Julianus, tartars, Riccardus, Paulus Hungarus

Julianus
Ancient homes of the conquering Hungarians
Second coming of the Tartars
Plunder of Kiev
Mongolian archer on horseback
St Dominique
Julianus

A Dominican monk, who traveled to the east twice (1235-36, 1237) to search for the pagan Hungarians living there. In the course of his first journey he managed to find them near the river Etil (Volga ?), but on being informed of the coming Tartar attack, he soon had to return home. His second journey was unsuccessful, because the Tartar invasion overthrew the Hungarians living in the east. The reports about Julianus's journeys are very important sources of Hungarian prehistory and the age of the Tartar invasion.

ZSA


Tartars

In the majority of medieval sources, this is a collective name for tribes who spoke Mongolian. The Mongol tribes were united in 1206 by Themudjin, who became the ruler of all the Mongols under the name of Gengis Khan ( 1227). The development of the Mongol empire started during his reign through conquering several Asiatic states and people and forcing them to surrender. The Mongols had entered into Eastern Europe during Gengis's life, but their big European campaign was launched only in 1236. In course of this they destroyed and occupied Bulgaria along the river Volga, and several Russian principalities. The 1241-42 Mongol invasion in Hungary was also part of this long campaign. The nomadic state in the Eastern European steppe was called the Golden Horde, which survived till the beginning of the 16th century, developed as part of the Mongol empire.

ZSA


Riccardus

A Dominican monk, who lived in the first half of the 13th century. He wrote a report about Brother Julianus's eastern journey (1235-1236). It is not clear whether he was Julianus's Hungarian collegue in the order, or the clerk of the papal court.

SzK


Paulus Hungarus

He taught canon law at the university of Bologne in the 1210s, and in 1219 he joined the Dominican order. In 1221 he returned to Hungary together with his four colleagues in order to settle down the order and convert the Cumans. In 1241 he died as a martyr in the land of the Cumans during the Tartar invasion. His notes in canon law (Notabilia) and his repentance manual (Summa de paenitentia) were preserved for the coming generations.

SzK