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ABSTRACTS

Csukovits, Enikő: Sources, Genres, Possibilities:  e Elements

of the Medieval Image of Hungary

 ere are numerous sources providing insight into the medieval image of Hun-

gary and Hungarians: in addition to geographical writings, books, and travel

literature, there is awealth of geographical-ethnological information contained

in historiography, an increasing number of literary works, and in documents

originally not intended for the public, such as legatine reports. Examining these

sources, the present study addresses two questions:  rst, the extent to which

modern historians use di erent sources than their medieval colleagues; second,

the possibility of an insight into the perceptions and knowledge of Hungary and

Hungarians in medieval Western Europe.

Surviving sources provide information to varying depth and degree.

Medieval travel accounts seldom include reports about Hungary, and often at

atangent.  e  rst modern geographical descriptions written in the  fteenth

century were not yet proper geographical works, and contained limited infor-

mation about the country and its inhabitants.  e richest source of consistent

information about the medieval image of Hungarians is historiography.  ere is

signi cantly more information concerning Hungarians in the historiography of

neighbouring countries than in more remote regions of the continent. Inthese

remote countries, Hungarians featured in the news in two cases only: either

when an event of historical dimensions happened in Hungary itself or when

Hungarians appeared in large numbers in the land of the chronicler. Histori-

cal crises appeared in narrative sources almost immediately.  us, contemporary

historical writings precisely re ect which Hungarian historical events were of

European consequence, drawing the attention of the wider public: the raiding

campaigns of the Hungarians, the founding of the Christian state, the Mongol

invasion and the Ottoman threat.

As for the image of Hungarians, medieval diplomatic sources, primarily the

large number of reports by papal legates and ambassadors of Venice, provide the

largest pool of information. From the 1390s, proper legatine reports began to

be written.  ese reports, however, informed alimited number of people and

their content was inaccessible for the wider public.  e late medieval authors’

approach to gathering information was markedly di erent than that of their

modern counterparts: geographers of the Antiquity were considered the primary

authorities for geography and ethnology until as late as the  fteenth and six-

teenth centuries.  eir importance and frequent use is attested by contemporary

works and the surviving or reconstructed booklists of medieval libraries. Works

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Philips AZ1509/17 Manuale Utente Pagina 199