|
Menumorut or Menumorout (translated into Hungarian as Mén-Marót) was the ruler of a dukedom based in Biharea, in the northwestern part of Transylvania (nowadays in Romania), in the 9th century. Menumorout was grandson of Dux Morout or Moront of the khozars, some hungarian authors identifying Morout with the Moravian Morot whom the Magyars defeated in Pannonia. His lands lied east of Tisza and Ygfon forrest, from Mures river to Somes river, towards Ultrasilvania (Transylvania).
Gesta Hungarorum tells the story of Menumorout twice, first Menumorut declined "with a Bulgarian heart" the request of the Magyar ruler Árpád (907) to cede his territory between Somes river and and Meses mountain, and in the negotiations with the ambassadors Usubuu and Veluc of Árpád he invoked the sovereignty of the Byzantine Emperor, in those days Leo VI.
The ambassadors of Árpád crossed river Tisa and came to the capital fortress of Bihor, demanding important territories on the left bank of the river for their duke. Menumorut replied:
- "Tell Arpad, duke of Hungary, your lord. Indebted we are to him as a friend to a friend, with all requisite to him, since he is a stranger and lacks many. Yet the territory he asked from our good will never will we bestow as long as we will be alive. And we felt sorry that duke Salanus conceded him a very large territory out either of love, which it is said, or out of fear, which is denied. Ourself on the other hand, neither out of love nor out of fear, we will ever concede him land, not even if spanning only a finger, although he said he has a right on it. And his words do not trouble our heart that he stressed he descends from the strain of king Attila, which was called the scourge of god. And if that one raped this country from my ancestor, now thanks to my lord the emperor of Constantinople, nobody can snatch it from my hands." (See also: The original text in Latin (http://wikisource.org/wiki/Reply_of_Menumorut_to_Árpád))
The Magyars first besieged Satu Mare(Zotmar) citadel and then Menumorout's castle in Biharea, defeating him.
Gesta Hungarorum then retells the story of Menumorout, this time, he married his daughter into the Árpád dynasty, and her son Taksony, the nephew of Menumorut, became ruler of the Magyars and father of Mihály and Géza, who's son Vajk (Voicu in Romanian) became the first King of Hungary in 1001 under the Christian name Stephen.
The policy of Menumorut was a common one among other similar local leaders like Gelou and Glad, who sought the protection of a remote power in order to be able to contain the Magyar expansionism. Eventually, his duchy was conquered by the Kingdom of Hungary around the year 1000.
Already proven by archeological excavations (numerous coin hoards included), the passage cited above stresses the never disrupted connection the ancestors of the Romanians had with the Eastern Roman Empire, despite the political detachment occurred because of the invasions.
|
