Lajos Kazar: Facts against fiction

GERMANY

Transylvania (Siebenbürgen; Latin Transylvania) is a pretty, large principality. There live various nationalities, such as Hungarians, Székelys and Saxon Germans, who are noblest and who have stood in union with one another from old. The Székelys are the oldest, hailing from the Huns who in the 4th and 5th centuries treated Germany, France and Italy badly. Beside the Hungarians, Székelys and Germans there are Wallachians, Serbs, Bulgars, Greeks, Jews, Armenians, Gypsies etc. Among these the Wallachians are the most numerous. It is thought that they are the remnants of the Roman colonists planted in Dacia by Trajan, who intermingled with other peoples. After the Romans under Aurelian, the Goths came into this land. Finally, in 744, the Hungarians arrived and chased the Goths away.

N.B. This quite early lexicon gives a very detailed description of the area in question. In fact, it could serve as an excellent source of information for any researcher of the area and era. With regard to the origin of the Wallachians, it expresses a peculiar idea. Regarding the arrival of the Magyars/Hungarians around 744, the writer of the article probably erred. From 567 until approx. 800 it was the Avars who held sway over the whole Carpathian Basin. Recent research indicates that at least a good portion of the Avars spoke a Uralic language, akin to that of the magyars/Hungarians who arrived in the Carpathian Basin toward the end of the 9th century. Very early church taxation lists as well as property donation documents of the Kingdom of Hungary show place names near numerous substantial Avar cemeteries, which are very much like the names of Hungarian settlements near early Hungarian cemeteries. Thus, while Hungary as a Christian kingdom dates from approx. 1000, Magyar/Hungarian-speaking groups, such as the Székelys, among the Avars likely arrived in the Carpathian Basin centuries earlier.

In 1743 there was no Daco-Roman theory in existence yet.

Transylvania (Siebenbürgen), a grand duchy and a part of the hereditary states of the emperor of Austria, was given its German name by German colonists who had migrated there from the area of the Rhine in 1143, and not on account of seven forts, as some imagined, but in memory of the Siebengebirge of their former homeland. The Latin term Transylvania derives from Hungarian Erdély 'a wooded and mountainous region'. - In the distant past Transylvania was a part of Dacia. From the 5th century on it was conquered by different peoples in succession. In 1004 Stephen I of Hungary conquered it and made it into a Hungarian province, at the head of which he placed a voivode. In 1535 Transylvania became a sovereign principality under Turkish suzerainty. The Hungarian princes Gábor Bethlen and György Rákóczi were dangerous adversaries of the Austrian House that ruled Hungary, too. Leopold I took possession of Transylvania in 1687, and this situation was confirmed by the Treaty of Carlowitz in 1699. - Transylvania's population is composed of 13 ethnic groups. The most eminent among them, who are called ,,united" (,,uniti"), are the Hungarians, the Székelys - whom some people think to be the descendants of the Pechenegs - and the Saxons whose ancestors were called in by Géza II, king of Hungary.

The other ethnic groups are called ,,tolerated" (,,tolerati,,), namely the Wallachians, Armenians, Greeks, Poles, Ruthenians, Serbs, Bohemians, Jews and Gypsies. Among the ,,tolerated" groups the Wallachians are the most numerous. The more prominent ones are landowners, the commoners among them are extremely unrefined and ignorant. - The best foundation pillars of Transylvanian life stem from Transylvania's constitution.

N.B. The quite long article ,,Siebenbürgen,, mirrors fairly the conditions of the first half of the 19th century in Transylvania . As writers of many other lexicons/encyclopedias of the era, the author of the one in hand was not aware of the fact that the region in question came into Hungarian possession around 895, and not at the beginning of the 11th century. Also, the special role of Transylvania in the defence of the whole of Hungary was unknown to this author. The reason why Erdély/Transylvania had been placed under a voivode - at times heir to the crown - was that an army for quick defence and counterattack had to be organized on the spot. - The explanation of the terms Erdély and Transylvania is not exact. They mean: 'the land beyond the forest(-line)', as seen from the Great Hungarian Plain. - It could not have been without reason that the Wallachians were counted among the ,,tolerated" inhabitants of Transylvania. Back in 1836 responsible officials knew full well that the Wallachians/Rumanians had migrated and/or fled there after the state-building was done by the Hungarians, the Hungarian-speaking Székelys and the German colonists.

