Anonymus and Master Roger

Here Begins the Prologue to the Deeds of the Hungarians

iNCipiT pROlOGUS iN GESTA HUNGARORUM a [SRH, 33] p dictusb magister ac quondam bone memorie gloriosissimi Bele regis Hungarie notarius1 N suo dilectissimo amico, viro venerabili et arte litteralis scientie inbuto,2 salutem et sue petitionis effectumc .3 Dum olim in scolari studio simul essemus et in hystoria Troiana, quam ego cum summo amore complexus ex libris Darethis frigii4 ceterorumque auctorum,5 sicut a magistris meis audiveram, in unum volumen proprio stilo compilaveram, pari voluntate legeremus, petisti a me, ut, sicut hystoriam Troianam bellaque Grecorum scripseram , ita et genealogiam regum Hungarie et nobilium suorum, qualiter septem principales persone, que Hetumoger6 vocantur, de terra Scithica descenderunt vel qualis sit terra Scithica et qualiter sit generatus dux Almus7 aut quare vocatur Almus primus dux Hungarie, a quo reges Hungarorum originem duxerunt, vel quot regna et reges sibi subiugaverunt aut quare populus de terra Scithica egressus per ydioma alienigenarum Hungarii et in sua lingua propria Mogerii vocantur , tibi scriberem. Promisi etenimd me facturum, sed aliis negotiis impeditus et tue peticionise et mee promissionis iam pene eram oblitus , nisi mihi per litteras tua dilectio debitum reddere monuisset. Mea Hungarum Ms b sic Ms, sine puncto. pdictus Silagi; p. dictus SRH, Juhász c affectum Ms d et Ms add. e petionis Ms corr. 1 On the unknown identity of the author, see above, XiX seq. 2 Nothing is known about N, if he existed at all. This clause and several others in the prologue (such as writing for a friend, apology for delay, arguing for the need of remembrance ) are commonplaces usual in introductory passages (exordial topoi). 3 Here and below see Hugo Bononiensis, Rationes dictandi prosaice, pp. 53, 63–4, 84–6. [2] Anonymus.indb 2 2010.06.14. 9:39 HERE BEGiNS THE pROlOGUE TO THE DEEDS Of THE HUNGARiANS p who is called master, and sometime notary of the most glorious Béla, king of Hungary of fond memory,1 to the venerable man N his most dear friend steeped in the knowledge of letters:2 Greetings, and the answer to his plea.3 when we were together at school reading with common purpose the story of Troy that i had brought most lovingly together into one volume from the books of Dares phrygius4 and other authors,5 in suitable style, as i was taught by my masters, you asked me that, in the same way as i had written on the history of Troy and on the wars of the Greeks, so to write for you of the genealogy of the kings of Hungary and of their noblemen: how the seven leading persons, who are called the Hetumoger,6 came down from the Scythian land, what that Scythian land was like and how prince álmos7 was begotten and why álmos, from whom the kings of Hungary trace their origin, is called the first prince of Hungary, and how many realms and rulers they conquered and why the people coming forth from the Scythian land are called Hungarians in the speech of foreigners but Magyars in their own. I did indeed promise that i would do so, but hindered by other matters, i might have almost entirely forgotten your request and my promise, had not your 4 See above, p. XXiX. for the sake of economy, we will mark by italics, but not specify in every case, the borrowings from these. 5 E.g., the Excidium Troiae, see above, n. 34, p. XXX. 6 literally, ‘the seven Hungarians.’ Constantine porphyrogenitus (DAi, ch. 38, pp. 170–1) confirms that the tribes of the Hungarians were seven in number. Throughout the text, the seven leaders are referred to as principales persone (which may be a borrowing from canon law, see, e.g., Corpus Iuris Canonici, vol. 2 Greg iX, lib. 2, Tit. 1, c. xiv [col. 245], or Tit. Vii. C.i [col. 265], &c.). incidentally, the ‘Seven Hungarians ’ may have been the name of the tribal alliance; such appellations were common among steppe people, for example the name Onogur—a ‘people’ to which the Magyars belonged in the seventh-ninth centuries—means ‘the ten Ogurs’. 7 On the problem of translating dux, see above, p. XXXVi. [3] Anonymus.indb 3 2010.06.14. 9:39 GESTA HUNGARORUM 4 mor igitur tue dilectionis, quamvis multis et diversis huius laboriosi seculi impeditus sim negotiis, facere tamen aggressus sum, que facere iussisti, et secundum traditiones diversorum hystoriographorum divine gratie fultus auxilio optimum estimans, ut...