Finding a new system for an old FoG Magyar Army

[SteveBurt]

I see, but the list is wrong then, in the Hungarian army there were no Slav subjects used as infantry. Military stuff was a topic for the tribal leaders and their retinue, even if their subjects were Slavs, they did not drag them to the battlefield to act as a ballast to bring down the main advantage of the nomadic cavalry army: speed. (Not just in the battlefield, but on strategical level). Also in the nomadic Magyar society even the commoner women rode horses, they most likely did not even bother to look towards someone horselessly poor I personally think that the Árpád-era infantry (camp guards and some crossbowmen) were also cvalrymen, but acting dismounted.

Infantry in a nomadic cavalry army only appeared as allies or auxiliaries, like the Goths for the Huns, but Magyars/Hungarians were not allied with Slavic states. Hungarian contingents sometimes fought as mercenaries for Byzantine or German states in the 10th century, but even in that cases, they mostly operated on their own, being hired for stuff the client was unable to perform on its own: long-distance cavalry raids.

Ian Heath (Armies of the Dark Ages), says:
“After their conquest of Hungary Slav and German auxiliaries are also recorded, and Pechenegs were employed after 1051; there were quite probably many Slavs in the army at Lechfield, which would help explain its size”
So that’s where ther Slav infantry come from; they are indeed auxiliaries.

[Freddy]

Ian Heath (Armies of the Dark Ages), says:
“After their conquest of Hungary Slav and German auxiliaries are also recorded, and Pechenegs were employed after 1051; there were quite probably many Slavs in the army at Lechfield, which would help explain its size”
So that’s where ther Slav infantry come from; they are indeed auxiliaries.

Where exactly were they recorded? There is a very rich bibliography about 10th century Hungarian warfare (a dozen of them on my bookshelf too), and it never mentions any auxiliary infantry- knowing the tactics, the society and the general scene, it would be like heavy armoured knights in an early republican Roman army.

The army sizes of the 955 battle at Lechfield (in Hungarian literature: Augsburg) is a debated topic, but the original estimation of 100k Hungarians is pretty sure just a wild exaggeration so common in medieval sources. The real number is more like 10k Hungarians and a slightly smaller German army (who had some Czech contingents too indeed.) The Hungarian army was led by the Hungarian Lords Taksony, Bulcsú, Súr, and Lehel, the latter commanding the auxiliary contingent. But this had no Slav infantry, it was also a horse archer force, mostly of Kabars, employed as a vanguard contingent, which was a common usage of auxiliaries in nomadic steppe nations (also later in the Kingdom of Hungary). Kabars or Kavars were a nation of Turkish origin, they rebelled against the Kazar Empire and their 3 tribes joined the Hungarians before the occupation of Hungary. They settled down in Nyitra, in Northwest Hungary (today belongs to Slovakia), and melted into the Hungarians not long after. During the late 9-10th century they were the usual auxiliaries of the Hungarian armies.

[SteveBurt]

A quick check of Oman shows no mention of anything other than cavalry in the army at Lechfeld, so not sure where the infantry are attested.