When the Magyars attacked St. Gallen

While the exact origin of the Magyars in Central Asia is still the subject of much scholarly debate, it is believed that they originally came from the Ural Mountains in northwestern Siberia. Over the centuries, the Ugro-Finns migrated south from Siberia to the area between the Ural River and the Aral Sea. Later, the Magyars moved to the North Caucasus and then migrated west again to the Don basin in present-day Ukraine.

As a result of pressure and competition from other steppe peoples – the Pechenegs and Proto-Bulgarians – the Magyars reached the Carpathian Basin around 896. Led by their leaders Árpád and Kursan, they secured the region as their new home within just ten years.

From their new home in Europe, the Magyars sought rich lands to plunder. They first invaded Italy at the invitation of Arnolf of Carinthia (Eastern Franks) from 898 to 899. Although their attack on Venice was repulsed, they sacked and burned Treviso, Vicenza, Verona, Brescia, Bergamo, and Milan in quick succession.

They defeated the Italian King Berengar I at the Battle of Brenta and forced him to pay an exorbitant tribute to secure a temporary peace. After Arnulf’s death in 900, the annual raids on Bavaria began, lasting more than 30 years. Like the Lombards, the Magyars defeated the Bavarians battle after battle with bloody surprise attacks.

Crushed by the Arab and Viking raids and the collapse of the central political order after Charlemagne’s death, the kingdoms of central and western Europe found themselves in a weakened and divided state. They were unable to counter the superior horsemen and archers of the Magyars. From their stirrups, the Magyar horsemen could strike down their armored enemies at high speed with arrows and scimitars.

Another tactic used by the Magyars was to trick the enemy into believing that they were victorious by retreating. However, they regrouped, surrounded the enemy with a hail of arrows and demolitions, and defeated the enemy forces in close combat.

The Magyars repeatedly attacked certain locations just to get a king or heir to the throne to pay them bribes to retreat. From 917 to 925, the Magyars regularly plundered the old Carolingian interior: the Loire Valley, Alsace, Burgundy and Lombardy. They even went through the Pyrenees to the vicinity of Barcelona and stormed the cities of Puglia. After the sack of Basel in 917, it seemed only a matter of time before they attack the famous Monastery of St. Gallen.

Tradition has it that St. Gallus, an educated monk probably from Ireland and a staunch follower of St. Columbanus, founded a hermit’s cell around 610 on the site of the later St. Gallen Monastery. A monk named Otmar later founded a Benedictine monastery for the monks around the hermitage of St. Gall and became the first abbot of the monastery.

During the Carolingian period (750-887), the Monastery of St. Gallen flourished and became a regional center of knowledge and trade. Thanks to the monastic school, the monastery had developed into a huge monastic center with large guest houses, a hospital, farms and stables and a famous library – one of the first on the north side of the Alps.

The monastery soon attracted Anglo-Saxon and Irish scholars, as well as monks who copied and illuminated manuscripts. Rich nobles in turn increased the wealth of the monastery through their protection and the donation of land. At the end of the ninth century it was one of the most famous and richest monasteries in Europe.

Different versions of three chronicles written between 970 and 1074 speak of a Magyar attack on St. Gallen and its environs. In the Alemannic Annals from the ninth and tenth centuries the Magyars are mentioned 9 times, in the Annals Sangallenses from the tenth century 15 times. The most interesting information about the Magyar invasion comes from the chronicle of monk Ekkehard IV, who lived more than a century after the invasion.

According to his writings, Abbot Engilbert took protective measures for the survival of the monastery when the Magyars moved through Swabia and invaded the area around Lake Constance. He sent the older monks and young students of the monastery to the moated castle on Lake Constance near Lindau to await the siege there. The younger and stronger monks took refuge in the woods and hills near the village of Bernhardzell in northwestern St. Gallen. The monastery’s valuable books and relics were taken to the Reichenau Monastery.

When Engilbert heard the warning that the Magyars were approaching St. Gallen, he fled with the other monks to the island of Reichenau. The year before the attack on St. Gallen, the Benedictine mystic Wiborada had predicted that the monastery would be destroyed by the Magyars. According to the compiled from 960 to 1072 Vita Sanctae Wiboradae Engilbert urged her to flee as well, but she refused to leave her cell.

On May 1, 926, the Magyars stormed St. Gallen. The attackers advanced towards the church of St. Mangen and set it on fire. They also tried to set fire to the Wiborada inclusive because they couldn’t find the entrance. Finally they went in through the roof and found Wiborada praying before an altar. One of the warriors inflicted three fatal head wounds on her with an axe. At the same time, other Magyar warriors plundered the entire monastery, taking with them all the loot they could find.

According to the chronicles, two Magyars tried to climb the bell tower of the cathedral, thinking that the weather vane on top was made of gold. The warriors died trying. Her comrades in arms cremated their corpses for hygienic reasons. In their anger, the Magyars are reported to have spared a humble monk named Heribald.

While the chronicles describe the Magyars’ rapacity, they also praise their ability to form battles in seconds, their sophisticated network of messengers to communicate with troops far away, and their mastery of various weapons. In addition, the Magyars were described as lovers of wine, music, dance and fresh meat.

After a few days of rest, the Magyars moved on to other Swabian cities, leaving humble Heribald behind. When the monks and friars returned to St. Gallen to assess the damage, they asked Heribald how he had fared. According to the report, he said: “Oh, what’s the best! I never remember, believe me, that I’ve seen happier people in the heart of our monastery; for they give plenty to eat and drink.”

The memories of the Hungarian invasions of 926 and the martyrdom of the Wiborada remained ever present in the Swiss national consciousness and inspired Swiss historians, artists and writers for more than a millennium. The martyr Wiborada was canonized in 1047 for her piety and heroism. Today she is the patron saint of libraries and a patron saint of Switzerland.

The collections related to the Magyar invasion of St. Gallen are also part of Hungary’s national identity. They are part of the school curriculum: every year new school classes in Hungary learn about the deeds of their Magyar ancestors in faraway Switzerland. Although the cruelty of the Magyars is recorded in the annals of European history, they eventually converted to Christianity and ruled one of the richest, most powerful and dynamic kingdoms in medieval Europe. The Hungarian Árpád dynasty even bestowed more saints on the Catholic Church than any other family.

History came around when the Hungarians themselves were subjected to incursions from other peoples: the Mongols in the 1240s and the Turks in the 16th and 17th centuries, also from the windswept steppes of Central Asia.