![The invasion of the Magyars in St. Gall.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/der-einfall-der-magyaren-in-st-gallen-300x225.jpg)
When the Magyars invaded St. Gall
Between 860 and 970, the Magyars were the scourge of Europe. They devastated and pillaged a wide swath of territory from Bremen in the north, to Otranto in the south, and Orléans in the west in a series of over 50 raids. The abbey of St. Gall was raided and sacked in 926. Thereafter, monks in St. Gall wrote and preserved the most detailed and oldest first-hand descriptions of the Magyar invasions of Western Europe.
![Magyar excursions around the year 900.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/ungarische-streifzuge-um-das-jahr-900-300x206.jpg)
![The seven Magyar military leaders in a miniature from the Hungarian Chronicon Pictum of 1360.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/die-sieben-heerfuhrer-der-magyaren-in-einer-miniatur-der-ungarischen-bilderchronik-von-1360-297x300.jpg)
![Magyarian fighter in an Italian fresco.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/ungarischer-kampfer-in-einem-italienischen-fresko-300x226.jpg)
…ab Ungerorum nos defendas iaculis….De sagittis Ungarorum libera nos, Domine…
St. Gall & Preparations for the Sack
![An ivory book cover made during the heyday of the monastery of St. Gall. Carved by monk Tuotilo, around 895.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/Buchdeckel-aus-Elfenbein-825-193x300.jpg)
![A mishap on the run from the Magyars.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/ein-missgeschick-auf-der-flucht-vor-den-ungarn-300x262.jpg)
The Sack & Historical Memory
![The martyrdom of Wiborada. The Magyar warriors invade her cell and inflict fatal head injuries.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/das-martyrertum-der-wiborada-300x255.jpg)
![This is how the seven military leaders of the Magyars were depicted at the end of the 19th century.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/heerfuhrer-der-magyaren-am-ende-des-19-jahrhunderts-300x146.jpg)