Transylvania (Siebenbürgen) is an Austrian crown-land. Its Latin name is explained by the fact that along the western border between Hungary and the area in question there are extensive forests; thus, for the Hungarians this land lies beyond the forest-line. The Hungarian name Erdély (Wallachian Ardjal) signifies the same. - During the revolution of 1848 one Hungarian party succeeded in effecting the union of Transylvania with Hungary. However, during the same revolution Transylvania resisted this move strenuously, especially the Germans and Wallachians.

This had as its result that in 1849 the revolutionary armies punished them terribly. In addition, Transylvania was the scene of bloody warfare between the revolutionary army and the Russian auxiliaries which broke in. Through the Imperial Constitution of March 4th, 1849, Transylvania was completely cut away from Hungary and became one of the independent crown-lands.

According to the 1850 census , Transylvania had a population of 2,073,737 souls in 25 towns, 65 small market-towns, 2,684 villages and 70 domains. Of the total population 1,226,901 were Wallachians or Rumanians, 354,942 Hungarians, 180,902 Székelys, 175,658 Saxons, 16,558 other Germans, 98 Austrians, 78,902 Gypsies (also called 'new peasants'), 15,570 Jews, 7,600 Armenians, 3,743 Slavs, 771 others. The Wallachians, oldest inhabitants and former masters of this land, live scattered everywhere.

The Hungarians conquered this land at the beginning of the 11th century. The Székelys are said to be the remnants of the Hunnic Empire. The Saxons were called in by Géza II in 1143 to cultivate and defend the land. The Hungarians, Székelys and Saxons are the ruling entities, while the others are the tolerated ones.

N.B. The above article was written five years after the crushing of the 1848-49 Hungarian War of Independence against Habsburg absolutism, by the combined Austrian and Russian imperial armies, and while the frightful revenge by Austria was in full swing. The only improvement on the 1836 edition was the correct explanation regarding the origins of the names of the land in question. Apart from that the whole tenor of the article suggests that its writer could not stay objective. For him/her the legislation brought in by the Hungarian government to reunite Transylvania with the rest of Hungary was evidently wrong. Also, he/she wrote of terrible punishment meted out against the Wallachians and Saxons of Transylvania by the revolutionary army.

That sort of writing was perfectly in line with thumping lies emanating from some Austrian journalists who described the shooting of the Saxon journalist Ludwig Roth - after his trial by a correctly constituted military court - as a blood-bath in which thousands of innocent non-Hungarians found their deaths.

The truth is that Transylvanian Saxons who had enlisted with the occupying Austrian army units as well as thousands of marauding Wallachians were killed in battles which were fought, on their part, by Russian military, too, called in from Moldavia by the Saxons and Austrians. Before any Hungarian military action took place, Wallachian marauders, diligently incited by representatives of the Habsburg camarilla, had butchered with axes, saws, scythes etc. many thousand of unarmed Hungarians, including infants, and pillaged entire towns.

The 1836 edition of the same encyclopedia wrote about the Wallachians: ,,the more prominent ones are landowners; the commoners are extremely unrefined and ignorant". By 1854, these Wallachians had been the laudable allies of the House of Austria against the cursed ,,rebellious Hungarians,,, consequently the Wallachians were now described thus: ,, ... oldest inhabitants and former masters of this land". Consequently the Hungarians, whose ancestors conquered the land in question around 895, would be regarded as unlawful possessors of Transylvania. But then, by the same logic, all the German speakers who had been called in by several kings of Hungary, including Habsburgs in the 18th century, would also have been unlawful possessors of the land on which they settled.

Encyclopedia articles like the above contained irresponsible statements which were most likely to influence the attitudes of other writers of articles on Transylvania, Rumania and Hungary. Here we have seen a plain case of distortion of history. Here for the first time we see a German encyclopedia article describing the Wallachians as the ,, ... oldest inhabitants and former masters of this land". Allgemeine Deutsche Real-Enciklopädie gave no proof whatever for that ex cathedra statement which has evidently influenced German and other history writers ever since.

