Western influences in Hungary at 1000 – 1526

- 1000
 
The Hungarians, with the subsidiary military forces who joined them, took possession of their
present home between 895 - 900. At that time they were living within the bounds of a tribal
alliance, but under a unified leadership. In the sources, the expression "hétmagyar" (the seven
Hungarians) refers to the Hungarian nation coming to existence from the alliance of the seven
tribes. In fact, however, their number must have been at least ten, including the three tribes of the
"Kabars". The alliance had two commanders - after the pattern of the Khazar Kaganate. The
supreme command was exercised by the "kende" or "kündü", and the other commander, the
"gyula", was in charge of military campaigns, the other main concern of governing. This political
structure is called double principality.
 
After the Emperor Otto I defeated the Magyars at Lechfeld in 955, Christianity began to permeate
the Magyar leadership, culminating in the acceptance of Catholic Christianity by the Arpad line
under Geza in 975.
Settling the relationship with the Germans was an extremely important issue: his son, Vajk, who
received the name István after baptism, married Gizella, daughter of Bavarian prince, Henry the
Wrangler, and hereby he became the new Bavarian prince, Henry IV's brother-in-law.
His third daughter was married to Otto Orseolo, the Doge of Venice.
 
The Hungarian chief prince needed the political, moral and occasional military help of the
German empire because of the Byzantine threat. Adopting Christianity was both a cultural and a
political event for the Hungarians.
 
Chief prince Géza relied first and foremost on the clergymen and German knights in his
immediate entourage to carry out his plans. To realize his strive for centralisation he needed the
help of his strong military escort. He replaced the pagan tribal leaders and heads of clans with
Christian German knights, who supported him loyally, and who were likely to get the property of
the rebelling leaders.These knights formed the center of the heavily armed forces. The
Hungarian soldiers were equipped only with light weapons. Subsidiary troops might have
belonged to the military force of the principality, like the Petcheneg soldiers among others.
 
1000-1100

Koppány took up arms, and many people joined him in Transdanubia. The rebels represented the
old faith and order, the ancient human rights, tribal independence and the pagan belief. Together
with his warriors, Koppány marched to Veszprém, which was also Sharolt's residence.
 
István was prepared for the attack, too: before the battle his followers authorised him to be chief
prince by girding a sword on him. With this army - which consisted of Hungarian and foreign
troops as well - he left the fortress of Esztergom for Veszprém. The leaders of István's
guardsmen wereHont and Pázmány, German "principles". The Swabian guest (hospes),
Vecellin took the lead of the army, and he killed Koppány near Veszprém during the battle.
 
The foreigners who were staying at the court arrived in the country with Gizella, and their role
was very important; not only in armed fights, but in other respects as well. Their activity in the
church and politics was of equal importance: the ruler followed their advice in governing the
country.
During the organising of the castle districts and counties, the developed western form made its
way into public administration. Centers that guaranteed the king's power had to be
established, and these centers were the castles.
 
In the autumn of 1000 he sent ministers to the Pope to ask for a crown and the royal title. It was
important for him to ask support from the Pope, and not the German ruler, because by
doing so he did not become the vassal of the German empire - though in respect of the church he
depended on Rome. Pope Sylvester II - in concert with the German ruler, Otto III - fulfilled
István's request.
 
Their defeat in 996 brought about great changes in Hungarian foreign policy. The tribal leaders
"replaced" Fajsz with Taksony, to take the lead of the tribal alliance. He made a radical change in
Hungarian foreign policy and its direction. He put an end to the plundering campaigns, and he
chose defence instead of attacks. He strengthened the western border zones, and invited
Petcheneg soldiers into the country. Hungarian-German relations still remained tense.
Taksony, sometimes taking even territorial losses (e.g.: giving up Northern Moravia), attempted
to avoid war and maintain peace with the west.
 
At the time of its foundation, the Hungarian kingdom preserved its freedom and sovereignity.
István strengthened his power by minting money, framing laws and issuing diplomas.
Minting money in Hungary was made after German patterns.
The German influence could be noticed also in legislation. Two law-books are attributed to István.
 
