Magyars settle the Carpathian Basin

Around 895 to 902, seven Magyar tribes, led by a chief traditionally named Arpad, crossed the Carpathian Mountains and settled in the plain of the middle Danube, in modern Hungary. They were a semi-nomadic, horse-riding people who spoke a Uralic language related to Finnish and Estonian, and they had come west from the steppe north of the Black Sea, partly pushed by the Pechenegs. The Frankish empire had destroyed the Avar khaganate around 800, leaving the basin lightly held by Slavic and other groups.¹

For decades Magyar horsemen raided Germany, Italy and France, until King Otto I crushed them at the Battle of Lechfeld in 955. Their leaders then turned to settlement and alliance with the West. Prince Geza invited missionaries, and his son Stephen I was crowned king around the year 1000 or on January 1, 1001, with a crown tradition says was blessed by Pope Sylvester II. Stephen set up counties and bishoprics, put down pagan revolts and made Hungary a Catholic kingdom that lasted as a state for centuries, and is revered as a saint.¹²