I COFNJSLL^iUyERSITY LIBRMY. I P ^ S This book is nM. to be taken |s U from tl^^Eeadi^ Room. <0 Mi ..^- ' l50NE WITH, RETURN ATNONCE TO It ijuiu. I ■iMmiiw I J-.^ l y I II . iii iiiM nntainiMPiMnMMiiM i ju i l i gw i uBW «W I»iwM ( l i Ma ii g " CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Cornell University Library olin,anx 3 1924 031 223 153 Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031223153 THE STORY OF THE NATIONS OCTAVO, ILLUSTKATED. I-ER VOL., $1.50 THE EARLIER VOLUMES WILL BB THE STORY OF GREECE. By Prof. Jas. A. Harrison THE STORY OF ROME. By Arthur Oilman THE STORY OF THE JEWS. By Prof. Jas. K. Hosmer THE STORY OF CHALDEA. By Z. RacBzin THE STORY OF NORWAY. By Prof. H. H. Bovesen THE STORY OF GERMANY. By S. Baring-Gould THE STORY OF SPAIN. By E. E and Slsan Hale THE STORY OF HUNGARY. By Prof. A. Vamb4rv THE STORY OF THE SARACENS. By Arthur Gilman THE STORY OF ASSYRIA. By Z. RagOzin THE STORY OF THE GOTHS. By Henev Bradley THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. By Sarah O. Jewett For prospectus of the series see end of this volume G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS NEW YORK AND LONDON hit ItDig of Ihe ||aliDns THE STORY OF HUNGARY ARMINIUS V;AMBERY PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BUDA-PESTH WITH THE COLLABORATION OF LOUIS HEILPRIN NEW YORK & LONDON G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS §^t ^nichcrboclitc ^ccse 1886 COPYRIGHT KY . PUTNAM'S SONS 1886 Press of P. Putnam's Sons New York mmP'^X^^K M 1 i^^*^^^t'l^\ ^^H PREFACE. In complying with the re'q'ufest -e/i tijit pubhshers of the Nations- Series-to write the ■St<|''y|if Hungary, I undertook 4 task whicli was out, of t|ie range of my previous ht'erary'uhdertaking&f^vhi^^n had for the most part been devoted"' to the""get)graphy, history, and philology of Central Asia. The principal reason which induced me to enter upon what is for me a new literary field, was my desire to make American and English readers acquainted with the record of my native country, and to present the various phases of the history of Hungary irt the light best suited to attract the attention of the citizens of England and of the Great Republic, to whose opinion we Hun- garians are by no means indifferent. My willingness to prepare the present volume was further due to the fact, that it was not the History, but the Story of Hungary, I was asked to write ; an under- taking in which I had simply to deal with the salient events, the most noteworthy personalities, and the most thrilling episodes in a narrative which covered nearly a thousand years, and was not called upon to consider the philosophical side of the history, or to discuss the deeper-lying motives or the less signifi- cant details of national action. IV STORY OF HUNGARY. For a task such as that presented to me, I con- cluded that the knowledge and the ideas of a Hun- garian man of letters were not inadequate ; I have, nevertheless, had recourse, in certain instances, to the assistance of writers who had given special attention to our national history, with the idea of making as accurate as possible this the first Story of Hungary written in English. The distance between Buda-Pesth and New York rendered it impossible for me to give my personal attention to the proofs while the volume was being put into type. The proof-reading was therefore en- trusted to the care of Mr. Louis Heilprin, a gentle- man who is evidently thoroughly familiar with the subject, and to whom I desire to express my obliga- tions not only for the care he has taken with the proof-reading, but also for his attention in securing in my English text the most accurate and most effective forms of expression. I take this opportunity of expressing, also, my thanks for the kind cooperation of my countrymen, Messrs. Sebesty6n, Csdnki, Acsddy, and Vargha. A. V. Buda-Pesth, August,. \?>it>. nn tS^^xh^^^BSSfip MBW^^ S!^ E^^ iMIIMmiiil^M ^^ ^S^^s ^^ji S^ |l%I^Mj|!^^ HHS £ai|ilninfi^ Sr^^^ JB^^ Sp^^^^Bu^s^M M K^ ^ ii i^^l CONTENTS. I. PAGE The Country and the People of Hungary, 1-17 A bird's-eye view, i — Carpathian mountains, 5 — Water sys- tem, 7 — Climate, 9 — Various nationalities, 13 — Constitu- tion, i6. II. Hungary before the Occupation by the Ma- gyars 18-26 Prehistoric times, 18 — Pannonia and Dacia, 20 — The Mar- comanni, 21 — Huns, 23 — Gepidse, 24 — Bajan, prince of the Avars, 25. III. The Origin of the Hungarians . . 27-41 Nimrod and his descendants, 27 — Two kindred races, 29 — Cradle of the Magyar race, 32 — Country between the Volga and Danube, 33 — The seven dukes, 36 — Invasion of Hun- gary, 37. — Defeat of Svatopluk, 39. IV. The Reign of the Dukes 42-52 Arpad the first duke, 42 — Defeat of King Berengar, 44 — Battle of Presburg, 45 — Battle of Mefseburg, 47 — Melan- choly Magyars, 49 — Duke Geyza, 51. vi THE STORY OF HUNGARY. The Conversion to Christianity . . 53-64 Shamanism, 53 — Missionaries, 55 — Baptism of Stephen, 58 — Discontent, 59 — Rigorous laws, 61 — Changes in manners and customs, 63 VI. St. Stephen, the First King of Hungary. 05-96 St. Stephen's Day, 66 — Influence of religious ideas, O9 — Character of Stephen, 71 — Embassy to Rome, 74 — St. Stephen's crown, 75 — Papal bull, 77 — Christian church the corner-stone, 79 — Cathedral of Stuhlweissenburg, 81 — In- crease of royal authority, 83 — Revenues, 85 — Prosperity of the country, 87 — Attack of Conrad, 89 — Stephen's advice to his son, 91 — Stephen canonized, 96. VII. The Kings of the House of Arpad . 97-150 Wealth of the Arpads, 98 — Charter of the Golden Bull, 99 — Vatha, 102 — Envoys of Henry III., 103 — The brothers' feud, 105 — Power of paganism broken, 107 — Battle of Mo- gyorod, log — Increase of population, 11 1 — Religious move- ment in Europe, 114— The '' bookish " king, 115 — Struggle between uncle and nephew, 117 — Bela's oath, lig — Royal chancery, 121 — Battle on the Drave, 124 — Andrew II., 125 — Complaints of the nobles, 127 — Golden Bull, 129 — Mongol invasion, 132 — Plain of Theiss, 135 — Battle of Muhi, 139 — Bela's flight, 141 — Colonization, 142 — Frederic, Duke of Austria, 144 — Alliance of houses of Hapsburg and Arpad, 145 — Ladislaus IV., 147 — The sun of the Arpads sets, 150. VIII. The Anjous in Hungary . . . 151-193 The Czech party victorious, 152 — Otto's march through Buda, 153 — Charles Robert of Anjou crowned, 154 — Czech depre- dations, 155 — Battle of Kassa, 157 — Zach family condemned, CONTENTS. VU PAGE i6o — Wallachian campaign, i6i — Louis the Great, 164.— Assassination of Andrew, 165 — The Pope's sentence, 167— Successes in Servia, i6g — Europe threatened by a new foe, 171 — Cultivation of the arts of peace, 174 — End of union between Poland and Hungary, 175 — Coronation of Charles, 177 — Sigismund, ruler of Hungary, 179 — Execution of Kont, i8i — Approach of Bajazet, 183 — Election of new king, 185 — King of Hungary becomes Emperor of Germany, 187 — Church of Rome, 189 — Siege of Galambocz, 191 — Death of Sigisniund, 193. IX. John Hunyadi; the Great Champion of Chris- tianity ...... 194-216 Every noble a born soldier, 195 — Battle of Semendria, 196 — Heroism of Simon Kemeny, 199 — Entrance of Turkish army, 20 r — League against the Turks, 203 — Terms of peace, 205 — Battle of Varna, 207 — Defeat of the Hungarians, 209 Invasion of Alba;nia, 211 — John Capistrano, 213 — Death of Hunyadi, 215. X. King Matthias 217-256 Personal courage, 220 — Wars with the Poles and Czechs, 222 — The Black Troop, 224 — Siege of Vienna, 225 — Severe disciplinarian, 229 — Character of Matthias, 231 — Embassy to Charles VIII., 233 — Brilliant court receptions, 235 — " An Earthly Paradise," 238 — New laws, 240 — King Matthias the Just, 241 — Critical position, 243 — Wealth, 245 — Renaissance, 247 — Court dinners, 249 — Library, 251 — Palace at Buda, 253 — Death of Matthias, 256. XI. The Period of National Decline, and the Dis- astrous Battle of Mohacs. . 257-289 A dark page, 257 — John Corvinus, 259 — Deputation of Ulad- islaus, 261 — Disorders of the times, 263 — A distinguished brawl, 267 — Condition of the Hungarian peasants, 269 — Peasant war, 271 — Popular feeling, 273— Indifference of viii THE STORY OF HUNGARY. the ting, 275 — Frivolous -amusements, 277 — Fuggers, 279 — KaUmdos League, 281 — Siege of Shabatz, 283 — King Louis roused from his lethargy, 285 — Battle of Mohacs, 287 — Hungarians pay a heavy penalty, 289. XII. The Turkish World, and the Rise of Protes- tantism IN Hungary . . . 