In Ajtony's territory county Csanád was organised, and in 1038 the episcopacy of Csanád was
set up, the prelate of which was Gerald from Venice.
As a result of a series of military victories, István managed to unite the Carpathian Basin both
politically and religiously. Arranging home affairs required tremendous energy, thus he followed
his father's policy concerning foreign affairs. He entered into alliance with the German empire,
Venice and Byzantium.
 
After 1018 István, a respected ruler throughout contemporary Europe, opened the Hungarian
section of the pilgrims' route to Jerusalem, offering protection to the travellers. As a result,
Hungary could join the economic, political and intellectual circulation between the eastern and
western parts of Europe.
 
In 1030 there was a German attack against the country, led by emperor Konrad, and at the same
time the Czechs also launched an attack. The German emperor wanted to make Hungary its
vassal and restore the former borders of the Carolingian Empire. The German army, however,
suffered a defeat. During the pursuit István took over Vienna, as well. The peace signed by the
Hungarians, Germans and the Czechs in 1031 granted Hungary territorial growth along the Lajta
and Morva rivers.
 
In 1031 the royal family had to face a disaster: prince Imre died in course of a wild-boars hunt.
Prince Imre had been carefully groomed for the throne, tutored by a learned Venetian monk,
the later martyred St Gellért.
After Imre's death, István had to look for a new successor. Finally he chose his nephew, Peter of
Orseolo, who was born from his sister's marriage to the Venetian Doge, and who had been living
in the Hungarian royal court after his father's fall in Italy. István adopted him as his son.
 
István I of Hungary was canonized in 1073.
 
After the civil war ensuing on Istváns death, László II restored order (1077-95) and closely allied
Hungary with the imperial throne and the papacy (not an easy balancing game). László II was
canonized in 1192.
 
Initially, leather-work was considered as an activity only done by women. The basic material was
sheep- and rarely cattle-skin. From ancient tanning methods, the Hungarians used grease- and
alum-tanning. Alummed Hungarian leather soaked in warm tallow became famous
throughout Europe. Primarily it was used for making harness (saddle, bridle and reins).
(Alummed leather was called Hungarian-style currying by the French in the Middle Ages.)
 
 
1100-1200
 
László's line continued close relations with the major European powers.
 
Coloman (1095-1116) - known as the Bookish since, of unimposing physique, he had originally
been intended for the Church and was, doubtless, literate - who entertained Godfrey of
Bouillon and his entourage on their way to the First. He is mainly memorable for the extensive
legislation of his reign - including a decree that forbade the persecution of witches quia strigiis
non sunt - and also because, having married the Norman Brusilla of Sicily, he took
possession of the Dalmatian coastline of the Adriatic for Hungary (wisely permitting the trading
cities of the littoral to retain their self-governing status).
 
Béla (the Blind) II (1131-1141)
 
Béla III (1172-96) was educated, until he was past twenty, in Constantinople at the Court
ofManuel lI Comnenos, a kinsman through his mother Irene, an Árpád princess by birth.
Béla III thoroughly reorganised the country's government, in line with Byzantine administrative
practice.
His revenues - listed in a document now in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris, probably
compiled when he married Margaret Capet, a daughter of Louis VII of France - would appear
to haveequalled or even exceeded the revenues of the contemporary Kings of France or
England. Hungary was rich, in part, because it accounted for a significant proportion of the gold,
silver, and coppermined in Europe throughout most of the Middle Ages.
His first wife was Anne de Chatillon and the second Margaret Capet. These two women
introduced the French style at the court, where Frederick Barbarossa was received in a
manner worthy of his rank. With the king as their example, the barons increasingly followed
the fashion trends of Europe, which to no small extent contributed to Hungary's participation in
world commerce.
 
Many of the monks were foreigners, chiefly Germans, but some of them Italians or
Frenchmen.Their presence had helped to raise the cultural standards of the country, and had
also assisted it to make important progress in other fields. By the middle of the twelfth century,
agriculture was beginning to go over from stock-breeding to arable farming and viticulture. There
were already some towns.
 
1200-1300

Andrew II joined the rest of Europe on crusade in 1217, as a result of which in 1222 he was
presented with a baronial, revolt not unlike, that experienced by John in England. Like John, he
was forced to grant a charter of baronial rights, the "Golden Bull."
 
