Menumorut

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Menumorut or Menumorout (Hungarian: Mén-Marót) is described in the Gesta Hungarorum as the grandson of the dux (duke) Morut (Hungarian: Marót, Slovak: Moravec) who ruled the lands between the River Tisza and the Ygfon Forest in the direction of Ultrasilvania (Transylvania), from the River Mureş to the River Someş. According to the Gesta, these lands were inhabited by a people called the "Cozars". There are various interpretations of the name "Cozar". It can mean Khazars (might be Kabars) or Bulgars like in the case of Nestor Chronicle.

The historical basis of Menumorut is disputed. Based on the account in the Gesta Hungarorum, Romanian historians believe that Menumorut was the ruler of a duchy called Biharea in the 10th century. Hungarian and Slovak historians believe that both Marot and Menumarot were invented by the author of the Gesta or, less probably, that Marot was the Great Moravian leader Svatopluk.

Some historians believe that Morut and Menumorut were ethnic Khazars, with their names being of Turkic origin.

[edit] The Story of Menumorut

The Gesta Hungarorum tells the story of Menumorut twice. In the first passage, Menumorut declined "with a Bulgarian heart" the request of the Magyar ruler Árpád (907) to cede his territory between the River Someş and the Meses Mountains, and in the negotiations with the ambassadors Usubuu and Veluc of Árpád he invoked the sovereignty of the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the Wise.

The ambassadors of Árpád crossed the Tisza and came to the capital fortress of Biharia, demanding important territories on the left bank of the river for their duke. Menumorut replied:

"Tell Arpad, duke of Hungary, your lord: Indebted we are to him as a friend to a friend, with all requisite to him, since he is a stranger and lacks many. Yet the territory he asked from our good will never will we bestow as long as we will be alive. And we felt sorry that duke Salanus conceded him a very large territory out either of love, which it is said, or out of fear, which is denied. Ourself on the other hand, neither out of love nor out of fear, we will ever concede him land, not even if spanning only a finger, although he said he has a right on it. And his words do not trouble our heart that he stressed he descends from the strain of king Attila, which was called the scourge of God. And if that one raped this country from my ancestor, now thanks to my lord the emperor of Constantinople, nobody can snatch it from my hands." (See also: The original text in Latin)

The Magyars first besieged the citadel of Zotmar (Romanian: Satu Mare, Hungarian: Szatmar) and then Menumorut's castle in Bihar, and were able to defeat him.

The Gesta Hungarorum then retells the story of Menumorut. In the second telling, he married his daughter into the Árpád dynasty. Her son Taksony, the grandson of Menumorut, became ruler of the Magyars and father of Mihály and Géza, whose son Vajk became the first King of Hungary in 1001 under the Christian baptismal name Stephen.