290-336 Sack of Buda, 293- — A nation with two kings, 295 — Ambi- tious schemes of Solyman, 297— Gallant George Szondi, 299 — Stephen Losonczy, 301 — Temesvar taken by the Turks, 305— Depressing days, 307 — Heroic defence of Erlau, 308 — Flans of Solyman, 311 — He lays siege to Szigetvar, 313 — Wearisomeness of the siege, 315 — Fall of Szigetvar, 317 — The poet Balassa, 319 — Spread of Luther's ideas, 322 — Laws against Lutherans, 323 — Teachings of Calvin, 325 — The anti- reformation movement, 327^Nicholas Zrinyi, 329 — Last great campaign of the Osmanlis, 331 — Rout of the Turks, 333 — Peace of Szatmar, 335 — Desolation of Hungary, 336. XIIL The Austrian Rule (15 26-1 780) . . 337-373 Ferdinand elevated to the throne of Hungary, 338 — Turks averse to increase of Hapsburg power, 339 — Vienna the seat of government, 341 — Obstacle to Germanizing schemes, 343 — Rebellion, 345 — Peace of Vienna, 346 — ^Jesuits gain a foothold, 347 — Gabriel Bethlen, 348 — Old policy of the Transylvanian princes, 350 — Disturbance of the ' ' balance of power," 351 — Gloomy outlook for the Hungarians, 353 — General conspiracy, 355 — Kurucz-Labancz era, 357 — Nego- tiations begun, 358 — Siege of Vienna raised, 359 — Bloody Tribunal of Eperjes, 360 — Colonization of the Alfbld, 361 — Oppressive taxes, 362 — Francis Rakoczy II., 363 — New rising of the people, 364 — Com pact of Szatmar, 367 — Inaug- uration of new policy, 369 — Maria Theresa's appeal, 370 — Gratitude of the queen, 371— Social revolution, 372. CONTENTS. IX XIV. PAGE The Emperor Joseph II. — The National Re- action AND the Napoleonic Wars, 374-399 A king refuses to be crowned, 375 — Imbued with eighteenth- century views, 386 — German made the official language, 379 — Shocks the prejudices of the people, 381 — Crown removed to Vienna, 382 — War declared against Turkey, 385 — Succes- sion of Leopold II., 387 — Hungary declared an independent country, 389 — Laws securing religious liberty, 390 — Arbi- trary government of Francis I , 391 — Hungarian Jacobins, 392 — Echo of the French ideas, 394 — Liberal leaders arrested, 395 — Bloody executions, 396 — Main functions of the diets, 397 — Constitution ignored, 398 — Levy of recruits, 399. XV. Sz^chenyi, Kossuth, and the Struggle for Liberty in 1848-1849 . . . 400-440 Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 400 — Stephen Szechenyi, 402 — Congress of Vienna, 404 — Speaks in Hungarian, 406 — Publication of " Credit,'' 409 — Introduction of horse-racing, 410 — Danube Steam Navigation Company, '411 — Louis Kossuth, 412 — Leaders of public opinion, 414 — Censorship of the press, 415 — Kossuth's imprisonment, 416 — Pesti Hirlap, 417 — Attacks on Kossuth, 418 — Policy of the Vien- nese government, 420 — Revolutions of 1848, 421 — Talpra Magyar, 422 — Reforms of the diet, 423 — Hungary a modem state, 424 — Rebellion of Croatians, Wallachs, and Serbs, ^•ib—Honvdds, 427 — Vote for troops and funds, 428 — Death of Szechenyi, 429 — Invasion of Windischgratz, 430 — Klapka achieves his first triumph, 431 — Alliance between Francis Joseph and the Czar, 432 — Surrender of Vilagos, 433 — Per- secution of the patriots, 434 — Work of reconciliation, 435 — Austria-Hungary, 436 — Pardon for political offenders, 440. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. SALLY FROM FORTRESS OF sziGF-TVAR Frontispiece SELF-IMMOLATION OF SZONDI .... xiv DANUBE FROM THE RUINS OF VISEGRAD . . 3 ICE GROTTO OF DEMfiNFALVA . . . 5 BORDERS OF THE DANUBE . . 7 BUDA-PESTH . II COACHMAN . . 12 HUNGARIAN TYPES -13 CHILDREN FROM THE DISTRICT OF THE SAVE . . 15 A "kola" 17 ROMAN AND DACIANS, FROM TRAJAn's COLUMN . I9 A ROMAN TEMPLE .21 HUNGARIAN SHEPHERD 31 ELECTION OF ALMOS, THE FIRST DUKE . 35 ARPAD TAKES POSSESSION OF HUNGARY ... 43 BAPTISM OF ST. STEPHEN ... ■ • 57 CORONATION OF ST. STEPHEN ... .67 THE PEOPLE SEDUCED BY VATHA CLAIM THE RE- ESTABLISHMENT OF PAGANISM .... lOI DUEL BETWEEN ST. LADISLAUS AND AKERS . -113 B^LA IV. RETURNS TO HIS COUNTRY, DEVASTATED BY THE MONGOLS I43 CASTLE OF kKV\ 153 CATHEDRAL OF GRAN 163 xi xu THE STORY OF HUNGAH Y. CASTLE OF BETZKO . CASTLE OF HUNYAD PRESBURG .... FORTRESS OF BUDA RUINS OF VISEGRAD JELLACHICH SQUARE, AGRAM . HEROIC DEFENCE OF ERLAU pasha's HOUSE .... HUNGARIAN PEASANTS IN AN INN A csik6s HUNGARIAN PEASANTS ..... PEASANT GIRL FROM THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF BUDA PESTH HUNGARIAN PEASANT HUNGARIAN PORTER (dOOR-KEEPEr) SLOVAK WOMAN AND CHILDREN GYPSY HUTS . . . . . OLD GYPSY WOMAN ... HALT OF GYPSIES GYPSIES AND LADY HOUSE AT KRAPINA HUNGARIAN GYPSY HUNGARIAN LADY . WOM-An's HEAD-DRESS CARTS ... . . BARKS ON DANUBE . -17^3 196 219 227 309 321 339 349 365 371 377 383 401 403 405 419 423 42s 435 437 439 440 SELK-IMMOLATION OF SZONlJl. (See p. 3OI.) THE STORY OF HUNGARY. CHAPTER I. THE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE OF HUNGARY. Alexander PetOfi, the great Hungarian poet, in one of his beautiful poems, sings thus of his na- tive land : " If the earth be God's crown Our country is its fairest jewel." And truly were we able to ascend the airy heights and obtain a bird's-eye view of Hungary, we would fain admit that it is one of the fairest and most blessed spots on the face of the earth. In the Northwest of Hungary, on the banks of the Danube, begins the mountainous region known under the name of the Carpathian range, which for beauty is not surpassed by the Alps, and in extent fairly rivals them. This mountain range, encircling like a gigantic evergreen wreath one half of the country, extends all along its northern boundary and, after enclosing the eastern portion of it, stretches west- ward to where it is intersected by the waters of the Danube, not terminating there, however, but branch- 2 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. ing off into the countries lying along the lower course of that river. The whole range of the Carpathians is character- ized throughout its immensely long course by con- siderable breadth, forming at some places quite a hilly country and high plateaus, as, for instance, in Transylvania which, although properly belonging to Hungary, formerly enjoyed a sort of independence under its own name. This territory is covered al- most entirely by the Carpathians, but, of course, designated here by different names. We shall proceed now in due order. In the Northwest, there where the Danube enters Hungarian territory near D^veny, the mountain chain begins, under the name of the Northwestern Carpathians ; these, describing the shape of a half moon, extend from Presburg (Pozsony) to the Her- nad-Tarcza valley. Formerly three groups only were mentioned in connection with this section: namely, the Titra, FAtra, and Mdtra, a representa- tion of which, as well as of the four rivers, the Dan- ube, Theiss, Drave, and Save, is embodied in the arms of the country, whence Hungary is designated as "the country of the three mountains and four rivers." The Northwestern Carpathians are, how- ever, a gigantic mountain mass of immense bulk, subdivided into several distinct ranges. Of these one, the Northwestern border mountain-range, start- ing near the Danube in Presburg County and extend- ing in the shape of a wide arch in a northeastern direction as far as the sources of the Arva river, divides Hungary from Moravia, Silesia, and Galicia. DANUBE FROM THE RUJNS OF VISEGRAD. 