R. Varga
101-107 A.D.-The
Roman Emperor Trajan conquered Dacia. Part of ancient Dacia
encompassed present day Transylvania (Erdély). In 271 A.D.,
after only 170 years of occupation, the Roman Emperor Aurelian
evacuated the province. In 271, Transylvania was occupied by the
Goths until they were swept away by the Huns in 376.
Romanians claim that
they are the descendants of Romanized Dacians, and base their present
claim to Transylvania on that assertion. This is referred to as the
Daco-Roman theory of continuity. No written records from 271, until
after the Magyars (Hungarians) arrived in 896 survived from this
period, fueling a heated debate between Hungarians and Romanians on
this issue. The probability of such a survival, in light of the
numerous "barbarian" invasions of following centuries is remote.
Linguists have also established that all pre-Magyar place names in
Transylvania are Slavic, except for a few river names where no
linguistic heritage can be detected.
Additionally, the Latin dialect the Romanian language derives from indicates that its evolution occurred in the western Balkans, not Dacia. 1 The Romanian language itself, contains 3800 words of Slavic origin, 2600 words of Latin origin, as well as hundreds of words of Albanian origin. Romanian is also similar to Albanian morphology and phonology and includes derivatives of Albanian words that denote body parts, kinship, plants and animals and, most significantly, shepherd words. Many of these words linguists tell us, are the most stable and unchanging over time. Also of interest is that Romanian contains no substratum of words of Dac origin. One would think that after only 170 years of Roman occupation, as well as the continued existence of a free, un-Latinized Dac community (up until about the fourth century), that Romanian would have an abundance of Dac words. Romanian also lacks any words of Old German origin, which is significant because the presence of the Goths and the Gepidae in Transylvania. All this points to Romanian origins in the western Balkans, and not Transylvania.
There are no religious artifacts, inscriptions, or even household utensils that support the contentions of the Daco-Roman Continuity Theory. Additionally, in the former Roman towns, archaeology shows that there was a radical change after the Roman evacuation. Advanced building techniques were no longer used,
buildings were no longer constructed from stone or brick, and no new monuments or inscriptions were made. It is also interesting that for a half century after the Romans left Britain, habitation continued in many former Roman towns, and new buildings were erected. As for the cemetaries in the region, there exists a clear discontinuity of burial customs after the Roman evacuation.
The Daco-Roman Theory of Continuity is not a valid historical theory of Romanian origins , but instead serves as an ideology that has been used to 1. claim Transylvania for Romania, 2. provide a justification for the ethnic cleansing of Hungarians in Transylvania, and 3. to distract Romanians ( by presenting Hungarians as intruders) from pressing internal problems.
4th-5th Century A.D. -The
Huns arrived in the Carpathian Basin. Originally from Scythia, or the
Turanian plain, the Huns established an empire in the Carpathian
Basin under the leadership of their great King, Attila. Far from
being the cruel and ruthless conqueror depicted in western history
books, Attila was known among his own people, and allied peoples in
his tribal confederation (including Germanic tribes), as "Good King
Attila". Actually, Attila's bad reputation can be attributed to the
Christian propaganda of the time. Byzantine delegates to the court of
Attila were amazed by his modesty; they reported that Attila, in the
midst of great feasts, ate only from a wooden plate and drank from a
wooden goblet.2
The Sékely
people are among the oldest cultures to inhabit the Carpathian Basin.
The origin of the Székelys is fascinating, and a matter of
historical controversy. Traditional scholarly accounts of Székely
origins state that the Székelys were Huns, who later adopted
the Hungarian language (Magyar), while other Scholars believe that
the Székelys were a contingent of Hungarians (Magyars), that
accompanied Attila to the Carpathian Basin. Recent archaeological finds among the Ugar people in Eastern Turkestan seem to give credence to ancient Magyar legends which state that the Magyars are direct descendants of the Huns.
Székely
legends about their own origin state that after Attila died and his
empire disintegrated, Attila's youngest and favorite son Ernák
(Prince Csaba), led them to safety in Transylvania, then returned to
the east. Ernák did indeed take the main body of Huns back to
Scythia, more specifically, to the region between the Black Sea and
Caspian Sea where the remaining Hunnic peoples, merged with the
ancestors of the Magyars (Hungarians).
This Hun-Magyar
connection is also remembered in one of the best known Hungarian folk
tales, "The Legend of the White Stag" This legend describes how the
two sons of Nimrod, Hunor and Magor, chased a white stag into a new
land. There they married the Kings two daughters. The descendants of
Hunor became the Huns, while the descendants of Magor became the
Magyars.
6th - 8th Centuries
-After the disintegration of Attila's empire, Transylvania was
inhabited by the remnants of various Hunnic peoples brought by
Attila, and a Germanic tribe, the Gepids. No major power was able to
exert control over the region for any great length of time. That is
until the Avars, who came from Scythia, established an empire there.
