Taksony of Hungary

This is a good article. Click here for more information.
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the 10th-century Hungarian ruler. For information about the town in Hungary, see Taksony.

Taksony
Illuminated Chronicle
Grand Prince of the Hungarians
Reignc. 955 – early 970s
PredecessorFajsz
SuccessorGéza
Bornc. 931
Diedearly 970s
IssueGéza
Michael
DynastyÁrpád dynasty
FatherZoltán
MotherMenumorut's unnamed daughter (debated)
ReligionHungarian paganism

Taksony (

Pecheneg
groups settled in Hungary under Taksony.

Early life

Taksony was the son of Zoltán, according to the Gesta Hungarorum (written around 1200).[2] The same source adds that Taksony's mother was an unnamed daughter of Menumorut, a local ruler defeated by the conquering Hungarians[3] shortly before 907.[4] Its unknown author also says that Taksony was born "in the year of Our Lord's incarnation 931".[5][6] The Gesta Hungarorum reports that Zoltán abdicated in favor of Taksony in 947,[7] three years before his own death.[8]

However, modern historians have challenged existing information on Taksony's early life. A nearly-contemporaneous source—

Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus wrote around 950 that Fajsz, Taksony's cousin, was grand prince of the Hungarians at that time.[11]

In that time Taxis, king of the Hungarians came to Italy with a large army.

Liudprand of Cremona: Retribution[12]

Reign

A later source,

Otto I routed an 8,000-strong Hungarian army.[13] If this report is reliable, Taksony was one of the few Hungarian leaders to survive the battlefield.[3] Modern historians, including Zoltán Kordé[3] and Gyula Kristó,[6] suggest that Fajsz abdicated in favor of Taksony around that time. After that battle the Hungarians' plundering raids in Western Europe stopped, and they were forced to retreat from the lands between the Enns and Traisen rivers.[14] However, the Hungarians continued their incursions into the Byzantine Empire until the 970s.[15][14]

According to the Gesta Hungarorum, "a great host of Muslims" arrived in Hungary "from the land of Bular"[16][17] under Taksony.[18] The contemporaneous Ibrahim ibn Yaqub also recorded the presence of Muslim merchants from Hungary in Prague in 965.[19][20] Anonymus also writes of the arrival of Pechenegs during Taksony's reign; he granted them "a land to dwell in the region of Kemej as far as the Tisza".[16][21] The only sign of a Hungarian connection with Western Europe under Taksony is a report by Liudprand of Cremona.[19] He writes about Zacheus, whom Pope John XII consecrated bishop and "sent to the Hungarians in order to preach that they should attack"[22] the Germans in 963.[19][23] However, there is no evidence that Zacheus ever arrived in Hungary.[19] Taksony arranged the marriage of his elder son Géza to Sarolt, daughter of Gyula of Transylvania,[19] before his death during the early 970s.[19]

Family

Taksony's marriage to a woman "from the land of the

Pecheneg or Volga Bulgarian—origin of Taksony's wife.[3][6] Historian György Györffy proposes that a Pecheneg chieftain, Tonuzoba, who received estates from Taksony near the river Tisza, was related to Taksony's wife.[24] The names of two of Taksony's sons (Géza and Michael) have been preserved.[25] The following family tree presents Taksony's ancestry and his offspring.[26]

ÁrpádMenumorut*
Zoltándaughter
Gyula of TransylvaniaTaksonya "Cuman" lady**
SaroltGézaMichael
Kings of Hungary
(till 1046)
a lady of
the Tátony clan		VazulLadislas the BaldPremislava***
Kings of Hungary

(from 1046)		Bonuzlo or Domoslav

*Whether Menumorut is an actual or an invented person is debated by modern scholars.
**A Khazar, Pecheneg or Volga Bulgarian woman
***Kristó writes that she may have been a member of the

Rurik dynasty from Kievan Rus'
.

References

  1. ISBN 9780521364478
    – via Google Books.
  2. ^ Kristó & Makk 1996, pp. 22, 24.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Kordé 1994, p. 659.
  4. ^ Madgearu 2005, p. 26.
  5. ^ Anonymus, Notary of King Béla: The Deeds of the Hungarians (ch. 55), p. 121.
  6. ^ a b c d e Kristó & Makk 1996, p. 24.
  7. ^ Engel 2001, p. 19.
  8. ^ Tóth 1994, p. 741.
  9. ^ Györffy 2002, pp. 212, 220.
  10. ^ Kristó & Makk 1996, p. 21.
  11. ^ Kristó & Makk 1996, pp. 22–23.
  12. ^ Liudprand of Cremona: Retribution (ch. 5.33), p. 194.
  13. ^ Spinei 2003, p. 81.
  14. ^ a b Spinei 2003, p. 82.
  15. ^ Engel 2001, p. 15.
  16. ^ a b c Anonymus, Notary of King Béla: The Deeds of the Hungarians (ch. 57), p. 127.
  17. ^ Györffy 2002, pp. 180, 291.
  18. ^ Berend 2006, p. 65.
  19. ^ a b c d e f Kristó & Makk 1996, p. 25.
  20. ^ Berend 2006, pp. 65–66.
  21. ^ Spinei 2003, p. 126.
  22. ^ Liudprand of Cremona: King Otto (ch. 6.), p. 224.
  23. ^ Berend, Laszlovszky & Szakács 2007, p. 329.
  24. ^ Györffy 1994, p. 36.
  25. ^ Kristó & Makk 1996, p. Appendix 1.
  26. ^ Kristó & Makk 1996, p. Appendices 1–2.

Sources

Primary sources

Secondary sources

Taksony of Hungary
House of Árpád
Born: before or around 931 Died: early 970s
Regnal titles
Preceded by Grand Prince of the Hungarians
c. 955 – early 970s 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Taksony_of_Hungary&oldid=1277538517"