The Seven Heroes of Hungary

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Well i visited the famous square in Budapest once and was very impressed. Those guys really looked fearsome, a bit like AD&D miniatures in 1:1 size with their plate mails, 2-hand swords and spike clubs.

Any good book/site in English about them?

Marcus

 

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Originally posted by marcusjm
Well i visited the famous square in Budapest once and was very impressed. Those guys really looked fearsome, a bit like AD&D miniatures in 1:1 size with their plate mails, 2-hand swords and spike clubs.

Any good book/site in English about them?

Marcus

Well, to tell the truth they were just the same folk like the vikings. They ate people and slew all. (just kidding). Unfortunately I cannot help you now but I will keep looking for one. And for sure they did not hev plate mails, at least such because they mostly used bows, sabres and brilliant tactics (at least for a while). It is just a product of 1896 far away from reality. They are supposed to have been the leaders of the seven tribes of Hungarians around 895 when they occupied the area sorrounded by the Carpathians.

 

[Keynes]

895: so those would have been the much feared pre-Christian Magyar raiders I suppose. Kind of out of place in modern Budapest I would think.

 

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Originally posted by Keynes
895: so those would have been the much feared pre-Christian Magyar raiders I suppose. Kind of out of place in modern Budapest I would think.

Uh, why?

 

[Keynes]

Cause its a peaceful modern Christian country.

Reminds me of the huge statue of Wladyslaw Jagiello (with two giant swords pointing in the sky) in NYC. Very impressive but seems a bit out of place in Central Park.

 

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U.S. has been fighting quite a few wars recently

 

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Well actually the big sculptures weren't the "leaders of the seven tribes of Hungarians around 895". Here is the list of these "hungarian heroes", Kings and leaders:

I. István,
I. László,
Könyves Kálmán,
II. András,
IV. Béla,
Róbert Károly,
I. Lajos,
Hunyadi János,
Mátyás király,
Bocskai István,
Bethlen Gábor,
Thököly Imre,
II. Rákóczi Ferenc,
Kossuth Lajos.

Kalpeti

 

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Originally posted by Keynes
Cause its a peaceful modern Christian country.

Reminds me of the huge statue of Wladyslaw Jagiello (with two giant swords pointing in the sky) in NYC. Very impressive but seems a bit out of place in Central Park.

Well, no reason to forget about country founders, really. Or those who were it greatest leaders (like Jagiello)-btw, these two swords are because of some legend (fact, rather) about battle of Grunwald(1410).

 

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Soll ich euch erst der Drangsal Kunde sagen,
die Deutsches Land so oft aus Osten traf?
In fernster Mark hieBt Weib und Kind ihr beten:
"herr Gott, bhewahr uns vor der Ungarn Wut"

- Lohengrin
(God save us from the wrath of the Hungarians)

 

[Keynes]

Originally posted by Maur13

Well, no reason to forget about country founders, really. Or those who were it greatest leaders (like Jagiello)-btw, these two swords are because of some legend (fact, rather) about battle of Grunwald(1410).

Yeah - the statue commerates the victory at Grunwald as I recall.

Nothing against Jagiello or his famous victory but he wasn't exactly a great leader of New York City (or even New York State). Then again, there's also a giant Egyptian needle about 200 yards away, so I guess its kind of an expression of NYC multiculturalism.

 

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Originally posted by Keynes


Yeah - the statue commerates the victory at Grunwald as I recall.

Nothing against Jagiello or his famous victory but he wasn't exactly a great leader of New York City (or even New York State). Then again, there's also a giant Egyptian needle about 200 yards away, so I guess its kind of an expression of NYC multiculturalism.

Yeah, and there is also Statue of George Washington in Warszawa.

 

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As half Finn I of course take great interest in early Magyar history and want to know more about it. Thanks for finally answering, i thought this was forgotten .

