Sarolt
Sarolt | |
---|---|
Grand Princess of the Hungarians | |
House of Arpad | |
Father | Gyula of Transylvania |
Religion | Eastern Christianity |
Sarolt (c. 950 – c. 1008) was the wife of Géza, Grand Prince of the Hungarians.
She was born a daughter of Zombor (or Gyula II), gyula of Transylvania, second in rank among the leaders of the Hungarian tribal federation.[2]
Sarolt exerted a powerful influence on her husband which allowed her to also influence his government.
Sarolt and her husband received baptism late in life. They raised their son as a Christian and changed his name from Vajk to
Ancestry and early life
Sarolt was the daughter of a gyula who reportedly converted to Byzantine Christianity in Constantinople after 950,[citation needed] and who then established the first Christian mission in Hungary. It is likely that his family and household, including his daughter Sarolt was baptised in the Byzantine rite, too.[citation needed]
It is unsure whether Sarolt's father was named Gyula or Zombor, but he was the gyula of Transylvania and as such, the second-highest-ranking leader in the
According to the Gesta Hungarorum, Sarolt had a sister named Karold and a brother. This brother can be identified as Gyula III.
Sarolt was born around 950 (based on the birth years of her children). Her name is of Turkic origins (Šar-oldu) and means white stoat.[6] She was married to Géza around 970, which was likely also the start of his rule as Grand Prince of the Hungarians. Géza was a great-grandson of Árpád, who led the Hungarian tribes during the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin.
Marriage and children
Married to Géza, Grand Prince of the Hungarians (c. 945 – 997)
- Bolesław I of Poland
- Margaret (? – after 988), wife of the future Tsar Gavril Radomir of Bulgaria
- King Stephen I of Hungary (967/969/975 – 15 August 1038)
- Grimelda (? – after 1026), wife of Otto Orseolo, Doge of Venice
- Sarolt? (? – ?), wife of the future King Samuel Aba of Hungary
Sources
- Kristó Gyula - Makk Ferenc: Az Árpád-ház uralkodói (IPC Könyvek, 1996)
- Korai Magyar Történeti Lexikon (9-14. század), főszerkesztő: Kristó Gyula, szerkesztők: Engel Pál és Makk Ferenc (Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1994)
References
- ^ Hankó Ildikó: Királyaink tömegsírban
- ISBN 9780756649241.
- ^ "In these days, he [Saint Adalbert] sent [a letter] to the High Prince of the Magyars, or rather to his wife who had been holding the whole country in her power with a hand of a man, and who had been governing everything owned by her husband" (Bruno of Querfurt: Sancti Adalberti Pragensis episcopi et martyris vita altera).
- ^ "Christian faith made its start under her direction, but the sullied religion mingled with paganism, and this idle and faint Christianity was turning worse than barbarism" (Bruno of Querfurt: Sancti Adalberti Pragensis episcopi et martyris vita altera).
- ISBN 0-7876-4074-3.
- ^ Béla Kálmán, The world of names: a study in Hungarian onomatology, Akadémiai Kiadó, 1978, p. 41