Ügyek

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Ügyek
Ugyek.jpg
Ügyek depicted in the Illuminated Chronicle
Diedafter 818
SpouseEmese (since 819)
IssueÁlmos
HouseHouse of Árpád
FatherEdemen son of Prince Csaba
MotherAracsilla of Emese

Ügyek (second half of the 8th century – first half of the 9th century), also known as Ugek or Vgec, was – according to the chronicler Anonymus (or "Master P.") – the father of Álmos, the first Grand Prince of the Hungarians. However, according to a conflicting source, Simon of Kéza (writing about five to eight decades later), Előd was the father of Álmos, while the chronicler referred to Ügyek as Álmos' grandfather. He is the earliest known ancestor of the Árpád dynasty. He was said to be a Scythian, i.e. to be from Dentumoger, the homeland of the Magyars, which the chroniclers identify with Scythia, and use to refer both to the land and its inhabitants.[1][2][3]

Life[]

In the year of Our Lord's incarnation 819, Ügek, the noblest chieftain of Scythia descending from the great house of Magog, took to wife in Dentumoger the daughter of Prince Eunedubelian, called Emese, from whom he begot a son, who was named Álmos. But he is called Álmos from a divine event, because when she was pregnant a divine vision appeared to his mother in a dream in the form of a falcon that seemed to come to her and impregnate her and made known to her that from her womb a torrent would come forth and from her loins glorious kings be generated, but that they would not multiply in their own land. Because a dream is called álom in the Hungarian language and his birth was predicted in a dream, so he was called Álmos. Or he was called Álmos, that is holy, because holy kings and dukes were born of his line.

— Anonymus: Gesta Hungarorum[4]

Ügyek was born in the last third of the 8th century.[5] Anonymus writes that Ügyek married Emese, a daughter of "Prince Eunedubelian" in 819. She had seen a divine dream of a Turul bird before Álmos's birth in c. 820, according to the chronicles. The Turul's role is interpreted as guardian spirit, who protects the baby from harm until he grows up. It is supported by the chronicles, according to whom the Turul appears to the already pregnant woman.

Historian Gyula Kristó said Ügyek's name may have been the chronicler' invention, since it derives from the ancient Hungarian ügy ("saint, holy") word.

Simon of Kéza's Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum narrated that royal lineage that makes Hunnic ruler Attila the sixth-generation ancestor of Árpád, conqueror of the Pannonian Basin, through Attila's son Csaba, his son , his son Ügyek, his son Előd, his son Álmos. Álmos was ruler of the Magyars and the father of Árpád.[6]

Meaning of the name[]

Anonymus gives the name as Vgec; this caused much speculation later, as to the meaning of it. The latest research[7] on the subject gives the following explanations regarding the origin and meaning of the name:

  • Ügyek - Dezső Pais, in his book of 1926,[8] put forward the idea that the name is to be derived from the Hungarian word igy/egy (‛holy’). Gyula Kristó also shared this view.
  • Öge/Üge - Dignitary name, according to historian György Györffy. The meaning of it is "wise" and "sage", also "councillor". The word, as 10% words in modern Hungarian, is of Turkic origin. Many Hungarian personal names, and also animal and plant names,[9] are of Turkic origin. Further, the majority of Hungarian tribal names were of Turkic origin,[10] who overall made a significant contribution to Hungarians during their century-long cohabitation.
  • Üge - The last ruler of the Uyghur Empire, also a contemporary to Ügyek. He was murdered in 846 in the Altai Mountains.[11] It is speculated, that when the Empire fell apart, some Uyghur fragments could have escaped westward.

Significance[]

There are three types of great ancestry in the traditional steppe culture.[12][need quotation to verify]

  1. The distant, 'spiritual' ancestor, who took an important step, but the real power of his dynasty came many generations later;
  2. The founder of an empire, that is inherited by the descendants;
  3. Someone important in the family tree, related to whom the descendants must define themselves.

Ügyek clearly belongs to the first group.[13][page needed][need quotation to verify] Other examples belonging to this category are Ertogrul, (father of Osman), Sheikh Safi (founder of the Safavids), Saman Khuda (founder of the Samanids), among many others.[14][page needed][need quotation to verify] The Turul narrative is strongly reminiscent of an episode narrated in The Secret History of the Mongols, concerning the foundation of the royal Mongol dynasty.[15] All these traditions popular among different peoples, including the Magyars, were informed by the traditional steppe culture, and do not belong to any specif ethnic group.

Family tree[]

Ügyek's son or grandson Álmos, the first ruler of the Hungarians
Álmos' son Árpád, who conquered the Carpathian Basin

The family tree contains both the contradictory reports of Anonymus and Simon Kézai. Majority of the historians accept Anonymus' concept which suggests Ügyek was the father of Álmos.

Attila
Csaba
Ed
ÜgyekEunedubelian
ElődEmese
Álmos
Árpád
Hungarian monarchs

See Also[]

Şilki

References[]

  1. ^ Spinei 2003, p. 52.
  2. ^ Kristó 1996, p. 93.
  3. ^ Lendvai, Paul (2021). The Hungarians A Thousand Years of Victory in Defeat. Translated by Ann Major. Princeton University Press. p. 16. ISBN 9780691200279. Princess Emese, consort of a Scythian king, dreamed that a turul according to different versions, a hawk or an eagle impregnated her by divine command
  4. ^ Anonymus, Notary of King Béla: The Deeds of the Hungarians (ch. 3), pp. 13–15.
  5. ^ B. Szabó-Sudár 2017. p. 226.
  6. ^ Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum [The Deeds of the Huns and Hungarians] (in Latin)
  7. ^ B. Szabó-Sudár 2017.
  8. ^ Magyar Anonymus 1926, 146
  9. ^ Gy Ránki, György Ránki, ed. (1984). Hungarian History--world History. Akadémiai K VIII. p. 10. ISBN 9789630539975.
  10. ^ Pop, Ioan Aurel; Csorvási, Veronica (1996). Romanians and Hungarians from the 9th to the 14th Century The Genesis of the Transylvanian Medieval State. Fundația Culturală Română; Centrul de Studii Transilvane. p. 62. ISBN 9789735770372. The majority of the Hungarian tribe names were of Turkic origin and signified, in many cases, a certain rank.
  11. ^ Dromp, M. R.: Tang China and the Collapse of the Uighur Empire: A Documentary History. Leiden 2005.
  12. ^ Sudár Balázs: Az Árpádok, Attila és a dinasztikus hagyományok. Századok 150:2 (2016) 431–441
  13. ^ B. Szabó-Sudár 2017.
  14. ^ B. Szabó-Sudár 2017.
  15. ^ Macdonald, Helen (2016). Falcon. Reaktion Books. p. Contents - Mythical falcons. ISBN 9781780236896.

Sources[]

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