Muslims live in Hungary in two groups that al-Garnati described in the 1150s: the Böszörmény (from the word for 'Muslim') and the Khalyzians or Káliz (Khwarezmians); the Latin sources call them Ismaelites or Saracens.
A Hungarian Muslim student told Yaqut about 1220 of thirty Muslim villages. They serve the king as soldiers and as men of his chamber (minting, salt, tolls: hut's realm record), and trade. In the plain, the village names Böszörmény mark their settlements (Hajdúböszörmény in the Nyírség is the best known); the 'Káliz road' carried salt from Szeged to the Danube; and the Byzantine historian Kinnamos found Khalyzians 'of the Persians' faith' among the Hungarians in Syrmia in the 1160s.
Kings Ladislaus I and Coloman legislated against them (1090s-1100s); the Golden Bull of 1222 and the oath of Bereg (1233) are later.
Who he is
- Name
- No leader named
- Title
- Muslim village communities under the king
- Since
- Settled from the tenth to the twelfth century
- Confidence
- low
English Wikipedia (Islam in Hungary): al-Garnati (1150s), Yaqut (about 1220), the Káliz road; Kinnamos on Khalyzians in Syrmia (1160s).
Overlord
The king.
What it holds
- Villages named Böszörmény in the Nyírség and Bihar (date of first record of each not pinned).
- Khalyzian settlements in Syrmia (on record in the 1160s).
- Posts in the royal chamber (hut's realm record).
How it was acquired
Royal settlement and service.
Allies and rivals
The king's servants; resented by churchmen.
How things stand that morning
Royal servants and village communities; no leader or common body on record.
Wealth
Trade, salt and toll farming, minting.
Military
Soldiers in the king's service (al-Garnati). No numbers.
Threats
- Church pressure against Muslims in royal office (comes to a head in the 1220s and 1230s).
Places of note
- Hajdúböszörmény: Village name from the Muslim Böszörmény.
- Szeged: Head of the Káliz salt road to the Danube.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: General presence well attested by Arabic, Byzantine and Hungarian sources; specific villages in 1200 are known only by later place names.
On the map: Shown as a marker only: their villages are scattered.
Primary sources for Hungary
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Chronicle of Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Alberic of Trois-Fontaines (about 1227 to 1241, at the Cistercian abbey of Trois-Fontaines in Champagne). The widest net of any Latin chronicle for 1200, compiled from dozens of sources, many now lost. Read online
- The Austrian and Salzburg annals (kept in the 12th and 13th centuries, with continuations to the late 13th century). A family of monastic annals from Austria, Styria and Salzburg, printed together. Read online
- The Hypatian Chronicle (the Kievan Chronicle compiled about 1200 at the Vydubichi monastery; the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle in the 13th century). The southern record. Read online
- History of the bishops of Salona and Split, by Thomas the Archdeacon, Thomas of Split (about 1266). Written two generations later by a Split churchman born about 1200. Read online
- History of the doges of Venice (about 1229, with a continuation). The earliest surviving Venetian narrative close to the events. Read online
- The Deeds of the Hungarians, by the Anonymous Notary of King Béla, Anonymus (P. magister) (about 1200 to 1210, the date disputed). Not a record of events but a picture of the kingdom's nobility and geography as a courtier of about 1200 wished to see it: the clans and their lands, the castles and counties, the Vlachs, Cumans and other peoples of the Carpathian basin, all projected back onto the conquest. Read online
- The Book of Census of the Roman Church, Cencius Camerarius (Cencio Savelli, later Pope Honorius III) (1192, with later additions). The papal rent roll: every church, monastery, town and kingdom that owed a census to Rome in 1192, diocese by diocese, with the sums, followed by lists of papal lands and castles, the ceremonial Ordo and copies of charters. Read online
- The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online
4 more in the sources library for Poland, Hungary and the Adriatic.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.