Knowledge about the Magyars (Hungarians) before the conquest of the conquest of the Carpathian Basin stems from Muslim sources. New book considers these sources from a philological and historiographical concerns, this raises
Muslim Sources on the Magyars in the Second Half of the 9th Century
By István Zimonyi, University of Szeged
Series: East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450, Vol 35
Brill 2016 (Available now, October 2015)
ISBN13: 9789004214378
E-ISBN: 9789004306110
The Jayhānī tradition contains the most detailed description of the Magyars/Hungarians before the conquest of the Carpathian Basin (895). Unfortunately, the book itself was lost and it can only be reconstructed from late Arabic, Persian and Turkic copies. The reconstruction is primarily based on the texts of al-Marwazī, Ibn Rusta and Gardīzī. The original text has shorter and longer versions. The basic text was reformed at least twice and later copyists added further emendation.
This study focuses on the philological comments and historical interpretation of the Magyar chapter, integrating the results in the fields of medieval Islamic studies, the medieval history of Eurasian steppe, and the historiography of early Hungarian history.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
István Zimonyi, Ph.D. (1990), University of Szeged, is Professor of Medieval Studies at that university. He has published monographs, and articles on the medieval Eurasian steppe, including Orientalische Berichte über die Völker Osteuropa und Zentralasiens im Mittelalter (with H. Göckenjan. Harrassowitz, 2001).
FEATURED PHOTO:
The cover of the book shows a photo of medieval Magyar Sabretaches from Jósa András Múzeum. This is one of the most “characteristic finds from graves of the Conquest period. They were strengthened with metal plates, generally of silver. At the side of each bag, a strap was threaded through, and both this strap and that which attached the bag to the belt were decorated with mountings. The sabretache, which fulfilled the function of a pocket, would have held fire-making tools” (from: Hungarian and Europe in the Early Middle Ages – An Introduction to Early Hungarian History by András Róna-Tas. Central European University Press 1999). Source: Wikipedia.