TELLING AND RETELLING OF EARLY HISTORY BETWEEN THE AND THE 18TH CENTURY: THE HUNGARIAN RAIDS. THE CASES OF THE BATTLES OF PRESSBURG (907) AND LECHFELD (955)

László Veszprémy

Historical study of the Hungarian raids into Western Europe has to a large extent focused on their defeat at the (), and tends to ignore the Battle of Pressburg in 907.1 Certainly, there are more surviving accounts of Lechfeld than any military event. It is described in detail in Gerhard’s Life of St Udalrich, Bishop of Augsburg and Widukind’s History of the .2 The events have a very clear his- torical significance: in 907, the western defences of the eastern Frankish kingdom collapsed, the lost their lands to the east of the Enns, including Pannonia, and the launched an almost continuous series of raids. The Hungarians’ western adventures came to an end in 955, the Hungarians voluntarily joined Christian Europe within a few decades, the victorious King Otto of Germany had himself crowned emperor, and the was born. It is therefore interest- ing to review what subsequent chroniclers made of all this. It is now an accepted fact that Latin historiography of the early Hungarians preserved no authentic direct information, but reconstructed it from Western sources.3 Considering what the Viking sagas tell of their

1 The paper was helped by the OTKA project K 68394. For he battle of 907 see Schicksalsjahr 907. Die Schlacht bei Pressburg und das frühmit- telalterliche Niederösterreich, ed. Roman Zehetmayer (St. Pölten, 2007). For the battle of 955 see Charles R. Bowlus, The Battle of Lechfeld and its Aftermath, August 955. The End of the Age of Migrations in the Latin West. (Aldershot, 2006); Matthias Springer, 955 als Zeitwende – Otto I. und die Lechfeldschlacht, in: Otto der Grosse. und Europa, ed. Matthias Puhle, Vol. I. (Mainz, 2001), 199–208. 2 Gerhard von Augsburg, Vita sancti Uodalrici: die älteste Lebensbeschreibung des hei- ligen Ulrich. Mit der Kanonisationsurkunde von 993, ed. Walter Berschin, Angelika Häse. (Heidelberg, 1993), (Editiones Heidelbergenses; 24), I:12, pp. 192–203.; , Rerum gestarum Saxonicarum libri tres, ed. Paul Hirsch, Hans E. Lohmann. (Monumenta Germaniae Historica SS Rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum 60.), (Hannover, 1935) 3: 44–49. 3 Gabriel Silagi, Die Ungarnstürme in der ungarischen Geschichtschreibung: Anonymus und Simon von Kéza, in: Popoli delle steppe: Unni, Avari, Ungari, vol. 1: 245–72. (Spoleto, 1988). (Settimane di studio del centro italiano di studi sull’Alto Medioevo, vol. 35.) 1190 lászló veszprémy campaigns, for example, this is quite surprising. The Hungarian chroniclers used the Annals of Regino’s continuator, which became accessible around 1100. Regino himself, however, wrote little concerning either 907 or 955.4 The contribution of the Hungarian authors was to omit the Hungarian victory of 907 for want of information, and to add stories concerning that of 955, drawing mostly on Hungarian oral tradition, but also on German historiography.

The Battle of Lechfeld

Understandably, they attempted to mitigate the humiliation of the 955 defeat. Thus around 1200/1210, the Hungarian Anonymus inserted a ficti- tious Hungarian revenge victory,5 retained in later narratives right up to the 18th century, when Georgius Pray laid the fictitious revenge to rest.6 The Hungarian author probably put together the story from the Hungarian victory at Lechfeld in 910, just as Aventinus (Johannes Turmair, 1477–1534) later adopted Liudprand’s version into his book, but linked it to the 907 battle.7 Contemporary German and medieval Hungarian chronicles both speak of the Hungarian leaders being hanged at Regensburg after the battle.8

4 Regino of Prüm, Chronicon cum continuatione Treverensi, ed. Friedrich Kurze. (Hannover, 1890). Reprinted as MGH SS Rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum 50. For the years 907 and 995 (pp. 154, 168.) 5 Their basic editions: P. magistri qui Anonymus dicitur Gesta Hungarorum, ed. Aemilius Jakubovich, and Desiderius Pais, in: Scriptores rerum Hungaricarum tempore ducum regumque stirpis Arpadianae gestarum. (hence SRH)., ed. Imre Szentpétery. Vol. I (Budapest, 1937), 33–117. Repr. Ibid.: Nap Kiadó, 1999. Simonis de Kéza Gesta Hungarorum, ed. Alexander Domanovszky, in SRH 1: 129–164. Recent modern editions: Die “Gesta Hungarorum” des anonymen Notars, ed. Gabriel Silagi (Sigmaringen, 1991); its basic edi- tion: Simonis de Kéza, Gesta Hungarorum, ed. László Veszprémy (Budapest, New York, 1999). 6 Georgius Pray, Annales veteres Hvnnorvm, Avarum, et Hvngarorum ab anno ante natvm Christum ccx ad annum Christi cmxcvii. (Vienna, 1761), 1: 368: “a longinquioribus procursionibus sibi temperarent tot cladibus edocti . . .”. 7 Johannes Turmairs gennant Aventinus, Sämmtliche Werke, vols. I–VI. (Munich, 1880–1908).The Latin part in vol. 2. ed. Sigmund Riezler. (Munich, 1882), 657–659. 8 Illuminated Chronicle (National Chronicle) Ch. 60. in SRH 1: 308. “. . . Leel et Bulchu illustres capitanei captivati sunt et ducti coram cesare. . . . Quibus imperator: ‘Eligite vobis mortem qualem vultis’. Cui Leel ait: ‘Afferatur mihi tuba mea, cum qua primum bucinans postea hec tibi respondebo’. Allataque est tuba ei et appropians cesari, cum se ingereret ad bucinandum, ipsum cesarem sic fortiter in fronte cum tuba fertur percussisse, ut illo solo ictu imperator moreretur. Dixitque ei: ‘Tu preibis ante me michique in alio seculo eris ser- viturus.’ Est namque fides Sciticorum, ut quoscumque viventes occiderent, in alio seculo ipsis servire teneantur. Detentique sunt sine mora et Ratispone patibulo suffocati.”