This is a specific subject page, dealing exclusively with, or primarily with, the subject in the title. Because of need, there are many such pages at RHWW: usually, but not always, linked to primary pages. For those in a hurry, they enable a quick summary of many important subjects. The menu for these pages is here: Click>>>

 

 

Ancient Hungary

 

Hungary's original inhabitants were the Pannonii (Pannonians), a group of tribes akin to Illyrians. From the 4th century B.C. it was invaded by various Celtic tribes. Little is heard of Pannonia until 35 B.C, when its inhabitants, allies of the Dalmatians, were attacked by Augustus, who conquered and occupied Siscia (Sisak). The country was not, however, definitely subdued until 9 B.C, when it was incorporated into Illyricum, the frontier of which was thus extended as far as the Danube.

In AD 6, the Pannonians, with the Dalmatians and other Illyrian tribes, engaged in the so-called Great Illyrian Revolt, and were overcome by Tiberius and Germanicus, after a hard-fought campaign which lasted for three years. After the rebellion was crushed in AD 9, the province of Illyricum was dissolved, and its lands were divided between the new provinces of Pannonia in the north and Dalmatia in the south. The date of the division is unknown, most certainly after AD 20 but before AD 50. The proximity of dangerous barbarian tribes (Quadi, Marcomanni) necessitated the presence of a large number of troops (seven legions in later times), and numerous fortresses were built on the bank of the Danube.

Some time between the years 102 and 107, between the first and second Dacian wars, Trajan divided the province into Pannonia Superior (western part with the capital Carnuntum), and Pannonia Inferior (eastern part with the capital Aquincum). According to Ptolemy, these divisions were separated by a line drawn from Arrabona (Győr) in the north to Servitium (Gradiška) in the south; later, the boundary was placed further east.

After four centuries of existence, Roman civilization was swept away by the great migrations. For five hundred years the Carpathian Basin had been "the people's highway", with various White tribes such as the Visigoths, the Ostrogoths and the Lombards migrating across the area after sojourning for various lengths of time. Later, the Western Roman Empire collapsed under the stress of the migration of Germanic tribes, and Carpian pressure.

(The Carpi or Carpiani were an ancient people that resided in the former Principality of Moldavia (modern eastern Romania). The archaeology of Moldavia in the period 106-318 shows the coexistence of two distinct material cultures, one sedentary, the other exhibiting the features of a nomadic steppe culture. The sedentary culture was on a material level not significantly higher than other barbarian regions on the fringes of the Roman empire. The ethnic affiliation of the Carpi remains disputed, as there is no direct evidence in the surviving ancient literary sources. A strong body of modern scholarly opinion considers that the Carpi were a tribe of the Dacian nation. Other scholars have linked the Carpi to a variety of ethnic groups, including Sarmatians, Thracians, Germans, and Celts).

Nomadic-culture graves are predominantly inhumation-type, found in 38 places in Moldavia by 1976. These are predominantly found on the plains, rarely on the Carpathian foothills (i.e. East of the Siret), either singly or in small groups of 2-13 graves, including men, women, and children. The great majority of nomadic-culture graves are flat (non-tumular), in contrast to nomadic barrow-graves found from the Dniester region eastwards. However, some secondary barrow-burials (i.e. using pre-existing barrows) have been found, mostly dating from 200 onwards.The nomadic graves always contain grave-goods, often including weapons, and mirrors engraved with tamgas (ritual/tribal symbols associated with nomadic steppe cultures).

6 cemeteries in Bichir's list contain both cremation and inhumation graves. At the Poieneşti site (the only one fully investigated by 1976), 6 adults and 17 children were buried (compared with 62 cremated). Of these, 2 adults and 7 children were found to have artificially elongated crania. This custom, achieved by tightly binding an infant's skull during its early growth phase, is associated with Black people EVERYWHERE!

