The Szekelys were there long before the Xth Century.
The eponymous shepherds, Vlachs, now "Rumanians," showed up in Transylvania
for the first time in the 1200s, trying to escape the Tartars. There was no
written or other record prior to that time. There was no town or village or
church or geographical feature of Wallachian/Vlach origin prior to that
time.
Transylvania was part of Hungary until the signing of the Trianon Treaty in
1920.
When Árpád arrived in 896 AD, other Hungarians were already in the region;
Hungarians were not new to the area. The Székelys were one such group. There
is evidence that for the Hungarians, this was the second or third time for
settling in the area. About 250-750,000 Hungarians arrived with their vast
herds of cattle, for they were not nomads. The king of Kiev sent some 5,000
wood cutters to clear a path for their arrival.
In 1961, an archeologist, N. Vlassa found the Tatarlakai Medallion in
Transylvania (Erdély). Results of C-14 radio-carbon testing, carried out by
the then-Soviet scientific community, found the medallion to be authentic,
the clay material to be from the area of the find and its age to be
approximately 6500 years old. Accordingly, this means that the medallion
pre-dates the Sumerian writing found in the Mesopotamian city of Uruk by one
thousand years.
Árpád and the Hungarians were monotheistic and worshipped the one God, had a
written language, were skilled in medicine and surgery. Much of Europe
worshipped some form of nature (sounds like "deja vu all over again").
Their men and women wore fitted clothes: trousers, shirts, dresses. Fur was
decorative, not primary.
In warfare, they had developed a composite bow with a range of more than
three times that of the English long bow and Blitzkrieg tactics to employ
superior weapons and discipline. (The technology of composites, of course,
is a new technology. Or is it? These bows were made of several different
materials, their manufacture as much of an art as even today.)
The borders were to remain essentially unchanged until Trianon, for Hungary
was not an expansionist power.
1001
Hungary's King (later, Saint) Stephen, asks for and accepts a crown and
apostolic cross from Pope Sylvester II-not the Emperor. This distinction is
important, for he thus maintains a two-fold independence of Hungary: she
owed allegiance neither to the Roman Church nor the Holy Roman Emperor.
Foreign priests brought in to "Christianize," destroy most of the writings,
forbid any healing as the work of the Devil.
With this decision, the eastern border of what would become "Western Europe"
is established, the balance of power shifted to the Holy Roman Empire.
1222
The signing of the Constitution of 1222, called "The Golden Bull," went
beyond the Magna Carta in many of its provisions and gave king and nation
equal rights.
Hungary becomes a magnet for persecuted minorities, including nomadic
shepherds, the eponymous Vlachs (now Rumanians), and those seeking safety
from Tartar and Turk. (Those few Rumanians who were literate, used the
Cyrillic alphabet until the very late 1800s. Today, to "prove" their
non-existent kinship to the ancient Romans, words of Latin/French origin are
substituted in texts for those in the Rumanian language. One of the first
books in the Rumanian language was the Bible, commissioned by one of the
Hungarian regents of Transylvania.)
1241
The Golden Horde seeks safe passage through Hungary in exchange for a
division of Europe. Hungary refuses and is devastated at the Battle of
Mohipuszta.
The Horde goes no farther west, and Europe is spared.
1456
Hungary decisively defeats the Turks at Nándorfehérvár (today's Belgrade),
stops their seemingly-inexorable march west. Pope Calixtus III decrees that
forever after church bells are to ring at noon to commemorate the victory.
A few years later, Pope Calixtus IV calls Hungary, "Christianity's Shield."
I've just tumbled upon this writing while I was doing a bit of research on the ‘Tatarlakai Medallion’. I’ve been trying to find out about its present whereabouts specifically. I’m not sure if it is still in Germany though…I have found this writing about the Hungarians really good here and was wondering who posted it. I’d like to read more please!
