The Grand Principality of Hungary or Duchy of Hungary (: "Hungarian Grand Principality",Hadtörténelmi közlemények, Volume 114, Hadtörténeti Intézet és Múzeum, 2001, p. 131 (Tourkia)) was the earliest documented Hungarian state in the Carpathian Basin, established around 895, following the 9th century Magyar invasion of the Carpathian Basin. The Hungarians took possession of the Carpathian Basin in a pre-planned manner, with a long move-in between 862–895.
The Hungarians, a semi-nomadic people, formed a tribal alliance led by Árpád (founder of the Árpád dynasty) who arrived from Etelköz, their earlier principality east of the Carpathians.Paul Lendvai, The Hungarians: a thousand years of victory in defeat, C. Hurst & Co., 2003, pp. 15–29, 533
During the period, the power of the Hungarian Grand Prince seemed to be decreasing irrespective of the success of the Hungarian military raids across Europe. The tribal territories, ruled by Hungarian warlords (chieftains), became semi-independent polities (e.g., the domains of Gyula the Younger in Transylvania). These territories were united again only under the rule of St. Stephen. The semi-nomadic Hungarian population adopted settled life. The chiefdom society changed to a state society. From the second half of the 10th century, Christianity started to spread. The principality was succeeded by the Christian Kingdom of Hungary with the coronation of St Stephen I at Esztergom on Christmas Day 1000 (its alternative date is 1 January 1001).Studies in medieval and renaissance history, Committee for Medieval Studies, University of British Columbia, 1980, p. 159Peter F. Sugar, Péter Hanák, A History of Hungary, Indiana University Press, 1994, pp. 12–17Pál Engel, Tamás Pálosfalvi, Andrew Ayton, The Realm of St. Stephen: A History of Medieval Hungary, 895–1526, .B.Tauris, 2005, p. 27
The period from 895 to 1000 is called "the age of principality" within Hungarian historiography.
Etymology
The ethnonym of the Hungarian tribal alliance is uncertain. According to one view, following the description in the 13th century chronicle, Gesta Hungarorum, the federation was called "Hetumoger / Seven Magyars" ("VII principales persone qui Hetumoger dicuntur", "seven princely persons who are called Seven Magyars"Gyula Decsy, A. J. Bodrogligeti, Ural-Altaische Jahrbücher, Volume 63, Otto Harrassowitz, 1991, p. 99), though the word "Magyar" possibly comes from the name of the most prominent Hungarian tribe, called Megyer. The tribal name "Megyer" became "Magyar" referring to the Hungarian people as a whole.György Balázs, Károly Szelényi, The Magyars: the birth of a European nation, Corvina, 1989, p. 8Alan W. Ertl, Toward an Understanding of Europe: A Political Economic Précis of Continental Integration, Universal-Publishers, 2008, p. 358 Written sources called Magyars as "Hungarians" prior to their invasion of the Carpathian Basin when they still lived on the steppes of Eastern Europe (in 837 "Ungri" mentioned by Georgius Monachus, in 862 "Ungri" by Annales Bertiniani, in 881 "Ungari" by the Annales ex Annalibus Iuvavensibus).
In contemporary Byzantine sources, written in Greek, the country was known as "Western Tourkia"Peter B. Golden, Nomads and their neighbours in the Russian steppe: Turks, Khazars and Qipchaqs, Ashgate/Variorum, 2003. "Tenth-century Byzantine sources, speaking in cultural more than ethnic terms, acknowledged a wide zone of diffusion by referring to the Khazar lands as 'Eastern Tourkia' and to Hungary as 'Western Tourkia.'" Carter Vaughn Findley, The Turks in the World History , Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 51, citing Peter B. Golden, 'Imperial Ideology and the Sources of Political Unity Amongst the Pre-Činggisid Nomads of Western Eurasia,' Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi 2 (1982), 37–76.Carter V. Findley, The Turks in world history, Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 51 in contrast to Eastern (Khazar) Tourkia. The Jewish Hasdai ibn Shaprut around 960 called the polity "the land of the Hungrin" (the land of the Hungarians) in a letter to Joseph of the Khazars.Raphael Patai, The Jews of Hungary: History, Culture, Psychology, Wayne State University Press, 1996, p. 29,
History
Background
On the eve of the arrival of the Hungarians (Magyars), around 895, East Francia, the First Bulgarian Empire and Great Moravia Cited: "Great Moravia was a vassal state of the Germanic Frankish Kingdom and paid an annual tribute to it." ruled the territory of the Carpathian Basin. The Hungarians had much knowledge about this region because they were frequently hired as mercenaries by the surrounding polities and had led their own campaigns in this area for decades.István Süli-Zakar, The Most Important Geopolitical and Histogeographical Questions of the Age of the Conquest and the Foundation of the Hungarian State, In: New Results of Cross-border Co-operation, The Department of Social Geography and Regional Development Planning of the University of Debrecen & Institute for Euroregional Studies "Jean Monnet" European Centre of Excellence, 2011, p. 12, This area had been sparsely populatedAlfried Wieczorek, Hans-Martin Hinz, Council of Europe. Art Exhibition, Europe's centre around AD 1000, Volume 1, Volume 1, Theiss, 2000, pp. 363-372Bryan Cartledge, Bryan Cartledge (Sir.), The will to survive: a history of Hungary, Timewell Press, 2006, p.6 since Charlemagne's destruction of the Avar state in 803, and the Magyars were able to move in peacefully and virtually unopposed during the 9th century. The first mention of them living in the region dates back to 862. The conquest proper started from 894, when armed conflicts opened with the Bulgarians and Moravians after the requests for help from Arnulf, Frankish king and Leo VI, Byzantine emperor. During the occupation, the Hungarians found sparse population and met no well-established states or effective control of any empire in the plain. They were able to take over the basin quickly, defeating the First Bulgarian Tsardom, disintegrating the Principality of Moravia, and firmly establishing their state there by 900. The invasion was not aimed at plundering the acquired lands as attacks were led by gyula Árpád and kende Kurszán, the two highest-ranking leaders, who left no mass graves behind them showing that the transition back to an Avar-like system was peaceful for the locals. Archaeological findings indicate that they settled in the lands near the Sava and Nyitra by this time.
