Part 546

HUNGARY: A. D. 1096. Hostilities with the first Crusaders.

See CRUSADES: A. D. 1096-1099.

HUNGARY: A. D. 1114-1301. The Golden Bull of King Bela. Invasion and frightful devastation by the Tartars. The end of the Arpad dynasty.

"Coloman was succeeded on the throne by his son Stephen, who, after a short reign, was succeeded by Bela the Blind. The most important event of these reigns was the war with Venice about the possession of Dalmatia, and the annexation to the Hungarian crown of Rama, a part of Servia. In 1141, Geisa II. ascended the throne of St. Stephen. His reign was marked by several important events. Having entirely reduced Transylvania, he invited many Saxons and Flemish into his kingdom, some of whom settled in the Banat, in the south of Hungary, and others in Transylvania. In this principality the German settlers received from the king a separate district, being, besides, exempted from many taxes and endowed with particular privileges. … The following years of the 12th century, filled up by the reigns of Stephen III., Bela III., and Emerick, are marked by the continuance of the Venetian war, but present no incidents deserving of particular notice. More important was the reign of Andrew II., who ascended the throne in 1205. … {1670} Andrew, by the advice of the Pope, set out with a large army to the Holy Land [1216—see CRUSADES: A. D. 1216-1229], nominating the Ban, called Banko, viceroy of Hungary. While the Hungarian king spent his time in Constantinople, and afterwards in operations round Mount Tabor, Hungary became a scene of violence and rapine, aggravated by the careless and unconstitutional administration of the queen's foreign favourites, as well as by the extortions committed by the oligarchy on their inferiors. Receiving no support from the king of Jerusalem, Andrew resolved on returning home. On his arrival in Hungary, he had the mortification of finding, in addition to a disaffected nobility, a rival to the throne in the person of his son Bela. As the complaints of the nobles became daily louder, … the king resolved to confirm the privileges of the country by a new charter, called The Golden Bull. This took place in the year 1222. The chief provisions of this charter were as follows:

1st, That the states were henceforth to be annually convoked either under the presidency of the king or the palatine;

2d, That no nobleman was to be arrested without being previously tried and legally sentenced;

3d, That no contribution or tax was to be levied on the property of the nobles;

4th, That if called to military service beyond the frontiers of the country, they were to be paid by the king;

5th, That high offices should neither be made hereditary nor given to foreigners without the consent of the Diet.

The most important point, however, was article 31st, which conferred on the nobles the right of appealing to arms in case of any violation of the laws by the crown. Other provisions contained in this charter refer to the exemption of the lower clergy from the payment of taxes and tolls, and to the determination of the tithes to be paid by the cultivators of the soil. … Andrew died soon after the promulgation of the charter, and was succeeded by his son Bela IV. The beginning of this prince's reign was troubled with internal dissensions caused by the Cumans [an Eastern tribe which invaded Hungary in the later half of the 11th century—see COSSACKS], who, after having been vanquished by St. Ladislaus, settled in Hungary between the banks of the Theiss and Marosch. But a greater and quite unexpected danger, which threatened Hungary with utter destruction, arose from the invasion of the Tartars. Their leader Batu, after having laid waste Poland and Silesia, poured with his innumerable bands into the heart of Hungary [see MONGOLS: A. D. 1229-1294]. Internal dissensions facilitated the triumph of the foe, and the battle fought on the banks of the river Sajo (A. D. 1241) terminated in the total defeat of the Hungarians. The Tartar hordes spread with astonishing rapidity throughout the whole country, which in a few weeks was converted into a chaos of blood and flames. Not contented with wholesale massacre, the Tartar leader devised snares to destroy the lives of those who succeeded in making their escape into the recesses of the mountains and the depths of the forests. Among those who perished in the battle of Sajo was the Hungarian chancellor, who carried with him the seal of state. Batu having got possession of the seal, caused a proclamation to be made in the name of the Hungarian king [calling the people back to their homes], to which he affixed the royal stamp. … Trusting to this appeal, the miserable people issued from their hiding-places, and returned to their homes. The cunning barbarian first caused them to do the work of harvest in order to supply his hordes with provisions, and then put them to an indiscriminate death. The king Bela, in the meantime, succeeded in making his way through the Carpathian Mountains into Austria; but instead of receiving assistance from the arch-duke Frederick, he was retained as a prisoner. Having pledged three counties of Hungary to Frederick, Bela was allowed to depart. … In the meantime Batu was as prompt in leaving Hungary, in consequence of the death of the Tartar khan. … Bela was succeeded on the throne by his son Stephen, in the year 1270." The reign of Stephen was short. He was followed by Ladislaus IV., who allied himself with Rudolph of Hapsburg in the war which overthrew and destroyed Ottoacer or Ottocar, king of Bohemia (see AUSTRIA: A. D. 1246-1282). "The reign of this prince, called the Cuman, was, besides, troubled by most devastating internal dissensions, caused by the Cumans, whose numbers were continually augmented by fresh arrivals … from their own tribe as well as from the Tartars." Ladislaus, dying in 1290, was succeeded by Andrew III., the last Hungarian king of the house of Arpad. "This prince had to dispute his throne with Rudolph of Hapsburg, who coveted the crown of Hungary for his son Albert. The appearance, however, of the Hungarian troops before the gates of Vienna compelled the Austrian emperor to sue for peace, which was cemented by a family alliance, Andrew having espoused Agnes, daughter of Albert. … Nor did this matrimonial alliance with Austria secure peace to Hungary. Pope Nicholas IV. was bent upon gaining the crown of St. Stephen for Charles Martel, son of Charles d'Anjou of Naples, who put forward his claims to the Hungarian crown in virtue of his mother, Mary, daughter of king Stephen V.," transferring them at his death to Charles Robert, nephew of the king of Naples. Andrew III., the last Arpad, died in 1301.

