The Ungrians

The Ugrians lived to the east of the Ural Mountains, in what is today the Khanty-Mansi/Yugra (Ostiaks), Tyumen (Voguls), and Chelyabinsk (Ungrians) regions of the Urals Federal District of Russia. Although modern ethnologists and linguists believe the cultural-linguistic horizon of the Ugrians originally extended southeastwards into Kazakhstan, these southern Ugrians seem to have been absorbed by the Huns by the beginning of the period covered by this gallery. Those that remained in the Urals region were, like the Eastern Finns, heavily influenced by the Turkic peoples, as well as by the Samoyedic Nenets, who lived to the north and east of the Ugrians along Russia's arctic coast. One of the sub-groups of the Ugrians—the Ungrians/Magyars—experienced one of the most fascinating cultural transformations of the Dark Ages (ca. 600-830 CE) and embarked on a rather amazing journey (ca. 830-1000 CE) that saw these people transition from a collection of sedentary agro-pastoralists living in the forest-steppe transition zone of what is today Chelyabinsk to a fully nomadic horse-herding steppe federation (probably after assimilating remnant groups of Huns) that migrated across the Pontic-Caspian Steppe into what is today southern Poland, western Romania, and Hungary, where they assimilated with several Slavic peoples and founded the Kingdom of Hungary (1000-1946). The other known Ugrian groups—the Ostiaks and Voguls—had a reputation for ferocity, and remained independent until the sixteenth century (ca. 1533-1598 CE) despite repeated attempts to conquer them by the Volga Bulgars, the Mongols, and the Russians. The Grand Principality of Moscow ultimately organized a massive campaign to explore/colonize east of the Urals after they toppled the Golden Horde, and this marked the end of the independence of the Ugrians.

 

The Ungrians/Magyars/Early Hungarians

The Magyars were a Finno-Ugric people from the southern Urals region, probably descended from the Ungri tribe. Between the fourth and fifth centuries CE, the Ungri migrated from the southern Ural Mountains into the middle Volga region where they were heavily influenced by nearby steppe nomads (Huns, Alans, Bulgars). From then until about 830 CE these proto-Magyars were dominated by a series of Turkic empires (Avars, Göktürks, Khazars), and evolved a quasi-Turkic nomadic culture. In particular, they seem to have established close ties with the Hunno-Bulgar tribes of Onoghuria (see my Bulgar gallery and notes), and the fates of both peoples remained closely linked during their subsequent perigrinations. When the Avars conquered Onoghuria in 558 CE, the Magyars joined the Bulgars in moving westward with the Avar horde to attack the Byzantine Empire. When the Avar siege of Constantinople failed (ca. 626 CE), the Bulgars and Magyars revolted (631 CE) and the Bulgars established a kingdom on the Pontic steppe (Old Great Bulgaria) with the Magyars joining them as vassals. However, this kingdom was short-lived, destroyed by another westward-migrating Turkic people, the Khazars, in 638 CE. While some Bulgars, including the royal clans, migrated west to escape Khazar domination, others accepted the Khazars as their new overlords and remained on the Pontic steppe. The Magyars held out longer, not falling under Khazar domination until 650 CE. Perhaps in order to prevent them joining forces with the Magyars again, many of the remaining Bulgar tribes were forcibly resettled by the Khazars to the northeastern border of their khaganate, along the Volga and Kama rivers (ironically, the area where the Ungri/proto-Magyars had originated). These Bulgars became the nucleus around which the Volga Bulgarian state would form. The Magyars remained under Khazar suzerainty until 830 CE, when they revolted and the seven tribes of the Magyars (Jenő, Kér, Keszi, Kürt-Gyarmat, Megyer, Nyék, and Tarján) migrated west into the Carpathian Basin under the leadership of the gyula Árpád (895-907 CE) and the kende Kurszán (d. 904 CE) of the Megyer tribe (this seems to have been the dominant tribe of the coalition, and the coalition thook its name from them)—the Magyars had an interesting dual system of leadership with a sacred ruler called a kende (also spelled kündü) and a warlord called a gyula (also spelled yula, gula, or gila) acting as colleagues. They were joined in their migration by several Turkic tribes that had joined in the revolt against the Khazar khagan. Confusingly, three of these tribes are often referred to as Kavars or Kabars, the similarity to "Khazars" making many historians believe they may have been renegade Khazars. The other group, known as the Szekely, has equally obscure origins, either being renegade Khazars or remnant Avars. Once in the Carpathian Basin, the Magyars reestablished contact with their old allies, the Bulgars, who had since carved out the First Bulgarian Empire. The Bulgarians, however, were not entirely thrilled by the arrival of their old allies seeking land, and resisted their settling in the Carpathian Basin. Following the Battle of the Southern Buh River (896 CE), the Magyars were forced to continue their westward migration, passing into the Pannonian Plain west of the Carpathian Mountains. There they found wide grasslands perfect for their herds (horses and cattle), and a territory only thinly populated by Slavic tribes (mainly Croats and Serbs). This new Magyar homeland became known as Magyarország ("Land of the Magyars"), and the Magyars began a process of assimilation with their Slavic and Turkic vassals that would result in the ethnogenesis of the Hungarian peoples ("Hungary" is probably derived from "Ungri"). The Magyars discovered, as had many steppe-based invaders of Europe before them (and some after), that the Pannonian Plain was an ideal base-of-operations for raiding further into Europe. This they did, from 899 - 955 CE, hitting the Croats, Moravians, and Franks until an alliance between Otto I, King of East Francia (Germany), and Conrad "the Red," Duke of Lotharingia, crushed the Magyars at the Battle of the Lechfeld (10 August 955 CE). Thereafter, the Magyars continued to raid their Balkan neighbors (Croats, Serbs, Bulgars, and Vlachs) and to consolidate their hold on Pannonia. In 1001 CE the gyula István converted to Christianity and was coronated as Stephen I, King of Hungary (1001-1038 CE). The Pannonian Plain has been known as the Hungarian Plain ever since, and the Kingdom of Hungary would grow into one of the largest and most powerful kingdoms of Medieval Christendom.