His first wife, Gertrude of Merano, was killed by a conspiracy of chief nobles, who were shocked
by the life of luxury she carried on with her foreign companions at the court. About 1221,
Villard de Honnecourt, the French architect from Picardy, prepared Gertrude's tomb at
Pilisszentkereszt.
 
Andrew's son, Bela IV (1235-1270), tried, with the help of a handful of his supporters, to restore
the king's former authority and power without much success. Thus, Hungary lived in a "happy
feudal anarchy" at exactly the time when in Asia a new world power, the Mongol Empire, began
to expand toward Europe.
 
In 1241/1242, this kingdom received one major blow in the form of the Mongol invasion of
Europe: after the destruction of the Hungarian army in the Battle of Muhi, King, Béla IV, fled,
and one third of the population died (leading later to the invitation of settlers from
neighbors in the West and South) in the ensuing destruction.
 
The first group of German, called the Saxons, arrived in the 12th and 13th centuries and live
mostly in Transylvania in what is today Romania. (Germans invited to Transylvania and what is
now Slovakia, especially after 1242).
The towns throughout Hungary were, as throughout most of eastern Europe, mainly
German.
The recruits to the noble class, at least in the interior of the country, usually became completely
Magyarised within a generation or so.
 
In 1277, representatives of the Counties were already invited, in the name of the Crown, to join
the bishops and barons in their deliberations. Jointly they declared that László IV, the
Cuman (1272-90) had attained his majority, and approved the draft of a treaty of alliance with
the Emperor Rudolph of Habsburg (which was to have lasting, if unintended, long-term
consequences for Hungary: had it not been for Hungarian military support in 1278, the
Habsburgs might never have settled into neighbouring Austria).
 
Of the two sons of Béla IV, Béla took the daughter of the Margrave of Brandenburg as his
wife. Stephen, who was strong in military virtues, and rose repeatedly against his father as heir
apparent and eventually occupied the throne as Stephen V for two years, took Elizabeth as his
wife, a half-pagan Cuman woman, who accustomed her husband to the boisterous lifestyle of
nomads on the steppes, perhaps embellishing his daily existence with women slaves and
concubines. He was succeeded by his son, the minor Ladislas (the Cuman) IV (1272-1290), in
whose name his mother and various factions of the nobility exercised supreme power for a long
time. His wife, Isabella, was a princess of Naples, from the House of Anjou, a fact which
foreshadowed no slight change in the history of Hungary.
 
The last of the Árpád dynasty Andrew III (1290-1301) - born and brought up in Venice, his
mother's home - came to the throne.
 
1300-1400
 
Árpád's descendants ruled the country until 1301. After that, most Hungarian kings were from
abroad.
 
Upon Arpad's death, the papal-supported candidate, Charles Robert of Anjou, a scion of the
Angevin line in Naples, became Charles I, ruling from 1308 to 1342. The wealth of Hungary
became the primary support of Angevin dominance in southern Italy.
He maintain a sumptuous and refined court, the cultural influences at which were,
incidentally, French rather than German.
 
Charles Robert's greatest political achievement was the Central European "summit meeting" held
in 1335 at Visegrád in the sumptuous Gothic palace which he developed on the bank of the
Danube and which was protected by a powerful citadel and riverside fortifications. In addition to
the Polish and Bohemian kings, the heads of several important principalities and a delegation
from the Teutonic Knights attended the session. Among their far-reaching agreements, the one
on economics was the most important. In it, they mapped out new roads and extended mutual
advantages to one another. These were to the detriment of Vienna, whose title to staple rights
harmed them all.
 
The second Hungarian king in the Anjou line of French origin, Louis I the Great (I./Nagy Lajos,
king 1342-1382) extended his rule over territories from the Black Sea to the Adriatic Sea, and
temporarily occupied the Two Sicilies (after his brother was murdered there by his wife, who was
also his cousin). From 1370, the death of Casimir III the Great he was also king of Poland - the
alliance of Casimir and Louis's father was the start of a long Polish-Hungarian friendship.
 
A university, one of the earliest in Europe, was founded in Pécs in 1367.
 
Since the medieval class was mainly German in towns, in Buda was decided to have
alternately a German and Hungarian council to prevent disputes.
 
Whole 14th century a cheep grey Austrian pottery was very common, since it was easy to import
via Danube.
 