As for out of place. I see nothing wrong with paying heritage to the pre-Christian times. Finland also has alot of Kalevala monuments (as in Finnish mythology). Sweden has it's Viking heritage . The monument itself is fantastic and made me awed by it. It was like entering a Fantasy novel .

Back to the heroes. What battles are most notable and when did they happen?

Btw Budapest is a fantastic city and so are the girls . (sidenote)

Marcus

 

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Originally posted by laelius
Soll ich euch erst der Drangsal Kunde sagen,
die Deutsches Land so oft aus Osten traf?
In fernster Mark hieBt Weib und Kind ihr beten:
"herr Gott, bhewahr uns vor der Ungarn Wut"

- Lohengrin
(God save us from the wrath of the Hungarians)

Isn't there a similar pharse about "Beware of the wrath of the Northmen". Poor Germans threatened from all directions .

Marcus

 

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I'm not an expert of our history but I looked up some english speaking site related to hungarian history:

http://www.invitation.hu/damascus/history_of_hungary.htm

http://www.gm.hu/Ippark/english/xmagyar/mo_m/hist_uj.html

http://zetor.sch.bme.hu/info/hunhist.html

 

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wow, thanks. This will take some time to plough through but it's certainly what I asked for.

Marcus

 

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Originally posted by marcusjm
wow, thanks. This will take some time to plough through but it's certainly what I asked for.

Marcus

You are welcome!

 

[Folt-leabhar]

Originally posted by Kalpeti
Well actually the big sculptures weren't the "leaders of the seven tribes of Hungarians around 895". Here is the list of these "hungarian heroes", Kings and leaders:

I. István,
I. László,
Könyves Kálmán,
II. András,
IV. Béla,
Róbert Károly,
I. Lajos,
Hunyadi János,
Mátyás király,
Bocskai István,
Bethlen Gábor,
Thököly Imre,
II. Rákóczi Ferenc,
Kossuth Lajos.

Kalpeti

was it Janos Hunyadi who had a nickname Skandebeg or was it someone else. If it was Hunyadi, why such a name?

 

[Dark Knight]

Originally posted by Folt-leabhar
was it Janos Hunyadi who had a nickname Skandebeg or was it someone else.

Scanderbeg was the nickname of George Castriotes, who controlled Albania.

 

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George Kastriota, Skanderbeg (1405-1468)

George Kastriota, the fourth son of a minor Albanian chieftain, was taken as a slave/hostage by the Ottoman Turks at the age of 10. Renamed Iskander (Turkish for Alexander), forcibly converted to Islam and raised as a Janissary, he fought in the Turkish wars for two decades, rising to the rank of bey.

He returned to his homeland in 1443 as an agent of the Turks, but succeeded in uniting the Albanian tribes in a revolt that lasted until his death 25 years later. During this time, the Albanians were the only force in Europe able to defeat the Turks consistently. Using guerilla tactics in the rugged mountain country, Kastriota repulsed no fewer than 25 major invasions while never commanding more than 10-15,000 men against Turkish armies 10 times that size.

Kastriota's Turkish name and rank, Iskander Bey, was corrupted by the Albanians to "Skanderbeg," by which name he is considered the Albanian national hero.

 

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More on Skanderbeg:

Classic Victory - Defense of Kruje - (1450) - A huge Turkish army under the personal leadership of Sultan Murad II besieged Kastriota's capital city of Kruje. Kastriota left a small contingent to defend the mountain stronghold while his main force made constant attacks on the fringe of the Turkish army. Unable to capture the city and suffering terrible losses, Murad was forced to withdraw.

Classic Defeat - Siege of Berat - (1457) Betrayed by a subordinate and relative, Kastriota found himself trapped by a large Ottoman force between him and his base. He succeeded in breaking out of the trap and dispersing his men into the mountains. Later, his reassembled army would drive the Turks out of Albania.

Plus Skandebeg is the only military leader for Albania in EU2 (5/5/5/0) - so he is mighty .