Newcomers from the East

István Mándoky Kongur (1944–1992) is still the most renowned and popular Hungarian Turkologist among the Turkic peoples. His research centred on the Turkic–Hungarian historical, linguistic and cultural links and Hungary’s Cumans in particular with the majority of his work written in Hungarian and published in books and journals in Hungary. Newcomers from the East contains his scholarly oeuvre translated into English from the original Hungarian. The volume also includes Mándoky’s collection of Dobruja Tatar folk poetry (riddles, songs and folk tales) and Old Turkic–Proto-Hungarian linguistic and cultural links as well as the author’s most beloved research area: the history, culture, language and folk poetry of the Cumans who spoke the Cuman–Kipchak language and migrated to Hungary in the thirteenth century, perhaps the most important part of which for international scholarship generally and for Turkology in particular is the Cuman Lord’s Prayer and a counting rhyme. The entire volume provides the reader with an insight into the ethnic, historical and linguistic processes that shaped the present-day face of the region through the example of a Turkic people who settled in Central Europe in the Middle Ages.

The volume starts with a preface by Henryk Jankowksi and an introduction by Peter B. Golden to the history of the Cuman–Kipchaks. The life and geographical environment of Hungary’s Cumans are illustrated in colour and black-and-white prints, while maps provide a quick reference to their areas of settlement.