,,The remnants of the Daco-Romans, the Rumanians or Wallachians, who had stayed behind particularly in the mountains, received later, since the 12th and 13th centuries, reinforcements by means of large groups of newcomers from among their tribal relations living south of the Danube,,. - King Géza II (1141-61) called into the uninhabited southern region of the area in question Germans from Flanders, the Middle and Lower Rhine areas. In 1211, Andreas/András II gave the similarly uninhabited Barcaság (,,Burzenland,,) as a fief to the Teutonic Knights who also planted Germans there. - Since the 12th century, the area in question was at times called Partes Ultrasilvanae, later Transylvania on account of the extensive forest which separate this area from the rest of Hungary.

N.B. The area of later Transylvania was never possessed by the Pechenegs. It was possessed by the Huns after the Ostrogoths, by the Avars after the Gepids, by the Bulgars after the Avars. The Magyars/Hungarians defeated the Bulgars and took possession of the eastern half of the Carpathian Basin around 895, repulsing several subsequent Pecheneg attacks from the east and southeast. The organizing of the defence of the Carpathian Basin on the soil of later Transylvania began around 895, and not from the end of the 11th century.

Transylvania's history is described here similarly to what we saw in Allgemeine Deutsche Enciklopädie, 1854, above. A significant difference is that Meyers Konversations-Lexikon puts in print, perhaps for the first time among non-Rumanian encyclopedias, the ,,Daco-Roman,, version of Transylvania's early history. The writer of the article in question had as much written or archaeological objective proof to support his/her claim as the writer of the article seen in the Allgemeine Deutsche Real-Encyklopädie, 1854, i.e., none. They relied on speculation and, perhaps, wishful thinking.

One has to bear in mind that from the middle of the 19th century the formation of a united Wallachian/Rumanian state had been in the wind, and in 1866 Karl Hohenzollern, a member of the Prussian ruling house, had been selected to rule the new state (his coronation took place in 1881). Thus some German and other circles busied themselves to make the rising Rumania acceptable. Simultaneously the berating of the Hungarians became fashionable following their ,,rebellion" of 1848-49 against the Austrian House which remained victorious - with the overwhelming military might of Russia. Also, a rising Rumanian kingdom, especially with its aspirations to Transylvania, could offer new economic, military and other opportunities, while Hungary was already firmly in the grips of the Habsburgs.

In the most ancient times the inhabitants of this region, Siebenbürgen, were the Agathirses. Later arose the realm of the Dacians. On its ruins Emperor Trajan created (from 107 on) the Roman province of Dacia. In 275 Dacia fell to the Goths, who were followed by the Huns, in 452 by the Gepids, and finally by the Avars. When the Magyars moved in, the thinly populated area was without a master. The kings of the Árpád Dynasty occupied and colonized it over a period of time; first Stephen I, then László I; the latter planted the Székelys on the eastern marches as border guards. However, the northeastern corner, further the Küküllö area and the southern ranges were not colonized before Géza II (1141-61) had called in Germans (Saxons and people from Flanders) for the task. The Saxons, Hungarians and Székelys under a voivode (royal governor) formed ,,the three nations".

However, the Wallachians, who migrated in during the reign of András/Endre II, remained serfs without rights. Encouraged by the Viennese Habsburg government and the Austrian military stationed in Transylvania as in the rest of Hungary - the Wallachians took up arms in October 1848 and a frightful bloodbath began with the aim of annihilating the Hungarians there (,,Vernichtung der Magyaren"). That was a second large-scale bloodbath carried out by the Wallachians against the Hungarians. Back in 1784, encouraged by Emperor-King Joseph II, Wallachian marauders led by Hora, Crisan and Closka, had butchered thousands of Hungarian nobles.

