HUNOLD, hoo'nolt. CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH (1080-1721). A German author, known by his pseudonym Menantes. Ile was born at Wanders leben, and was educated at Jena. But means to carry on his studies failed him, and in 1700 he went to Hamburg, then the literary centre of (;ermany. Here the success of his novel. Die rerlirbte rind garante Welt (1700), put an end to his precarious teaehing and writing. This was quickly followed by Der europiiisehen linfe Licbe.s- and Heldenarsehichte (17041 and by Satirischrr Homan (1705), which told so plainly the scandal of flamburg—which Hunold knew only too well—that lie was forced to leave the city (1709). Ile went to Thuringia; published Die allerneueste Art :Air reboil and galanti n l'ocsir cu gclangen (17061, besides textbooks in rhetoric and style; and after many wander • ings settled in Halle, where he became an in st•uctor in literature, 'poetry, intl jurisprudence, and Where his works lost. the earlier freedom and obscenity. Consult: Wedel, GrhciI/IG Nark riehtra und Brick con Herrn Menantcs Ube?, um! Schrif ten (Cologne, 1731). and Vogel, Christian Fried rich Hanoi(' (Leipzig, 1397).
HUNS (Lat. Hunni, Chunni, Gk. 06vvo,, t/unnoi, X0rJVVO(, probably from Chin. Hiong•nu, name of a powerful Tatar tribe). The name of a nation of antiquity, which made re peated incursions upon the Roman dominions, and under Attila (q.v.), the most renowned of its leaders, brought the empires of both the East and the West to the verge of destruction.
The Huns are generally considered to be a people (or rather a collection of tribes) of Turko fatal- affinities, tile descendants perhaps of the thong -Nu, who figure in Chinese annals as mak ing incursions and founding States in Central Asia as early as the second century n.e. Some authorities think that the bulk of Attila's hordes were of Turkic stock, and Theophanes in the eighth century writes of 'the-111M, whoni we com• monly call Turks.' The distinction bet WI.C11 and 'black' lions, made by the medi:eval writers, has led Bloch (1901) to put forward the view that we have here a dark rave in process of transformation into a white one, but the uncer tainty of the connotation of these epithets makes such a startling view even less probable. Like the modern Osmanli Turks. etc.. the ancient Huns no doubt assimilated themselves to the populations of their environment, and in Eu rope lost more and more of the distinctly Asiatic character. The 'white' Huns were probably not a little mixed with Asiatic Aryan blood (Iranian, etc.). before they entered upon their career in Europe. About n.c. 200 the Ilims overran the Chinese Empire, defeated the Chinese armies in numerous engagements. and drove the Emperor Kao•ti himself to a capitulation and treaty. Dur ing the reign of Wu-ti (me. 141-ti7 I, the power of the Huns was nitwit broken. Eventually they separated into two distinct camps, one of which, amounting to about 50.000 families, went south
ward. while the other endeavored to maintain itself in its original seat, but finally the most warlike went west and northwest in search of new homes. Of those that went northwest a large number established themselves for a while on the banks of the Volga. They then advanced into the territories of the Alani. a people dwelling be tween the Volga and the Don. At what period this took place is uncertain, but probably it was early in the fourth century. The Alani resisted the incursions of the Iluns until at. length a bat tle was fought on the banks of the Don, in which the Alani King was slain, and his army utterly routed; the vast majorily of the survivors joined the invaders.
The Huns now invaded the country of the Goths, whose aged King. Hermannrich, roused himself to meet the invaders, but in vain. His successor. Withimir, encountered the Huns in a pitched battle, in which he was himself slain, and his eountrymen utterly routed. The Goths now threw themselves upon the protection of the Emperor Valens, who in A.D. 376 gave permission to a great number of them to cross the Danube and settle in the countries on the south side as auxiliaries to the Roman arms against further invasion. The Huns now occupied all the ter ritories that had been abandoned by the Goths; and when the latter not long afterwards re volted against Valens, the Huns also crossed the Danube and joined their arms to those of the Goths in hostilities against the Empire of the East. In the wars that followed the Huns were not so conspicuous as the Goths, their for mer enemies, and but little is known of them during the remainder of the fourth century. It is supposed, however, that early in the following century they were joined by fresh hordes. In the reign of Theodosius the Younger they bad in creased so considerably in power that their sov ereign Rugilas, or Roas, was paid an annual tribute to secure the Empire of the East from further injury.
Rugilas. dying in the year 434, was succeeded in the sovereignty of the Huns by his nephews At tila and Bleda. The latter was put to death by his brother about 444. Attila carried his arms as far west as Gaul, where the Romans and Visigoths successfully encountered him on the Catalaunian Plain. In the following year lie ravaged Italy, and Rome itself was saved, it is said, only through the awe which its Bishop. Leo 1., inspired in the barbarian conqueror. With Attila's death, about 454, the power of the Huns was broken. A few feeble sovereigns succeeded him, but there was strife now everywhere among the nations that had submitted to Attila, and the Huns especially never regained their power. Many of them took service in the armies of the Romans, and others joined fresh hordes of in vaders from the north and east, aiding them in their repeated attacks upon the Empire.