Vazul
Vazul | |
---|---|
Duke of Nyitra (debated) | |
Reign | before 1030 –1031 |
Predecessor | Ladislas the Bald (debated) |
Successor | Stephen (debated) |
Born | before 997 |
Died | 1031 or 1032 |
Spouse | unknown member of Tátony clan |
Issue | Andrew I of Hungary Béla I of Hungary Levente |
Dynasty | Árpád dynasty |
Father | Michael |
Vazul, or Vászoly,
Life
Vazul was a son
Györffy says that Vazul "apparently" held the "
Feeling his powers slipping away, [King Stephen] sent messengers in haste to have his uncle's son Vazul brought from prison in Nitra, in order to make him king of the Hungarians after himself. However, as soon as Queen Gisela got wind of this she hatched a plot with a group of traitors, and sent the ispán Sebus ahead of the messenger. Sebus had Vazul's eyes put out and molten lead poured into his ears; he then fled to Bohemia. When Vazul was at length brought back by the King's messenger, the King wept bitterly at his fate.
Family
Information on Vazul's family is contradictory. Later Hungarian chronicles tended to hide that the kings reigning after 1046 descended from a prince who was disinherited and sentenced by the holy first king of Hungary.[19] Accordingly, many of the chronicles write that Vazul's brother, Ladislas the Bald, was the Hungarian monarchs' forefather.[17] However, a report recorded in the Illuminated Chronicle has preserved the memory of Vazul's paternity of three sons named Andrew, Béla, and Levente.[19] Likewise the Illuminated Chronicle writes that Vazul's wife was a member of the Tátony clan, but his marriage lacked legitimacy.[6][19] His three sons were expelled from Hungary after Vazul's death in 1031 or 1032.[20]
It is said that these three brothers [Andrew, Béla and Levente] were the sons of Duke Vazul by some girl from the clan of Tatun and were not born of a true marriage-bed, and that through this conjunction they derived their
The Hungarian Illuminated Chronicle[21]
Györffy and Gerics claimed that the name Tatun, wife of Vazul, is the misspelling of Khatun, which was a royal title among people of Turkish origins from Manchuria to Bulgaria.[22][23] Its meaning was "the first wife of the khagan". According to Györffy, a girl from the kindred Tatun was the daughter of Tatun, the wife of Kean (mentioned in the Hungarian chronicles), i. e. the tsar of Bulgaria, whose family fled to Hungary when Basil II, Byzantine Emperor put an end to the existence of Bulgarian state (996-1004, 1014–1018). Gerics claimed that Vazul and Tatun were still pagan at the time of their marriage, and that is the reason that the Hungarian chronicles declared that Andrew, Béla, and Levente, the sons of Duke Vazul, were not born of a true marriage-bed. Gerics also claimed that Tatun might have participated in the riot of Koppány, and subsequently lost their noble status. For this reason the Hungarian chronicles declared that the sons of Vazul derived their nobility from their father, not their mother.[citation needed]
The following family tree presents Vazul's ancestry and his offspring.[24]
Árpád | Menumorut* | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Zoltán | daughter | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Taksony | a "Cuman" lady** | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Géza | Michael | a Bulgarian princess*** | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stephen I of Hungary | a lady of the Tátony clan | Vazul | Ladislas the Bald | Premislava**** | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Levente | Andrew I of Hungary | Anastasia of Kiev | Béla I of Hungary | Richeza of Poland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kings of Hungary (from 1074) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
*Whether Menumorut is an actual or an invented person is debated by modern scholars.
**A Khazar, Pecheneg or Volga Bulgarian lady.
***Györffy writes that she may have been a member of the
References
- ^ Sinor 1959, p. 41.
- ^ a b Steinhübel 2011, p. 21.
- ^ a b Kristó & Makk 1996, p. Appendix 1.
- ^ Györffy 1994, p. 72.
- ^ Györffy 1994, p. 85.
- ^ a b c Veszprémy 1994, p. 721.
- ^ Györffy 1994, p. 169.
- ^ a b The Hungarian Illuminated Chronicle (ch. 45.69), p. 107.
- ^ Györffy 2000, p. 377.
- ^ Steinhübel 2011, pp. 21–23.
- ^ Györffy 1994, pp. 107–108, 142.
- ^ a b Kristó 2001, p. 31.
- ^ Györffy 1994, pp. 168–169.
- ^ Engel 2001, p. 29.
- ^ Györffy 1994, p. 170.
- ^ Györffy 1994, pp. 169–170.
- ^ a b c Kristó 2001, p. 33.
- ^ Simon of Kéza: The Deeds of the Hungarians (ch. 2.44), pp. 105–107.
- ^ a b c Kristó & Makk 1996, p. 68.
- ^ Kristó & Makk 1996, p. 69.
- ^ The Hungarian Illuminated Chronicle: (ch. 60.87), p. 113.
- ^ Györffy, György (1966): Egy krónikahely magyarázatához - In: Történelmi Szemle vol. 9 (1966) p. 25-34
- ^ Gerics, József (1966): A Tátony nemzetségről. Adalékok egy krónikahely értelmezéséhez - In: Történelmi Szemle vol. 9 (1966) p. 1-24
- ^ Kristó & Makk 1996, p. Appendices 1-2.
Sources
Primary sources
- Simon of Kéza: The Deeds of the Hungarians (Edited and translated by László Veszprémy and Frank Schaer with a study by Jenő Szűcs) (1999). CEU Press. ISBN 963-9116-31-9.
- The Hungarian Illuminated Chronicle: Chronica de Gestis Hungarorum (Edited by Dezső Dercsényi) (1970). Corvina, Taplinger Publishing. ISBN 0-8008-4015-1.
Secondary sources
- Engel, Pál (2001). The Realm of St Stephen: A History of Medieval Hungary, 895–1526. I.B. Tauris Publishers. ISBN 1-86064-061-3.
- Györffy, György (1994). King Saint Stephen of Hungary. Atlantic Research and Publications. ISBN 0-88033-300-6.
- Györffy, György (2000). István király és műve [=King Stephen and his Work] (in Hungarian). Balassi Kiadó.
- Kordé, Zoltán (1994). "Taksony". In Kristó, Gyula; Engel, Pál; Makk, Ferenc (eds.). Korai magyar történeti lexikon (9-14. század) [=Encyclopedia of the Early Hungarian History (9th-14th centuries)] (in Hungarian). Akadémiai Kiadó. p. 659. ISBN 963-05-6722-9.
- Kristó, Gyula; Makk, Ferenc (1996). Az Árpád-ház uralkodói [=Rulers of the House of Árpád] (in Hungarian). I.P.C. Könyvek. ISBN 963-7930-97-3.
- Sinor, Denis (1959). A History of Hungary. A. Praeger.
- Steinhübel, Ján (2011). "The Duchy of Nitra". In ISBN 978-0-521-80253-6.
- Veszprémy, László (1994). "Vazul". In Kristó, Gyula; Engel, Pál; Makk, Ferenc (eds.). Korai magyar történeti lexikon (9-14. század) [=Encyclopedia of the Early Hungarian History (9th-14th centuries)] (in Hungarian). Akadémiai Kiadó. pp. 721–722. ISBN 963-05-6722-9.