Refugees from Eastern Europe in Medieval Hungary in the Eleventh-Thirteenth Centuries

Abstract

Contrary to the general belief about the Middle Ages, mobility within one’s country was part of everyday life. Fleeing from an attack from outside the border or a dynastic conflict was not a rare phenomenon either. Dynastic conflicts spurred the losing party to attempt to regain its former position. Fleeing was also accompanied by a request for help, which they could hope for from relatives or neighboring dynasties. Narrative sources of the time, which were created in connection with the ruler’s court, usually give news about such cases. We know much less about the refugees outside the dynasty. We obtain information about the elite of society, those who played a role in the affairs of the dynasty, in the secondary threads of the dynastic story. In the lower strata of society the protection of their lives and property led to fleeing. Compared to the events of the war, we hardly have any documentation on this. The survival of a small number of cases reported is accidental.