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.
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.
The Turul is probably based on a large falcon. The Hungarian language word turul meant one kind of falcon and the origin of the word is currently thought to be most likely Turkic (Clauson 1972: 472. [1] ) ( Róna-Tas et al. 2011:2: 954-56) [2] ), which is the language of origin of over 10% of words in modern Hungarian lexicon and the exonym "Hungarian" and the word "Hun". [lower-alpha 1] Toġrïl or toğrul means a medium to large bird of prey of the family Accipitridae, goshawk or red kite. [10] In Hungarian the word sólyom means falcon, and there are three ancient words describing different kinds of falcons: kerecsen [Greek κερχνηίς] (saker falcon), zongor [Turkish sungur = gyrfalcon] (which survives in the male name Csongor) and turul.
In the legend of Emese, recorded in the Gesta Hungarorum and the Chronicon Pictum , the turul is mentioned as occurring in a dream of Emese, when she was already pregnant. [11] In older literature, this was interpreted as "impregnation", but the text is clear. [12] The Turul's role is one of a protector spirit, that protects the infant Álmos, from harm. This is a very similar motif to the role of the Simurgh in the Iranian epic Shahnameh. In a second dream by the leader of the Hungarian tribes, in which eagles (the emblem of the Pechenegs, enemies of the Hungarians[ citation needed ]) attacked their horses and the Turul came and saved them. The image of the Turul and its role is similar to that of the Norse Vedfolnir, which like it perched on the tree of life. [13] [lower-alpha 2] The Huns reportedly also used the image of the eagle, which for them symbolized the leader. [14] The image of a bird of prey was extremely popular in Saka-Scythian culture. [15] More broadly, this image was common among the nomads of Central Asia. [15] Rather than belonging to a specific ethnic group, it was widespread across the steppe, and the union of a falcon and a woman is "firmly located in a shamanic religio-mythical universe." [13] A prominent example among similar legends is that of the Mongols, contained in The Secret History of the Mongols , where Genghis Khan's mother-in-law dreams that an eagle holding the sun and the moon in its claws lands on her hand, in anticipation of the birth of the Mongolian royal dynasty. [13] In some parts of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhs and Kyrgyz carry falcons inside the yurt during childbirth, because their eyes are said to stave off demons that attack pregnant women during childbirth. [13] Macdonald calls it a "practical use" of the falcons' association with fertility. [13]
A pair of silver disk with Turul motive was found in Rakamaz, Hungary from a 10th century Hungarian cemetery. The most beautiful ornament of noble Hungarian women was a pair of decorative disks hanging from the end of the hair braid.
In Hungarian tradition, it originated as the clan symbol used in the 9th and 10th centuries by the ruling Árpád dynasty. [16] The Árpád dynasty was the ruling dynasty of the Principality of Hungary in the 9th and 10th centuries and of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1000 to 1301. The Árpád dynasty is also referred to as the Turul dynasty. [17] [18] [19] [20]
The Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum mentioned that the Árpád dynasty descended from the gens (clan) Turul, [17] [21] [22] and the Gesta Hungarorum recorded that the Árpád's totemic ancestor was the Turul. [23]
And among the captains, Árpád the son of Álmos, son of Előd, son of Ügyek, from the Turul clan, was richer in wealth and more powerful in war.
Duke Géza from the Turul clan was the one who, as they say, was the first among the Hungarians who got a summon from heaven in order to receive the Christian faith and baptism.
In the legend of Emese, recorded in the Gesta Hungarorum and the Chronicon Pictum , the Turul is mentioned as occurring in a dream of Emese, when she was already pregnant. [11]
In the 819th year of Our Lord's incarnation, Ügyek, who, as we said above, being of the family of King Magog became a long time later the most noble prince of Scythia, took to wife in Dentumoger the daughter of Duke Eunedubelian, called Emese, from whom he sired a son, who was named Álmos. But he is called Álmos from a divine event, because when she was pregnant a divine vision appeared to his mother in a dream in the form of a falcon that, as if coming to her, impregnated her and made known to her that from her womb a torrent would come forth and from her loins glorious kings be generated, but that they would not increase in their land. Because, therefore, a dream is called "álom" in the Hungarian language and his birth was predicted in a dream, so he was called Álmos. Or he is thus called Álmos, that is holy, because holy kings and dukes were born of his line.
Ügyek's son Előd, fathered a son by the daughter of Eunodubilia in Scythian land, whose name was Álmos, because a bird in the shape of a falcon appeared in his mother's dream when she was pregnant, a rushing stream sprang from her womb, it grew, but not in its own land, and from this it was prophesied that glorious kings would come from her loins. Because dream is "álom" in our language, and the birth of that boy was prophesied by a dream, that's why he was called Álmos.
According to the Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum , King Attila had the Turul bird on his shield and it was the military badge of the Hungarians until the time of Prince Géza.
King Attila's coat of arms, which he used on his own shield, depicted a bird with a crown, which is called "Turul" in Hungarian. This coat of arms was carried by the Hungarians in the wars of the communities as long as the communities governed themselves, until the time of Prince Géza, the son of Taksony.
King Attila himself was feared by his own subjects because of his innate strictness and gloomy look, but he behaved with a noble spirit towards the peoples subject to him. As a military insignia, a crowned falcon was painted on both his shield and his flag. This military badge was worn by the Huns, namely the Hungarians, until the time of the son of Prince Taksony, Prince Géza. His title was like this: Attila son of Bendegúz, grandson of the great Nimrod who was raised in Engaddi, by the grace of God, King of the Huns, Medes, Goths and Danes, the Fear of the World, the Scourge of God.