4 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. This ridge is constantly rising, and reaches the high- est elevation at its northern edge. Another range is the Little Krevdn, which begins in Arva County, and extends through the flatlands between the Vclg and Nyitra rivers. East of this are the Gomor mountain- range, famous for its stalactitic caves, including Agg- telek; the Mdtra range, extending from Miskolcz to Vdcz ; and the loftiest of all, the High Tdtra, whose highest peaks are those of J^gvolgy, Gerlach- falva, and Lomnicz, rising to an altitude of between 8,000 and 9,000 feet. The mountains belonging to this group are snow-covered, and what renders them peculiarly interesting are the so-called tengerszemek (eyes of the sea), limpid lakes of unfathomable depth, which, according to popular behef, are con- nected with the sea, and about which a good many old-time legendary tales are current amongst the people. These lakes are met with at the height of 1,900 metres above the level of the sea. That range of mountains which extends eastwards from the Herndd-Tarcza valley to the southeastern angle of Mirmaros County is called the Northeastern Carpathians. It includes the Wooded Carpathians and the Eperjes-Tokay range, in the southern part of which, the Hegyalja, the king of the wines, the famous Tokay wine, is produced. The southeastern chain of the Carpathians divides where Mdrmaros County, Transylvania, and Buko- vina converge into an angle, forming several main lines which enclose the territory of Transylvania in an almost quadrangular shape and give it the character of a high plateau. The name of this group 2^HE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE. 5 is the Southeastern Carpathians. Parts of it are the Transylvanian northern and eastern border ranges ; the Hargita range, with the remarkable Mount Biidos, containing several caves from which issue strong gases, and the beautiful lake of St. Anna at a height of 950 metres ; the southern border range, the largest and most massive portion of the Carpathian ICE-GROTTO OF DEM^NYFALVA. mountains ; the mountain group of the Banate and the mineral mountain range of the Banate, the latter owing its name to the gold, silver, and other ores as well as the coal abounding in it. This group projects as far as the basin of the Danube and forms there the passes known as the Iron Gate, which greatly jmpede navigation. To the Transylvanian 6 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. Hungarian range, extending north from the Marcs river, belong the mineral mountains of Transylvania, rich in gold and other ore, and the mountain called Kirdlyhagd, which marks the frontier between Hun- gary and the independent Transylvania of old. Thirty-eight passes lead from this mountain-system of gigantic dimensions, partly into the countries ad- jacent to Hungary, partly into the regions divided by them. Of these the most important are : the Jablunka pass, communicating with Silesia and the valley of the Vistula ; the Vereczke pass between Munkdcs and Stry, supposed to be the pass through which the Hungarians entered their present country; the Radna pass, leading into Bukovina ; the Ojtdz pass, communicating with Moldavia ; the Tomos pass, leading to Bucharest ; and the Red Tower pass, leading into Little Wallachia. Besides the Carpathian mountains Hungary also contains a less considerable portion of the Alps, be- longing to the so-called Noric Alps. They lie in trans-Danubian Hungary, the Pannonia of old. They embrace the Austro-Styrian border-range, between the valleys of the Danube and Drave ; the V^rtes- Bakony ranges, of which the Bakony forest forms a part; and the group of the Buda mountains, pro- ducing the celebrated wines of that name. Croatia and Slavonia, which are parts of the Hun- garian realm, are also traversed by mountains be- longing to the Alpine system. We perceive from the preceding account that a large portion of the country is mountainous, but over a third part of it is level land, and so fertile THE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE. 7 that it may coiiipare to the prairies in North Amer- ica. The great Hungarian plain, the so-called Alfold (Lowland), boasts of the best soil for the production of wheat, and, stretching down from the offshoots of the Central Carpathians to the frontiers of Servia contains upward of 35,OCX3 square miles. BORDERS OF THE DANUBE. The extent of the water system of a country and its distribution is always of the first importance. In this respect, too, Hungary has been blessed by nature. Of the sea she has but little ; a small portion only of the Adriatic washes her shores, the so-called Hun- garian Sea-Coast, where Fiume, the only important Hungarian seaport city, is situated. The country pos- sesses also some interesting lakes ; one, Lake Balaton, 8 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. forty-seven miles long and nine miles wide, has the characteristics of the sea to such an extent that it is called the Hungarian Sea. In this extensive water is to be found the sa.w ory fogas fish, and on its shores is situated Balaton-Fured, one of the favorite watering-places of Hungary, and near this place is the famous echo of Tihany. Another large lake is the Ferto (Neu-Siedler), eighteen miles long and about five miles wide, which became perfectly dry in 1863, so that even houses were built on its bed, but the waters have returned to it within the last few years. Several smaller lakes, besides the two mentioned, are scattered throughout the country. With rivers the country is abundantly supplied. Its mightiest stream is the Danube, after the Volga, the largest river in Europe. The whole of Hungary belongs to its basin. Its length in Hungary is 600 miles, and it leaves the country at Orsova, after hav- ing formed several islands in its course. The larg- est among these is the Great Csalld region, which contains two towns and over a hundred villages ; and the most beautiful of them is Margit (Margaret) Island, near Buda-Pesth — quite a miniature paradise, frequented by a great many strangers, who come here to get the benefit of its excellent baths. Of the nu- merous affluents of the Danube the Theiss is the most important ; it has its sources in the country and empties into the Danube on Hungarian soil, near Titel. It is navigable for steamships. The Save and Drave are after the Theiss the largest tributaries of the Danube. All these rivers send their waters, through the medium of the Danube, into the Black Sea. THE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE. 9 Thus harmoniously is the soil of Hungary varied by mountains, valleys, plains, and high plateaus, and gratefully watered by rivers and lakes ; and if we but add that the country lies between the forty- fourth and fiftieth degrees of northern latitude, that is, in the most favorable part of the temperate zone, we may readily infer the superiority of the cli- matic conditions prevailing there. There is, of course, great variety of climate. The winter is raw and cold in the Carpathian regions ; spring sets in later, winter comes earlier, and the cold sometimes reaches —22° F. In the hilly and level country the climate is much more genial, the summers hotter, and storms of more frequent occurrence. Wheat, grapes, and maize do not ripen in the regions of the higher Carpathians, whilst the Alfold produces the best and finest wheat, and even rice. The air is most genial on the shores of the Adriatic, and here are grown the fruits of Southern Europe. The climate, as a general thing, is dry, especially in the Alfold, where trees are rare. Such is the topography and climate of the country which, lying in the central portion of Middle Europe, stretches between Moravia, Silesia, Galicia, Bukovina, Roumania, Servia, Bosnia, the Adriatic Sea, Istria, Carinthia, Styria, and Austria. It covers an area of 125,000 square miles, and has a population of nearly sixteen millions. Politically the country is divided into three parts, namely: Hungary proper (including the formerly detached Transylvania), the city and territory of Fiume, and Croatia and Slavonia. Dalmatia, too, ought to belong under the old laws to the country. lO THE STORY OF HUNGARY. but, for a long time already, it has owned the su- premacy of Austria. Buda-Pesth is the capital of the entire kingdom. Situated on both banks of the majestic Danube, here spanned by three beautiful bridges, amongst them the famous suspension bridge, it is one of the finest cities of Europe. It has nearly 400,000 inhabi- tants, and is the centre of Hungary's political, cul- tural, industrial, and commercial life. Fine public and private buildings, some of them beautiful speci- mens of architectural art, adorn the city, and it boasts wide thoroughfares, among which the de- lightful Corso along the left bank of the Danube, and the AndrAssy Ut (Road) leading to the city park, where the national exhibition of 1885 was located, deserve especial mention. The finest and largest cities, besides Buda-Pesth, are : Presburg (Pozsony), on the left bank of the Danube, form- erly