Ahtum
Encyclopedia
Ahtum, also Achtum or Ajtony , was a local ruler (voivode, ‘king’, ‘prince’ or tribal leader) in the region of Banat
(today divided between Romania
, Serbia
and Hungary
) in the first decades of the 11th century. King Saint Stephen I of Hungary (1000/1001-1038) sent Csanád
- one of Ahtum’s former retainers - to fight against him. Csanád defeated and killed Ahtum in the king’s name, thus incorporating the territory into the Kingdom of Hungary
.
Some scholars (e.g., A. Madgearu, I. A. Pop) see Ahtum as the last member of a native dynasty established in the early 10th century by Glad
, who is mentioned exclusively in the 13th century Gesta Hungarorum
as opposing the invading Hungarians.
His story is narrated in the so-called Long Life of St Gerard
, an early 14th century compilation of different sources. Although the much earlier so-called Short Life of St Gerard does not contain the Achtum episode, it has been suggested that this episode was inserted into the original, but not extant, *Life of St Gerard (of which the Short Life was an adaptation) from a different source, arguably from some legend attached to the name and family of Csanád. The 13th-century Gesta Ungarorum refers three times to Ahtum. His life and defeat is not mentioned by other chronicles.
word for gold
or copper
(altun). Ahtum’s ethnicity (Bulgarian
, Hungarian, Kavar, Khazar
, or Pecheneg) is a controversial issue.
Ahtum’s domain extended from the Körös River
to the Danube
. His base of power was in Morisena (now Cenad
, Romania), a stronghold on the Lower Mureş River
. The Romanian historian Alexandru Madgearu propounds that the name of his capital in the Latin text of the Long Life (Morisena) derived from the Romanian form Morişana. According to the Long Life, Ahtum "had taken his power from the Greeks
".
He was baptized
in the Orthodox faith in Vidin
(Bulgaria), an event that must have postdated the Byzantine conquest of that city in 1002
. He also founded a Greek
Orthodox monastery dedicated to St. John the Baptist near his residence. But otherwise Ahtum was "very imperfect in the Christian faith" having as many as seven wives.
Ahtum’ power was based on considerable resources, mainly cattle
and horse
s. He had so many warriors that he even dared, so we are told, to oppose King Stephen I and to levy tax upon the king’s salt
as it was being transported from Transylvania
. Ahtum’s army, similarly with that of Glad, his forerunner, included militarily-organized Vlachs
, Bulgarians
and Slavs. One of Ahtum’s retainers named Csanád fled to the Hungarian king who declared Ahtum an enemy. Csanád returned at the head of a large army, with which he eventually defeated and killed Ahtum.
After Ahtum’s defeat, his domain was organized into a royal counties of the Kingdom of Hungary, one of which had its seat in Morisena, and was conveniently named Cenad (in Hungarian: Csanád) after its conqueror. A Roman Catholic bishopric
was also immediately founded at Morisena, and St Gerard
was invited by King Stephen I to be its first bishop
.
The date of the conflict between Ahtum and Csanád acting on behalf of King Stephen I is a controversial issue. The Long Life makes it clear that the conflict pre-dates St Gerard’s appointment as bishop of Cenad, which is known from other sources to have taken place in 1030. On the other hand, Ahtum is said to have been baptized in Vidin, which was conquered by the Byzantine Emperor Basil II
(976-1025) in 1002. As a consequence, many scholars (e.g., C. A. Macartney, E. Glück, E. Fügedi) favor a late date, one or two years before St Gerard’s appointment. Others (e.g., I. Bóna, Gy. Moravcsik) attempted to read the evidence of the Long Life against the political background of the early 11th century; pointing to King Stephen’s military assistance of Basil II against Samuel of Bulgaria (997-1014), these scholars view Ahtum as Samuel’s ally and place Csanád’s attack either shortly before or at the same time as Basil II’s conquest of Ohrid
(Macedonia
) in 1018. Finally, others (e.g., A. Madgearu) believe the attack took place a few years after the Byzantine take-over in Vidin, in either 1003 or 1004.
