Gesta Hungarorum
Also known as: The Deeds of the Hungarians, Anonymus’s Gesta, Anonymi Bele Regis Notarii Gesta Hungarorum
A Latin prose chronicle recounting the origins, migration, and conquest narratives of the Hungarians, centering on Álmos, Árpád, and allied chieftains as they enter and seize the Carpathian Basin. It blends genealogy, toponymic explanations, and conquest stories to legitimize dynastic and noble lineages.
Description
Composed by the Anonymous Notary of a King Béla, the Gesta Hungarorum is the earliest extant Hungarian chronicle. In a prologue and 57 chapters it presents an origo gentis and a sequence of campaigns under Álmos and Árpád, interweaving place-name etymologies, land grants, and genealogies of the Árpád dynasty and contemporary kindreds. Its narrative depicts the departure from Scythia (Dentumoger), the ‘blood oath’ among the leaders, and successive conflicts with local rulers in the Carpathian Basin, notably Gelou, Menumorut, Salan, and Glad. Though influential, the work is often viewed as a ‘toponymic romance’, projecting later realities onto the ninth–tenth centuries and crafting etiologies for names and claims. It remains foundational for medieval Hungarian historiography and identity, while requiring careful, critical use.
Historiography
The text survives in a single late-thirteenth-century manuscript of 24 folios; it was first noted at Schloss Ambras, moved to Vienna in 1665, and to Budapest in 1928, with the text first printed in 1746 and critically edited in SRH (1937). Modern scholarship highlights its heavy toponymic etiology and anachronisms, though portions align with external sources (e.g., Constantine VII, Regino, Annals of St Gall). Its readings have carried political weight, especially concerning Transylvania and frontier ethnography.
Date Notes
Authorship attributed to the Anonymous Notary of a King Béla (commonly Béla III). Survives in a late-13th-century copy; original lost.
Symbols
Major Characters
- Almos
- Arpad
- Tuhutum
- Menumorut
- Gelou
Myths
- The Scythian Ancestry of the Hungarians
- The Conquest of the Carpathian Basin
- Álmos and Árpád as Founders
Facts
- Oldest extant Hungarian chronicle; composed in Medieval Latin.
- Authored by an anonymous notary identifying himself as “P. dictus magister,” servant of a King Béla.
- Narrative covers the Hungarian entry into and conquest of the Carpathian Basin.
- Structured as a prologue plus 57 short chapters.
- Survives in a single late-thirteenth-century manuscript of 24 folios.
- Text first printed in 1746; key scholarly editions appeared in 1900 and in SRH (1937).
- Emphasizes toponymic etymologies and land-grant notices linked to noble genealogies.
- Contains legendary elements (e.g., Emese’s dream, blood oath) alongside historical names.
- Reliability is debated; some episodes lack corroboration in external sources.
- Influenced later Hungarian chronicles, including Simon of Kéza’s Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum.