single chief, and, strengthened thus, would
wander westward for the conquest of a new
and better pasturage. The seven chieftains of
the seven tribes then met, and puncturing
their arms, offered to the heathen gods they
worshipped their blood, mixed with wine, in
consecration of this contract:—That Alrnos,
and his generation after hirn, should be their
duke in war: That booty should be common,
and divided fairly: That Duke Almos and
his descendants, being elected voluntarily by
his companion chiefs, should never exclude
them or their descendants from his councils:
That those should die who broke allegiance
to the contract, but that a duke breaking it
should be deposed, and banished with a curse.

Thus having agreed, these wild men
travelled westward, and on entering Hungary,
Duke Almos resigned to his son Arpad. Then
Arpad, says a legend, sent to Swatspluk, a
king of the Czechian empire, settled in those
days round the Theiss and Danube, requiring
grass from the Hungarian heaths and water
from the river—offering, in return, a white
steed with a purple bridle. That was an
Oriental way of asking for surrender; but
Swatspluk, who was no Oriental scholar, took
the horse, and courteously sent to the Magyars
abundant hay and water. Thereupon, Arpad
and his followers, in the year 889, marched on
to the great heath between the Theiss and
Danube. Swatspluk offered battle, and was
beaten; he escaped, says the legend, on the
same white horse which he had taken in
exchange for Hungary. The Slowaks, in
Upper Hungary, are the descendants of the
conquered Czechs.

In the country thus won, the first Diet was
soon held near Szegedin, in which the rules of
future government were laid down in what
savages would call a highly-civilised method.
A rough but sufficient constitution was
established for this nation, wandering with tents
within its settled limits, and determining to
fight beyond the limits very frequently. The
people were free, and had abundant rights;
the chiefs, however, forming a high aristocracy
among them. Hungary was divided into
counties and into baronies for the purposes of
war; castles were built; the harvests of the
allotted soil were so divided, as to yield
abundant maintenance to the castle garrisons;
the conquered natives who surrendered to the
Magyars were admitted as allies and friends;
the restive were reduced to serfdom.

The Magyars thus conquered, and prepared
to defend that country by the Danube, to
which they had been especially attracted by a
legend current on the heaths of Asia, that
there by the Danube. Attila, the Hun. had
left a pleasant land, which was the inheritance
of them, his kinsman. From the Huns we
get the name of Hungary. Zoltan, his son,
succeeded Arpad, and Taksony, the son of
Zoltan, followed as the Duke of Hungary.

Under these chiefs, the wild Hungarians,
ugly Mongolian hordes, mounted on shaggy
little ponies, spread abroad, and ravaged
many parts of Europe, bringing captives
home; for the kings in Europe were at that
time very weak. Pavia they burnt, putting
all the inhabitants to death except two
hundred; Toulouse was entered by a swarm of
them, whom an epidemic seized, and those
whom the epidemic spared, the counts were
able to destroy. They ravaged the Greek
empire; they ravaged the German empire; and
the people of Western Europe prayed in their
Litany, "Good Lord deliver us from the
Hungarians! " Tribute was paid to them, which,
in the year 983, Henry the Fowler, Emperor
of Germany, a wise prince, refused to continue.
The Hungarians formed two large armies;
one went into Thuringia; the other was faced
by Henry, on the river Saale. There they
awaited the reinforcement of their Thuringian
army: tidings, however, came of its complete
destruction. The result was a panic, and the
destruction of this other army also by Henry,
in an engagement, which was not a battle, but
is called by history the Slaughter of Merseburg.
Thus Henry the Fowler checked the
ravages of the Magyars in Europe: they made
peace, and gave hostages. The hostages they
gave to the Greek Emperor were instructed,
and made Christians at Constantinople, and
were sent back with a bishop in their
company: for it was felt essential to infuse a
Christian spirit into these fierce Pagan
tribes.

That was the first appearance of Greek
Christianity in Hungary; it did not thrive
much: the Christianity which did thrive, was
brought at a later period from Rome. The
vast number of European prisoners now
intimately mingled with the Magyars, did
something, however, for the civilisation of
their conquerors. Villages and cities
superseded many of the tents. Geiza had
succeeded Taksony; the wife of Geiza, named
Sarolta, had submitted to the Christian
influences of Constantinople. She converted
her husband, founded monasteries, and invited
Christian priests to settle. The converted
Geiza still worshipped the sun and the
elements, saying, that " he could afford to
serve the old gods and the new ones, too."

Stephen, the son of Geiza, has been
canonised; for it was he who made his people
to be Christians. For three years the royal
apostle preached and practised the new
doctrine; liberal of words, where they failed,
he was also bountiful of blows. Chiefly by
persuasion, partly by force, he placed himself
in a position which enabled him to send word
to Pope Gerbert (a studious man, whose
smattering of algebra and taste for mechanics,
caused him to be accused of dealing with the
devil) to inform his Holiness of the voluntary
conversion of the Hungarians, and of their
spiritual homage to himself. In return, the
Pope forwarded to King Stephen a crown of
gold, and the Cross of the Patriarch, with the
title of Apostolic King, and ecclesiastical