Editing Huns (section)

=== Links to the Hungarians ===
{{see also|Hungarian prehistory|Origin of the Székelys}}

[[File:MorThanFeastofAttila.jpg|thumb|'Feast of Attila'. Hungarian romantic painting by [[Mór Than]] (1870).]]

Beginning in the High Middle Ages, Hungarian sources have claimed descent from or a close relationship between the Hungarians (Magyars) and the Huns. The claim appears to have first arisen in non-Hungarian sources and only gradually been taken up by the Hungarians themselves because of its negative connotations.{{sfnm|1a1=Róna-Tas|1y=1999|1p=424 |2a1=Lendvai|2y=2003|2pp=7, 25–26 |3a1=Szűcs|3y=1999|3pp=xlv–xlvii}} The Anonymous ''[[Gesta Hungarorum]]'' (after 1200) is the first Hungarian source to mention that the line of [[Hungary#Medieval Hungary (895–1526)|Árpádian kings]] were descendants of Attila, but he makes no claim that the Hungarian and Hun peoples are related.{{sfnm|1a1=Róna-Tas|1y=1999|1p=423 |2a1=Szűcs|2y=1999|2p=xlvii}} The first Hungarian author to claim that Hun and Hungarian ''peoples'' were related was [[Simon of Kéza]] in his ''[[Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum]]'' (1282–1285).{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=121}} Simon claimed that the Huns and Hungarians were descended from two brothers, named [[Hunor and Magor]].{{efn|Szűcs argues that the name ''Hunor'' as a Hungarian ancestor is genuinely reflective of the Magyar oral legends, but that it actually derives from the name [[Onogurs|Onogur]]; Simon therefore merely used the resemblance of ''Hunor'' to ''Hun'' to support his theory.{{sfn|Szűcs|1999|p=lv}}}} These claims gave the Hungarians an ancient pedigree and served to legitimize their conquest of [[Pannonia]].{{sfnm|1a1=Róna-Tas|1y=1999|1pp=423–434 |2a1=Szűcs|2y=1999|2pp=liii–liv |3a1=Lendvai|3y=2003|3p=60}}

Modern scholars largely dismiss these claims.{{sfnm|1a1=Lafferton|1y=2007|1p=717 |2a1=Lendvai|2y=2003|2p=7 |3a1=Maenchen-Helfen|3y=1973|3p=386 |4a1=Róna-Tas|4y=1999|4pp=426–427 |5a1=Kremmler |5y=2022}} Regarding the claimed Hunnish origins found in these chronicles, [[Jenő Szűcs]] writes:
<blockquote>The Hunnish origin of the Magyars is, of course, a fiction, just like the Trojan origin of the French or any of the other ''[[origo gentis]]'' theories fabricated at much the same time. The Magyars in fact originated from the Ugrian branch of the Finno-Ugrian peoples; in the course of their wanderings in the steppes of Eastern Europe they assimilated a variety of (especially Iranian and different Turkic) cultural and ethnic elements, but they had neither genetic nor historical links to the Huns.{{sfn|Szűcs|1999|p=xliv}}</blockquote>
Generally, the proof of the relationship between the [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] and the [[Finno-Ugric]] languages in the nineteenth century is taken to have scientifically disproven the Hunnic origins of the Hungarians.{{sfn|Lafferton|2007|p=717}} While the Magyars may not be descendants of the Huns, they were historically closely associated with Turkic peoples.{{sfn|Lendvai|2003|pp=14–15}} Hyun Jin Kim supposes that the Hungarians might be linked to the Huns via the [[Bulgars]] and Avars, both of whom he holds to have had Hunnish elements.{{sfn|Kim|2015|p=140}}

[[File:Monarchs of Hungary, Attila, Gyula, Bela I, Illustration for Il costume antico e moderno by Giulio Ferrario 1831.jpg|thumb| Attila (right) as a king of Hungary together with [[Gyula (title)|Gyula]] and [[Béla I]], Illustration for ''Il costume antico e moderno'' by Giulio Ferrario (1831).]]
Another claim, also derived from Simon of Kéza,{{sfn|Róna-Tas|1999|p=436}} is that the Hungarian-speaking [[Székelys|Székely]] people of [[Transylvania]] are descended from Huns, who fled to Transylvania after Attila's death, and remained there until the Hungarian conquest of Pannonia. While the origins of the Székely are unclear,{{sfn|Lendvai|2003|p=24}} modern historians and archaeologists do not consider the Székelys to be of Hunnic origin due to a lack of evidence.{{sfn|Borbély et al.|2023|p=2}} László Makkai notes as well that some archaeologists and historians believe Székelys were a Hungarian tribe or an Onogur-Bulgar tribe drawn into the Carpathian Basin at the end of the 7th century by the [[Pannonian Avars|Avars]] (who were identified with the Huns by contemporary Europeans).{{sfn|Makkai|2001|pp=415–416}} Unlike in the legend, the Székely were resettled in Transylvania from Western Hungary in the eleventh century.{{sfn|Makkai|2001|pp=416–417}} Their language similarly shows no evidence of a change from any non-Hungarian language to Hungarian, as one would expect if they were Huns.{{sfnm|1a1=Makkai|1y=2001|1pp=414–415 |2a1=Engel|2y=2001|2p=116}}

While the notion that the Hungarians are descended from the Huns has been rejected by mainstream scholarship, the idea has continued to exert a relevant influence on Hungarian nationalism and national identity.{{sfn|Akçalı|Korkut|2012|pp=601–602}} A majority of the Hungarian aristocracy continued to ascribe to the Hunnic view into the early twentieth century.{{sfn|Sommer|2017|p=172}} The [[Fascist]] [[Arrow Cross Party]] similarly referred to Hungary as ''Hunnia'' in its propaganda.{{sfn|Kamusella|2009|p=474}} The supposed Hunnic origins of the Hungarians also played a large role in the modern radical right-wing party [[Jobbik]]'s ideology of [[Pan-Turanism]].{{sfn|Kowalczyk|2017}} Legends concerning the Hunnic origins of the Székely minority in [[Romania]], meanwhile, continue to play a large role in that group's ethnic identity.{{sfn|Lendvai|2003|pp=23–24}} Members of the Hungarian right wing, with the support of the government of prime minister [[Viktor Orbán]] and academic institutions such as the Institute of Hungarian Research ({{lang|hu|Magyarságkutató Intézet}}, MKI), continue to promote Hungarian descent from the Huns.{{sfn|Kremmler|2022}}