Keywords |
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ID |
5669 |
Text |
Chronicon (Regino abbatis Prumiensis) (900 - 908) Regino of Prüm |
Quotation |
[a. 889] Ex supradictis igitur locis gens memorata a finitimis sibi populis, qui Pecinaci vocantur, a propriis sedibus expulsa est, eo quod numero et virtute prestarent et genitale, ut premisimus, rus exuberante multitudine non sufficeret ad habitandum ... https://www.dmgh.de/mgh_ss_rer_germ_50/index.htm#page/132/mode/1up |
Translation |
[]a. 889] The Hungarians were thus driven from their home in these lands by a neighboring people called the Petchenegs, because they were superior to them in strength and number and because, as we said before, their own country was not sufficient to accommodate their swelling numbers.
After they had been forced to flee by the violence of the Petchenegs they said goodbye to their homeland and set out to look for lands where they could live and establish settlements. First they roamed the wilderness of the Pannonians and the Avars, and sought their daily food by hunting and fishing. Then they attacked the lands of the Carinthians, Moravians and Bulgars with the infestation of constant raids, killing a very few with the sword and many thousands with arrows, which the fire from their bows made of horn with such skill that it is almost impossible to avoid being hit by them.
But they know nothing about fighting hand-to-hand in formation or taking besieged cities. They fight by charging forward and turning back on their horses, often indeed simulating flight. Nor can they fight for a long time; but they would be irresistible if their perseverance were as strong as their charge. Mostly they leave the battle at the height of the fighting and soon afterward come back from their retreat to fight again, so that just when you think you have won, the critical moment has to be faced. Their way of fighting is all the more dangerous in that other peoples are not used to it. The one difference between their way of fighting and the Bretons’ is that they use arrows while the Bretons throw missiles. They do not live like humans, but like beasts. For, so it is rumoured, they eat their meat raw, drink blood, chop up the hearts of captives and swallow them bit by bit just as if they were medicine; and they are not swayed by any compassion nor moved by any stirrings of pity. They cut their hair down to the skin with their knives.
They ride their horses all the time; they are accustomed to travel, halt, think and talk on them. They put a lot of effort into teaching their children and slaves horse-riding and archery. By nature they are puffed up, quarrelsome, deceitful and insolent, as is to be expected from people who attribute the same fierceness to women as to men. They are always restless and inclined to make trouble either at home or abroad. They are inherently taciturn, and more given to action than to words. By their savagery, this abominable people devastated not only the regions already mentioned, but also most of the kingdom of Italy. |
Quotation source |
Regino of Prüm, Chronicon, ed. by Friedrich Kurze, MGH: SS rer. Germ. in us. schol. separatim editi, 50 (Hanover: Hahn, 1890), p. 131-132; translation maclean, pp. 204-206 |
Temporal Coverage |
889 - 889 |
Associated use case(s) |
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Spatial Coverage Objects |
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<QuerySet [<Stelle: [a. 889] Ex supradictis igitur loci...; (Chronicon (Regino abbatis Prumiensis) (900 - 908), Regino of Prüm, Chronicon, ed. by Friedrich Kurze, MGH: SS rer. Germ. in us. schol. separatim editi, 50 (Hanover: Hahn, 1890), p. 131-132; translation maclea [5669]>]> - Hungri, [wurzel: Hungr]
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<QuerySet [<Stelle: [a. 889] Ex supradictis igitur loci...; (Chronicon (Regino abbatis Prumiensis) (900 - 908), Regino of Prüm, Chronicon, ed. by Friedrich Kurze, MGH: SS rer. Germ. in us. schol. separatim editi, 50 (Hanover: Hahn, 1890), p. 131-132; translation maclea [5669]>]> - Hungri, [wurzel: Hungr]
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