LINGUISTIC AREAS IN EUROPE DOMINIAN. 435 



monotonous expanse unfolding itself between the Danube and the 

 Theiss, on the other hand, is characterized by uniformity of the 

 Hungarian population it supports. Enclaves exist again all along 

 the eastern border of this area. 



A minor group of Hungarians have settled on the eastern edge 

 of the Transylvania Mountains. They live surrounded by Ruman- 

 ians on all sides except on the west, where a lone outpost of Saxons 

 brings Teutonic customs and speech to the east. The name of 

 Szekler, meaning frontier guardsmen, applied to this body of 

 Magyars, is indicative of their origin. Their presence on the heights 

 overlooking the Rumanian plain bespeaks the solicitude of Hun- 

 garian sovereigns to control a site on which the natural bulwark 

 dominating their plains had been raised. These Magyars represent 

 at present the landed gentry of Transylvania. 



This Hungarian colony was in full development at the end of the 

 thirteenth century. Its soldiers distinguished themselves during the 

 period of war with the Turks. Prestige acquired on the battle-field 

 strengthened the separate and semi- independent existence of the 

 community. The region occupied by these Hungarians is situated 

 along the easternmost border of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. 

 The towns of Schiissburg and Maros Vasarhely lie on its western 

 border. But tlie area of Rumanian speech situated between the 

 land of the Szekler and the main Hungarian district is studded with 

 numerous colonies of Magyars, thereby rendering delimitation of a 

 linguistic boundary in the region almost impossible. 



The Saxon colony adjoining the Szekler area on the west is also a 

 relic of medieval strategic necessities. In spite of the name by 

 which this German settlement is designated, its original members 

 apj)ear to have been recruited from different sections of w^estern 

 European regions occupied by Teutons.^ Colonization had already 

 been started when King Gesa II of Hungary gave it a fresh im- 

 pulse in the middle of the twelfth century by inducing peasants 

 of the middle Rhine and Moselle Valleys to forsake servitude in 

 their native villages in return for land ownership in Transylvania.^ 



To promote the efficiency of the soldier colonists as frontier guards- 

 men an unusual degree of political latitude was accorded them. In 

 time their deputies sat in the Hungarian diet on terms of equality 

 with representatives of the nobility. The exigencies of prolonged 

 warfare with the Tatar populations attempting to force entrance 

 into the Hungarian plains determined selection of strategical sites 



1 F. Tentsch, Die Art der Ansiedelnng der Siebenbiirger Sachsen, Fors. z. deut. Land u. 

 Volksk., vol. 9, pp. 1-22, 1896. Cf. also O. Wittstock, Volkstiimliclies der Siebenburger 

 Sachsen in the same volume. 



- Luxemburg and the regions comprised between Treves, Diisseldorf, and Aix-la-Chapelle 

 furnished many German colonists. 