the seat of the Hungarian Diet ; Comorn (Ko- mdrom), on the Danube, too, celebrated for its grand fortifications ; Stuhlweissenburg (Sz6kesfej6rvdr), once the capital of Hungary ; Raab (Gyor) ; Oeden- burg (Soprony) ; Veszprem, one of the oldest cities ; Erlau (Eger), renowned for its excellent wine ; Szeged, the metropolis of the Alfold and one of the largest cities, which in 1879 was almost en- tirely destroyed by the overflowing of the Theiss, but has since been rebuilt, more beautifully than be- fore, after the latest European pattern ; Kassa, the finest city in Upper Hungary ; Miskolcz ; Debreczen, one of the most remarkable cities of the Hungarian Alfold and the seat of a considerable industry; 12 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. Grosswardein (Nagy-Vdrad), the scene of many important historical events ; Arad, Temesvdr, and Carlsburg (Gyulafej^rvdr), all fortified cities memor- able in history ; Klausenburg (KolozsvAr), the capital of the former principality of Transylvania; the flourishing Transylvanian towns of Kronstadt (Brass6)and Hermannstadt(Szeben), inhabited for the COACHMAN. most part by the descendants of Saxons ; Fiume, the seaport on the Adriatic ; Agram (Zdgrdb), the capital of Croatia, a beautiful city, which, however, was greatly damaged in 1880 by a terrible earthquake; and Esz6k, the most prominent of the Slavonian towns. The population of the country is composed of va- rious nationalities. The conquering Hungarians did not oppress the ancient inhabitants of the land but THE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE. 13 left them undisturbed in the use of their native lan- guage, and, even in later days, their tolerance went so far as to actually favor foreign, and, more particu- larly, German immigrants, and to this exceptional forbearance alone must be traced the survival of so many nationalities, and the lack of assimilation, after so many centuries. Classified as to languages spoken by the inhabitants, the chief nationalities number as follows : i, Hungarians or Magyars, 6,500,000 — the ruling, and, so to say, the political HUNGARIAN TYPES. nationality of the country, their language, the Magyar,* being the language of the state ; 2, Ger- mans, 1,900,000; 3, Roumans, 2,400,000; 4, Slovaks, * The language of the Hungarians, or Magyars, belongs to the Uralo- Altaic stock, and must be classified with those mixed languages which have sprung up from the amalgamation of different branches of the said race. In the case of the Hungarian language we have before us a mixture of the Finnic-Ugrian and the Turco-Tartar idioms, and the question of its fundamental basis has been constantly a matter of dis- pute between philologists. Its phonetic system, as a strictly Asiatic language, being essentially H THE STORY OF HUNGARY. 1.800,000; 5, Croats and Serbs, 2,400,000; Ruthenes, 350,000. Besides these there are other nationali- ties but in insignificant numbers. The relative numbers of the various religious de- nominations are, in round figures, as follows: Roman and Greek (united) Catholics 60^; Eastern-Greek (non-united), 16^; Lutherans, T%\ Calvinists, 13^; Unitarians, \ % \ Jews, 4 %, With respect to their cultural condition, the peo- ple may be said to be abreast of the nations of Western Europe in every thing but industry, com- merce, and some branches of science. In recent years especially a great improvement has taken place in popular education, owing to the large and daily increasing number of schools, and the law which compels children to attend school. There are, for the purpose of advancing learning and cul- tivating the various branches of science, a variety of conspicuous scientific institutions, literary societies, reading clubs, and public and private libraries. In journalistic literature the country is equal to any country on the European continent. different from that of the Indo-European or Aryan languages, we give here the following rules of pronunciation to be used in this book : Vowels ; consonants : //« ngaria n . a e i { English .^ etc, o in hot. a in far. e in net. rti in fail. i in pin. ee in deer. o in no. cu in French meuble. eu in French deux. u in full. 00 in too. u in French juste. u in French dur. Hungar Engiish^ etc. cs . . ch in chalk. cz . . ts in charts. gy . . . . dy in how d' you do. ly . . . gi in Italian gli. ny -gn in Italian ogni. s sh in shirt. 5z s in saint. ty . . . . ty in hit you (tu in tune), zs . . s.in pleasure. CHILDREN FROM THE IlISTRICT CiF THE SAVE. 1 6 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. The constitution of the kingdom is one of the most liberal in Europe. The estates were represented at the Diet up to 1848, but under the present constitu- tion the government is based upon popular represen- tation. The Parliament or National Assembly con- sists of two Houses, the House of Representatives and the Upper House, or House of LokIs, and in these two bodies and the king is vested the legis- lative power. The national affairs are administered by eight ministerial departments ; the affairs in common with Austria are settled by a delegation from the two Houses of Parliament which meets an Austrian Parliamentary delegation once in every year, and administered by three common ministerial departments — for foreign affairs, for the common army, and for the finances, respectively. In conclusion it may be added that the descrip- tion given above of the favorable concurrence of soil and climate is fully borne out by the abundance of fine cattle of every description possessed by the country, by a bountiful production of cereals which has earned for Hungary the name of the granary of Europe, by the growth of the greatest variety of fruit and forest trees, and finally by the rich products of the mining regions we have adverted to before. This chapter, however, would be incomplete were we not to mention the gigantic efforts made by the national government in every direction during the last two decades to raise Hungary from a mere agricultural state to an industrial and commercial state as well, by fostering her domestic industries and providing good highways, a fine net of railways. THE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE. 17 steam and other navigation", in order to afford an easy and cheap outlet to the abundance of natural products with which nature has blessed her. These patriotic efforts, considering the short space of time they cover, have been attended with signal success, and have culminated in the National Exhi- bition of 1885, held at Buda-Pesth, which fitly illustrated to its many visitors, amounting to nearly a million, the extraordinary progress made by the country in the last years. '^ A " KOLA." CHAPTER II. HUNGARY BEFORE THE OCCUPATION BY THE MAGYARS. The historic period of Hungary begins, properly speaking, with the first century before our era, when Pannonia, comprising the regions watered by the Danube and Drave, was conquered by the victorious arms of Rome. Prehistoric traces, however, may be met with in abundance, which, with the aid of archaeo- logical inquiry, indicate that the soil of Hungary was already inhabited in the neolithic age and in that of bronze by populations who, judged by the me- mentoes left behind them, which were unearthed by the present generation, must have stood on the same level of civilization as the rest of Europe at those periods. Certain articles dating from the age of bronze show even such marked national peculiarities as to lead to the supposition that the heterogeneous tribes were all under the influence of one kind of culture. The Pannonians, after a protracted strug- gle, were subjugated by Tiberius, the stepson of the emperor Augustus. One of the art gems of antiquity, the so-called Apotheosis of Augustus, to be seen in the museum of antiquities at Vienna, commemorates the triumph of Tiberius. The con- 20 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. quering general is represented as stepping from his chariot to do homage to Augustus and Livia, who are seated on a throne in godhke forms. Below, Roman soldiers are raising trophies, whilst the con- quered leader is sitting on the ground with his arms tied behind his back. The reduction of the Dacians, to whose realm Transylvania belonged, took place under Trajan, a century later. To this day stands in Rome the pillar of Trajan, erected in memory of his successful campaign in Dacia. In Trajan's time already Pannonia differed in no wise from the other Roman provinces. Under a Roman administration the language of Rome soon gained ground, although the legions placed there were by no means Roman or even Italian, but con- sisted for the most part of Romanized Spaniards, Belgians, Britons, and inhabitants of the Alpine provinces. The towns became municipalities and colonies, and their inhabitants enjoyed the priv- ilege of self-government conceded to every Roman citizen. Dacia, too, became, under that name, a Roman province, and the Romanizing process was no less rapid there than it had been in Pannonia. The blessings of Roman civilization followed, as usual, in the train of Roman conquests. Cities soon sprang up in the newly organized provinces, and were connected with each other as well as with Rome by fine highways, traces of which may be met with here and there to this day. The cultivation of the vine was introduced under Roman rule, and the regular working of the gold "and salt mines of Tran- sylvania began at that period. The life in the prov- BEFORE THE CONQUEST. 