Kabar
Encyclopedia
The Khavars or erroneously
Kabars were Khazarians, therefore Turkic
people who joined to the Magyars
(Hungarians) in the 8th century.
tribes who rebelled against the Khazar Khagan
ate some time in the ninth century; the rebellion was notable enough to be described in Constantine Porphyrogenitus's work De Administrando Imperio
. Subsequently the Khavars were expelled from the Khazar Khaganate and sought refuge by joining the Magyar tribal confederacy called Hét-Magyar (meaning "seven" Hungarians). The three Khavar tribes accompanied the Magyar invasion of Pannonia and the subsequent formation of the Principality of Hungary
in the late 9th century.
Around 833 the Hungarian tribal confederacy was living in Levedia, between the Don
and the Dnieper rivers, within the clientele of the Khazar empire. Toward 850 or 860, driven from Levedia by the Pechenegs, they entered Atelkuzu (Etelköz). The Magyars reached the Danube
river basin around 880. Shortly afterward, the Byzantine
emperor Leo VI
, being then at war with Simeon
, the Bulgarian czar, called the Hungarians to his aid. The Magyars, led by Árpád
, crossed the Danube and put Bulgaria
to fire and the sword. But the Bulgarians then appealed to the Pechenegs, now masters of the steppe, who attacked the Hungarians in the rear and forced them to take refuge in the mountains of Transylvania
. At that moment, Arnulf
, king of Germania, at war with the Slav ruler Svatopluk
, king of Great Moravia
, decided like the Byzantine to appeal to the Hungarians. The Hungarians came in haste and overcame Svatopluk, who disappeared in the conflict (895). Great Moravia collapsed, and the Hungarians took up permanent abode in Hungary (907).
Many Khavars settled in the Bihar
region of the later Kingdom of Hungary
and Transylvania
. Some historian believe that the character recorded by Gesta Hungarorum
as lord Marot and his grandson Menumorut
, dux
of Biharia
, were of Khavar descent. One of the names on the Kievian Letter
is "Kiabar", which may suggest that Khavars settled in Kiev as well. At least some Khavars were Jewish; others may have been Christians, Muslims or shamanists.
The presence of a Turkic aristocracy among the Hungarians could explain the Byzantine protocol by which, in the exchange of ambassadors under Constantine Porphyrogenitus, Hungarian rulers were always referred to as "Princes of the Turks".
The Khavars eventually assimilated into the general Hungarian population, leaving scattered remains and some cultural and linguistic imprints. Some scholars believe that the Székely
are their descendants.
, today Romania
) in the 20th century CE called Alsószentmihály Rovas inscription
. It was transcribed by the archaeologist-historian Gábor Vékony
. According to the transcription, the meaing of the two-row isncription is the following:
(first row) "His mansion is famous." and (second row) "Jüedi Kür Karaite." or "Jüedi Kür the Karaite." See more details: Inscription in Khazarian Rovas script and RovasPedia.
Kabars were Khazarians, therefore Turkic
Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
people who joined to the Magyars
Magyar tribes
The Magyar tribes were the fundamental political units whose framework the Hungarians lived within, until these clans from Asia, more accurately from the region of Ural Mountains, invaded the Carpathian Basin and established the Principality of Hungary.The locality in which the Hungarians, the...
(Hungarians) in the 8th century.
History
They consisted of three KhazarKhazars
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...
tribes who rebelled against the Khazar Khagan
Khagan
Khagan or qagan , alternatively spelled kagan, khaghan, qaghan, or chagan, is a title of imperial rank in the Mongolian and Turkic languages equal to the status of emperor and someone who rules a khaganate...
ate some time in the ninth century; the rebellion was notable enough to be described in Constantine Porphyrogenitus's work De Administrando Imperio
De Administrando Imperio
De Administrando Imperio is the Latin title of a Greek work written by the 10th-century Eastern Roman Emperor Constantine VII. The Greek title of the work is...
