Ethnogenesis in the Carpathian Basin in the beginning of the Middle Ages in reflection of Archaeology and narrative sources. To the question of the late Avar population and its relation to Hungarians.

Abstract

The geopolitical area of the Carpathian Basin was situated on the boundaries of the classical Greek and Latin literacy in the 9th century. There are no internal written sources dating back to the mentioned period characterizing the societies inhabiting the area. That is the reason why the political and social situation can be observed indirectly only via external written sources and archeological methods. The Avar Khaganate was completely annihilated by the wars between the Avars and Franks and the campaigns of the Bulgars from the hypothetical political map of the 9th century Europe. Nevertheless, the internal political crisis undoubtedly contributed to the swift disintegration of Avaria, vaguely described in the primary sources. The evidence of narrative texts and archeology, however, suggest that these processes did not bring dramatic changes in the "ethnic" composition of the Carpathian Basin population. The introductory chapters of this thesis give an overview on a set of written sources and tendencies in modern archaeological research. The research part of the thesis investigates not only the possible concepts of the continuous presence of Avars in the 9th century Central Europe, but also the questions about the chronology of the Carpathian Basin settlement by the Magyar tribes. Taking into..