The fact that the members of a certain genus Achtum (Ahtum kindred) owned landed property in Csanád County until the end of the Middle Ages
may suggest that King Stephen I let Ahtum’s descendants keep some part of Ahtum’s possessions.
Banat
The Banat is a geographical and historical region in Central Europe currently divided between three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania , the western part in northeastern Serbia , and a small...
(today divided between Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
and Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
) in the first decades of the 11th century. King Saint Stephen I of Hungary (1000/1001-1038) sent Csanád
Csanád
Csanád is the name of a historic administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is presently in western Romania and southeastern Hungary. The capital of the county was Makó.-Geography:...
- one of Ahtum’s former retainers - to fight against him. Csanád defeated and killed Ahtum in the king’s name, thus incorporating the territory into the Kingdom of Hungary
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...
.
Some scholars (e.g., A. Madgearu, I. A. Pop) see Ahtum as the last member of a native dynasty established in the early 10th century by Glad
Glad (duke)
Glad was a duke of Bulgarian origin who, according to the 13th-century chronicle Gesta Ungarorum "", ruled in the territory of modern Banat at the time of the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin around 896...
, who is mentioned exclusively in the 13th century Gesta Hungarorum
Gesta Hungarorum
Gesta Hungarorum is a record of early Hungarian history by an unknown author who describes himself as Anonymi Bele Regis Notarii , but is generally cited as Anonymus...
as opposing the invading Hungarians.
Sources for his life
Gerard Sagredo
Saint Gerard Sagredo , also called Gerhard or Gellert, was an Italian bishop from Venice who operated in the Kingdom of Hungary , and educated Saint Emeric of Hungary, the son of Saint Stephen of Hungary). He played a major role in converting Hungary to Christianity...
, an early 14th century compilation of different sources. Although the much earlier so-called Short Life of St Gerard does not contain the Achtum episode, it has been suggested that this episode was inserted into the original, but not extant, *Life of St Gerard (of which the Short Life was an adaptation) from a different source, arguably from some legend attached to the name and family of Csanád. The 13th-century Gesta Ungarorum refers three times to Ahtum. His life and defeat is not mentioned by other chronicles.
Life
The Gesta Hungarorum presents him as a descendant of Glad’s lineage, but everything the author of the Gesta has to say about Glad is taken directly from the Ahtum episode of the Long Life. His name may be connected to the TurkicTurkic languages
The Turkic languages constitute a language family of at least thirty five languages, spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China, and are considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family.Turkic languages are spoken...
word for gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
or copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
(altun). Ahtum’s ethnicity (Bulgarian
Bulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...
, Hungarian, Kavar, Khazar
Khazars
The Khazars were semi-nomadic Turkic people who established one of the largest polities of medieval Eurasia, with the capital of Atil and territory comprising much of modern-day European Russia, western Kazakhstan, eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, large portions of the northern Caucasus , parts of...
, or Pecheneg) is a controversial issue.
Ahtum’s domain extended from the Körös River
Körös River
Körös is the name of a 195 km long river in eastern Hungary. It is formed at the confluence of the rivers Fehér-Körös and Fekete-Körös near Gyula. The Sebes-Körös flows into the Körös near Gyomaendrőd...
to the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
. His base of power was in Morisena (now Cenad
Cenad
Cenad is a commune in Timiş County, Banat, Romania. It is composed of a single village, Cenad.-Demography:...
, Romania), a stronghold on the Lower Mureş River
Mures River
The Mureș is an approximately 761 km long river in Eastern Europe. It originates in the Hășmașu Mare Range in the Eastern Carpathian Mountains, Romania, and joins the Tisza river at Szeged in southeastern Hungary....