21 inces was modelled after the Roman pattern, for the Roman brought witH him his customs, insti- tutions, language, and mode of life. The newly built cities boasted of public places, of amphi- theatres, of public baths, the resort of pleasure- seekers and idlers ; nor was the forum with its A ROMAN TEMl'LE, statues wanting. The border towns had their cas- trum, giving them a peculiar character of their own. For four centuries these provinces sha!red the destinies of the Roman empire. The enemies of Rome were their enemies, too, and when, under the emperor Marcus Aurelius, in the latter part of the second century of our era, the German nations com- bined in an attack on the Romans, the Marcomanni, who were renowned for their savage bravery, made a 22 THE STOKY OF HUNGARY. successful inroad into Pannonia, and crossing the Danube devastated the whole land. Commodus, the son of Marcus Aurelius, was satisfied to maintain only the integrity of the vast possessions he in- herited, and was averse to new conquests in the direction of the Carpathians. His policy was to protect and defend the natural boundary line formed by the Danube, a policy which gave the legions located there an undue prominence. From this time forth Rome had to be defended in Pan- nonia, for already at that period the mighty revolu- tion, called the migration of nations — the pressing forward of populations from the North and East toward the civilized West and South — began to be felt. It was quite natural that the Pannonian legions should, under the circumstances, become, aware of the importance of their position, and undertake to direct the destinies of Rome from that distant prov- ince. Roman history records that it was by the proc- lamation of these legions that Septimius Severus, Maximin, and Aurelian became emperors. The em- perors Claudius II., Probus, and Valentinian I. were of Pannonian origin. The infant son of the latter, Valentinian II., was brought by the widowed em- press Justina into the camp, and there the legions swore allegiance to him. The time was now approaching when the waning power of the Roman empire became more and more unequal to the task of defending her provinces. Aurelian already had withdrawn the Roman le- gions from Dacia and allowed the Goths to settle there, and Probus had introduced the Goths into BEFORE THE CONQUEST. 23 Lower Pannonia. Roman influence and Roman protection began to be of little value ; the great empire, weakened by internal dissensions, by the internecine. wars waged against each other by im- perial pretenders, torn by religious disputes, and finally divided, hastened to its downfall. At this period a new people made its appearance in Europe on the shores of the Black Sea and along the banks of the Danube, namely, the Huns, who were pushing before them the Goths towards the West. They differed in race from the Germans, Slavs, and Romans, and they had in Attila a leader capable of uniting under his sway the most dis- cordant ethnical elements. Ostrogoths, Gepidse, Vandals, Alans, Rugians, mostly Germanic popula- tions, followed the banners of the foreign leader, trusting in his good fortune and awed and magnetized by his great personal qualities. He pushed forward with an immense number of followers, gathering strength as he advanced by the accession of the barbarous nations, bearing down and destroying every thing before him. Theodosius H., Emperor of the East, agreed to pay tribute to the king of the Huns; but in order to disguise to his subjects the disgraceful transaction, he appointed Attila a general of the empire, so that the tribute should have the appearance of official pay. But Attila was not satisfied with this, and broke the peace overran the Balkan peninsula, pillaged the Byzantine provinces, and destroyed the cities until he obtained his own terms. Priscus Rhetor, who was one of the embassy sent by Theodosius H. to the court of 24 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. Attila, describes the wooden structure in which the king of the Huns dwelt on the banks of the Theiss, somewhere in the vicinity of Szeged, and the feast- ing there. Kings sat at the table, lords sang Attila's heroic deeds, and the guests drank each other's health from vessels of gold. Heathen and Christian, Roman citizens and Asiatic barbarians, as well as the repre- sentatives of the Germanic tribes, mixed with each other and thronged his court. It was during one of those feasts, in 453, as he was celebrating his nup- tials, that the mighty king of the Huns was carried off by a fit of apoplexy. Whilst the sons of Attila were contending with each other for the posses- sion of the empire, the Germanic populations fell upon the divided Huns and drove them back to the Black Sea. The GepiddC remained now the masters of the country east of the Danube, whilst the Ostrogoths occupied the ancient Roman province. The latter, however, under the lead of their king Theodoric, migrated in a body to Italy, crossing the Alps, and founded there, on the ruins of the Roman empire, a Gothic kingdom. The Gepidae remained in conse- quence the sole ruling people in Hungary ; but as they proved dangerous neighbors to the Eastern empire, Justinian invited the Longobards to settle in Pannonia, and gave to the Avars, who now made their first appearance in Europe and had asked him for land to settle on, the left bank of the lower Danube. About this time, too, Slavic populations came into the country, crossing the Carpathian mountains and peopling the deserted land. Gepidse, Longobards, BEFORE THE CONQUEST. 25 and Avars could not dwell long in peace together, and the first collision took place between the Longo- bards and the Gepidae on the banks of the Danube. This was followed by another hostile outbreak, in which the Longobards obtained the alliance of the Avars against the Gepidae, resulting in the total over- throw of the latter. Shortly afterwards the Longo- bards, following an invitation from Italy, emigrated thither. Thus the Avars were left in sole posses- sion of the country, ruling over populations chiefly Slavic. The empire they founded lasted two centuries and a half. The Avars were partly rem- nants of those Huns who had been the terror of Europe, and their numbers were in part swelled by new recruits coming from Asia. Bajdn was the first and most dreaded prince of the Avars. During his reign of thirty-two years the Byzantine .emperor was compelled to conciliate the warlike humor of the Avar prince by an annual tribute of splendid presents, which, however, did not prevent the latter from undertaking pillaging ex- peditions, on more than one occasion, into Thrace, Moesia, and Macedonia. Although a warlike people the Avars seemed to lack the necessary skill and ex- perience for besieging and capturing fortified places. Their rule was characterized by cruelty, want of faith, and destructive propensities. In course of time they became more inclined to peace ; wealth, indulgence in wine, and commerce having rendered them effeminate and less formidable. They were finally conquered, towards the end of the