Árpád (ca. 850 - 907) was the probable leader of the main proto-Magyar tribe, and the founder of the Arpad dynasty. Árpád was the son of Álmos.
According to (not very reliable) medieval chronicles, seven proto-Magyar tribes elected him - as the leader of one of those tribes - their common leader in Etelköz around 890. He is said to have been the leader ("prince" - fejedelem) of the proto-Magyars for 20 years and to have died in 907. The Byzantine De administrando imperio says around 950: Prior to this Árpád, the Magyars did never have another ruling prince ('archont') and since then up to today the ruling prince of Hungary has been from that family. Other sources however imply that there was a second ruling prince called Kursan , who was either at the same "level" with Árpád, or a kind of "vice-prince". Based on Arabic sources, Árpád's title seems to have been kende , although some scholars consider Kende to be the name of a person.
After several looting raids in Europe (from the 860s onwards), the proto-Magyars in Etelköz under Árpád, pushed by the Pechenegs from the East, decided to definitively pass the Carpathian Mountains. In 896 they occupied the Upper Tisza river, from there they undertook numerous looting raids in central and western Europe, and in 900/901 they moved to Pannonia. The proto-Magyars entering the Pannonian fields in 896 represented about 200,000 - 250,000 people.
According to De administrando imperio, his children included (maybe not exclusively) :
- Tarhos (Tarkacsu)
- Üllő (Jeleg)
- Jutas (Jutocsa)
- Zolta (Zaltasz) - the youngest one.
According to legends, Árpád is also said to have been holding the first "parliamentary" session with 40 other "nobles" on horseback before 900 AD.
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