By 568, the Avars under the capable leadership of their Kagan, Bajan,
established in the Carpathian Basin an empire that lasted for 250
years.3 The Avars, however, would meet their demise with
the rise of Charlemagne's Frankish empire. After a fierce seven year
war which lasted from 796-803 A.D., the Avars were defeated, and a
bountiful horde of Avar gold was looted by Charlemagne and taken to
Aachen (greatly enriching Charlemagne and his empire). Some remnants
of the Avars fled to the Caucasus Mountain region, while others
stayed in the Carpathian Basin, eventually merging with the local
population.
Some scholars believe
that the Avars held such significant numbers of Magyar tribes in
their midst, that their conquest of the Carpathian Basin established
the Magyars in the region before 896 A.D. Known as the Dual Conquest
Theory, they offer tantalizing evidence that the earlier Avar
conquest of the Carpathian Basin, and the Magyar conquest of 896,
were the first and second waves, respectively, of a conquest of the
Carpathian Basin by the ancestors of today's Hungarians.
9th Century -The
seven Magyar (Hungarian) tribes under the leadership of
Árpád, conquered the Carpathian Basin. They defeated
the Bulgars who had installed themselves in Transylvania, with
Árpád's own son Levente, leading the campaign (Levente
would lose his life fighting the Bulgars). Upon their arrival, the
Hungarians found a country sparsely populated, with remnants of
earlier Hunnish and Avar peoples, as well as some Slavs. The Teri-i-
Üngürüsz Chronicle indicates that the Magyars spoke
the same language of the people they encountered in their new
homeland. 4
The Magyars also
shared in common with the earlier settlers, the runic (rovás)
writing system, with archaeological finds indicating that literacy
existed among a large portion of the population.5 When the
Magyars arrived in the Carpathian Basin, they assimilated earlier
groups of settlers.
9th and 10th Century-
Hungarian Royal authority was consolidated in Transylvania. Under King, later Saint, Stephen, Christianity was adopted. Stephen was opposed in this endeavor by his uncle Kopphány, on dynastic, religious, and political grounds.
Koppány was supported by Gyula, the Chieftain of Transylvania. Koppány's uprising failed, and Koppány was executed, his body quartered, and sent to the four corners of the kingdom as a warning against any future uprisings. The first Roman Catholic Bishopric was then founded in Transylvania. 6 One very
unfortunate aspect of the nation's conversion to Christianity was that Stephen, in his zeal to convert the Magyars, destroyed all that was considered pagan, including the ancient Hun-Székely-Magyar runic(rovás) system of writing, as well as other irreplaceable cultural artifacts.7 It was during Stephan's reign that the Székelys would be employed as frontier guardsmen in Transylvania.
12th Century- The
Saxons, (or more accurately, Germans from the Rhineland) settled in
Transylvania. The historic Hungarian, Székely, and Saxon
nations living in Transylvania were granted special privileges by
Hungarian kings. They enjoyed internal self-government under counts
representing royal authority.8
13th Century- The
1241 Mongol invasion depopulated parts of Hungary, including
Transylvania. An influx of newer ethnic groups occurred, including
the Romanians in Transylvania who were referred to in written records
as poor Vlach (Wallachian) shepherds.9 King Béla IV
rebuilt Hungary. The growth of the Transylvanian towns such as
Kolozsvár, Gyulafehérvár, and Várad were
contemporaneous to this era.10
14th Century-
Feudalism, which was late in coming to Transylvania, was consolidated
there.11
15th Century-
János Hunyadi was born in Kolozsvár, the unofficial
capital of Transylvania.12 Hunyadi, a Hungarian nobleman
and soldier, went on to become Voivode of Transylvania and Governor
of Hungary. Known throughout Europe as the "scourge of the Turks",
Hunyadi defeated a massive Turkish force at
Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade). Pope Calixtus III
called Hungary, "The shield of Christianity" and issued a papal Bull
decreeing that the Church bells be rung daily at noon for a Christian
victory. The noon ringing of the bells continues to this day in
commemoration of his victory.
This was also the era
of Vlad Tepes, or Vlad Dracul, the Wallachian Voivode who impaled
20,000 thousand Turkish prisoners of war. Far from being the
nationalist hero Romanians make him out to be, Dracul betrayed a
multi-ethnic Christian force led by Hunyadi during the 1448 battle of
Kossovo, going over to the side of the Turks, and costing the
Christians the battle.13 Bram Stoker's Dracula would be
based in part on the memory of Vlad Dracul, whose blood-thirsty
exploits were shocking even to his contemporaries in the middle
ages.
Hunyadi's son,
Mátyás Hunyadi, (also known as Matthias Corvinus),
became one of Hungary's greatest Kings. Responsible for spreading
Renaissance ideas throughout his kingdom, Matthias issued a Code of
laws, founded a university in Pozsony (Bratislava) and a library in
Buda, the Corvina. He was known to the general population as
"Matthias the Just".