eighth century, by Charlemagne and his Franks, who car- 26 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. ried on against them for seven years one of the most cruel and desolating wars known to history. Charle- magne's own historiographer tells us that one might have travelled through the entire land for months, after the termination of the war, without meeting with a single house — so utter and terrible were the ruin and destruction. The downfall of the Avars was irretrievable. The rule of the Romans had lasted four hundred years in Pannonia ; the Huns, Ostrogoths, Gepidae, and Longobards enjoyed a span of power of a little over a century taking them altogether, whilst the Avars maintained their supremacy for two hundred and fifty years. A century after their downfall appeared on the scene the Magyars, who founded an empire which still endures, having survived the storms of a thous- and years. TTQ CHAPTER III. THE ORIGIN OF THE HUNGARIANS. The story of the origin of the Hungarians is gen- erally derived from two different sources. One, pure- ly mythical or legendary, is said to have come down from the forefathers to the present generation, and, clad in a somewhat fanciful garb, runs as follows : Nimrod, the man of gigantic stature, a descendant of Japheth, one of the sons of Noah, migrated after the confusion of languages at the building, of the tower of Babel to the land of Havila. There his wife, Eneh, bore him two sons, Hunyor and Magyar. One day as the two brothers were out hunting in the for- ests of the Caucasus, they happened to fall in with a doe. They at once gave chase, but on reaching the moorlands of the Sea of Azov the noble animal suddenly vanished before their very eyes. The brothers, in pursuing the track of their game, had wandered through a wide expanse of country, and perceiving that the rich meadows were admira- bly suited to the needs of a pastoral people, they immediately returned to their father and asked his consent to their departure. They obtained his con- sent without difificulty, and settled with their herds of cattle in those regions where grass grew luxuri- antly. 27 28 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. The two brothers had Hved quietly for five years in their new homes, when the thought occurred to them, more thoroughly to investigate the surround- ing country. They accordingly set out on their journey, roaming along the steppes, when their ears were suddenly caught by the sounds of voices sing- ing, which the east wind had wafted in their direction. Led on by the pleasing sounds the wanderers' eyes were met by a lovely sight. Before them the daugh- ters of the dwellers in the woods were disporting themselves beneath their tents, celebrating the Feast of the Hunting-horn, in the absence of their hus- bands and brothers. Hunyor and Magyar were de- lighted at this unexpected encounter and quickly carried away the women to their own abode. Amongst the ravished women were two maids of rare beauty, the daughters of Dula, the prince of the Alans. Hunyor took one, and Magyar the other, for his spouse. From them sprang the kindred na- tions of the Huns and Magyars, or Hungarians, both of which in due course of time, grew to be mighty. After the lapse of many years the descendants of the two brothers had increased to such an extent that the territory they dwelt in proved too small to support them all. North of their homes lay blessed Scythia, bounded on the east by the Ural mountains, on the southeast by the sandsteppes, rich in salt, and the Caspian Sea, and on the south by the Don river. After having thoroughly reconnoitred this country they drove out the inhabitants, one portion of the people spreading over their newly acquired home and taking possession of it, whilst the remain- THE ORIGIN OF THE HUNGARIANS. 29 ing portion continued to occupy their former country. The progeny of Hunyor settled in the northeastern part of the country beyond the Volga, whilst the descendants of Magyar, pushing upwards along the Don, pitched their tents on the left bank of the river. The latter were afterwards known by the name of the Don-Magyars, and their country by that of Dontumogeria — that is, the Don Magyar- land. In proportion as the two kindred races increased and came in contact with various other nations, they began to differ from each other more and more widely in their ways and manners. The Huns being more exposed to the attacks of the roving populations than the Magyars, who were protected by the Caspian Sea and endless steppes, became, in consequence, more warlike, and adopted ruder manners. Twenty-two generations had passed away since the death of the two brothers, who had been the founders of their nations, when for reasons unknown the Huns resolved to emigrate from their country. Whilst the Magyars continued to dwell quietly along the Don, the Huns proceeded with an immense army, each tribe contributing ten thousand men, against Western Europe, conquering and rendering tributary, in the course of their wan- derings, numerous nations, and finally settled in the region of the Theiss and Danube. Later on, how- ever, in the middle of the fifth century, when the world-renowned Attila, " the scourge of God," came into power, the Huns carried their victorious arms over a great part of the western world. 30 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. The immense empire, however, which had been founded by King Attila, was destined to be but of short duration after the death of its founder. His sons Aladar and Csaba, in their contention for the inheritance, resorted to arms. The war ended with the utter destruction of the nation. All of the followers of Aladar perished ; Csaba, however, suc- ceeded in escaping from the destroying arms of the neighboring nations who had fallen on the quarrel- ling brothers, with but about fifteen thousand men to the territories of the Greek empire. A few thou- sands, who had deserted Csaba, fled to Transylvania, and settled there in the eastern mountain-regions. The descendants of the latter became subsequently merged with the immigrating Hungarians, and formed with them a homogeneous family under the name of Szeklers, which continues to exist to this day. Csaba, whose mother was an imperial daughter of Greece, met with a friendly reception at the hands of the Greek emperor, Marcianus, and remained in that country for a few years. He returned afterwards with the remainder of his people to the home of his ancestors, on the banks of the Don, where, up to the time of his death, he never tired of inciting the Magyars to emigrate to Pannonia and to revenge themselves on their enemies by reconquering the empire of Attila. In turning to the second source of the history of the origin of the Hungarians, we are treading upon the firmer ground of scientific inquiry ; we can penetrate the hazy light of remote antiquity, and venture the assertion that it is far away in the dis- HUNGARIAN SltEPHERD 32 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. tant East — namely, in the Altai mountains, that we may look for the cradle of the Magyar race. Here was, as the reader may be aware, the coterminous frontier of the three principal branches of the Uralo- Altaic race — namely, the Mongolians in the east, the Finn-Ugrians in the north, and the Turks in the south. With a population of strictly nomadic habits and of eminently roaming propensities, it needs scarcely to be said that the three branches lived in continual feud and warfare near each other. A great convulsion in the life of these nomads happened, as we presume, in the second or third century after Christ. The Turks, on seeing the more flourishing state of things with their Finn- Ugrian neighbors in the north, fell upon them sud- denly, drove them from their homes in the valleys of the Altai mountains, where traces of their indus- try are still extant, and scattered the various tribes and families, partly to the north — namely, to Siberia ; partly to the west — namely, to Southern Russia. From that extraordinary throng and revolutionary migration emerged the Voguls and Ostyaks, who live at this day on both sides of the great Obi river ; the Zyrians, who now live in the governments of Archangel and Vologda ; farther the Votyaks and Tcheremisses, a motley crowd of men who are of Finn-Ugrian extraction, but strongly intermixed with Turco-Tartar blood. Now, of similar origin are the Hungarians, with this difference, that with them the Turco-Tartar origin forms the basis of their ethnical character, and that the Finn-Ugrians who amalgamated with THE ORIGIN OF THE HUNGARIANS. 