Central European Medieval Texts Series, Volume I
Gesta Hungarorum
The Deeds of the Hungarians
by Simon of Kéza
Edited and translated by
László Veszprémy and Frank Schaer,
both in the Department of Medieval Studies, Central
European University, and
with an introduction by Jenő Szűcs.
"This handsome volume is a useful addition to
the steadily growing number of works pretaining to East-Central
Europe..." - Medieval Review
Simon of Kéza was a court cleric of the Hungarian King,
Ladislas IV (1272-1290). He travelled extensively in
Italy, France and Germany and culled the epic and poetic
material from a broad range of readings.
Written between 1282-1285, the Gesta Hungarorum is
an ingenious and imaginative historical fiction of prehistory,
medieval history and contemporary social history. The
author divides Hungarian history into two periods: Hunnish-Hungarian
prehistory and Hungarian history, giving a division
which persisted in Hungary up to the beginnings of modern
historiography.
Simon of Kéza provides a vivid retelling of the well
known Attila stories, using such lively prose as - ".the
battle lasted for 15 days on end, Csaba's army received
such a crushing defeat that very few of the Huns or
the sons of Attila survived, the river Danube from Sicambria
as far as the city of Potentia was swollen with blood
and for several days neither men nor animals could drink
the water."
The book is also significant because of the author's
legal-theoretical framework of corporate self government
and constitutional law, inspired by French and Italian
sources and practice, which made this chronicle become
an integral part of Hungarian historiography.
"...das Konzept der neuen Publikationsreihe besteht
darin, in freier Auswahl mittelalterliche historiographische
Texte des östlichen Mitteleuropa in der Quellensprache
(in der Regel Latein) zusammen mit einer englischen
Übersetzung zu publizieren, wobei der lateinische
Text der Fassung der besten vorliegenden Edition folgt.
Begleitet werden die Ausgaben von ausführlichen
Einleitungen, die den Autor und die Quelle vorstellen,
sowie erläuternden Anmerkungen." - Zeitschrift
für Osteuropa-Forschung
1999
236 pages
ISBN 978-963-9116-31-3 cloth $49.95 / €42.95 /
Ł37.00
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