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The Seven chieftains of the Magyars (or Hungarians) were the leaders of the seven tribes of the Hungarians at the time of their arrival in the Carpathian Basin in AD 895. Constantine VII, emperor of the Byzantine Empire names the seven tribes in his De Administrando Imperio , a list that can be verified with names of Hungarian settlements. The names of the chieftains, however, are not precisely known, as the chronicles include contradictory lists, some of which have been found to be false.
Constantine VII does not give the names of the chieftains of the Hungarian tribes, but describes some aspects of the leadership.
A Hungarian chronicler known as Anonymus, author of Gesta Hungarorum , names the seven chieftains as:
Most probably all persons on this list were real and significant personalities, but the list, as that of the seven chieftains who started the conquest of the Carpathian Basin, is certainly false. [1] Constantine VII names Tas as a grandson of Árpád. The relations of the early Hungarian leaders are subject of debate between historians.
Hungarian chronicler Simon of Kéza names seven captains who led seven tribes in the Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum :
This list, having more legendary elements, is even less credible than that of Anonymus: only Árpád and Szabolcs match the time of the conquest.
Hungarian chronicler Mark of Kalt names seven captains who led seven tribes in the Chronicon Pictum :
And this Captain Árpád had a special dignity in Scythia, it was the custom of his clan, according to the Scythian law and tradition, that he went alone before those who went to war and those who retreated, saying, therefore he was the first to enter this land before the other captains going to Pannonia.
Hungarian chronicler Johannes Thuróczy names seven captains who led seven tribes in the Chronica Hungarorum :
The seven Hungarian leaders depicted in Nádasdy Mausoleum:
In Budapest, Hungary, the Heroes' Square, better known as Hősök tere, has a representation of the different chieftains at the base of the column. At the base of the column is a group of seven mounted figures representing the Magyar chieftains who led the Hungarian people into the Carpathian basin. In the front is Árpád, considered the founder of the Hungarian nation. Behind him are the chieftains Előd, Ond, Kond, Tas, Huba, and Töhötöm (Tétény). Little survives in the historical record about these individuals and both their costumes and their horses are considered to be more fanciful than historically accurate.
Árpád was the head of the confederation of the Magyar tribes at the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries. He might have been either the sacred ruler or kende of the Hungarians, or their military leader or gyula, although most details of his life are debated by historians, because different sources contain contradictory information. Despite this, many Hungarians refer to him as the "founder of our country", and Árpád's preeminent role in the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin has been emphasized by some later chronicles. The dynasty descending from Árpád ruled the Kingdom of Hungary until 1301.
The Turul is a mythological bird of prey, mostly depicted as a falcon, in Hungarian tradition and Turkic tradition, and a national symbol of Hungarians.
Gesta Hungarorum, or The Deeds of the Hungarians, is the earliest book about Hungarian history which has survived for posterity. Its genre is not chronicle, but gesta, meaning "deeds" or "acts", which is a medieval entertaining literature. It was written in Latin by an unidentified author who has traditionally been called Anonymus in scholarly works. According to most historians, the work was completed between around 1200 and 1230. The Gesta exists in a sole manuscript from the second part of the 13th century, which was for centuries held in Vienna. It is part of the collection of Széchényi National Library in Budapest.
Gyula was, according to Muslim and Byzantine sources, the title of one of the leaders, the second in rank, of the Hungarian tribal federation in the 9th–10th centuries. In the earliest Hungarian sources, the title name is only recorded as a personal name.
Lehel, a member of the Árpád dynasty, was a Magyar chieftain and, together with Bulcsú, one of the most important figures of the Hungarian invasions of Europe. After the Magyar defeat at the Battle of Lechfeld, he was executed in Regensburg.
The Chronicon Pictum or Illuminated Chronicle is a medieval illustrated chronicle from the Kingdom of Hungary from the 14th century. It represents the great international artistic style of the royal courts in the court of King Louis I of Hungary. The codex is a unique source of art, medieval and cultural history.