. Subsequently the Khavars were expelled from the Khazar Khaganate and sought refuge by joining the Magyar tribal confederacy called Hét-Magyar (meaning "seven" Hungarians). The three Khavar tribes accompanied the Magyar invasion of Pannonia and the subsequent formation of the Principality of Hungary
Principality of Hungary
The Principality of Hungary, also Hungarian Principality or Duchy of Hungary , was the first documented Hungarian state, a tribal alliance in the Carpathian Basin, established 895 or 896, following the 9th-century Magyar invasion of Pannonia.The Magyars , a semi-nomadic group of people led by Árpád...
in the late 9th century.
Around 833 the Hungarian tribal confederacy was living in Levedia, between the Don
Don River (Russia)
The Don River is one of the major rivers of Russia. It rises in the town of Novomoskovsk 60 kilometres southeast from Tula, southeast of Moscow, and flows for a distance of about 1,950 kilometres to the Sea of Azov....
and the Dnieper rivers, within the clientele of the Khazar empire. Toward 850 or 860, driven from Levedia by the Pechenegs, they entered Atelkuzu (Etelköz). The Magyars reached 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....
river basin around 880. Shortly afterward, the Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
emperor Leo VI
Leo VI
Leo VI may refer to:* Leo VI the Wise, Byzantine emperor*Pope Leo VI, pope in 928*King Leo VI of Armenia , of the House of Lusignan, last Latin king of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia...
, being then at war with Simeon
First Bulgarian Empire
The First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state founded in the north-eastern Balkans in c. 680 by the Bulgars, uniting with seven South Slavic tribes...
, the Bulgarian czar, called the Hungarians to his aid. The Magyars, led by Árpád
Árpád
Árpád was the second Grand Prince of the Hungarians . Under his rule the Hungarian people settled in the Carpathian basin. The dynasty descending from him ruled the Hungarian tribes and later the Kingdom of Hungary until 1301...
, crossed the Danube and put Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
to fire and the sword. But the Bulgarians then appealed to the Pechenegs, now masters of the steppe, who attacked the Hungarians in the rear and forced them to take refuge in the mountains of 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...
. At that moment, Arnulf
Arnulf of Carinthia
Arnulf of Carinthia was the Carolingian King of East Francia from 887, the disputed King of Italy from 894 and the disputed Holy Roman Emperor from February 22, 896 until his death.-Birth and Illegitimacy:...
, king of Germania, at war with the Slav ruler Svatopluk
Svatopluk I
Svatopluk I or Zwentibald I was the greatest ruler of Moravia that attained its maximum territorial expansion in his reign . His career had already started in the 860s, when he governed a principality, the location of which is still a matter of debate among historians, within Moravia under the...
, king of Great Moravia
Great Moravia
Great Moravia was a Slavic state that existed in Central Europe and lasted for nearly seventy years in the 9th century whose creators were the ancestors of the Czechs and Slovaks. It was a vassal state of the Germanic Frankish kingdom and paid an annual tribute to it. There is some controversy as...
, decided like the Byzantine to appeal to the Hungarians. The Hungarians came in haste and overcame Svatopluk, who disappeared in the conflict (895). Great Moravia collapsed, and the Hungarians took up permanent abode in Hungary (907).
- The origin of the name Hungary is believed to originate from the UtigurUtigurUtigur is the name used by Procopius Caesariensis and his continuators Agathias and Menander in the 5th and 6th centuries to refer to the Bulgar-Huns of Onoguria, the Eurasian steppes north-east of the Black Sea and east the Don river....
BulgarBulgarsThe Bulgars were a semi-nomadic who flourished in the Pontic Steppe and the Volga basin in the 7th century.The Bulgars emerge after the collapse of the Hunnic Empire in the 5th century....
tribal confederacy named On-OgurOnogursThe Onogurs, also known as Utigurs, were a horde of equestrian nomads in the North Eurasian steppe east of the Don River during the 5th to 8th centuries. The Onogurs crossed the Volga and entered into Europe around the year 460 within the larger context of the Great Migrations and the Turkic...
, (meaning "ten" Ogurs) (comparable to Tokuz-OguzTokuz-OguzesToquz Oghuz is a political alliance of nine Turkic tribes. Toquz Oghuz consolidated within the Turkic Kaganate , and after its fragmentation preserved their union...
(meaning "nine" Oguz)), who ruled the territory of Hungary prior to the arrival of the Magyars.
