Szekler Gate, Traditional

After the dissolution of the Hun Empire, the Huns survived in the mountains of Transylvania. The chronicler Anonymus recorded them as the people who greeted and helped Árpád’s Hungarians to establish their rule over the Carpathian Basin. János (John) Túróczy, in the Hungarian Chronicles, perceived them as the remnants of the Huns, who had never mixed with other “bloods”. Three ethnically similar tribes of Transylvanian Szeklers settled in three distinct waves. Their ancient tribe is believed to be the remnant of Attila’s people. According to some historians, the Avar tribes too were Attila’s people, who settled around 678, and also the White Huns from the Hun territory of Khorezm. Based on the study of their traditions, some considered them to be remnants of the Scythians. The historian György (George) Bodor assessed that, in spite of the assimilation of a number of Pechenegs, the peoples of Khorezm and the Blaks (Bulaks), the Szeklers retained their Magyar (Hungarian) native tongue.

Ever since the Magyars settled in the Carpathian Basin, the Szeklers have been part of the Hungarian nation. While their language and folk culture are distinctly Hungarian, their lifestyle and social status may differ from other Hungarian groups. At the beginning of the Árpád era, they were considered to be military auxiliaries, who defended the country’s northern, southern and western borders; and later, from the 12th century, protected the marked borderline known as the “gyepű”, as it extended to the Carpathian Mountain range. In times of danger, they acted according to the custom of their Eastern ancestors. They carried a bloody sword around their villages to mobilize the men for active service, who then assembled at the appointed camps. Since the majority of the recruits were engaged from the earliest time in wild pasturing, they were fully self sufficient in their needs. Until the most recent times, they were well known for breeding the Szekler horse.

Between the 12th and 14th centuries, the Szeklers gradually extended their autonomous regions endowed by the king’s privileges, called “Szék” (Seat). They extended toward the western region: Marosszék (its center was Marosvásárhely, now Târgu Mureş), and Udvarhelyszék (its center was Székelyudvarhely, now Odorheiu-Secuiesc), in the 12th century, and Háromszék (Trei Scaune, its center was Sepsiszentgyörgy, now Sfântu Gheorghe), and Csíkszék (its center was Csíkszereda, now Miervurea Cicuc) in the 13th century. They occupied Aranyosszék (Scaunul Arieşului, its center was Felvinc, now Unirea village) following the Mongol invasion. This historical movement of these people is well reflected in the style of their churches.

Observing pre-Christian practices, the three blood clans split into six tribes and into further twenty-four branches. When young people got married, the members of the clan helped to build their house in a voluntary co-operative work called “kaláka”. In time of war, they helped each other; also at harvest time with harvesting; and in sorrow, they helped to arrange the burial. The majority of the Szeklers were free people. Their original main occupation was pasturing; after settling down they also became farmers and soldiers. They did not belong to any landlords, and paid taxes only with their blood in war times. The only exception was the “ox roast” and the “oxen tax”.

In the 15th century, some families emerged as leaders and assumed prominence; the less wealthy middle class, called “lófő” (primipilus in Latin, meaning primary/chief centurion of a legion) Szeklers, provided the mounted soldiers, while the public order was maintained by the “foot” Szeklers.

In 1437, at the Union of Kápolna, the legally homogeneous and privileged Szeklers formed an alliance with the Hungarian aristocracy and the Transylvanian Saxons. Following the suppression of the free Szeklers’ revolt in 1562, Prince János Zsigmond (King János II, 1540-1570) revoked the collective freedom of the common Szeklers, but still recognized the privileges of the nobles and lófõ Szeklers. The majority of the population remained in serfdom until 1848. Following their protest over Queen Maria Theresa’s order to establish Szekler border guards and conscription, they migrated in large numbers to Moldavia to escape a reprisal known as the “danger of Mádéfalva”. Their feudal autonomy was abolished in 1848. The 19th century Szeklerland, left out of the Habsburg economical policies, triggered another wave of immigration to the United States. Most recently in 1989, the oppressive Romanian regime of Nicolae Ceausescu prompted still more emigrations. – B: 1020, 1153, 1231, T: 3240.→Gyepű; Lófő; Zsigmond, King; János II, King; Mária Terézia Queen and Empress; Anonymus; Thuróczy Chronicle.

Szeklers’ Name (Székely) – Many researchers think that their name derives from the name ‘Sikil’, a Prince in the Hun community. In other words, it comes from the name of that princely tribe. The most ancient written records mention the Szekler people as “Siceli”, “Siculi”, and later “Szekul’’. During the times when the Szeklers were part of the Border Guard Patrol – the gyepü –, many Szekler settlements sprang up in the northern and western parts of the Carpathian Basin. As a result of their west to east migration, the same was noted in the Dunántúl (Transdanubia) and the Tiszántúl (Eastern Hungary) regions. Besides localities with Szekler name, there were other documented Szekler settlements as well: Döbréte and Váty in the Dunántúl, Sényő and Székelyszás in the Tiszántúl, while Boleráz, Nagylévárd and Sósvár were in Northern Hungary (Felvidék, now Slovakia). – B: 1020, T: 7669.→Gyepű; Szeklers.
Szekler’s Law – István (Stephen) Werbőczy, the author of the 1514 Tripartitum, (state-laws, highly regarded the unusual laws of the Szeklers that were based on the Szekler people’s privileges and were granted or reinforced by the Charters of the Hungarian Kings and Transylvanian Princes.

(1) All Szeklers were nobles, divided into three classes, namely the “aristocrats”, the so-called “lófő” Széklers, and the “foot” Szeklers.

(2) Regarding estate possessions: there was a difference between a homestead inherited by a Szekler, and an estate granted by the King. The Szekler homestead had nothing to do with royal rights; hence it was not subject to royal endowment. In case of a sale or exchange of an estate, the family members had the first right of purchase, followed by the neighbors; and only at their refusal was it possible to sell to anyone else.

(3) The law of inheritance decreed that male descendants enjoyed all the rights over a female child; but the maiden’s privileges stipulated that she was to be provided for and equipped with a dowry on her marriage. If there were no male offsprings, a female – “a girl-child” – could inherit. If there were no children, then the female bloodline could inherit, but only if there were no male descendent in the immediate male family line. If there were no more living family members, instead of the State Treasury, the nearest next-door neighbor inherited the estate. – B: 1078, T: 3240.→Lófő; Szeklers; Werbőczy, István; Tripartitum.