Later, the empire of the Huns came, the military power that finally forced the withdrawal of the Roman legions. In the middle of the 5th century, Pannonia was ceded to the Huns by Theodosius II. In the 560s the Avars (a highly organized nomadic confederacy of mixed origins. They were ruled by a khagan, who was surrounded by a tight-knit entourage of nomad warriors, an organization characteristic of Turko-Mongol groups), founded the Avar Khaganate, a state which maintained supremacy in the region for more than two centuries and had the military power to launch attacks against all its neighbours. The Avar Khagnate was weakened by constant wars and outside pressure, and the Franks under Charlemagne managed to defeat the Avars, ending their 250-year rule. In the middle of the 9th century, the Slavic Balaton Principality, also known as Lower Pannonia, was established by the Franks as a frontier march when they destroyed the Avar state in the western part of the Pannonian plain; however this vassal state was destroyed in 900 by Hungarian tribes.

After the fall of the great Hun and Avar nomadic empires, only the Western Slavic and Southern Slavic people, who had been settling in the area since the 6th and 7th centuries succeeded in establishing themselves in the Carpathian Basin. In 895/896, under the leadership of Árpád, some Hungarians (meaningless modern name) crossed the Carpathians and entered the Carpathian Basin. The tribe called Magyers was the leading tribe of an alliance that conquered the centre of the basin. The Magyers confederation of Turkic tribes was probably led by two high princes: the kende (their spiritual ruler) and the gyula (their military leader). The high princes were either elected by the leaders of the tribes or appointed by the Khagan of the Khazars (Modern Jews) who had been exerting influence over the Magyars. Around 862 the seven tribes separated from the Khazars.The force led by Árpád is estimated at about 400,000 people, consisting of seven Turkic tribes, one Kabar tribe, and other smaller tribes.

In the first half of the tenth century, during the decades that followed the Conquest, raiding expeditions of Magyar mounted warriors subjected all Europe to a constant state of terror. In time, however, they began to feel the effects of Western counter-strategy. When the Magyars invaded Bavaria in 955, the armoured cavalry of Otto the Great, Holy Roman Emperor, checked their advance, and in the decisive battle at Lechfeld it annihilated the Magyar assailants. Although the Magyars launched further attacks on Byzantium following this devastating defeat, it became clear that they had arrived at a decisive historic cross-road. Two alternatives confronted them: either they settle down, form a state and adjust themselves to the people of Europe, or else the same fate would befall them as that of the other nomadic peoples who had been annihilated in previous centuries.

Stephen I
The first kings of the kingdom were from the Árpád dynasty, and the first Christian King was Stephen I, who was crowned on 25 December 1000 (or 1 January 1001) with the crown Pope Sylvester II had sent him with the consent of Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor. The Roman Catholic Church received powerful support from Stephen I, who with Christian Hungarians and German knights wanted a Christian kingdom established in Central Europe.

Charles I (1288 – ), the first King of Hungary and Croatia (1308–42) of the House of Anjou. He was also descended from the old Hungarian Árpád dynasty. His claim to the throne of Hungary was contested by several pretenders. Nevertheless, although he was only a child when his grandfather, King Charles II of Naples sent him to Hungary in 1300, Charles would strengthen his rule in the kingdom against his opponents and the powerful magnates following a long series of internal struggles. His most successful achievement was the mutual defense union with Poland and Bohemia against the Habsburgs (Holy Roman Empire). Charles was born in Naples, southern Italy, the only son of Charles Martel, Prince of Salerno and his wife Clementia, a daughter of King Rudolph I of Germany. His paternal grandmother, Mary, a daughter of King Stephen V of Hungary, declared her claim to Hungary following the death of her brother, King Ladislaus IV of Hungary.