The first heraldic representations of Transylvania date from the 16th century. The Diet of 1659 codified the representation of the Union of the Three Nations in Transylvania's coat of arms. It depicted a black eagle, a Turul on a blue background, representing the Hungarians, the Sun and the Moon representing the Székelys, and seven red towers on a yellow background representing the seven fortified cities of the Transylvanian Saxons. [31] The flag and coat of arms of Transylvania were granted by Queen Maria Theresa in 1765, when she established a Grand Principality within the Habsburg monarchy.
The Turul is used as in the design of coats of arms of the Hungarian Defence Forces, the Counter Terrorism Centre and the Office of National Security. [32] [33] [34] The central element of the emblem of the Hungarian Defence Forces is the Turul bird with extended wings holding the sword of King Saint Stephen in its claws. [32]
There were 3 large Turul statues, each with a wingspan of 15 metres, in Kingdom of Hungary (before the country had its borders reconfigured by the Treaty of Trianon). The last of the three stands on a mountain near Tatabánya, Hungary, but the other two were destroyed. It is the largest bird statue in Europe, and the largest bronze statue in Central Europe. [35] There remain at least 195 Turul statues in Hungary, as well as 48 in Romania (32 in Transylvania and 16 in Partium), 8 in Slovakia, 7 in Serbia, 5 in Ukraine, 1 in Austria and 1 in Croatia. One of the most recently erected, as of 29 September 2012 [update] , on St Michael the Archangel's Day, is in Hungary's Ópusztaszer National Heritage Park. [36]
Some of the Kingdom of Hungary postage stamps issued after 1900 feature the Turul.
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 Székelys, also referred to as Szeklers, are a Hungarian subgroup living mostly in the Székely Land in Romania. In addition to their native villages in Suceava County in Bukovina, a significant population descending from the Székelys of Bukovina currently lives in Tolna and Baranya counties in Hungary and certain districts of Vojvodina, Serbia.
The Árpád dynasty consisted of the members of the royal House of Árpád, also known as Árpáds. They were the ruling dynasty of the Principality of Hungary in the 9th and 10th centuries and of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1000 to 1301. The dynasty was named after the Hungarian Grand Prince Árpád who was the head of the Hungarian tribal federation during the conquest of the Carpathian Basin, c. 895. Previously, it was referred to as the Turul dynasty or kindred.
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.
The coat of arms of Hungary was adopted on 11 July 1990, after the end of communist rule. The arms have been used before, both with and without the Holy Crown of Hungary, sometimes as part of a larger, more complex coat of arms, and its elements date back to the Middle Ages.
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.
The Chronicon Pictum or Illuminated Chronicle is a medieval illustrated chronicle from the Kingdom of Hungary from the 14th century. It represents the artistic style of the royal court of King Louis I of Hungary. The codex is a unique source of art, medieval and cultural history.
The Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum is a medieval chronicle written mainly by Simon of Kéza around 1282–1285. It is one of the sources of early Hungarian history. It is also known as the Gesta Hungarorum (II), the "(II)" indicating its status as an expansion of the original Gesta Hungarorum.
Chronica Hungarorum, also known as the Thuróczy Chronicle, is the title of a 15th-century Latin-language Hungarian chronicle written by Johannes de Thurocz by compiling several earlier works in 1488. It served as the primary source for the history of medieval Hungary for centuries.
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.
Hunor and Magor were, according to Hungarian legend, the ancestors of the Huns and the Magyars. The legend was first promoted in Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum. The legend's aim in providing a common ancestry for the Huns and the Magyars was to suggest historical continuum of the Kingdom of Hungary with the Hun Empire. Magyars led by prince Árpád had conquered the area in the 890s. The territory had previously been held by Attila the Hun in the 5th century. The legend thus tried to prove that the Magyars were simply reclaiming their ancient homeland as descendants of Attila. According to Simon of Kéza, Hunor and Magor were the sons of Nimrod, a mythical giant, who he partly identified with Nimrod of the Bible.
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.
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's 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.
Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are a Central European nation and an ethnic group native to Hungary and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Uralic language family, alongside, most notably, Finnish and Estonian.
Aba is a noble kindred (genus) of the Kingdom of Hungary which according to the Gesta Hungarorum derives from Pata who was a nephew to Ed and Edemen and the ancestor of Samuel Aba. Some modern scholars have proposed that the family's ancestors may have been among the tribal leaders of the Kabars. The Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum connects the family to Attila the Hun.
Csaba was Attila's legitimate son by the daughter of the Greek emperor Honorius. Csaba in turn had two sons, Edemen and Ed. Edemen entered Pannonia with his father's and mother's great entourage when the Hungarians came back for the second time, whereas Ed remained in Scythia with his father. Csaba is the ancestor of the clan of Aba.
The Seven chieftains of the Magyars 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.
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.
Osl was the name of a gens with Hungarian origin in the Kingdom of Hungary, based in today's Győr-Moson-Sopron County and in the Banate of Severin. The village of Osli was named after that clan. Also the Oslea mountain in the former Banate of Severin.
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.
The majority of the Hungarian tribe names were of Turkic origin and signified, in many cases, a certain rank.
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