N.B. The above article on Transylvania is objective in an exemplary way. Between 1889 and 1909 quite a lot of evidence must have arrived on the desk of the editors who, in a laudable way, corrected a number of earlier inaccuracies and/or biased statements. In contradistinction to the 1889 edition's statement that the Wallachians/Rumanians would have to be regarded as the remnants of the Daco-Romans who had stayed 'behind' after the Romans' withdrawal from Dacia in 274, we read in the 1909 edition that the Wallachians came in after the Germans; here we read also that while the German colonists were recognized by the Magyars/Hungarians and the Hungarian-speaking Székelys as their equals, the Wallachians were not recognized as the equals of ,,the three nations". There must have been weighty reasons for this. One was certainly the disregard of the Wallachians for the laws of the land. At several national assemblies their total expulsion was demanded, although never carried out. For centuries the Saxons did not allow any Wallachians to live in Saxon settlements. Certainly not without reason! - The 1909 edition of Meyers Grosses Konversations-Lexikon stated truthfully that in 1784 and 1848-49 the Wallachians aimed at the annihilation of the Hungarians in Transylvania. In fact, the idea that either the Wallachians or the Hungarians must be annihilated in Transylvania had been in circulation for centuries - an idea propagated not by Hungarians, but foremost by Wallachian/Rumanian priests and other intellectuals.

Transylvania, surrounded by the Carpathians, is a highland in Rumania. Its area is 57,243km², with a population of 2,7 million. Once the Roman province of Dacia, it was abandoned by the Romans in 275 and successively possessed by the Goths and the Huns. Since the 13th century it was inhabited by Magyars and Germans (settled there) as well as Székelys (in the E; their origin is not cleared), and Rumanians. After the Battle of Mohács (1526), the voivode of Transylvania, J. Zápolya became its ruler in the rank of a prince, but as a vassal of the Turks. After 1687 Transylvania was governed, in the name of the king of Hungary, by ,,the three nations" (regulations laid down in the Diploma Leopoldinum). In 1849 Transylvania was raised to the status of crown-land; in 1867 it became integrated into Hungary. In 1916 Rumania occupied Transylvania, but was driven out. In 1918 Rumania occupied it again, and in 1919 incorporated it.

N.B. The writer of this piece of information was far less careful and prepared than that of the 1909 article seen above. First of all, the area given to Rumania as Transylvania was not 57,243km², but 102,787km²; the population of the area in question was not 2,7 million, but 5,265,444, even when calculated on the basis of the 1910 census. What basic errors!

After the Roman withdrawal from Dacia not only Goths and Huns were successively masters of the land in question, but the Vandals, Gepids, Avars and Bulgars, too. The Magyars/Hungarians took possession of it around 895 and began to live there immediately afterward, not as late as the 13th century. The ancestors of the Hungarian-speaking Székelys were settled according to their tradition in the NW of traditional Erdély/Transylvania long before 895, so they were not brought in as colonists as late as the 13th century!

Rumania occupied a part of southern Transylvania for about two months in 1916. In 1919, and not in 1918, it occupied Transylvania and some parts of Hungary at the behest of the Great Entente Powers to bring to fall the communist government of Béla Kun in Budapest. Transylvania was given to Rumania in the Treaty of Trianon which was signed on June 4^th, 1920.

Transylvania (Siebenürgen; Rumanian Ardealu) constitutes the eastern part of the Carpathian Basin, and since 1918 has been a part of Rumania. Its population is in the majority Rumanian, partly Hungarian and German (Transylvanian Saxons). Its industry is run mainly by Germans. In the 12th century Germans settled in the south and opened it up together with the Hungarians. At a later date Transylvania came under Turkish suzerainty. Toward the end of the 17th century it became a part of the Habsburg realm; since 1918 it has been a part of Rumania.

N.B. The above article is too short to be satisfactory. It states that since 1918 Transylvania has been a part of Rumania, and each time wrongly. The correct year is 1920. The article gives the impression that prior to the 12th century, when ,,Germans settled in the south" the Hungarians and the Hungarian-speaking Székelys were not present in the south of Transylvania. In fact, toponyms show clearly the opposite.

Again, it would have been fair to inform the users of the encyclopedia that the Germans did not simply arrive there, but were invited by the kings of Hungary who held sway over the whole of what became known as Transylvania.

Transylvania (Siebenbürgen; Rumanian Ardeal or Transilvania; Hungarian Erdély) is an area of 61,622km², with a population of 31/4 million (in 1930). Approx. 60% of the population is Rumanian. In the eastern region live Hungarians (Székelys) almost without any other ethnic elements among them. Also, in all the towns live Hungarians (barely 30%). The Saxons make up approx. 10% of the population. The towns have dominantly German or Hungarian character.

