The concept of a Hun-Hungarian mutual ancestry, supported by historians and rulers of the Middle Ages, was a determinant of Hungarian national identity for centuries. In his historical work Chronicle of the Hungarians, written around 1283, Simon Kézai, court priest of László IV, begins the story with Attilla. In his work The Legend of the Miracle Stag the 19th century poet, János Arany, gives an accurate account of the theory.

Kings and chroniclers considered Attila, the feared Hun ruler who organized equestrian nomadic peoples living on the steppes into military unity and conquered the area between the Urals and the Rhine in the 5th century, the ancient father of Hungarians. According to legend Attila acquired a sword from God under miraculous circumstances, and so became the world-conquering leader of the great Hun nation.