Emese was the daughter of Duke Eunedubelianus of Dentumoger, the consort of the noblest Scythian prince Ügyek, and the mother of High Prince Álmos in Hungarian historical mythology; thus, she was the ancestress of the Hungarian royal house of Árpád, the dynasty which founded the Hungarian Kingdom. Due to a lack of reliable source material, it is difficult to separate the legends concerning Emese from her actual role as an historical person.
Hősök tere, lit. Heroes' Square, is one of the major squares in Budapest, Hungary, noted for its iconic Millennium Monument with statues featuring the Seven chieftains of the Magyars and other important Hungarian national leaders, as well as the Memorial Stone of Heroes, often erroneously referred as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The square lies at the outbound end of Andrássy Avenue next to City Park (Városliget). It hosts the Museum of Fine Arts and the Palace of Art (Műcsarnok). The square has played an important part in contemporary Hungarian history and has been a host to many political events, such as the reburial of Imre Nagy in 1989. Most sculptures were made by sculptor György Zala from Lendava, with one made by György Vastagh.
In Hungarian mythology, Prince Csaba was the youngest son of Attila, King of the Huns. A fierce and skilled warrior, he led the Huns to victory in all the battles they encountered over the ages. He is the legendary leader of the Székelys.
The Magyar or Hungarian tribes or Hungarian clans were the fundamental political units within whose framework the Hungarians (Magyars) lived, before the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin and the subsequent established the Principality of Hungary.
Ügyek, also known as Ugek or Ugec, was – according to the chronicler Anonymus – the father of Álmos, the first Grand Prince of the Hungarians. However, according to a conflicting source, Simon of Kéza, Előd was the father of Álmos, while the chronicler referred to Ügyek as Álmos' grandfather. He is the earliest known ancestor of the Árpád dynasty. He was said to be a Scythian, i.e. to be from Dentumoger, the homeland of the Magyars, which the chroniclers identify with Scythia, and use to refer both to the land and its inhabitants.
Sarolt was the wife of Géza, Grand Prince of the Hungarians.
Gyula III, also Iula or Gyula the Younger, Geula or Gyla, was an early medieval ruler in Transylvania. Around 1003, he and his family were attacked, dispossessed and captured by King Stephen I of Hungary (1000/1001-1038). The name "Gyula" was also a title, the second highest rank in Hungarian tribal confederation.
Előd was – according to the chronicler Anonymus, author of the Gesta Hungarorum – one of the seven chieftains of the Magyars (Hungarians), who led them to the Carpathian Basin in 895.
Magyar vándor is a 2004 Hungarian action comedy film directed by Gábor Herendi and starring Károly Gesztesi, János Gyuriska and Gyula Bodrogi.
Honfoglalás is a 1996 Hungarian film about the Magyar settlement in Hungary in approximately AD 896.
The blood oath was, according to tradition, a pact among the leaders of the seven Hungarian tribes, traditionally held to be the first, unwritten constitution of the Hungarian nation. Its story, along with the terms agreed upon in it, is mostly known from the somewhat unreliable Gesta Hungarorum, a chronicle written between 1196–1203 and is thus possibly influenced by 12th century laws and customs. The oath was sealed by the seven leaders – Álmos, Előd, Ond, Kond, Tas, Huba and Töhötöm – by cutting their arms and letting their blood into a chalice. Becoming blood brothers is likely to have been used traditionally to seal exceptionally strong oaths, and there must have been several similar oaths, but the phrase "blood oath" usually refers to the one by the seven leaders.
Álmos, also Almos or Almus, was—according to the uniform account of Hungarian chronicles—the first head of the "loose federation" of the Hungarian tribes from around 850. Whether he was the sacred ruler (kende) of the Hungarians, or their military leader (gyula) is subject to scholarly debate. According to Constantine Porphyrogenitus, he accepted the Khazar khagan's suzerainty in the first decade of his reign, but the Hungarians acted independently of the Khazars from around 860. The 14th-century Illuminated Chronicle narrates that he was murdered in Transylvania at the beginning of the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin around 895.