Anonymus and Master Roger

✍ Scribed by Martyn Rady (editor); János M. Bak (editor); László Veszprémy (editor)

• Publisher: Central European University Press
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 324
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Contains two very different narratives; both are for the first time presented in an updated Latin text with an annotated English translation.An anonymous notary of King Bela of Hungary wrote a Latin Gesta Hungarorum (ca. 1200/10), a literary composition about the mythical origins of the Hungarians and their conquest of the Carpathian Basin. Anonymus tried to (re)construct the events and protagonists—including ethnic groups—of several centuries before from the names of places, rivers, and mountains of his time, assuming that these retained the memory of times past. One of his major "inventions" was the inclusion of Attila the Hun into the Hungarian royal genealogy, a feature later developed into the myth of Hun-Hungarian continuity.The Epistle to the Sorrowful Lament upon the Destruction of the Kingdom of Hungary by the Tartars of Master Roger includes an eyewitness account of the Mongol invasion in 1241–2, beginning with an analysis of the political conditions under King Bela IV and ending with the king's return to the devastated country.

✦ Table of Contents

CONTENTS
General Editors’ Preface
Abbreviations
List of Maps and Illustrations
First page of the Gesta Hungarorum (OSZK Clmae 403, fol. 1v)
Introduction
Gesta Hungarorum
The Deeds of the Hungarians
Epistola in miserabile carmen super destructione regni hungarie per tartaros facta
Epistle to the sorrowful lament upon the destruction of the kingdom of Hungary by the Tatars
Select Bibliography
Index of Names of Persons, Kindreds, and Peoples
Index of Geographical Names
Gazetteers of Geographical Names
The movements of the Mongol troops are approximate
Map of Hungary with Anonymus’ toponyms