The House of Anjou (Angevin Empire)
The term Angevin Empire is a modern term describing the collection of states once ruled by the Angevin Plantagenet dynasty.
The Angevins, also known as the House of Anjou, were a noble family founded in the early years of the Carolingian Empire. They first emerged as part of the minor feudal nobility, in what would soon be known as the Kingdom of France during the 10th century. After Geoffrey III, Count of Anjou inherited Anjou from his mother in 1060, the family began to grow in prominence, soon acquiring Maine. After going on crusade and becoming close to the Knights Templar, the Kingdom of Jerusalem was received through marriage by Fulk of Jerusalem in 1131. The senior line of the family branched off to become the House of Plantagenet, assuming the nickname of Geoffrey V of Anjou, its founder, eventually going on to rule the Kingdom of England, Lordship of Ireland, Principality of Wales and various other holdings in the vast Angevin Empire in 1154.

Carolingian Empire (800–888) is a historiographical term which has been used to refer to the realm of the Franks under the Carolingian dynasty in the Early Middle Ages. This dynasty is seen as the founders of France and Germany, and its beginning date is based on the crowning of Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, and ends with the death of Charles the Fat. Depending on one's perspective, this Empire can be seen as the later history of the Frankish Realm or the early history of France and of the Holy Roman Empire.

The House of Plantagenet, a branch of the Angevins, was a royal house founded by Geoffrey V of Anjou, father of Henry II of England. Plantagenet kings first ruled the Kingdom of England in the 12th century. Their paternal ancestors originated in the French province of Gâtinais and gained the County of Anjou through marriage during the 11th century. The dynasty accumulated several other holdings, building the Angevin Empire that at its peak stretched from the Pyrenees to Ireland and the border with Scotland.

Edward II king of England - House of Plantagenet

Edward's downfall came when his wife Isabella of France and her baronial lover Roger Mortimer set out to depose the king with the help of Henry, Earl of Lancaster, brother of the executed Earl Thomas. In defeat Edward agreed to abdicate the throne in favour of his and Isabella's son, Edward III of England.

Edward III king of England (the Black Prince) - House of Plantagenet

Edward III married Philippa of Hainaut, (1314 – 1369). Hainaut consisted of what is now the Belgian province of Hainaut and the southern part of the French département Nord. In Roman times, Hainaut was situated in the Roman provinces of Belgica and Germania Inferior and inhabited by Celtic tribes (Black people), until Germanic peoples (White people) replaced them and ended Roman Imperial rule.The eldest of her fourteen children was Edward, the Black Prince, who became a renowned military leader. Philppa died at the age of fifty-five from an illness closely related to dropsy. The Queen's College, Oxford was founded in her honour.

Louis I, the great of Hungary (Ludwik Wegierski) - son of Charles I
Louis was the head of the senior branch of the Angevin dynasty. He was one of the most active and accomplished monarchs of the Late Middle Ages, extending territorial control to the Adriatic and securing Dalmatia, with part of Bosnia and Bulgaria, within the Holy Crown of Hungary. During his reign Hungary reached the peak of its political influence. He spent much of his reign in wars with the Republic of Venice. He was in competition for the throne of Naples, with huge military success and the latter with little lasting political results. Louis is the first European monarch who came into collision with the Ottoman Turks.

 

 

 

 

 

 


In 1342, Louis married his first wife, Margaret (1335 – 1349), underaged daughter of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, who died while still a minor. He then married his second wife, Elisabeth, daughter of Stephen II of Bosnia, who became Louis's vassal, and Elisabeth of Kuyavia, in 1353. Louis had three known daughters, all born of his second wife: Catherine (1370 – 1378), Mary, his successor in Hungary, who married Sigismund, at that time Margrave of Brandenburg (1371 – 1395), who became King of Hungary (1387–1437) and Holy Roman Emperor (1433–1437). Hedwige his successor in Poland, who married Jogaila, then Grand Duke of Lithuania.

Later the King Matthias Corvinus was elected by the nobles of the Kingdom, being the first Hungarian monarch which descended from an aristocratic family, and not from a royal family that inherited the title by blood traces. The same happened decades later with the King John I of Hungary, who was elected in 1526 after the death of the King Louis II of Hungary in the battle of Mohács. After this, the House of Habsburg inherited the throne, and ruled Hungary from Austria for almost 500 years until 1918.

 

 

 

 

Click for Realhistoryww Home Page