'Neath the Hoof of the Tartar; Or, The Scourge of GodJósika, Miklós, báró
History
'Neath the Hoof of the Tartar; Or, The Scourge of God
Jósika, Miklós, báró
Hungary -- History -- Mongol Invasion, 1241-1242 -- Fiction
Jósika was to die an exile from his beloved country, but the bitterness
of banishment was somewhat tempered by the touching devotion of his
second wife, the Baroness Julia Podmaniczky, who also became his
amanuensis and translator. The first novel of the exilic period was
"Eszter," written anonymously for fear his works might be prohibited in
Hungary, in which case the unhappy author would have run the risk of
actual want. For the same reason all the novels written between 1850 and
1860 (when he resumed his own name on his title-pages) are "by the
author of 'Eszter.'" In 1864, by the doctor's advice, Jósika moved to
Dresden, and there, on February 27th, 1865, he died, worn out by labour
and sorrow. He seems, at times, to have had a hard struggle for an
honourable subsistence, and critics, latterly, seem to have been
neglectful or unkind. Ultimately his ashes were brought home to his
native land and deposited reverently in the family vault at Klausenberg;
statues were raised in his honour at the Hungarian capital, and the
greatest of Hungarian novelists, Maurus Jókai, delivered an impassioned
funeral oration over the remains of the man who did yeoman's service for
the Magyar literature, and created and popularized the historical novel
in Hungary.
For it is as the Hungarian historical romancer _par excellence_ that
Jósika will always be remembered, and inasmuch as the history of no
other European country is so stirring and so dramatic as that of
Hungary, and Jósika was always at infinite pains to go direct to
original documents for his facts and local colouring, he will always be
sure of an audience in an age, like our own, when the historical novel
generally (witness the immense success of Sienkiewicz) is once more the
favourite form of fiction. Among the numerous romances "by the author of
'Eszter,'" the work, entitled "Jö a Tatár" ("The Tartar is coming"), now
presented to the English public under the title of "'Neath the Hoof of
the Tartar," has long been recognised by Hungarian critics as "the most
pathetic" of Jósika's historical romances. The groundwork of the tale is
the terrible Tartar invasion of Hungary during the reign of Béla IV.
(1235-1270), when the Mongol hordes devastated Magyarland from end to
end. Two love episodes, however, relieve the gloom of this terrific
picture, "and the historical imagination" of the great Hungarian
romancer has painted the heroism and the horrors of those far distant
times every whit as vividly as Sienkiewicz has painted the secular
struggle between the Red Cross Knights and the semi-barbarous heroes of
old Lithuania.
R. NISBET BAIN.
'Neath the Hoof of the Tartar.
CHAPTER I.
RUMOURS.
"Well, Talabor, my boy, what is it? Anything amiss?" asked Master Peter,
as the page entered the hall, where he and his daughter were at
breakfast.
It was a bare, barn-like apartment, but the plates and dishes were of
silver.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account