Árpád
Grand Prince of the Magyars
Statue of Árpád
Reign	c. 895 – c. 907
Predecessor	Álmos
Successor	Zoltán
Father	Álmos
Mother	Unknown
Born	c. 845
Died	c. 907

Árpád (c. 845 – c. 907), the second Grand Prince of the Magyars (c. 895 – c. 907). Under his rule the Magyar people settled in the Carpathian basin. The dynasty descending from him ruled the Magyar tribes and later the Kingdom of Hungary until 1301.

[edit] His life

Árpád was the son of Grand Prince Álmos (Grand Prince of the Magyars), leader of the Hungarian tribal federation; his mother's name and descent is unknown^[1].

The emergence of the Magyar tribes and their leaders ("Hungarian prehistory") (Hungarian: magyar őstörténet) is a specific period in the history of the Hungarian people that refers to the time starting from when the Magyars were considered a people separate and identifiable from other Ugric speakers (1000-500 BC) up until their occupation and settlement of the Carpathian Basin around 896 AD (Hungarian: Honfoglalás)^[2].

Árpád and the six other chieftains of the Magyars. From the Chronicon Pictum, 1360.

In 894, Árpád and Kurszán negotiated together with the representatives of the Byzantine emperor, Leo VI the Wise the terms under which the confederation of the Magyar tribes was willing to assist the Byzantine Empire against Emperor Simeon I of Bulgaria.

In the spring of next year, the Magyar tribes attacked the Bulgarian Empire and defeated Emperor Simeon I, obliging him to conclude peace with the Byzantine Empire. Emperor Simeon, however, entered into an alliance with the Pechenegs, who were the eastern neighbours of the Hungarian tribal federation, and he made an attack against the Magyar troops. In the Battle of Southern Buh, Emperor Simeon I defeated their army; shortly afterwards, the Pechenegs attacked and pillaged their territories. The Magyar tribes were obliged to leave Etelköz and move to the Carpathian Basin where they settled down (Honfoglalás).

The Magyars led by Árpád crossing the Carpathians - a detail of Árpád Feszty et al. oil on canvas (Ópusztaszer National Memorial Site, Hungary)

The circumstances of Álmos' death are unclear. The leaders of the seven Hungarian tribes proclaimed Árpád to Grand Prince of the Magyars^[3]; therefore Árpád is considered traditionally to lead the Honfoglalás ("the occupation of the country")^[4].

In 896 the Hungarian tribes occupied the Upper Tisza river, from there they undertook numerous looting raids in central and western Europe, and in 900/901 they moved to Pannonia^[5]. The Magyars entering the Pannonian fields in 896 may have represented about 200,000–250,000 people.

Based on Arabic sources, Árpád's title seems to have been kende^[6] or gyula. In that time kende was the spiritual leader of the Magyar tribes, while the gyula led their military campaigns. According to legends, Árpád hold the first "parliamentary" session with 40 other "nobles" on horseback before 900 AD.

[edit] Children

• Levente
• Tarhos (Tarkacsu) (? – ?)
• Üllő (Jeleg or Jeleg) (? – ?)
• Jutocsa (Jutas) (? – ?)
• Zoltán of Hungary (? – c. 947)

[edit] Legacy

Although he is not considered the founder of the Kingdom of Hungary – that was his descendant Stephen I –, he is generally thought of as the forefather of Hungarians and is often affectionally mentioned as our father Árpád. Árpád was the founder of the dynasty named after him, which would rule over the kingdom of Hungary till 1301.

[edit] Sources

• Kristó, Gyula - Makk, Ferenc: Az Árpád-ház uralkodói (IPC Könyvek, 1996)
• Korai Magyar Történeti Lexikon (9-14. század), főszerkesztő: Kristó, Gyula, szerkesztők: Engel, Pál és Makk, Ferenc (Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1994)
• Kristó, Gyula: A Kárpát-medence és a magyarság régmúltja (1301-ig) (Szegedi Középkortörténeti Könyvtár, Szeged, 1993)
• Magyarország Történeti Kronológiája I. – A kezdetektől 1526-ig, főszerkesztő: Benda Kálmán (Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1981)

[edit] See also

• Árpáds
• History of Hungary

[edit] References

• Árpád Hungarian Wikipedia

[edit] External links

• Árpád, painting from the 19th century