Page:The Czechoslovak Review, vol4, 1920.pdf/71
parts of the country several Zemljens, that is to say forts with earthen walls, Černý hrad or in Magyar Csongrad (Black Castle), two Bělehrads (White Castles), Kněža or in Magyar Kanis, Brana or Baranyavar etc.
The conversion of the entire Magyar nation to Christianity took about ten generations, from 900 to 1200. During that time the former wanderers became accustomed somewhat to the European way of living. The same feudal system which was the foundation of political life in Western Europe was planted in Hungary. The population came to be divided into those with privileges and those without them. In both camps were represented members of all Hungarian nationalities, Magyars and Slavs equally. After the adoption of Christianity by the Arpad dynasty access to the court became available not merely to Magyar Christian magnates, but to other chiefs, especially Slovaks.
It is probable that the non-Magyar population was more numerous than Magyar, and the language of the conquering race did not enjoy any privileges over the other tongues, if for no other reason, because it had not yet developed sufficiently to be used as a literary medium. It was enough of an advantage to the Magyars that they did not lose themselves in the mosaic of Hungarian nationalities, as did their kinsmen the Bulgars who laid the foundations for a Slav state in Moesia and Thrace.
Various were the causes, why the Magyar element did not disappear among races numerically stronger. On the one hand Magyar nobility increased its numbers by accessions of renegates of other nations, especially ennobled men of Wallachian and Roumanian nationality. Another contribution to the maintenance of Magyar individuality was furnished by the Kumans, a related Turko-Tatar tribe which at various times migrated into Hungary and in course of time fused with them, both the common people and the Kuman chieftains. Other immigrant races, like Pečeněhs (Bisseni), nearly related to the Magyars, Tartars who remained in the land after the Tartar invasions, and Turks who remained after the overthrow of Turkish rule, also were assimilated to their Magyar kinsmen. Turkish domination which lasted for a century and a half in Central Hungary contributed also to the preservation of the Magyar element, for the Turks made no attempt to deprive their subjects of their nationality, as did the Germans, and thus their rule did not hurt the Magyars from the national point of view.
In the peculiar mixture of Hungarian nationalities the Slovaks made a good showing. They belonged to the nationalities that were settled in Hungary before the advent of the Magyars; this may be said also of the Slovenians. Both nations were named by the Magyars Totok, a word still preserved today in Tot, Magyar designation of Slovak; the old Magyar name for Slavonia was Totorszag. According to Vambery the word tot is derived from Turkish and signifies a resident stranger. Thus Magyar etymology itself proves that Slovaks were settled in Hungary before the coming of the Magyars. This disposes of Magyar chauvinistic claim that Slovaks in Upper Hungary became almost extinct during the Arpad dynasty and that Slovakia was colonized anew by Czech imigrants during the Hussite period.
We do not mean to say that there was no immigration of Czechs into Hungary. To the contrary, historical sources show clearly that the indigenous Slovak population received constant accessions from the Bohemian lands. There is nothing surprising in that. Even in eastern Hungary and Transylvania so many Slavs were living that newcomers, from whatever Slav country they hailed, felt themselves at home in the new environment. Slav colonists are mentioned for instance in Koloman’s First Decree (chäp. 80), and in the so-called Regestum of Varad dating from early 15th century men are mentioned with Slav names, and the ordeal of glowing iron is called there iudicium praudae, pravda being a Slav word meaning truth. Fojer’s Codex Dillom. IV. 1, pp. 58 to 60, quotes documents showing that during the reign of Stephen III. Czech colonists came to Hungary and received the territory of Obon. Many Czech immigrants came to Hungary in the first half of the 15th century during the Hussite wars, and when Jan Jiskra of Brandýs defended with a Czech army in Northern Hungary the claims of queen Elisabeth, widow of Albert of Hapsburg and daughter of Zikmund of Luxemburg, and of her infant son Ladislav the Posthumous to the Hungarian crown. After Jiskra surrendered to king Mathias, his captains and his men remained in the