und; were coupled by the hair of their
heads and driven in herds, like cattle, into Hungary. If a regular army
moved out against them, they dispersed like the winds of heaven, and the
joyful cry went up, "God be praised, they are gone;" but soon they
reappeared to harass the retreating soldiery. The horrors of desolation
and rapine were the condition most congenial to them; in these they
revelled and rejoiced; and most happy were they when they could anoint
their beards with German blood, or, casting their firebrands into the
houses of God, could witness the devouring flames as they rose up into
the skies.'[120]

Although in after times the Hungarians claimed the suzerainty over part
or the whole of Wallachia (and we shall have occasion hereafter to refer
to their relations with that country), their domination during the ninth
and tenth centuries was of a very partial and transient character. They
probably moved westward from the Ukraine at the beginning of the ninth
century, and between the years 839 and 860 they were actively aggressive
in Eastern Wallachia. They are said to have attacked Constantine, the
Christian missionary, on his way through the district they occupied, but
his venerable mien prevented them from doing him any injury. He is said
not even to have allowed their cries to disturb him during prayer, in
which he was engaged when they made their appearance. Towards the close
of the century, as we have already said, they sustained a defeat at the
hands of the Bulgarians, when, under their chief Arpad, they had formed
an alliance with the Emperor Leo, who is said to have made peace with
the enemy and left them in the lurch. After this they were driven into
the Carpathians, A.D. 894, and, having first overrun the
greater part of Transylvania, they commenced those aggressions into
Germany, France, and Italy, which for a considerable period rendered
them the terror of all Europe. At the end of the tenth century, having
met with severe reverses and been compelled to withdraw into Hungary,
they at length settled down under an established government. The first
king was undoubtedly Stephen (997 or 1008 A.D.), and they
annexed Transylvania, which up to that time had been a debatable
territory, either about 1002 according to some writers, or, as others
affirm, not until the time of Ladislaus the Holy (1078-1095
A.D.).[121]

[Footnote 117: Roesler, p. 156 _et seq._]

[Footnote 118: Roesler, p. 164 _et seq._]

[Fo