Hungarian culture, which was then still strongly ecclesiastical in character but whose laicization
pointed toward the Renaissance, derived significant benefits from the king's extensive
international connections. Historians, miniaturists, architects, sculptors, and goldsmiths worked
on his commissions. If only because he was preparing for the marriages of his three
daughters, he had to make himself known in the courts of Europe. But when he died without
a male heir, the fragility and high cost of his achievements quickly surfaced. It was mainly the
tragic defense of the throne of Naples -deserving again only a Shakespeare's pen- that extracted
a great price. On one of his journeys to Naples, Louis the Great carried gold coins equal to
Hungary's six, and Europe's two years of gold production, with countless silver pieces piled atop
them. From the Hungarian viewpoint, almost all this treasure went up in smoke.
 
In south Italy (Two Sicilies) Louis and his mother, carrying out plans laid by Charles Robert,
embarked on purely dynastic enterprises which brought positive and real damage to Hungary.
The object was to secure the throne of Naples for Charles' younger son, Andrew, who, under a
compact between Charles and Robert of Sicily, had married Robert's granddaughter, Joanna, on
the understanding that he should succeed to the throne on Robert's death (her father, Charles,
having predeceased Robert). But Andrew's accession was unpopular in Naples. To get him
recognised at all cost enormous sums of money in bribes, and, after a short and insecure reign,
he was murdered.
 
Charles' granddaughter, Mary, married Sigismund of Luxemburg dynasty in 1387. Sigismund,
was born in Nuremberg. He was margrave of Brandenburg from 1378, succeeding his father,
until 1388 when he handed it to his cousin Jobst of Moravia.
Sigismund was at first extremely unpopular, not only for the cruelty with which, in breach of his
pledged word, he put Charles' leading supporters to the sword, but also as an intruder and a
foreigner.
In 1410, in a disputed election, Sigismund was elected emperor of the Holy Roman
Empire.Sigismund ruled with her until her death in 1395 and alone until 1437.
Sigismund ended a western schism.
He encouraged manufacture, and was the true father of Hungary's international trade, which he
advanced by abolishing internal duties, regulating tariffs on foreign goods and standardising
weights and measures throughout the country. Records show that Hungary in his day was
importing cloth, linen, velvet, silks and spices and southern delicacies; her chief exports were
linen goods, cloth, metal and iron goods, livestock, skins and honey. The memory of this well-
being survives in the many fine buildings, dating from his reign, still to be seen in Hungary's
towns.
 
Trade especially with Italy - both through the ports on the Adriatic and along the land routes via
Carinthia to Lombardy - but also with Bohemia and Poland thrived, and the cities prospered.
They could use reliable Hungarian silver and gold coinage, of which the gold florin (forint),
patterned on the Florentine gold fiorino, continued to be minted to the same weight and purity
from the 1330s into the 19th century.
 
Unable to cope with his most powerful subjects as a class, he could do no more than play off
some of them against the rest. This he did by organising a group of them in a chivalric league,
known as 'the Order of the Dragon', of which he was himself President. Offices and favours were
shared out among the members of this group, but even they were not always reliable; cases
occurred when the Order itself defied the king.
Among first members of the order were:  Valdislav Jagello of Poland, King Alfonse V of
Aragon, Grand Prinve Vitovd of Lithuania and Duke Ernst of Austria, along with
Christopher III, Duke of Bavaria and King of Denmark, Sweden and Norway and in 1439,
Thomas de Mowbray, England's Duke of Norfolk
 
1400-1526

In 1437 the Sultan Murad was preparing for a grand attack on

Hungary itself, and at this most inauspicious juncture Sigismund
died, having crowned his disservices to Hungary by leaving no son,
but only a girl, Elizabeth, the issue of his second marriage, with the
daughter of the Count of Cilli, who was married to Albrecht, head of
the Albertinian line of the Habsburgs and ruler of Austria Above and
Below the Enns.
Sigismund had designated Albrecht to succeed him in both
Hungary and Bohemia, and the Hungarians duly elected him, while
stipulating that he should. defend the country with all his forces
(also, that he should not accept the Imperial crown). All might have
turned out well, for Albrecht, who was both conscientious and able,
was prepared to fulfil his promise and in fact set about organising
an army for a campaign against the Turks; but dysentery carried
him off before he had reigned two full years and another dynastic
crisis broke out. Elizabeth was big with child, and claimed at least
the regency, but a majority of the Hungarians were unwilling to wait
for the birth of a child who might not even be a boy, and in any case
to endure a long regency under a woman.
 
They elected the young king of Poland as Wladislav V.
Immediately after, Elizabeth was delivered of a boy, whom she
succeeded in getting crowned, calling in to support her the Czech
war-lord, Giskra, who occupied north-western Hungary. The
position of the young Ulászló (as the Hungarians called him) was
thus threatened from the rear at the moment when he most needed
security.
 
In this most critical hour Hungary was saved principally by the
genius of a single man, János Hunyadi, one of the most interesting
and attractive figures in the national history. He had risen from
small beginnings; son of a lesser noble of Vlach origin (it is true that
his ascent to position and wealth had been so meteoric as to give
rise to rumours that he was Sigismund's own natural son), he had
begun life as a professional condottiere, but had shown such
extraordinary talent in that capacity that Sigismund had given him
high command, and Albrecht even higher, appointing him Ban of
Szörény. Ulászló, whose cause he had supported, promoted him to
Captain-General of Belgrade and Voivode of Transylvania. He was
now the most important man in Hungary, after the young king
himself, and also in a fair way to becoming the richest, for he was
as great a money-maker as he was soldier; by not long after this,
his private estates were estimated to have covered nearly six
million acres.
In Transylvania, in 1442, Hunyadi brilliantly defeated a Turkish
army, then in 1443 persuaded Ulászló to undertake a campaign in
the Balkans, this being the first time for many years that the Turks
had the offensive taken against them on that front. This was so
signally successful that the Sultan agreed to a peace which
liberated all Serbia from his rule. Unhappily, the Papal Legate, who
had been organising a crusade which was frustrated by Hunyadi's
action in concluding the peace, persuaded Ulászló that a word
given to an infidel need not be kept. The next year he and Hunyadi
accordingly led a new army into the Balkans, where the enraged
Sultan, meeting them outside Varna on 10 November 1444,
defeated them disastrously. The young king himself perished, with
the flower of his army, while Hunyadi barely escaped with his life.
His crowning achievement came in 1456, when he so heavily
routed a Turkish army which was besieging Belgrade that it was
seventy years before the danger recurred in so acute a form.
 
In 1452 the Austrian and Bohemian Estates had forced Frederick to
release Ladislas from tutelage, and the next year he was solemnly
reinstated as King of Hungary. The boy-king allowed Hunyadi to
remain de facto regent, but himself fell under the influence of his
maternal uncle, the Count of Cilli, who distrusted the Hunyadi
family, a feeling reciprocated by Hunyadi's brother-in-law, Mihály
(Michael) Szilágyi. On Hunyadi's death, Ladislas nominated his
uncle as the new Captain-General of Hungary, passing over
Hunyadi's elder son, another Ladislas. Soon after, the king and his
uncle visited Belgrade, then in Szilágyi's hands, and Szilágyi's
partisans murdered Cilli. The king then treacherously seized
Ladislas Hunyadi and put him to death; his younger brother Mátyás
(Matthew) Hunyadi, then a boy of sixteen, he took to Prague, where
he threw him into prison; only to die himself, still unmarried, a year
later.
 
After Ladislaus death, Hunyadi's son, Mátyás Corvinus (1458-
1490), was placed on the throne by a magnate-led
rebellion. Corvinus prosecuted war against the empire, seizing
and ruling until his death Austria, Carinthia, and Styria.
Mátyás Corvinus, as he is commonly known from his crest, a raven,
is the only completely 'national' king to have worn the Holy Crown
after the extinction of the old dynasty, and it is natural that
Hungarian historians should have seen his reign, in retrospect,
through something of a golden haze. The remarkable glamour of
his personality is undeniable.
He was, as his panegyrists never tire of repeating, a true
Renaissance prince. He was exceedingly talented in every
respect: a brilliant natural soldier, a first-class administrator, an
outstanding linguist, speaking with equal fluency half a dozen
languages, a learned astrologer, an enlightened patron of the arts
and himself a refined connoisseur of their delights.
His library of 'Corvina' was famous throughout Europe. Besides
the illuminated manuscripts of which this mainly consisted (many of
which he had specially wrought for him by Italian craftsmen), his
collections, on which he spent vast sums, included pictures,
statues, jewels, goldsmiths' work and other objets d'art. Under his
patronage, architecture and the arts flourished in
Hungary. Scholars of European repute lived and worked at his
court and in the circle of the Archbishop-primate, János Vitéz.
Some of them produced elaborate and scholarly works, still
valuable in parts, on Hungarian history. Mátyás' Hungary could
challenge comparison with most European states of the day.
 
The word 'Renaissance' is to be taken exactly, for especially after
Mátyás had married, as his second wife, Beatrix of Aragon,
daughter of the King of Naples, the influences of the early Italian
Renaissance dominated his court. They brought with them the
absurdities of the day. The cult of Attila and his Huns, at that time
held to be the Magyars' ancestors, flourished. Beatrix came to
Hungary with small army of cooks and bakers. They brought with
them new ideas how to use pans and pottery.
When Mátyás' father-in-law sent him a Spanish horse-master he
replied: 'For centuries we have been famed for our skill in
horsemanship, so that the Magyar has no need to have his horses
dance with crossed legs, Spanish fashion.'
 
Mátyás bought from Pasquier Grenier, Burgundy, a copy of eleven-
piece set tapestry "Story of the Trojan war". The same originally
Burgundian work was copied for five other monarchs in Europe.
 
The numbers of inhabitants in Hungary and England at the time of
Mátyás Corvinus were approximately equal. Today, the ratio is one
to five.
 
Mátyás might nevertheless have established a new, native dynasty;
but neither of his two wives bore him an heir. Magnates wanted, as
one of them put it cynically, 'a king whose plaits they could hold in
their fists'. Such a man was to hand in Wladislas Jagiello (Ulászló
II in Hungarian history), whom the Bohemians had chosen as their
king in 1471 precisely for his negative qualities, a choice which he
had thereafter justified so amply as to earn from his subjects the
name of 'King Dobre' (King O.K.) from his habit of assenting without
cavil to any proposal laid before him.
 
In the event Maximilian contented himself with the restoration of the
Austrian provinces and with an agreement that if Ulászló died
without heirs, Maximilian himself, or his heirs, should succeed.
Thereafter he exercised an increasingly close, although friendly,
protectorate over Hungary, which was not altered when Ulászló,
after many curious adventures, eventually married and, in 1506,
became father of a boy. Another agreement was concluded in 1515
under which this boy, Louis, married Maximilian's granddaughter,
Mary, while his sister, Anne, was betrothed to Maximilian's younger
grandson, Ferdinand, who was to succeed to Louis's thrones if
Louis died without issue.
 
Again we come upon an age marked not by a king's name but first
by a highly ambitious priest's, later by a popular hero's, and finally
by a fanatical jurist's. Tamás Bakócz, the offspring of serf -he was
Bishop of Györ and Eger, and then Archbishop of Esztergom -was
a true Renaissance figure. He was first Matthias's secretary, but
later Wladislas's all-powerful deputy. Bakócz proceeded to Rome
with wagons fully loaded with gold; he waited very patiently for the
death of Julianus II, the great patron of the arts and Michelangelo's
backer. At the conclave he was narrowly defeated by Giovanni De'
Medici, who mounted the papal throne as Leo X. To compensate
him for the failure and to get rid of him at the Vatican, the new pope
granted Bakócz the right to announce a Crusade.
 
In 15th century most of the pottery came from Rhein or Moravian
area. Goblets were made of Venetian glass (Merano).
 
Louis succeeded his father in 1516, but, a boy of nine, naturally
could bring no remedy. Meanwhile the defences of the country went
from bad to worse.
Hungary was given a brief respite by the Sultan's decision to
reduce Rhodes before turning north again, but in 1525 attack was
again imminent. Messengers scoured Europe appealing for help,
but hardly any came; the Empire was occupied with France, Poland
with the Tatars, Bohemia was indifferent. When, in 1526, the Sultan
commenced his advance in earnest, it was at first almost
unopposed.
Summary:
975-1100 Hungary had a strong German influence, by means of
German knights and other noble.
1242- came German immigrants. Population of the towns were
mainly German.
In the beginning of the 15th century king was from Luxemburg and
emperor of Holy Roman Empire (German).
 
Venetians, Napolitans, two Sicilies… influenced strongly in to
Hungary during whole period.
Especially in the second half of the 15th century, when renaissance
dominated in court.
Magyar viseletek Története, shows Italian costumes in 13 th and
14th century and again at Mátyas and Jagello's period (1480-1526).
Armoury of the soldiers has been whole medieval ages in western
style. Since there were plenty of manufactures in Italy we can
assume that most of armoury comes from there. (Since eastern
style clothed soldiers did not carry armour, I count them out)
 
End of 12th century French style came into court. And same
happened when Venetian branch of Anjou's got the crown in the
beginning of the 14th century.
 
Hungary was at the center of medieval European political
marriages and pivotal to the alliance system (list of foreign queens
in the end).
The king of Hungary participated in crusade -- like the Holy Roman
Emperor, the King of France, the King of England, etc.
 
Conclusion:
 
Even a cursory familiarity with the role of Hungary in medieval
European political history makes nonsense of the claim that
Hungary wasn't part of the medieval West. In the text of the
museum of Visegrád was written that Hungary was part of central
Europe. The fact that most SCAdians are fascinated with England
and France leads them often to forget that the center of medieval
Western Europe was the Rhine, not the English Channel. If
Hungary is peripheral to medieval Western Europe, England is just
as peripheral and Ireland is like the bloody Ukraine.

To have a foreign king was by no means always an unmixed

disadvantage for Hungary. Fresh ideas and institutions were
sometimes brought in which fructified and enriched the political,
social, cultural and economic life of the country, and without which
it might well have failed to keep pace with the general advance of
the contemporary Europe towards a higher level of civilisation.
 
Foreign queens might sometimes have a great influence in the
court, like its mentioned twice in history. In most cases we can
assume that she must have magyarised, or her influence has been
small.
 
It is true that the Hungarians did not always relish these
innovations, and often bound the monarch of their choice by strict
capitulations to respect their own hardly-won and cherished
national institutions. Their ability to do this - an outcome, strictly
speaking, of the electoral nature of the Crown, not of the fact that
the candidate was usually a foreigner - was a main reason why, for
good or ill (and the advantages did not lie all on one side), Hungary
throughout her history was able to preserve her native features in a
larger degree than most other European countries.
 
List of Hungary's Kings
 
House of Árpád:
Árpád, Prince c. 886-907
Zolta, Prince 907-946
Falicsi (Fajsz), Prince 948-c. 955
Taksony, Prince 955-c. 972
Géza, Prince 972-997
(Saint) Stephen I, Prince 997-1000
King 1000-1038
Peter 1038-1041
Samuel Aba 1041-1044
Peter 1044-1046
Andrew I 1046-1060
Béla I 1060-1063
Salomon 1063-1074
Géza I 1074-1077
(Saint) Ladislas I 1077-1095
Koloman 1095-1116
Stephen II 1116-1131
Béla (Blind) II 1131-1141
Géza II 1141-1162
Stephen III 1162-1172
Ladislas II 1162-1163
Stephen IV 1163-1165
Béla III 1173-1196
Emeric 1196-1204
Ladislas III 1204-1205
Andrew II 1205-1235
Béla IV 1235-1270
 Stephen V 1270-1272
Ladislas (the Cuman) IV 1272-1290
Andrew III 1290-1301
 
Kings of different houses
Wenceslas of Bohemia 1301-1305
Otto of Bavaria 1305-1307

Charles Robert of Anjou 1301-1342

Louis I (the Great) of Anjou 1342-1382

Maria of Anjou 1382-1395
Charles (Small) II of Durazzo 1385-1386
Sigismund of Luxemburg 1387-1437
Albert Habsburg 1437-1439
Wiadislas I Jagiello 1440-1444
Ladislas V (Posthumous) Habsburg 1440-1457
Matthias I Corvinus 1458-1490
Wiadislas II Jagiello 1490-1516
Louis II Jagiello 1516-1526
John Szapolyai (Zápolya) 1526-1540
House of Habsburg 1564-1918
 
Foreign Queens of Hungarytheir date, name and places or origin
 
997- Gisela, Regensburg, Bavaria
1046- Anastasia, Kiev
1060- Rixa, Gniezo
1063- Judith, Regensburg
1074- Synadene, Byzantium
1078- Gertrude, Andechs
1078- Himiltrud, Formbach
1078- Adelhaid, Rheinfelden
1097- Brusilla of Sicily, Palermo (Norman)
1112- Euphemia, Pereyaslevets
1121- Adelhaid, Regensburg
1131- Ilona, Raska
1146- Euphrosina, Kiev
1163- Maria, Byzantium
1166- Agnes, Vienna
1173- Anne de Chatillon, Antioch, France
1186- Margaret, daughter of Louis VII of France, Paris
1198- Constance, Zaragoza
1210? Gertrude of Merano
1215- Yolande, Byzantium
1234- Beatrice, Este
 1235- Maria, Nicea
1297- Agnes, Vienna
1270- Elizabeth, Cumania
1272- Isabella, Naples
1290- Fennena, Kuyavia
1470? Catherine of Podebrad, Bohemia
1470? Beatrice of Naples
 
Sources:
 
Emese saga:
http://mek.oszk.hu/01900/01993/html/index1.html
 
Hungarian history, short version:
http://www.hungarian-history.hu/lib/macartney/index.htm
 
HUNGARY - A Brief History:
http://www.hungarian-history.hu/lib/lazar/index.htm
 
A thousand years of the Hungarian art of war:
http://www.hungarian-history.hu/lib/thou/index.htm
 
Museum of Visegrád castle
 
Museum of Vár castle in Budapest
 
Magyar viseletek Története, Nemes-Nagy-Tompos
ISBN: 963-85528-3-2

The Imperial and Royal Dragon Court and Order

 
 
 
Regele care si-a mutat capitala la Timisoara.

Primul castel al Timisoarei a fost construit la ordinele lui Carol Robert de Anjou care a
fost fascinat de aceste locuri. Prima data cand a pus piciorul aici a fost in 1307, iar
doi mai tarziu era uns rege al Ungariei. Imediat, suveranul a cerut construirea unui
palat la Timisoara. El a plecat din Buda pentru a se stabili in orasul de pe Bega
deoarece se simtea mai in siguranta aici.
In cativa ani, mesterii italieni au ridicat palatul regal, dregatoriile, au refacut si
modernizat fortificatiile. Venirea curtii regelui Ungariei a adus soldati, dar si numerosi
negustorii.  Timisoara devine chiar capitala regatului in 1315, cand Carol Robert de
Anjou se decide sa se mute definitiv aici.

Castelul avea pe atunci forma a doua dreptunghiuri unite printr-un pod, cu un turn,
totul fiind inconjurat de santuri cu apa. 
Constructia se afla pe locul Castelului Huniazilor care s-a pastrat pana astazi. Carol
Robert de Anjou a venit la Timisoara impreuna cu sotia sa si damele de companie,
precum si toata curtea, faimoasa pentru scoala de cavalerie, dregatori si ofiteri.
Odata cu instalarea regelui aici, cetatea devine mai vie, cu mestesugari si
comercianti care se simteau protejati de prezenta regelui, dar si de fortificatii.

Expeditia oprita la Posada

Pentru Carol Robert de Anjou, anii petrecuti in Timisoara au insemnat, totusi,

pierderea a doua sotii, care au murit la scurt timp una dupa cealalta, dar si esecul de
la Posada. In 1330, de aici a pornit expeditia sa impotriva voievodului Basarab I din
Tara Romaneasca, incheiata rusinos pentru regele Ungariei.

Ostenii lui Carol Robert de Anjou trec muntii pe la Severin, apoi sunt suprinsi intr-o
ambuscada. Dupa o batalie grea, oastea este nimicita, iar regele scapa cu greu dupa
ce isi schimba hainele cu unul dintre cavalerii sai fideli.

Dupa infrangerea de la Posada, Carol Robert de Anjou mai viziteaza Timisoara o

singura data, in 1332, cand isi petrece Craciunul aici. Dupa moartea suveranului,
palatul ajunge bun al coroanei Ungariei, iar un secol mai tarziu, Ioan de Huniade
decide sa construiasca pe acelasi loc un alt castel.