_E. Szabad, Hungary, Past and Present, part 1, chapter 2._

HUNGARY: A. D. 1285. Wallachian struggle for independence.

See BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES, 14TH-18TH CENTURIES (ROUMANIA, etc.).

HUNGARY: A. D. 1301-1442. The House of Anjou and the House of Luxembourg. Conquests of Louis the Great. Beginning of wars with the Turks. The House of Austria and the disputed crown.

On the extinction of the ancient race of kings, in the male line of descent, by the death of Andrew III., in 1301, the crown was "contested by several competitors, and at length fell into the hands of the House of Anjou, the reigning family of Naples [see ITALY (SOUTHERN): A. D. 1343-1389]. Charles Robert, grandson of Charles II. King of Naples, by Mary of Hungary, outstripped his rivals (1310), and transmitted the crown to his son LOUIS, surnamed the Great [1342]. This prince, characterized by his eminent qualities, made a distinguished figure among the Kings of Hungary. He conquered from the Venetians the whole of Dalmatia from the frontiers of Istria, as far as Durazzo; he reduced the princes of Moldavia, Wallachia, Bosnia and Bulgaria to a state of dependence; and at length mounted the throne of Poland, on the death of his uncle, Casimir the Great. Mary, his eldest daughter, succeeded him in the kingdom of Hungary (1382). {1671} This princess married Sigismund of Luxembourg [afterwards Emperor, 1411-1437-see GERMANY: A. D. 1347-1493], who thus united the monarchy of Hungary to the Imperial crown. The reign of Sigismund in Hungary was most unfortunate. … He had to sustain the first war against the Ottoman Turks; and, with the Emperor of Constantinople as his ally, he assembled a formidable army, with which he undertook the siege of Nicopolis in Bulgaria [see TURKS (THE OTTOMANS): A. D. 1389-1403]. In his retreat he was compelled to embark on the Danube, and directed his flight towards Constantinople. This disaster was followed by new misfortunes. The male contents of Hungary offered their crown to Ladislaus, called the Magnanimous, King of Naples, who took possession of Dalmatia, which he afterwards surrendered to the Venetians. Desirous to provide for the defence and security of his kingdom, Sigismund acquired, by treaty with the Prince of Servia, the fortress of Belgrade (1425), which, by its situation at the confluence of the Danube and the Save, seemed to him a proper bulwark to protect Hungary against the Turks. He transmitted the crown of Hungary [in 1437, when he died] to his son-in-law, Albert of Austria, who reigned only two years."

