Christianization
955-1196 		Angevine Dynasty
1301-1382









The Feudalization and Westernization of Hungary, 1196-1301



After the death of Bela III. conflict broke out over the succession to the throne. Both sides handed out royal estates to dignitaries such as bishops and noblemen to secure their support. The result was the emergence of a strong and powerful nobility. The economic foundation of royal power was even more eroded when King Andrew II. went on a crusade in 1217, which he financed with the sale of royal estates.
In 1211 the Teutonic Knights had been invited to take care of the defense of the Burzenland (southeastern Transylvania) against the pagan Cumans. However, in 1226 they were expelled from the country.
In the course of the crusades, the communities of Jewish and Muslim merchants had been pillaged, and the consequence was an economic crisis; to replace them, German merchants were invited, who were given privileges granting them the conditions they enjoyed in Germany - German city law.
The Golden Bull of 1222 - called the Hungarian Magna Carta - called for a diet to be episodically held in the open at Pest, giving what was to become Budapest the first of it's capital function.
In 1237, pagan Cumans fleeing from Tatar pressure were admitted into Hungary; in 1241 a fast-moving Tatar army entered the country. The Hungarians, meanwhile, had been accustomed to fight Europeans and lost their nomadic strategic skills; their army was annihilated in the Battle of Mohi (Sajo River). King Bela IV., had to flee the country; the Tatars withdrew from Hungary in 1242 due to the death of the Great Khan. The invasion had been disastrous; population loss east and north of the Danube is estimated at 25-30 percent. Only a few well-fortified places (cities, most notably Szekesfehervar, and monasteries such as Pannonhalma) had held out.

It seemed necessary to resettle devastated regions and to build fortified cities as well as castles. To accomplish this, more settlers were called in from Germany; German communities emerged in southern Transylvania (Siebenbürgen). The Knights of Saint John were also called in.
German miners brought in knowhow which made mining at a greater depth possible; mining towns emerged in Upper Hungary (Slovakia, here especially in the Zips region, and in Transylvania.
The nobility was forced to properly equip themselves with battlehorse and armour, in order to serve in the king's army. In countryside Hungary, castles were built - hitherto unknown in Hungary.





EXTERNAL
LINKS 		Magyar Conquest of Hungary, from A Short History of Austria-Hungary by H. Wickham-Steed, 1914
History of Budapest, from Globewalker
Article : Jassic, Emeric of Hungary, Ladislaus III. of Hungary, Andrew II. of Hungary, Bela IV., Stephen V. of Hungary, Ladislaus IV. of Hungary, Andrew III. of Hungary, Golden Bull of 1222, Peace of Pressburg, Cumans, Battle of Mohi (= Sajo), from Wikipedia
DOCUMENTS
REFERENCE Peter F. Sugar (ed.), A History of Hungary, Indiana Univ. Press 1990, 432 pp.


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2000, last revised on November 11th 2004

Click here to go Home
Click here to go to Information about KMLA, WHKMLA, the author and webmaster
Click here to go to Statistics