|
Hungary Politics and Society under Stephen's Successors
Unavailable
Figure 2. Hungary in A.D. 1200
Source: Based on information from C.A. Macartney, Hungary: A
Short History, Chicago, 1962, 24.
Stephen died in 1038 and was canonized in 1083. Despite
pagan
revolts and a series of succession struggles after his
death,
Hungary grew stronger and expanded
(see
fig. 2).
Transylvania was
conquered and colonized with Magyars, Szekels (a tribe
related to
the Magyars), and German Saxons in the eleventh and
twelfth
centuries. In 1090 Laszlo I (1077-95) occupied Slavonia,
and in
1103 Kalman I (1095-1116) assumed the title of king of
Croatia.
Croatia was never assimilated into Hungary; rather, it
became an
associate kingdom administered by a ban, or civil
governor.
The eleventh and twelfth centuries were relatively
peaceful,
and Hungary slowly developed a feudal economy. Crop
production
gradually supplemented stock breeding, but until the
twelfth
century planting methods remained crude because tillers
farmed
each plot until it was exhausted, then moved on to fresh
land.
Gold, silver, and salt mining boosted the king's revenues.
Despite the minting of coins, cattle remained the
principal
medium of exchange. Towns began developing when an
improvement in
agricultural methods and the clearing of additional land
produced
enough surplus to support a class of full-time craftsmen.
By the
reign of Bela III (1173-96), Hungary was one of the
leading
powers in southeastern Europe, and in the thirteenth
century
Hungary's nobles were trading gold, silver, copper, and
iron with
western Europe for luxury goods.
Until the end of the twelfth century, the king's power
remained paramount in Hungary. He was the largest
landowner, and
income from the crown lands nearly equaled the revenues
generated
from mines, customs, tolls, and the mint. In the
thirteenth
century, however, the social structure changed, and the
crown's
absolute power began to wane. As the crown lands became a
less
important source of royal revenues, the king found it
expedient
to make land grants to nobles to ensure their loyalty.
King
Andrew II (1205-35), a profligate spender on foreign
military
adventures and domestic luxury, made huge land grants to
nobles
who fought for him. These nobles, many of whom were
foreign
knights, soon made up a class of magnates whose wealth and
power
far outstripped that of the more numerous, and
predominantly
Magyar, lesser nobles. When Andrew tried to meet
burgeoning
expenses by raising the serfs' taxes, thereby indirectly
slashing
the lesser nobles' incomes, the lesser nobles rebelled. In
1222
they forced Andrew to sign the Golden Bull, which limited
the
king's power, declared the lesser nobles (all free men not
included among the great Barons or magnates) legally equal
to the
magnates and gave them the right to resist the king's
illegal
acts. The lesser nobles also began to present Andrew with
grievances, a practice that evolved into the institution
of the
parliament, or Diet.
Andrew II's son Bela IV (1235-79) tried with little
success
to reestablish royal preeminence by reacquiring lost crown
lands.
His efforts, however, created a deep rift between the
crown and
the magnates just as the Mongols were sweeping westward
across
Russia toward Europe. Aware of the danger, Bela ordered
the
magnates and lesser nobles to mobilize. Few responded, and
the
Mongols routed Bela's army at Mohi on April 11, 1241. Bela
fled
first to Austria, where Duke Frederick of Babenberg held
him for
ransom, then to Dalmatia. The Mongols reduced Hungary's
towns and
villages to ashes and slaughtered half the population
before news
arrived in 1242 that the Great Khan Ogotai had died in
Karakorum.
The Mongols withdrew, sparing Bela and what remained of
his
kingdom.
Data as of September 1989
|
