How did Hungarians and a Hungarian village look like in A.D. 895? – videos
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You probably heard about the Conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 895-896 and it might happen that you even know that the Heroes Square, Andrássy Street or the building of the Parliament were inaugurated in the year of 1896 in which Hungary celebrated the millennium of that event. However, have you ever seen how Hungarians lived in the time of the Conquest and how an authentic Hungarian village looked like those days? Now you have a chance to do so.
Wealthy and handsome people of the steppe
According to historical sources, the Hungarians were nomadic people those days wandering together with their animals in search of pasturage. Furthermore, they lived in tents that were easy to pack together and move. According to Ibn Rusta, a 10th-century Persian explorer and geographer, Magyars settled along the nearest river during winters where they lived by fishing. He also wrote then that their “land is well watered and harvests abundant“. However, it is still unclear whether they or their slaves cultivated the land. Most Hungarian Historians today say that the latter is true.
According to Ibn Rusta, plundering raids, taxes collected from the neighbouring communities and slave trade made Hungarians wealthy. In fact, they sold their slaves to Byzantine traders and in return, they bought luxury products. According to Gardezi, a Persian Muslim Geographer and Historian of the early 11th century, the Hungarians were “handsome people and of good appearance and their clothes are of silk brocade and their weapons are of silver and are encrusted with pearls.”
Here is the video showing the life of a 9th-century Hungarian village: