Which kind of tradition was used by the Hungarians to form their historical identity?

Abstract

The territory of present-day Hungary played an important role for the Rus’ chroniclers as the original land of the Slavs. The so-called Story of the Book Translation (called so by Alexander Shakhmatov) described the fates of the Slavic inhabitants of the Danubian region, which were suppressed by the Valachians and Hungarians. There is a question if the Hungarian medieval chroniclers noted the Slavic-Hungarian contacts in the time of the Conquest of the Land? My article is devoted to this topic. After the presentation of the chronicles (Gesta Hungarorum by an anonymous notary of king Béla III, Gesta by Simon of Kéza and many late medieval chronicles known as the Chronicle composition of the 14th century) I describe the information about the relationship of the Hungarian conquerors with the local inhabitants. They are basing mainly on oppression. The Slavs, Czechs, Bulgarians and Valachians fought against the Hungarians and were cruelly defeated, but they asked also their protection from the fear. Guile and deception was one of the method of the conquest. There was also the peaceful way of connection of the land to the own Hungarian territory – it was the dynastical marriage. The names of the local heroes opposing to the Hungarians as Zuatapolug or Menumorout (Ménmarót = Great Moravian) show that they were connected to Great Moravia. I think that the Great Moravian oral tradition about the state and the Moravian-Hungarian relationship preserved in Hungarian Kingdom. It was transmitted by minstrels. Their stories were bricks which constructed the Hungarian identity stories noted in the chronicles.