_C. W. Koch, The Revolutions of Europe, period 5._

"Albert, afterwards the Emperor Albert II., was the first prince of the House of Habsburg that enjoyed the crowns of Hungary and Bohemia, which he owed to his father-in-law, the Emperor Sigismund, whose only daughter, Elizabeth, he had married. Elizabeth was the child of Barbara von Cilly, Sigismund's second wife, whose notorious vices had procured for her the odious epithets of the 'Bad,' and the 'German Messalina.' Barbara had determined to supplant her daughter, to claim the two crowns as her dowry, and to give them, with her hand, to Wladislaus, the young King of Poland, who, though 40 years her junior, she had marked out for her future husband. With this view she was courting the Hussite party in Bohemia: but Sigismund, a little before his death, caused her to be arrested; and, assembling the Hungarian and Bohemian nobles at Znaym, in Moravia, persuaded them, almost with his dying breath, to elect Albert as his successor. Sigismund expired the next day (December 9th, 1437). Albert was soon after recognised as king by the Hungarian diet, and immediately released his mother-in-law Barbara, upon her agreeing to restore some fortresses which she held in Hungary. He did not so easily obtain possession of the Bohemian crown. … The short reign of Albert in Hungary was disastrous both to himself and to the country. Previously to his fatal expedition against the Turks in 1439, … the Hungarian diet, before it would agree to settle the succession to the throne, forced him to accept a constitution which destroyed all unity and strength of government. By the famous 'Decretum Alberti Regis,' he reduced himself to be the mere shadow of a king; while by exalting the Palatine [a magistrate next to the king in rank, who presided over the legal tribunals, and discharged the functions of the king in the absence of the latter], the clergy, and the nobles, he perpetuated all the evils of the feudal system. … The most absurd and pernicious regulations were now adopted respecting the military system of the kingdom, and such as rendered it almost impossible effectually to resist the Turks. … On the death of Albert, Wladislaus [Ladislaus] III., King of Poland [the second Polish king of the dynasty of Jagellon], was … elected to the throne of Hungary. … Albert, besides two daughters, had left his wife Elizabeth pregnant; and the Hungarians, dreading a long minority in case she should give birth to a son, compelled her to offer her hand to Wladislaus, agreeing that the crown should descend to their issue; but at the same time engaging that if Elizabeth's child should prove a male, they would endeavour to procure for him the kingdom of Bohemia and the duchy of Austria; and that he should moreover succeed to the Hungarian throne in case Wladislaus had no issue by Elizabeth. … Scarcely had the Hungarian ambassador set off for the court of Wladislaus with these proposals, when Elizabeth brought forth a son, who, from the circumstances of his birth, was christened Ladislaus Posthumus. Elizabeth now repented of the arrangement that had been made; and the news having arrived that the archduke Frederick had been elected Emperor of Germany, she was induced to withdraw her consent to marry the King of Poland. Messengers were despatched to recall the Hungarian ambassadors; but it was too late—Wladislaus had accepted her hand, and prepared to enter Hungary with an army. … The party of the King of Poland, especially as it was headed by John of Hunyad, proved the stronger. Elizabeth was compelled to abandon Lower Hungary and take refuge at Vienna, carrying with her the crown of St. Stephen, which, with her infant son, she intrusted to the care of the Emperor Frederick III. (August 3rd, 1440). … In November 1442, Elizabeth and Wladislaus had an interview at Raab, when a peace was agreed upon, the terms of which are unknown; but it is probable that one of the chief conditions was a marriage between the contracting parties. The sudden death of Elizabeth, December 24th, 1442, not without suspicion of poison, prevented the ratification of a treaty which had never been agreeable to the great party led by John of Hunyad, whose recent victories over the Turks gave him enormous influence."

_T. H. Dyer, History of Modern Europe, introduction (volume 1)._

HUNGARY: A. D. 1364. Reversion of the Crown guaranteed to the House of Austria.

See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1330-1364.

HUNGARY: A. D. 1381-1386. Expedition of Charles of Durazzo to Naples.

See ITALY (SOUTHERN): A. D. 1343-1389.

HUNGARY: A. D. 1442-1444. Wars of Huniades with the Turks.

See TURKS (THE OTTOMANS): A. D. 1402-1451.

HUNGARY: A. D. 1442-1458. The minority of Ladislaus Posthumus. Regency of Huniades. His defeat of the Turks and his death. His son Matthias chosen king on the death of Ladislaus.