16th Century-
György Székely Dózsa led a peasant uprising in
1514 against the worsening conditions of the serfs. Dózsa
would be executed in the cruelest of ways, being forced to sit on a
white hot iron throne, having a glowing crown placed upon his head,
and forced to hold a red hot iron scepter.
After losing the
battle of Mohács in 1526, Hungary fell to the Turks. King
Louis II died shortly after this battle. The Voivode of Transylvania,
John Zápolya, and Ferdinand Habsburg of Austria each claimed
to be king of Hungary, and engaged in a power struggle that resulted
in the tripart division of the country. Ferdinand took western
Hungary, while Zápolya held Transylvania. The Turks took the
central part of the country. This division would last until the 18th
century.
The independent
principality of Transylvania was headed by elected Hungarian princes,
marked by the reign of István Báthory, Prince of
Transylvania, and King of Poland. Báthory is best known for
his defeat of Ivan the Terrible in 1582. The Protestant Reformation,
in the form of Calvinism took hold in Transylvania during this
period. Additionally, Unitarianism was founded by Ferenc Dávid
during this period. In 1568, the Diet (National Assembly) at Torda
codified religious freedom, declaring that " everybody shall have the
right to choose his own faith".14 This was the first
instance in world history that a state guaranteed it's citizens
religious freedom.
17th Century- This
period is called the Golden Age of Transylvania. Gábor
Bethlen, Prince of Transylvania, established new schools which
provided a free education to the children of serfs. He also
established an academy in Gyulafehérvár.15
Other notable Transylvanian rulers were István Boskai and
György Rákóczi I. The Turks were finally expelled
from Hungary by the end of the century.
18th Century- The
Austrians defeated Prince Ferenc Rákóczi II and his
kuruc freedom fighters in 1711, paving the way for Transylvania to
become an Austrian province. The state of constant warfare since the
16th century had left parts of Hungary depopulated. The Austrians
began a policy of resettlement in which Germans, Serbs, and Romanians
were settled in traditionally Hungarian lands, such as Transylvania.
This policy was intended to weaken the Magyars, whom the Austrians
considered untrustworthy and rebellious.
This Austrian
resettlement policy changed the ethnic composition of the Carpathian
Basin. Some figures indicate that Magyars made up only 45 percent of
the population in the Carpathian Basin (still a majority), and more
specifically, 37 percent of Transylvania, with Romanians making up 49
percent, and the Saxons with 12 percent.16
In 1784 a bloody
Wallachian peasant uprising occurred in the western mountains of
Transylvania. Thousands of Hungarians were tortured, maimed and
killed. The Austrian authorities put down this uprising. It was
during this era that Wallachians began calling themselves
"Rumanians".17
In the cultural
arena, the town of Kolozsvár led the way. The first Hungarian
newspaper appeared there in 1791, and the first Hungarian theatrical
company was there established in 1792.18
19th Century-
Linguist Sándor Körösi Csoma, known as the father of Tibetan studies in the West, gained European fame and recognition for his compilation of an English-Tibetan dictionary. Originally destined for Eastern Turkestan (Xinjiang), in search of the ancient Magyar homeland among the Uighurs, he set out for Eastern Turkestan after his Tibetan sojourn, but died of malaria in 1842. Hungarian scholars have since discovered a relationship between Hungarian folk music and the music the of the Ugars. A Buddhist Turkic people, the Ugars are closely related to the Uighurs of Eastern Turkestan. According to the Chinese historical chronicles the Uighurs are the direct descendants of the Huns. Excavations in Eastern Turkestan have also yielded archaeological objects that closely parallel those in Hungary during the conquest era. These include weapons, methods of burial, and writing systems.
János Bolya, a mathematical genius, made important
contributions to the study of non-Euclidean geometry.19
During the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, Lajos Kossuth led a two year
war of independence against Austria which was ultimately crushed with
aid from the Russian Czar. Wallachian insurgents provided aid to the
Austrians.20 The Hungarians surrendered at
Vilagos.
During the 19th
century, the last vestiges of serfdom were finally abolished, and the
Association of Museums in Transylvania was established.21
Transylvania was reunited with Hungary after the 1867 Compromise
(Ausgleich) with Austria ( the two were never legally separated). The
dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary was thus created. In 1872, the
Bolyai University was established in Kolozsvár, followed by
the Székely National Museum in 1879. The Association of
Hungarian Public Education was established in 1885.22
The Daco-Roman Theory of continuity first appeared in the 19th century. The
Austrians, whose policy of playing off one nationality against
another in order to maintain control, readily accepted this theory.
This theory had been so widely propagated that it has even appeared
in western textbooks.23 Now that an "intellectual"
foundation had been established, Romanians began agitating for a
"Greater Romania" that would include Wallachia, Moldavia, and
Transylvania. Wallachia and Moldavia were united, and in 1878, The
Congress of Berlin recognized Romania as an independent
kingdom.