, Jeno, Kér and Keszi) held an assembly to decide their collective future and elected Árpad (Europe/Árpád), as their Gyula or warleader to lead them to new lands over the Carpathian Mountains. Árpád was the son of the Khagan Álmos (who traced his lineage to Attila the Hun). The alliance was sealed by solemn vows sworn over a cup of mingled blood.

Unhappy at the faithlessness of their subjects, the Khazars and their allies, the Pechenegs harried the Magyars' journey westward. By 884 AD, the Magyars had occupied the city of Kiev. From here they continued, joined by three disaffected Turki or Ugrian tribes (the "Kabars") in a new federation of ten tribes referred to as the "Onorgur" or "Ten Arrows" (this is purportedly the linquisitic root of "Hungary"). They moved into the northern lands of the Bulgars between the Dneper and lower Danube rivers. Here they settled down for a time to scout the region and make alliances with the Greeks in Byzantium. They occupied the cities of Ladomir and Halich, built a fortified camp at Munkács and began cutting roads into the Carpathian highlands. During this period, the elder Khagan Álmos died during the Magyar seige of Ungvár. Another tradition holds that Álmos was killed after the crossing of the Carpathians in a ritual sacrifice so that his spirit would strengthen his son Árpád.

In 892-894, Magyar mercenaries fought in the service of King Arnulf of East Frankia against the King of Moravia, and got their first good look at the lands over the Carpathian Mountains in the Pannonian Basin between the Danube and Tisza rivers. In 894 AD, Emperor Leo VI sought the aid of the Magyars against the Bulgars, who were threatening Byzantine territories in northern Greece. Árpád sent two armies under his son Levente and the Khagan Tash who burned the Bulgar capitol and ravaged their lands. Their quick success frightened Leo, who switched sides, offering his support to the Bulgars and recruiting the Pechenegs to their aid. Their combined forces defeated the united Magyar armies in a battle in which Levente was killed and all parties suffered heavy losses. Although freed for a time from pressure by the Bulgars, the weakened Magyars found themselves exposed once again to retaliatory raids by the now similarly displaced Pechenegs.

In 895 AD, the Magyars, estimated at 200,000 strong, began to cross over the northern-eastern Carpathian passes in mass, following Árpád's army. They settled on the Hungarian plain near the Tisza river, absorbing the thinly settled Avars and Székely (who also spoke the Hungarian language). Over the next five years, they struck southward into the Pannonian Basin, enslaving the Slavs and laying claim to what would become the future Hungarian empire. Árpád's armies defeated a united Greek and Bulgar army under the Bulgar Salan on the plains of Alpar. Thereafter Khagan Tuhutum (Töhötöm) defeated the Bulgar armies at Kolozsvar, securing Transylvania (Erdély) and the key salt mines of Torda. The Khagan Huba then occupied the northern part of the Karpathian basin (today's Slovakia). By summer 900 AD, the Magyar occupation was all but complete. In 902 AD, a great parliment was held at Pusztaszer to fix tribal boundaries, renew the laws, and organize the statehood.

In 898 AD, King Berengar (Europe/Italy) of Lombardy sent an army against Arnulf of East Frankia. As allies of Arnuff, the Magyars invaded northern Italy and won a decisive victory over Berengar's forces in the summer of 899 AD. Arnuff died later that year, and Árpád took advantage by sending a Magyar force to occupy Transdanubia and the eastern region of Moravian. Árpád then sent emissaries to the new Frankish emperor Louis the Child to confirm this new frontier. Louis rebuffed him and then sought an alliance with the Moravians against the Magyars. The Magyar ruler responded by sending two armies on preemptive slashing raids into Bavaria, seizing the Ostmark up to the Enns river in 901 AD. Thereafter, the Magyars sought to consolidate their gains and used diplomacy to build alliances as a buffer against the Imperialists.

In 904 AD, the Magyars concluded a peace treaty with Berengar of Lombardy. With Magyar expansion, Greater Moravia had ceased to exist by 906 AD. In 907 AD, the Magyars inflicted two heavy defeats on the Bavarians, destroying their army at Bratislava and laying Germany open to Magyar raids.

When Árpád died in 907, he was succeeded by his younger son Zolta (Zsolt) as Kende, who reigned until 947 AD. The Magyars crushed Louis the Child's Imperial Army near Augsburg in 910 AD. In 913 AD, they thwarted the Carolingians again by supporting the successful rebellion of Duke Arnulf of Bavaria. The German King Henry the Fowler, however, embarrassed a Magyar army at Merseburg. They responded to this setback by raiding south against the Bulgars and the Eastern Roman Empire, reaching the walls of Constantinope and as far south as Attica. The Byzantine Throne was forced to pay an embarrassing tribute to the Magyars for 25 years.

During the reign of Zolta and his son Taksony, Bulcsu the horka emerged as a great military leader (gyula) among the Magyars. While Otto the Great (Europe/Saxon) was preoccupied with suppressing revolts among his German princes, Bulcsu lead the Magyar army on a massive raid through Germany and France to the borders of Spain and then across the Appenines into Italy, where they traveled past the Eternal City of Rome as far south as Benevento, shaking Europe to its core. By 947 AD, when Taksony assumed the throne from his father Zolta, the Magyars were indisputably the strongest power in Europe.

In 954 AD, Duke Ludolf of Swabia rebelled against his father Otto I. Count Conrad of Lotharingia took Ludolf's side, and sent a request for assistance to the Magyars. St. Ulrich reconciled Ludolf and Conrad with Otto, but the Magyars used the invitation as a pretense to launch a heavy raid into southern Germany culminating in the seige of Augsburg. When Otto's relieving army approached, the Magyars broke off and laid a trap for the Imperialists between the Rivers Lech and Schmutter. Otto marched his army by division straight into the Magyar infantry blocking force while Magyar cavalry in ambush flanked his column and fell on his baggage, becoming distracted by the loot. Despite the initial confusion, Otto recaptured his baggage and then sent four legions of Bavarian and Frankish knights in an impetuous charge that overran the Magyar battleline. The Magyar nobility including the Gyula Bulcsu, the Khagan Lehel and other important Magyar leaders fought on foot vainly attempting to stem the tide, but were overwhelmed and taken captive. Rather than ransoming them as was the custom, Otto had them hanged at Regensburg. This was a major defeat for the Magyars, which put an end to their westward military adventures.