Many Khavars settled in the Bihar
Bihor County
Bihor is a county of Romania, in Crişana, with capital city at Oradea. Together with Hajdú-Bihar County in Hungary it constitutes the Biharia Euroregion.-Demographics:...
region of the later 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...
and 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...
. Some historian believe that the character recorded by 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 lord Marot and his grandson Menumorut
Menumorut
For the residential district named after him, see Menumorut, Satu MareMenumorut or Menumorout ruled, according to the 13th century Gesta Ungarorum , the land between the rivers Tisa, Mureş and Someş when the Magyars invaded the Carpathian Basin around 895...
, dux
Dux
Dux is Latin for leader and later for Duke and its variant forms ....
of Biharia
Bihor
Bihor may mean:* Bihor County, in Romania* Bihor Mountains, in Romania* Bihor, Montenegro* Bihor , in Montenegro...
, were of Khavar descent. One of the names on the Kievian Letter
Kievian Letter
The Kievian Letter is an early 10th century letter written by a Khazarian Jewish community in Kiev. The letter, a Hebrew-language recommendation written on behalf of one member of their community, was part of an enormous collection brought to Cambridge by Solomon Schechter from the Cairo Geniza...
is "Kiabar", which may suggest that Khavars settled in Kiev as well. At least some Khavars were Jewish; others may have been Christians, Muslims or shamanists.
The presence of a Turkic aristocracy among the Hungarians could explain the Byzantine protocol by which, in the exchange of ambassadors under Constantine Porphyrogenitus, Hungarian rulers were always referred to as "Princes of the Turks".
The Khavars eventually assimilated into the general Hungarian population, leaving scattered remains and some cultural and linguistic imprints. Some scholars believe that the Székely
Székely
The Székelys or Székely , sometimes also referred to as Szeklers , are a subgroup of the Hungarian people living mostly in the Székely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania, Romania...
are their descendants.
A Khavar inscription
An interesting relic of these Khavar people was explored in (TransylvaniaTransylvania
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...
, today 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...
) in the 20th century CE called Alsószentmihály Rovas inscription
Alsószentmihály inscription
The inscription on a building stone was found in Mihai Viteazu, Cluj .- The relic :The stone was an ancient Roman building stone--proved by the leaf-symbol, a frequently applied ornamental element of ancient Roman inscriptions--reused in the 10th century...
. It was transcribed by the archaeologist-historian Gábor Vékony
Gábor Vékony
Gábor Vékony was a Hungarian historian, archaeologist and linguist, associate professor at ELTE, Candidate of Sciences in Historiy. He was an expert of the rovás scripts and a researcher of Hungarian prehistory....
. According to the transcription, the meaing of the two-row isncription is the following:
(first row) "His mansion is famous." and (second row) "Jüedi Kür Karaite." or "Jüedi Kür the Karaite." See more details: Inscription in Khazarian Rovas script and RovasPedia.
See also
- KhazarsKhazarsThe 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...
- Magyars
- Arpad DynastyÁrpád dynastyThe Árpáds or Arpads was the ruling dynasty of the federation of the Hungarian tribes and of the Kingdom of Hungary . The dynasty was named after Grand Prince Árpád who was the head of the tribal federation when the Magyars occupied the Carpathian Basin, circa 895...
- KhalyziansKhalyziansThe Chalyzians or Khalyzians or Khalis or Khwalis The Chalyzians or Khalyzians or Khalis or Khwalis The Chalyzians or Khalyzians or Khalis or Khwalis (Arabic: Khwarezmian, Byzantine Greek: Χαλίσιοι, Khalisioi, Magyar: Kaliz were a people mentioned by the 12th-century Byzantine historian John...
- BulgarsBulgarsThe Bulgars were a semi-nomadic who flourished in the Pontic Steppe and the Volga basin in the 7th century.The Bulgars emerge after the collapse of the Hunnic Empire in the 5th century....
- Pechenegs
- AvarsEurasian AvarsThe Eurasian Avars or Ancient Avars were a highly organized nomadic confederacy of mixed origins. They were ruled by a khagan, who was surrounded by a tight-knit entourage of nomad warriors, an organization characteristic of Turko-Mongol groups...
- Turkic peoplesTurkic peoplesThe Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...