Botond (warrior)

Anonymus claims that Grand Prince Árpád handed over the area of Bodrog along the river Vajas in the southern lands to Tas and Kölpény during the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin (late 9th century).

[2] Contrary to Anonymus, Simon of Kéza states in his Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum (early 1280s) that Botond was a common Hungarian soldier who "was chosen to wrestle" the Greek warrior.

[5] According to scholar Zoltán Tóth, Botond's lower social status is confirmed by the fact that his descendants (see below) were belonged to the relatively poor nobles centuries later.

[1] Other historians argue that Anonymus fabricated a personal patronymic name from Botond's possible Kölpény or Kylfing ethnicity, who were hired as frontier guards by the Hungarian grand princes in the 10th century.

Simon of Kéza writes the campaign in the direction of Balkans was led by Taksony, the grand prince himself, while the Illuminated Chronicle refers to Apor as commander ("captain") of the Hungarian army.

[15] Both chronicle emphasize that following Botond's victory over the Greek warrior, Constantine and his wife Helena Lekapene, along with their court escort, who watched the fight standing upon the city battlements, "felt great shame, and turning away their faces they went into the palace".

Thereafter, the Hungarians lifted the siege and plundered and laid waste "whole of Greece and Bulgaria", i.e. the surrounding lands of the empire, "carrying away from it gold, jewels and flocks beyond numbering".

[14] Most historians accepted Anonymus' narration regarding the identification of Golden Gate (Medieval Greek: Χρυσεία Πύλη), which situated at the south end of the land walls and was the main ceremonial entrance into the city.

[19] Henrik Marczali emphasized the story has been preserved in folk poetry over the centuries, without significant changes, and is full of pagan tradition, which explains the skepticism of Latin-language historiography.

[21] Tóth considered that Botond's wrestling with the Greek only became part of the legend later (before that, smashing the gate was the dominant scene), with the failed intention of merging the character with Poto.

But as I have found this in no book written by historians, and have heard it only in the spurious tales of peasants, I do not, therefore, propose to write it in the present work.Anonymus placed Botond's military career to the time of the Hungarian conquest at the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries.

The Gesta Hungarorum says when the child Zolta succeeded his father Árpád as grand prince in 907, Bulcsú, Lehel and Botond – who "were warlike men, brave in spirit, whose concern was none other than to conquer peoples for their lord and lay waste the realms of others " – fought in Carinthia and Lombardy, plundering Padua.

He appointed Botond, Szabolcs and Örkény (Urkund) to lead the Hungarian armies to the Kingdom of Italy and East Francia, plundering and looting vast territories.

After the victory, Botond returned home where he, "worn out by the long travail of war, began strangely to weaken, passed from the world and was buried by the Verőce River" (today Virovitica, Croatia).

[25] Botond's name does not appear in contemporary sources (Western or Byzantine), therefore most historians consider the career path provided by Anonymus above to be a complete fabrication.

[26] Henrik Marczali argued that Anonymus significantly enlarged Botond's role, gave him lineage, but could not link him to an ancient clan, and despite his victories, he did not receive any of the estates from Árpád or Zolta, unlike the other chieftains.

[27] Elemér Mályusz considered that Anonymus made a futile attempt to reserve and expropriate Botond's memory for the ruling elite, as he was unable to obscure his character due to his prevalence.

[28][6] Sophia, the widow of Matthew from the clan demanded her daughters' quarter – the estate Ködmen or Kudmen in Virovitica County (near present-day Široko Polje) – from Thomas and Peter, the brothers of the late File Miskolc, who was granted the land from Duke Coloman prior to that.