The Tsangos of Romania - Corvinus Library - Hungarian History

Meanwhile, a vicious group of people were approachingCumania. These were the Tartars. A great destruction followedthem whereever they went. The Hungarian sentry posts,villages, and the bishopric of Milko, were all destroyed. Thisevent is still remembered in one of the Csángó folksongs whichgoes: "szernyü hirtelenül minden elpusztula" meaning:everything was destroyed suddenly. In 1238, on behalf of4o,ooo Cumanians their leader Kötöny, asked for permission tosettle in Hungary. They wanted to escape from the Tartars.Theywere granted land between the Danube and the Tisza,rivers, where they settled and where their descendants still live.After the danger caused by the Tartans was over, a newbishopric was founded in Szörénytornya for those Hungariansand Cumanians who had stayed in the country.The 12th century, brought peace and along with it agrowth of the Hungarian population. New possibilities wereopen for these people in Szörénység where the number of thepeople was extermely low. Also on the land, which was leftempty by all those Cumanians who in 1239, emigrated toHungary, Vlachs from the Balkans settled down. These werenomadic tribes, members of the Orthodox Church.