Peace between the factions was brought about by an agreement that "the Polish king should retain the government of Hungary until Ladislaus attained his majority; that he should be possessed of the throne in case the young prince died without issue; and the compact was sealed by affiancing the two daughters of Elizabeth to the King of Poland and his brother Casimir. {1672} The young Ladislaus was also acknowledged as King of Bohemia; and the administration during his minority vested in two Regents: Mainard, Count of Neuhaus, chosen on the part of the Catholics; and Henry Ptarsko, and after his death George Podiebrad, on that of the Hussites. The death of Uladislaus in the memorable battle of Warna again left Hungary without a ruler; and as Frederic III. persisted in retaining the young Ladislaus and the crown of St. Stephen, the Hungarians entrusted the government to John Corvinus Huniades, the redoubted defender of their country." In 1452, when the Emperor Frederic returned from Italy into Germany, "he found himself involved in a dispute with the Austrians, the Bohemians, and the Hungarians, in respect to the custody of the young Ladislaus. … As Ladislaus had now arrived at the age of thirteen, his subjects, but more particularly the Austrians, grew impatient of the detention of their sovereign at the imperial court. Whilst Podiebrad continued regent of Bohemia, and Huniades of Hungary, the affairs of Austria were directed by Frederic; and the unpopularity of his government caused a general anxiety for a change. But to give up the custody of his ward was contrary to the policy of the Emperor, and in the hope of silencing the Austrians he marched with a force against them. His enemies, however, proved too numerous; he was himself endangered by a siege in Neustadt; and compelled to purchase his deliverance by resigning the person of Ladislaus. The states of Austria, Bohemia, and Hungary then assembled at Vienna; Podiebrad and Huniades were confirmed in their regencies; and the administration of Austria, together with the custody of Ladislaus, was confided to his maternal great-uncle, Ulric, Count of Cilli. The resentment of Frederic does not appear to have been vehement; for in the following year [1453] he raised Austria to an archdutchy, and by a grant of especial privileges placed the Duke of the province on a level with the Electors. After being crowned King of Bohemia at Prague, Ladislaus was invited by his Hungarian subjects to visit that kingdom. But the Count of Cilli, jealous of the power of Huniades, so far worked upon the young king's mind as to create in him suspicions of the regent's integrity. An attempt was made to seize Huniades by enticing him to Vienna; but he eluded the snare, exposed the treachery of Ulric, and prevailed on Ladislaus to visit his people. At Buda, an apparent reconciliation took place between the count and the regent; but Ulric still persisted in his design of ruining the credit of a man whom he regarded as a dangerous rival. In the moment of danger, the brave spirit of Huniades triumphed over his insidious traducer; the siege of Belgrade by the Turks [1456], under Mahomed II., threw Hungary into consternation; the royal pupil and his crafty guardian abandoned the Hungarians to their fate and precipitately fled to Vienna; whilst Huniades was left to encounter the fury of the storm. … The undaunted resistance of that renowned captain preserved Belgrade; the Turks, after a desperate struggle, were compelled to abandon the siege; their loss amounted to 30,000 men; and the Sultan himself was severely wounded [see TURKS: A. D. 1451-1481]. The great defender did not long survive his triumph; dying, soon after the retreat of the enemy, of a fever occasioned by his extraordinary exertions. Huniades left two sons, Ladislaus and Matthias Corvinus, who were as much the idols of their country as they were objects of jealousy to Ulric and the King. The latter, indeed, took care to treat them with every mark of external respect; but the injurious behaviour of the count provoked Ladislaus Corvinus to open violence; and, in a personal rencounter, Ulric received a mortal wound. Enraged at the death of his favourite yet dreading the vengeance of the people, King Ladislaus resorted to treachery; and the brothers being lured into his power, the younger was beheaded as a murderer [1457]. Matthias was preserved from death by the menaces of the indignant Hungarians; the terrified monarch fled with his prisoner to Prague; and being there attacked by a malignant disease, was consigned to a premature grave after suffering for only a few hours. The death of Ladislaus Posthumus plunged the Emperor into new difficulties. His succession to the Austrian territory was opposed by his brother Albert VI., whose hostility had long troubled his repose. The Bohemians rejected his claim to their throne, and conferred the crown on the more deserving Podiebrad [1458]. The Hungarians testified their regard for the memory of Huniades Corvinus by electing his son Matthias, who purchased his liberty from Podiebrad for 40,000 ducats. Thus baffled in his views, Frederic consoled himself with his retention of the crown of St. Stephen; and his pertinacity in respect to this sacred relique involved him in a war with the new King of Hungary."

_Sir R. Comyn, History of the Western Empire, chapter 28 (volume 2)._

HUNGARY: A. D. 1444. Wallachia taken from the Turks.

See TURKS (THE OTTOMANS): A. D. 1402-1451.

HUNGARY: A. D. 1468-1471. King Matthias joins the crusade against George Podiebrad of Bohemia and claims the Bohemian crown.

See BOHEMIA: A. D. 1458-1471.

HUNGARY: A. D. 1471-1487. The wars of Matthias with Bohemia, Poland, the emperor and the Turks. Conquest and occupation of Austria.