In the antiquity the area in question was the possession of the Dacians on whose land Trajan created the Roman province of Dacia early in the 2nd century. However, the Romans evacuated this province between 258 and 275. After them came the Vandals and later the Gepids.

The realm of the latter was overrun in 567 by the Avars who were in alliance with the Longobards. During the reign of the Avars (6th-8th centuries) Slavs also settled in the area in question. These Slavs and the remnants of the Gepids were conquered by the Magyars/Hungarians at the end of the 9th century. Until the 11th century the area in question was loosely linked with Hungary. From the 12th century onward German colonists were settled there. By the 13th century the Székely-Hungarians and the Saxons formed a privileged stratum of the Transylvanian population. The question about the time of immigration of the ancestors of the Wallachians of Transylvania has not been answered yet. In documents they are first mentioned in the 13th century.

N.B. The presentation of the data is quite exhaustive and fair. Unfortunately, the writer of this article, too, used outdated sources for the size of the land in question and its population. In 1920 Rumania received as ,,Transylvania,, an area of 102,787km² and a population of 5,265,444, as calculated on the basis of the 1910 Hungarian census. The above article correctly stated that the time of the immigration of the Wallachian ancestors into the area in question had not yet been answered.

Transylvania (Siebenbürgen; Rumanian Ardeal or Transsilvania) is a region of Rumania. Its size is 61,000km², and its population numbers 3.1 million. Its capital is Cluj (Klausenburg). The population is 3/5 Rumanian, 1/5 Hungarian, 1/10 German. The German name Siebenbürgen comes from old Zibinburg (Hermannstadt). Transylvania was settled since the 12th century by Székelys, Rumanians and German colonists (Saxons). In the 17th century and later, numerous German Protestant groups migrated in. Until 1526 Transylvania was in the possession of Hungary; in 1540 it came under Turkish tutelage. From 1690 it was ruled by Austria; in 1868 it was returned to Hungary; in 1919 it became a part of Rumania.

N.B. The above portrayal is sketchy and inaccurate. It does not even mention the Hungarian name Erdél(y), formerly Erdö Elve, from which came Rumanian Ardeal and in the 12th century Latin Transylvania, preceding both latter by centuries. By 1953 the writer of the article above should have learnt the correct size of the area in question and the number of its population, instead of being ridiculously off the mark. The area in question had been settled by Hungarians and Hungarian-speaking Székelys by the end of the 9th century (in fact, the ancestors of the Székelys lived there much earlier). The Wallachians came to Transylvania not in the 12th century, but in the 13th, quite a time after the arrival of the first Germans in 1143. Transylvania came under Turkish tutelage in 1541. The date 1868 is wrong instead of 1867. The date 1919 is also wrong instead of 1920.

Transylvania (Siebenbürgen; Rumanian Ardeal; Hungarian Erdély) is an historic area in Rumania. Its size is 62,200km² and its population approx. 3 million (in 1948). In the antiquity the area in question was successively the possession of the Dacians, Romans, Goths, Gepids, and from the 7th century on of the Bulgars; at the end of the 9th century the Hungarians conquered it and allowed it a sort of autonomy under the rule of voivodes. To the defence of the borders the Székelys were planted in the 10th century, and Germans in the 12th. Andreas/András/Endre II temporarily employed the Teutonic Knights for the same purpose. Wallachians as inhabitants of Transylvania are first mentioned in documents in the 13th century.

N.B. It is a pity that the size of the area and the population had not been ascertained by the writer of the above article (see corrections in previous notes). The Bulgars did not gain possession of the area in question before the defeat of the Avars around 800. The rest of the article is fine and fair. From the point of view of the Daco-Roman-Rumanian debate it is important that the Wallachians are not pictured as Daco-Romans who allegedly survived all invasions of former Dacia. It would have been strange, indeed, to find - for a period of over 1000 years - no reference in historical sources and no archaeological proof of the survival of a presumably large population spared by all invasions which troubled the others.