. The Romanian historian Alexandru Madgearu propounds that the name of his capital in the Latin text of the Long Life (Morisena) derived from the Romanian form Morişana. According to the Long Life, Ahtum "had taken his power from the Greeks
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
".
He was baptized
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
in the Orthodox faith in Vidin
Vidin
Vidin is a port town on the southern bank of the Danube in northwestern Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Serbia and Romania, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as of the Metropolitan of Vidin...
(Bulgaria), an event that must have postdated the Byzantine conquest of that city in 1002
Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria
The Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria lasted from 968 to 1018, and was a military conflict that marked the beginning of the second apogee of the Byzantine Empire, which managed to incorporate most of the Balkan Peninsula, controlled by the First Bulgarian Empire, ridding itself of one of its most...
. He also founded a Greek
Byzantine Greeks
Byzantine Greeks or Byzantines is a conventional term used by modern historians to refer to the medieval Greek or Hellenised citizens of the Byzantine Empire, centered mainly in Constantinople, the southern Balkans, the Greek islands, Asia Minor , Cyprus and the large urban centres of the Near East...
Orthodox monastery dedicated to St. John the Baptist near his residence. But otherwise Ahtum was "very imperfect in the Christian faith" having as many as seven wives.
Ahtum’ power was based on considerable resources, mainly cattle
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
and horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
s. He had so many warriors that he even dared, so we are told, to oppose King Stephen I and to levy tax upon the king’s salt
Salt
In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
as it was being transported from Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
. Ahtum’s army, similarly with that of Glad, his forerunner, included militarily-organized Vlachs
Vlachs
Vlach is a blanket term covering several modern Latin peoples descending from the Latinised population in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. English variations on the name include: Walla, Wlachs, Wallachs, Vlahs, Olahs or Ulahs...
, Bulgarians
Bulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...
and Slavs. One of Ahtum’s retainers named Csanád fled to the Hungarian king who declared Ahtum an enemy. Csanád returned at the head of a large army, with which he eventually defeated and killed Ahtum.
After Ahtum’s defeat, his domain was organized into a royal counties of the Kingdom of Hungary, one of which had its seat in Morisena, and was conveniently named Cenad (in Hungarian: Csanád) after its conqueror. A Roman Catholic bishopric
Roman Catholic Diocese of Szeged–Csanád
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Szeged–Csanád is a diocese located in the cities of Szeged and Csanád in the Ecclesiastical province of Kalocsa-Kecskemét in Hungary.-History:* 1035: Established as Diocese of Csanád...
was also immediately founded at Morisena, and St Gerard
Gerard Sagredo
Saint Gerard Sagredo , also called Gerhard or Gellert, was an Italian bishop from Venice who operated in the Kingdom of Hungary , and educated Saint Emeric of Hungary, the son of Saint Stephen of Hungary). He played a major role in converting Hungary to Christianity...
was invited by King Stephen I to be its first bishop
Bishop (Catholic Church)
In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an ordained minister who holds the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders and is responsible for teaching the Catholic faith and ruling the Church....
.
The date of the conflict between Ahtum and Csanád acting on behalf of King Stephen I is a controversial issue. The Long Life makes it clear that the conflict pre-dates St Gerard’s appointment as bishop of Cenad, which is known from other sources to have taken place in 1030. On the other hand, Ahtum is said to have been baptized in Vidin, which was conquered by the Byzantine Emperor Basil II
Basil II
Basil II , known in his time as Basil the Porphyrogenitus and Basil the Young to distinguish him from his ancestor Basil I the Macedonian, was a Byzantine emperor from the Macedonian dynasty who reigned from 10 January 976 to 15 December 1025.The first part of his long reign was dominated...
