During the Middle Ages the majority of people in Western Europe never
met any Hungarians. They didn't even hear about them, as news about
Hungary only reached Western Europe in times of extraordinary historical
events- such as the adoption of Christianity at the turn of the 11th
century, or the devastating Tatar invasion in 1241-1242. Obtaining
information about the Hungarians from books was also difficult, as
medieval Europe, even as late as in the 15th-16th centuries, lacked
libraries that would have offered greater numbers of works on Hungary or
on Hungarian topics. On top of it all, works that contained the most
detailed and accurate information remained unknown, in their own period;
posterity only found them in rare manuscript copies discovered much
later. Yet once collected, we find that these sources, originating from
distant parts of the continent and written for different purposes,
contain information about Hungary and the Hungarians that most often
reaffirm one another. This work examines these sources and sets out to
answer four major questions: What did people in medieval Western Europe
know, think, and believe about the Hungarians and Hungary? To what
degree was this knowledge constant or fluid over the centuries that made
up the medieval era, and were changes in knowledge followed by any
changes in appreciation? Where was the country located in the hierarchy
of European countries on the basis of the knowledge, suppositions, and
beliefs relating to it? What were the most important elements in this
image of the Hungarians and of Hungary, and which of them became the
most enduring stereotypes?