Transylvania (Siebenbürgen; Rumanian Transilvania, also Ardeal; Hungarian Erdély) is an historic region in Rumania. Its size is 62,000km², its population approx. 3,5 million (in 1951). In the broader sense, including the Marmaros and Crisana areas, Transylvania's size is, 77,000km², with approx. 5,6 million people. In the 3rd century B.C. the area in question was the kingdom of the Dacians; in 107 A.D. it was turned by Emperor Trajan into the Roman province of Dacia, whose population became strongly Romanized. Between 250 and 270 the Romans had to retreat from Dacia. They were successively followed by the Sarmatians, Goths, Huns, Gepids; the latter's realm was smashed in 567 by the Avars who were supplanted by the Bulgars in the 7th century. From the end of the 9th century the area in question came into a loose dependency from Hungary. To the defence of the borders the Székelys were appointed in the 10th century; in the 12th century Germans (Transylvanian Saxons) were planted there and endowed with privileges. Wallachians as inhabitants of Transylvania were first mentioned in a document dated 1222. Since the 13th century the voivodes of Transylvania made themselves gradually independent from Hungary.

Beginning with 1526 Transylvania became de facto independent. After the fall of Buda in 1541 Transylvania came under Turkish suzerainty, but was a self-governing principality. Under Prince István Báthori - who between 1575 and 1585 was simultaneously king of Poland - Transylvania rose to the rank of an East European great power and flourished both economically and culturally (,,Golden Era of Transylvania" under Prince Gábor Bethlen).

N.B. It is evident that the writer of the above article took pains to present an objective picture of Transylvania. It is unfortunate that the area and population sizes were given wrongly once more (see corrections above). The Bulgars could not replace the Avars in the eastern half of the Carpathian Basin before the collapse of the Avar Empire around 800. The first document mentioning Wallachians in Transylvania - at its southern edge - dates from 1210; another referring to them is from 1224. - Apart from the mistakes corrected above, the article in question is exemplary.

Transylvania (Siebenbürgen or Transsilvanien; Rumanian Transilvania, also Ardeal) is a region in Rumania. The population is not homogeneous. Along with Rumanians there live Hungarians and Germans as significant ethnic minorities, as well as Gypsies, Jews and Armenians. Some larger towns are Klausenburg, Kronstadt, Hermannstadt and Tirgu Mures. ,,Since the beginning of the 10th century, there [i.e., on the soil of what is now known as Transylvania] arose small principalities of the autochthonous Rumanian population which, from the early 11th century on succumbed to the Magyars/Hungarians. magyars, Transylvanian Saxons (since approx. 1150) and the Order of the Teutonic Knights (between 1211 and 1225 in Burzenland) were settled there. ..."

Beginning with 1683, Transylvania had to recognize Austrian sovereignty. In the first half of the 18th century began the struggle of the Rumanians for equality with the Hungarians, Székelys and Saxons. The spokesmen of the Rumanians were dignitaries of the Greek-Catholic (Uniate) Church and the ,,Transylvanian School". In 1867 Transylvania became united with Hungary. The policy of Magyarization was bitterly fought by the Rumanians and the Saxons. Following WW I they decided to join Rumania. Between 1940 and 1947 northern Transylvania was reunited with Hungary.

N.B. The statement that since the beginning of the 10th century there existed small principalities of the autochthonous population on the soil of Transylvania which subsequently succumbed to the Hungarians is an unmitigated trumpeting of Nicolae Ceausescu's Daco-Roman propaganda.

The bias of the writer of the article is clear from the beginning. He/she gives the German and the Rumanian names of the area in question, but not the Hungarian, although Old Hungarian Erdö Elve, or in contracted form: Erdel, had been in use centuries before any Saxons or Wallachians settled there.

The names of three towns are given in German (Klausenburg, Kronstadt, Hermannstadt), the fourth in Rumanian. Originally three were Hungarian. Klausenburg is the translation of Kolozs-vár ('Kolos-fort'); Kronstadt was Brassó (originally Old Turkish for 'grey water'); it is true that both were developed by Germans; Tirgu Mures is the Rumanian translation of Maros-vásárhely ('marketplace on the river maros') where Wallachians/Rumanians only appeared in numbers after 1920. Transylvania did not become a part of liberated Hungary ruled by Habsburg kings until late in 1686. Bias and shoddy scholarship?

Lajos Kazar: Facts against fiction