The Avars and Magyars: The History of the Medieval Ethnic Groups that Settled in Hungary

During the period after the collapse of the Roman Empire and the establishment of medieval Europe, which was once commonly referred to as the Dark Ages, many different tribes migrated across Europe, feeding on what was left of Rome and attempting to establish new kingdoms in the vacuum. Most of these tribes were Germanic in ethnicity and language and shared the same goals of either entering Roman territory to become Roman citizens or tearing down Rome completely. These tribes caused havoc on the edge of Roman territory in Europe, and Rome's cultural and political power gradually transferred to Constantinople, which became the seat of the Byzantine Empire.



The Germanic tribes eventually coalesced into kingdoms and laid the foundation for the Middle Ages in Western Europe, while the Byzantine Empire carried on many Roman traditions and extended its influence into Eastern Europe. The road to the Middle Ages, though, was uneven and often quite violent. Many peoples and kingdoms collapsed at the hands of groups in their earliest stages of development, one of which was the Avars.



The Avars entered Eastern Europe from the Central Asian steppes in the 6th century, and like the Huns before them and the Cumans and Magyars after them, the Avars were raiders and warriors who lived on their horses. The Avars' impact on Europe was immediately felt, and from the Byzantine Empire to the Merovingian Kingdom in Gaul, some of Europe's strongest powers had to learn how to deal with these new people through a combination of diplomacy and warfare. Eventually, the Avars established themselves in what is today Hungary and played an important role in the development of European history during its transitional period by earning a reputation as a fearsome and sometimes avaricious group. The medieval sources described the Avars as efficient and brutal horseback warriors who could devastate entire kingdoms in a matter of days and leave just as quickly, usually with the region's women and treasures. The chroniclers, who were usually members of the Church, related how brutal the Avars were and the apparent supernatural powers they had.



Of all the steppe peoples in the medieval period, perhaps none were more important to European history than the Magyars. Like the Huns and Avars before them and the Cumans and Mongols after them, the Magyars burst into Europe as a destructive, unstoppable horde, taking whatever they wanted and leaving a steady stream of misery in their wake. They used much of the same tactics as the other steppe peoples and lived a similar, nomadic lifestyle. The Magyars also had many early cultural affinities with other steppe peoples, following a similar religion and ideas of kingship and nobility, among other things.



That said, as similar as the Magyars may have been to other steppe nomads before and after them, they were noticeably different in one way: the Magyars settled down and became a part of Europe and Western Civilization in the Middle Ages. The Magyars exploded onto the European cultural scene in the late 9th century as foreign marauders, but they made alliances with many important kingdoms in less than a century and established their own dynasty in the area, roughly equivalent to the modern nation-state of Hungary. After establishing themselves as a legitimate dynasty among their European peers, the Magyars formed a sort of cultural bridge between the Roman Catholic kingdoms of Western Europe and the Orthodox Christian kingdoms of Eastern Europe. Ultimately, the Magyars chose the Roman Catholic Church, thereby becoming a part of the West and tying their fate to it for the remainder of the Middle Ages.