CHAPTER XLIV.
CONQUESTS OF THE TURANIAN TRIBES.
The Huns and the Hungarians.—The Huns, of whom we have already told, were the first Turanians that during historic times pushed their way in among the peoples of Europe (see p. 345 ).
The next Turanian invaders of Europe that we need here notice were the Magyars, or Hungarians, another branch of the Hunnic race, who in the ninth century of our era succeeded in thrusting themselves far into the continent, and establishing there the important Kingdom of Hungary. These people, in marked contrast to almost every other tribe of Turanian origin, adopted the manners, customs, and religion of the peoples about them—became, in a word, thoroughly Europeanized, and for a long time were the main defence of Christian Europe against the Turkish tribes of the same race that followed closely in their footsteps.
The Seljukian Turks.—The Seljukian Turks, so called from the name of one of their chiefs, are the next Tartar people that thrust themselves prominently upon our notice. It was the capture of the holy places in Palestine by this intolerant race, and their threatening advance towards the Bosporus, that alarmed the Christian nations of Europe, and led to the First Crusade.
The blows dealt the empire of the Seljuks by the crusaders, and disputes respecting the succession, caused the once formidable sovereignty to crumble to pieces, only, however, to be replaced by others of equally rapid growth, destined to as quick a decay.
The Mongols, or Moguls.—While the power of the Seljukian Turks was declining in Western Asia, the Mongols, or Moguls, a fierce and utterly untamed Tartar tribe that first issued from the easternmost part of Chinese Tartary, were building up a new dynasty among the various tribes of the central portion of the con-