(976-1025) in 1002. As a consequence, many scholars (e.g., C. A. Macartney, E. Glück, E. Fügedi) favor a late date, one or two years before St Gerard’s appointment. Others (e.g., I. Bóna, Gy. Moravcsik) attempted to read the evidence of the Long Life against the political background of the early 11th century; pointing to King Stephen’s military assistance of Basil II against Samuel of Bulgaria (997-1014), these scholars view Ahtum as Samuel’s ally and place Csanád’s attack either shortly before or at the same time as Basil II’s conquest of Ohrid
Ohrid
Ohrid is a city on the eastern shore of Lake Ohrid in the Republic of Macedonia. It has about 42,000 inhabitants, making it the seventh largest city in the country. The city is the seat of Ohrid Municipality. Ohrid is notable for having once had 365 churches, one for each day of the year and has...
(Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
) in 1018. Finally, others (e.g., A. Madgearu) believe the attack took place a few years after the Byzantine take-over in Vidin, in either 1003 or 1004.
The fact that the members of a certain genus Achtum (Ahtum kindred) owned landed property in Csanád County until the end of the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
may suggest that King Stephen I let Ahtum’s descendants keep some part of Ahtum’s possessions.
See also
- CsanádCsanádCsanád is the name of a historic administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is presently in western Romania and southeastern Hungary. The capital of the county was Makó.-Geography:...
- St GerardGerard SagredoSaint Gerard Sagredo , also called Gerhard or Gellert, was an Italian bishop from Venice who operated in the Kingdom of Hungary , and educated Saint Emeric of Hungary, the son of Saint Stephen of Hungary). He played a major role in converting Hungary to Christianity...
- GladGlad (duke)Glad was a duke of Bulgarian origin who, according to the 13th-century chronicle Gesta Ungarorum "", ruled in the territory of modern Banat at the time of the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin around 896...
- GyulaGyula IIIGyula III, also Gyula the Younger, Geula or Gyla, was an early medieval ruler who apparently ruled in Transylvania . His actual name was probably Prokui, yet Prokui cannot possibly be the same as Gyula. Around 1003, he and his family were attacked, dispossessed and captured by King Stephen I of...
- KoppányKoppányKoppány was a Hungarian nobleman of the tenth century. Brother of the ruling prince of Hungary, Géza of the Árpád dynasty, Koppány ruled as Prince of Somogy in the region south of Lake Balaton...
- Stephen I of Hungary
Sources
- Curta, Florin: Transylvania around A.D. 1000; in: Urbańczyk, Przemysław (Editor): Europe around the year 1000; Wydawn. DiG, 2001; ISBN 978-83-7181-211-8
- Curta, Florin: Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages - 500-1250; Cambridge University Press, 2006, Cambridge; ISBN 978-0-521-89452-4
- Fügedi, Erik: The Realm of St Stephen: A History of Medieval Hungary, 895-1526; I. B. Tauris, 2001, London&New York; ISBN 1-85043-977-X
- Georgescu, Vlad (Author) – Calinescu, Matei (Editor) – Bley-Vroman, Alexandra (Translator): The Romanians – A History; Ohio State University Press, 1991, Columbus; ISBN 0-8142-0511-9
- Kristó, Gyula (General Editor) - Engel, Pál - Makk, Ferenc (Editors): Korai Magyar történeti lexikon (9-14. század) /Encyclopedia of the Early Hungarian History (9th-14th centuries)/; Akadémiai Kiadó, 1994, Budapest; ISBN 963-05-6722-9 (the entries “Ajtony” and “Galád” were written by László Szegfű and Zoltán Kordé respectively).
- Macartney, C. A.: The Medieval Hungarian Historians: A Critical and Analytical Guide; Cambridge University Press, 2008, Cambridge&New York; ISBN 978-0-521-08051-4
- Madgearu, Alexandru: Salt Trade and Warfare: The Rise of Romanian-Slavic Military Organization in Early Medieval Transylvania; in: Curta, Florin (Editor): East Central and Eastern Europe in the Early Middle Ages; The University of Michigan Press, 2005; ISBN 978-0-472-11498-6
- Pop, Ioan Aurel: Romanians and Romania: A Brief History; Columbia University Press, 1999, New York; ISBN 0-88033-440-1