33 them afterward, being a subjugated population, re- mained always in a moral inferiority, although they greatly influenced the governing class. We do not know precisely whether the amalgamation took place in the valleys of the Altai, or farther west on the Volga, at some later period, nor can we form an ac- curate idea as to the part the Hungarians took in the irruption of the Huns, with which event they are associated in national tradition. The Huns were unquestionably Turks by extraction. Their mode of warfare, their religion, and social life present full evi- dence of this, and admitting that they had in their ranks either pure Finn-Ugrian elements or portions of the above-mentioned amalgamated populations, we may fairly claim that the ancestors of the Hun- garians took part in the great devastating campaigns which Attila carried on against Rome and the Chris- tian West as far as France. In this sense, the claim of the Hungarians to descent from the Huns is fully justified. But, as the plan of this work excludes the discussion of questions wrapped in the clouds of sci- entific speculations we will turn to that portion of the history of the Hungarians which is cleared up by his- torical evidence, and will begin with the ninth century, when they emerged from the banks of the Volga and began their march toward the West, a march which resulted in their occupation of Hungary. Before entering into the details of the march of the Magyars towards their present home, we must try to sketch as briefly as possible the geograph- ical and ethnographical conditions of the country between the Volga and the Danube in the ninth 34 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. century. It must be borne in mind that at that time the Russians were in a considerable minority in those regions. East of the Volga, as far as the Ural River, and even beyond, roamed various tribes of the vast Turkish race, amongst whom the Petchenegs oc- cupied the foremost rank. On the lower course of the Volga and further west, lived the Khazars, a Turkish tribe of advanced culture, who carried on a flourishing trade on the Caspian and Black seas, and had embraced the Jewish religion. These Kha- zars were the mightiest of the Turkish races of that time, and their wars with Persia and with the rising Mohammedan power became of historic importance. Westward of the Khazars dwelt another fraction of the Petchenegs, the frontiers of whose country ex- tended across Moldavia to the borders of Transyl- vania, whilst the Magyars or Hungarians, who had occupied a country called Lebedia, were compelled by the Petchenegs to emigrate to Etelkuzu, not re- maining there, however, for any great length of time. In fact the whole of Southern Russia of to- day was teeming, during the ninth century, with nomadic populations. These pressed upon each other in the search for pasture grounds for their numerous cattle. There is a great likelihood that the fame of the rich plains of Hungary had remained in the memory of the Magyars from the time when their forefathers fought under the banners of Attila. Suffice it to say that, compelled by circumstances, they made up their minds to go westward, and the seven dukes who stood at that time at the head of the nation, and who.se names were Almos, Elod, 36 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. Kund, Huba, Tas, Und, and Tuhutum, united in a solemn league and covenant, and putting Alnjos, as the oldest amongst them, at their head, they sealed that union with the old Turkish form of oath, by- drinking each of the blood of all, obtained by cut- ting open the veins of their arms. This form of oath was for a long time a custom in Hungary. The union of the Hungarians was based upon the following five conditions : 1. As long as they and their progeny after them shall live, their duke and ruler shall be always taken from the house of Almos. 2. Whatever should be acquired by the united strength of all must benefit all those who belonged to them. 3. The chiefs of the people having voluntarily elected Almos for their ruler, they and their descend- ants shall always take part in the councils of the prince, and shall have their share in the honors of the empire. 4. Whenever any of their descendants shall be found wanting in the fidelity due to the prince, or shall foment dissensions between him and his kin- dred, the blood of the guilty one shall be shed even as theirs was flowing when they gave their oaths of fidelity to Almos. 5. Should a successor of Almos affend against this oath and covenant of the fathers, then might the curse rest on him. We have no accurate information concerning the number of Hungarian warriors and of their retinues who entered Hungary towards the end of the ninth THE ORIGIN OF THE HUNGARIANS. 2>7 century, nor can we point out those localities on the eastern frontier of the country through which the entrance was effected. As to the numbers, we do not go amiss if we assume that no more than one hundred and fifty thousand fighting men formed the main body of the invaders. Their ranks were swelled partly by Russians who followed in their track, partly by Avars, a kindred Turkish population, whom they found in the country itself, and by Khazars, who, preceding the Hungarians, were lead- ing a nomadic life on the steppe. Regarding the country itself, it must be borne in mind that in those days it was very thinly populated, and the ethnical conditions were somewhat as follows : In the west there were Slovenes and Germans ; in the north, namely, in the Carpathian mountains, lived the com- pact mass of the Slovaks, whose sway extended down to the banks of the Theiss. The country between that river and the Danube belonged to the Bulgarian prince, Zaldn, whilst the region on the left bank of the Theiss, as far as the river Szamos, was in the possession of Mardt, the prince of the Khazars. The conquest of Hungary was evidently a task of no great difificulty for a warlike nation like the Hun- garians, whose strange physiognomy and superior weapons, brought from the Caucasus, struck terror, at the very outset, into the breasts of the inhabitants. The invaders appeared with their small, sturdy, and hardy horses, quick as lightning and strong as iron. Their mode of warfare was strictly Asiatic, similar to that used to this day by the Turcomans, and they were animated precisely by the same spirit 38 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. which led the Mongolians, under Jenghis Khan, over the whole of Asia and a large portion of Europe. With all this, they could not be called barbarians or savages, when their social and political institutions were compared with those of the inhabitants they subjugated in Hungary. It was the culture of Persia which extended at that time up to the banks of the Volga, penetrating the minds of the motley popula- tions living there, and traces of this culture are clearly to be discovered in the acts of the leading persons amongst the conquering Hungarians. As soon as the Hungarians had taken possession of their present country, under the leadership of Arpad, it became their chief care to give a certain stability to their internal affairs. Scattered over the extensive territory, they more particularly endeavored to bring order into their relations with the former inhabitants. Those only who refused to lay down their arms felt the weight of the conquerors ; whilst they recipro- cated the friendship and confidence shown to them by others. Thus it happened that many of the ancient inhabitants were adopted by them for their own countrymen, and that, having entered into a treaty of amity with Mardt, a treaty made firmer by the betrothal of Arpdd's youngest son, Zoltdn, with Mar6t's daughter, the territory of Bihar was added to Hungary after the death of Mardt. According to the fashion of the Scythian populations, they dis- turbed no one in his faith, nor did they interfere with any one's mode of worship. Nomads as they were, they knew how to appreciate what was still left of the ancient culture in their new country, and they THE ORIGIN OF THE HUNGARIANS. 