Military achievements
The principality as a warrior state, with a new-found military might, conducted vigorous raids ranging widely from Constantinople to central Spain. Three major Frankish imperial armies were defeated decisively by the Hungarians between 907 and 910.Peter Heather, Empires and Barbarians: The Fall of Rome and the Birth of Europe, Pan Macmillan, 2012, p. 369, The Hungarians succeeded in extending the de jure Bavarian-Hungarian border to the River Enns (until 955),Clifford Rogers, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology, Volume 1, Oxford University Press, 2010, p. 292 after the Battle of Pressburg in 907, a western army did not attack Hungary for more than 100 years until 1030. The intermittent Hungarian campaigns lasted until 970, but two military defeats in 955 (Lechfeld) and 970 (Arcadiopolis) marked a shift in the evolution of the Hungarian principality.Oksana Buranbaeva Culture and Customs of Hungary
Transition The change from a ranked chiefdom society to a state society was one of the most important developments during this time.The New Hungarian quarterly, Volumes 31-32, Corvina Press, 1990, p. 140 Initially, the Magyars retained a semi-nomadic lifestyle, practising transhumance: they would migrate along a river between winter and summer pastures, finding water for their livestock.Lajos Gubcsi, Hungary in the Carpathian Basin, MoD Zrínyi Media Ltd, 2011 According to Györffy's theory derived from placenames, Árpád's winter quarters -clearly after his occupation of Pannonia in 900- were possibly in 'Árpádváros' (Árpád's town), now a district of Pécs, and his summer quarters -as confirmed by Anonymus- were on Csepel Island. Later, his new summer quarters were in Csallóköz according to this theory, however the exact location of the early center of the state is disputed. According to Gyula Kristó the center was located between the Danube and Tisza rivers, but the archaeological findings imply a location in the region of the Upper Tisza.
Constantine VII's , written around 950 AD, tries to define precisely the whole land of the Hungarians, or Tourkia.Günter Prinzing, Maciej Salamon, Byzanz und Ostmitteleuropa 950 - 1453: Beiträge einer table-ronde während des XIX. International Congress of Byzantine Studies, Copenhagen 1996, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 1999, pp. 27-33 Constantine described the previous inhabitants of Hungary (e.g., the Moravians), described early Hungarian settlements and neighbors, and located Hungarian rivers (Temes, Maros, Körös, Tisza, Tutisz). Constantine had much more knowledge about the eastern parts of Hungary; therefore, according to one theory, Tourkia did not mean the land of the whole federation, but a tribal settlement and the source of the description of Hungary could have been Gyula whose tribe populated the five rivers around 950. According to another hypothesis, mainly based on Constantine's description, the Hungarians started to really settle western Hungary (Transdanubia) only after 950, because the eastern part of the country was more suitable for a nomadic lifestyle.
Due to changed economic circumstances, insufficient pasturage to support a nomadic society and the impossibility of moving on,Nóra Berend, At the gate of Christendom: Jews, Muslims, and "pagans" in medieval Hungary, c. 1000-c. 1300, Cambridge University Press, 2001, p. 19 the semi-nomadic Hungarian lifestyle began to change and the Magyars adopted a settled life and turned to agriculture, though the start of this change can be dated to the 8th century.Antal Bartha, Hungarian society in the 9th and 10th centuries, Akadémiai Kiadó, 1975, pp- 53-84, The society became more homogeneous: the local Slavic and other populations merged with the Hungarians. The Hungarian tribal leaders and their clans established fortified centers in the country and later their castles became centers of the counties.Dora Wiebenson, József Sisa, Pál Lövei, The architecture of historic Hungary, MIT Press, 1998, p. 11, The whole system of Hungarian villages developed in the 10th century.
Fajsz and Taksony, the Grand Princes of the Hungarians, began to reform the power structure.László Kósa, István Soós, A companion to Hungarian studies, Akadémiai Kiadó, 1999, p. 113 They invited Christian missionaries for the first time and built forts. Taksony abolished the old center of the Hungarian principality (possibly at Upper Tisza) and sought new ones at Székesfehérvár and Esztergom. Taksony also reintroduced the old style military service, changed the weaponry of the army, and implemented large-scale organized resettlements of the Hungarian population.