Emese
| Emese | |
|---|---|
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Dream of Emese by Klára Tóbiás
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| Spouse | Ügyek or Előd |
| Issue | Álmos |
| House | House of Dentumoger |
| Father | Önedbelia |
Emese was daughter of Prince Önedbelia of Dentumoger and the mother of High Prince Álmos in Hungarian historical mythology, thus, she was the ancestress of the Árpád dynasty, the dynasty which founded the Hungarian Kingdom. Due to a lack of reliable source material, it is difficult to separate the legends concerning Emese from her actual role as a historical person.
Emese is also a feminine Hungarian name. Its meaning is mother or breastfeeder. The word originates from the Old Turkic eme, ana or ene, which mean mother, just like the Hungarian word anya.
Emese's Dream, the legend concerning the conception of Prince Álmos, is one of the earliest known tales from Hungarian history. The legend can be tentatively dated to around 860-870, and with certainty to between 820 and 997 (the birth of Álmos and the acceptance of Christianity).
In the legend, Emese, the wife of Chief Ögyek (Ügek), was impregnated by a turul bird. The turul appeared to her in a dream and told her that from her womb a great river would begin, and flow out over strange lands. According to dream interpreters, this meant that she would give birth to a son who would lead his people out of their home in Levedia, and that her descendants would be glorious kings. Emese's son was named Álmos; his name derives from the Hungarian word álom, meaning dream, thus "Álmos" can be interpreted as "the Dreamt One".
The legend has several variants, namely regarding whether Emese was impregnated by the turul bird or whether she was already pregnant at the time of her dream, and whether the bird appeared to her literally or in a dream while she was asleep. Some variations of the legend may have been introduced in the 19th century during the reemergence of Hungarian nationalism at that time.
Emese is mentioned in two historical works: the Gesta Hungarorum and the Chronicon Pictum. Neither are contemporary sources, as both were written several centuries after her death (the Gesta around 1200 and the Chronicon Pictum in the 14th century). Both works freely intermingle actual historical events with legend and chivalric tales, so it is impossible to know if Emese is mentioned as legend or as an actual historical personage.
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