Idea uherské státnosti a Slované ve středověkých uherských kronikářských textech
The idea of Hungarian statehood and Slavs in medieval Hungarian chronicler texts

Summary/Abstract: The birth of the Hungarian state was not only related to the Hungarian invasion of Central Europe and the destruction of Great Moravia, but also to the intensive cooperation between the Hungarians and the Slavs. The Slavs passed on knowledge to the Hungarians about agriculture, crafts and settled life in general, they provided them with Christianity and also knowledge of the functioning of state structures. The Slavic aristocracy actively participated in the establishment of the Kingdom of Hungary. Nevertheless, this Slavic contribution to the formation of medieval Hungarian society is not reflected in Hungarian medieval chronicles. In these texts, which have been preserved from the period between the beginning of the 13th and the end of the 15th century, the role of the Slavs in the establishment of the Hungarian state is hardly mentioned. The chronicles rely on the old Hungarian historical tradition, connect the old Hungarians with the Huns, claim that the Arpad family had an inherited claim to Pannonia, describe a ritual treaty that took the Hungarians to the land of previous rulers, and describe victorious battles with local Slavs and its legendary rulers. In these chronicles, the Slavs appear only as a controlled and submissive ethnic group, which plays only a passive role in the establishment of the Hungarian state. Medieval chronicles thus laid the foundation for the so-called theory of subjugation, with which modern Hungarian nationalism operated from the 18th century. The only exception to these texts is the so-called Hungarian-Polish chronicle, which originated at the court of the Arpad prince and viceroy of Croatia Koloman in the 13th century. This chronicle describes the connection between the Slavic and Hungarian elements in the very beginning of the Hungarian state and the Christianization that originated from the Slavs to the Hungarians.

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