On the Possible Iranian Origin of the Muslim Population in Medieval Hungary (original) (raw)
The paper gives an overview about the five historical stages of the Hungarian history featured by significant Muslim influence. Ethnic background, social status and geographical distribution are the main points are dealt in the study. In the mediavel period the Muslims were Asiatic origin people joined the Hungarian tribes and became strong mainstay of the royal power as financial experts and soldiers. In the Ottoman era (1541-1699) islamised Southern Slavic and Vlach people from the Balkans migrated to the middle third, occupied part of the Hungarian Kingdom. They gave military service and played a fundamental role in the administration of the state. After 1878 occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy Bosniaks and Turks migrated to the country. The legal status of the Muslim community was settled in 1916. During the First World War and the uprising against the Austrians in the western border areas of Hungary (now Burgenland) the Muslims earned serious legitimacy and laid the cornerstones of a favourable relationship with Hungarian centre-right, revisionist, and also far-right political groups. When the communists took power after the Second World War, they terminated Muslim community activities, and many Turks and Bosnians left the country. In the very last hours of the Communist era, students from Arabic countries and Hungarian Muslims began to establish religious organisations. Muslims settled in Hungary from farther areas of the Islamic world, including especially Arabic countries, and also Turkey, Central and Southern Asia. Geographical distribution has changed a lot since the beginning. During the Middle Ages their communities settled in the royal estates in different places countrywide. The Ottomans lived in the fortified settlements mainly in the hilly or montanous areas. In the modern period the Muslims are concentrated in the capital city and a few regional centres.
Eastern Muslim Groups among Hungarians in the Middle Ages / Erdal Çoban - Bilig 63. Sayı – Güz 2012
The role of Islam in Hungarian history dates back before the Ottoman reign. The first written records about the 9 th and 10 th century Hungarians belong to Muslim writers who brought these up on the scene of history with their own ethnic names. In the light of Garnati and other sources, we can designate that there were two Khwarezmian ethnic groups, respectively the Turkified Chwalisians and the As people among Hungarians and these groups joined Hungarians before the Magyar conquest (896) of Hungary. Out of these groups, which were called Ishmaelite or böszörmény by Hungarian sources, especially the Chwalisians later continued to migrate to Hungary together with various Turkic tribes during the medieval period. The Chwalisians undertook significant posts in administrative and financial fields while, at the same time, they became a part of Hungarian army like the As people.
Remarks on the Presence of Iranian Peoples in Europe and Their Asiatic Relations
2000
Remarks on the Presence of Iranian Peoples in Europe and Their Asiatic Relations, in: J. Pstrusińska/A. T. Fear (eds.), Collectanea Celto-Asiatica Cracoviensia, Kraków 2000, 101-140. The scope of the problems involving the history of steppe Iranian¬speaking peoples in Europe is large and continues to grow as new information becomes available. For this reason this paper is limited to the most important aspects. The very significant role that the Scythians, Sauromatians, and various so-called “Sarmatian” tribes (including the Royal Sarmatians, Iazygs, Aorsi, and Alans) played in the history of Southeastern Europe has commonly been recognized. This is, however, not the case with their role in the history of Cen¬tral and Western Europe. In the 1st millenium B.C. and in the first centuries A.D., the native populations of Southeastern and Central Europe were faced with the expansion and movement of the Central Asian peoples pressing westwards. Some indig¬enous tribes retreated, setting in motion other peoples, others mingled with the newcomers, giving rise to new hybrid cultures. The contribution of Iranian peoples to the cultures of ancient Europe is discernible in many aspects, including Germanic religion, Celtic folk-poetry, and early Slavic civilization. The in¬flux of Iranian steppe peoples in Europe was linked with tribal movements in Central Asia. This was a consistent pattern, for we have evidence of several great migrations in the 1st millenium B.C. and the 1st millenium A.D. Already Herodotus (4.13), living in the 5th century B.C., had observed such processes: “Except the Hyperboreans, all these nations (and first the Arimaspians) ever make war upon their neighbours; the Issedones were pushed from their lands by the Arimaspians, and the Scythians by the Issedones, and the Cimmerians, dwell¬ing by the southern sea, were hard pressed by the Scythians and left their country” Most Iranian tribes entering Europe took possession of the last outpost of the Eurasian steppe in Central Europe: the Hungarian plain. Here, they underwent a number of changes and were transformed, both ethnically (as they mingled with the indigenous substratum) and economically (denomadicization). The interaction of these Iranian groups with the local populations of Europe was largely ignored by our written sources. However, archaeology points to considerable cultural interchange. The movements of many steppe tribes to¬ward Europe introduced new ethnic elements of Asiatic origin into this large area. Iranian groupings of the pre-Scythian period, the Scythians, the Sauromatians, various Sarmatian tribes, the Roxolani, the Aorsi, and the Alans contributed to the development of culture not only in the Ponto-Caspian steppes, but also in other areas as they were driven into many countries at different points in time. The history of Southeastern and Central Europe in the ancient period can be properly understood only within the context of the relations between the sedentary tribes and the Eurasian steppe nomads. Such a relationship is clearly visible in the medieval history of Rus, the Hungarians, the Bulgars, as well as in that of Poland.