Jászság Subregion

The historical life of Hungary is very colourful mostly because of the different ethnical groups immigrating into the country. One of them is the group of the Jazygian people, who played a very important, significant role in shaping the image of the country. Although the name Jász (English:Jazygia) was firstly mentioned in a script written in 1318, but the Jazygian people came to Hungary together with the Cumanians, chased by the Mongol-Tartars in 1239. The Jazygian nation belongs to the Indo-Iranian tribe of the Indo-European nations. They moved to the Caucasus Mountains, where they had agriculture. Here, they firstly entered into an alliance with the Alanic tribe and then with the Cumanians against the Tartar invasion. However, in 1223, they suffered defeat by the Mongol Empire and the alliance broke up. After another great defeat in 1239, both tribes headed west, reached Hungary and were admitted by the Hungarian king Béla IV, who was named Rex Cumaniae, the king of the Cumanians. In return of the admission, they offered their help and assistance in fighting. However, the king allowed them to keep their freedom, their language, their culture, their traditions; his only claim was the conversion to Christianity. Most of the Jazygian-Cumanian people were settled in the central part of the Hungarian plain, on the sides of the rivers Zagyva, Tarna and Ágó in the region of Pilis Mountain in the year of 1240. They became a separate nation during the reign of Karoly Robert, who gave them significant privilege. The Turkish rule could not weaken the Jazygian tradition, culture and integration. Although some parts of the country started to be depopulated, but the biggest towns gave shelter to those who managed to escape. In 1699, there were already 11 Jazygian villages: Jász-berén, Agho, Dósa, Árokszállás, Mihálytelke, Jákóhalma and Négyszállás, Alsó- és Felsőszentgyörgy, Kisér, Apáthi, Boldogháza, Ladány and Fényszarú. The Jazygian people preserved their language just until the time when they separated from the Cumanians, but they had already been using the Hungarian language since 1550. The situation of the Jazygian people was between the serfdom and the gentry in the reign of Charles I of Hungary (Hungarian: Károly Róbert). However, after a while, for a short period, they descended into feudalistic dependence when the royal court put the Jazygian territory in pawn for the Teutonic order of knights in 1702.  In 1745, the whole nation collected the money in order to redeem the territory (redemptio). The Jazygian ethnic and moral values are still very recognizable. The patriotic conscience of these proud people slowly turned into civilian self-awareness after the turn of the century. In order to ensure their existence, it was a very important aspect to protect their privilege. This is the reason why the Jazygian people respect labor, are very hard working and thrifty, and besides the fact that they are very proud of being Jazygian, they consider themselves to be the best Hungarians.