Legendary Magyar-Serbian conflict

The legendary account of a Magyar-Serbian conflict in the area of the Drina river and Syrmia is found in the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja (LPD, c. 1300). In historiography, it has been attributed to a conflict surrounding the Serbian principality under Časlav, a Byzantine ally, and the Magyars (Hungarians) that raided Byzantine territory in 933 and again in 943. In the Hungarian chronicle Gesta Hungarorum, there is a story that the Hungarians subjugated the land of Raška (Serbia) at the time of Árpád (r.  c.895–c.907), and this is also attributed to Časlav and the conflict mentioned in LPD.

Stories

The LPD mentions how Magyar chieftain Kys (Hungarian: Kiis, Serbian: Kiša) raided and devastated Bosnia and that Časlav (Latin: Ciaslavus, Seislav) clashed with him in the Drina župa (county), next to the river, at the location of Civedino (identified as Cvilin in the upper Drina near Foča) where Kys fell, and the place was called Ciscovo at the time of the scribe. The region of Bosnia at the time was an integral part of Serbia. For distinction in the battle, Časlav gave Tihomil (Latin: Tycomil), who slew Kys, the administration of the Drina župa and wed him with the daughter of the ban (an anachronistic title) of "Raška". In the prelude to the battle, the narrative of Tihomil is based on Biblical motives, the king David. In the meantime, Kys' widow was given troops by the Magyar king to avenge him and entered Syrmia where Časlav was captured and thrown bound by the hands and feet into the Sava river.

In the Hungarian chronicle Gesta Hungarorum, there is a story that the Hungarians subjugated the land of Raška (Serbia) at the time of Árpád (r.  c.895–c.907), and for long held the Serbian ruler imprisoned in chains (Latin: ...et ducem eius captum diu ferro ligatum tenuerunt...); while this points to the Serbian ruler Petar (r.  892–917/918), the author's tendency to attribute Pannonian operations to Árpád's time and the fact that Petar had friendly relations with the Magyars, it is more likely that the ruler in question is Časlav, who is also similarly described in LPD (Latin: ...et captus est rex Ciaslavus et omnes parentes illius... ligatis manibus et pedibus...).