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.
- Cover
- Front matter
- Series title page
- Title page
- Copyright page
- CONTENTS
- General Editors' Preface
- Abbreviated References to Frequently Quoted Titles
- Other Abbreviations and Conventions
- List of Maps, Figures and Tables
- lntroduction
- J. SZŰCS: THEORETICAL ELEMENTS IN MASTER SIMON OF KÉZA'S GESTA HUNGARORUM (1282-1285)
- The Background: The Emergence of a European Structural Unity
- A New Historical Frame of Reference: The Nation
- Simon's Social Theory: The Origins of Human lnequality
- The New Centre of Political Thought: The Communitas
- Two Authors, Two Histories within One Europe
- SIMONIS DE KÉZA: GESTA HUNGARORUM
- Simonis de Kéza [Gesta Hungarorum]
- Explicit Prologus
- Incipiunt Hunnorum Gesta
- Explicit Liber Primus de Introitu
- Incipit Secundus Liber de Reditu
- De Nobilibus Advenis
- De Udwornicis
- SIMON OF KÉZA: THE DEEDS OF THE HUNGARIANS
- Simon of Kéza [The Deeds of the Hungarians]
- End of the Prologue
- Beginning of the Deeds of the Huns
- End of the First Book, about the Entry
- Beginning of the Second Book, about the Return
- The Nobles of Foreign Origin
- The Udvarnok
- Bibliography
- Bibliographies on Simon of Kéza
- Literature
- Gazetteer of Geographical Names
- Index of Proper Names
- Index of Geographical Names
- back cover
Text
Audio
Adobe DRM
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