39 fostered the colonial places still surviving from the Roman period, the cradles of the future city life of Hungary. There is an account in the history of the Hun- garians how the different portions of the invading army spread over the country, what battles they fought, what alliances they entered into with the reigning princes, but the account is based merely upon legendary tradition. We are sadly in want of details about that most interesting epoch, and sup- ported by historical authority we can only state that Leo the Wise, the emperor of Byzantium, asked the military assistance of the Hungarians against the Bulgarians, and that it was the sword of the valiant nomadic warriors which averted a threatening cal- amity from Constantinople. It is likewise certain that Arnulph, King of Germany, encouraged by the military reputation of the Magyars, asked their as- sistance against Svatopluk, King of Moravia, and that their first appearance in the country is con- nected with this occurrence. The conquest of Hungary occupied the period be- tween 884 and 895. Within this time falls the utter defeat and tragic end of Svatopluk,- the most powerful native prince with whom the Hungarians had to contend. Ar- nulph had already engaged him in battle when the Hungarians came to the succor of the former. Their timely arrival decided the fate of the battle, which resulted in the complete rout and scattering of the Moravians. Svatopluk, is said to have done won- ders of heroism during the battle, but after its fatal 40 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. termination he could nowhere be found. In vain was the bloody field searched for the body of the unfortunate leader, nor were the messengers sent out to remoter regions to obtain news of him more successful in their quest. Hungarian tradition has it that in his rage and despair at the loss of the battle, he rushed into the Danube, and met there with a watery grave. Slavic tradition, however, represents the matter in a manner more in keeping with the character and reckless disposi- tion of this strange barbarian, who knew but un- bridled passions and sudden resolutions formed on the spur of the moment. According to these traditions, Svatopluk, seeing that his fortunes were hopelessly wrecked, mounted a steed and, leaving the battle-field, swiftly rode away into the fastnesses of the intermin- able forests covering the Zobor mountain, which over- looks in massive grandeur towards the east and south the town and castle of Nyitra, and was then lost to sight. Here in a secluded valley, amidst rocks, and pro- tected by pathless woods, lived three hermits. These holy men passed their lives in offering up prayers to God in a chapel constructed by their own hands, and, entirely absorbed by their pious exercises, they knew no other nourishment but herbs and the fruit grow- ing wild. These men, who did not visit the neigh- boring cities, had never seen Svatopluk, and this was the very reason that brought the king of the Mora- vians to their hermitage. As he reached late in the night a place where the forest was densest, he dis- mounted, killed his horse, and, together with his royal mantle and crown, buried it in a ditch, and covered THE ORIGIN OF THE HUNGARIANS. 4I up the place of burial with earth and leaves. He then tore his garments and soiled them with mud, and in this guise, pretending to be a beggar, he came to the three hermits and told them that, moved by the Holy Spirit, he desired to pass his life with them. He was cordially received by the hermits and lived amongst them a great many years unknown, praying as they did, partaking of the same food they ate, and like them dead to all the memories of the outside world. In his last moments only he told them his real name, and the hermits, in their childlike aston- ishment at this incredulous adventure, placed the following inscription on his tombstone : " Here rests Svatopluk, the king of Moravia, buried in the centre of his kingdom." CHAPTER IV. THE REIGN OF THE DUKES. Arpad, called by the Greek writers Arpadis, was the first ruler of Hungary, who laid the foundations of the present kingdom, and whose statesmanlike sagacity may well excite admiration, considering that under his lead a strictly Asiatic nation succeeded in penetrating into the very interior of Christian Europe and mouldmg a state out of the heteroge- neous elements of old Pannonia. For this reason we find .it improper to call him a rude barbarian, as con- temporary Christian writers are in the habit of do- ing. He evidently was penetrated with the Persian culture and his Oriental statesmanship not only equalled but even surpassed the political ideas of the ruling men at that time at the head of affairs in Pannonia and Eastern Germany. Arriving, as he did, with a restless and adventurous nomadic people, he could not mitigate at once the martial rudeness of the latter. Like other Turkish and Mongolian masses the Hungarians, very soon after the occupation of the country, rushed out into the neighboring lands to gratify their lust of adventure and booty. They penetrated into Germany, spread- ing terror and devastation everywhere. On a larger 42 Q 44 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. scale was their inroad into Italy in 899, where King Berengar was defeated on the banks of the Brenta. Twenty thousand Italians were slain, the -wealthy cities of Milan, Pavia, and Brescia were plundered, and the invaders crossed even the Po. It was only by the payment of a large ransom that the Italians could free themselves from the scourge of these Asiatic conquerors. Encouraged by this success the Hungarians, in the following year, entered Germany, trying their arms with varying fortune, until a com- mon decision of the chieftains arrested these incur- sions. In 907 the nation was saddened by a mourn- ful event. The ruler who had founded the new em- pire, who for nearly twenty years had directed the destinies of the nation with so much wisdom and energy, and in whom the glory of great statesman- ship and generalship was united, had ceased to be amongst the living. His body was, according to ancient custom, burned and his ashes buried near a brook flowing at that time in a pebbly bed towards Etzelburg, the Old-Buda of to-day. His grateful descendants, after the introduction of Christianity,, erected on that spot a church, called the White Church of the Virgin, in commemoration of the im- mortal prince. He was succeeded by his son Zol- tdn, who had to seize the reins at a comparatively tender age, and who was therefore assisted by three governors. This circumstance encouraged the neigh- boring princes to fall upon Hungary in order to drive the new conquerors out of the country. Luit- pold, Duke of Bavaria, and Ditmar, Archbishop of Salzburg, together with others, led the united army THE REIGN OF THE DUKES. 45 in three different columns, flattering themselves with the hope that, imitating the tactics of Charlemagne against "the Avars, they would be as successful as that famous ruler of the Franks. The Hungarians, menaced by such an imminent danger, concentrated all their forces to resist the onslaught. Always quick to resolve and as quick in their movements, they anticipated the attack, and the two hostile armies met in 907 in the environs of Presburg. The struggle on both sides was a bitter one. The zeal of the Germans, on the one hand, was excited by the prospect of ridding them- selves and the whole Occident of the disagreeable neighborhood of these dangerous intruders, whilst with the Hungarians, on the other hand, it was a question of self-preservation, for in case of a defeat they had every thing at stake. The latter, therefore, fought with the utmost vehemence, not in regular battle array, after the German fashion, but with their storming divisions, furious attacks, feigned retreats, and renewed onslaughts, their arrows and javelins descending every time like a hail-storm, they broke through the serried ranks of the Germans and rode down every thing that was in their way. The sun rose and set three times over the heads of the fight- ing armies before the great battle was decided. The Germans were hopelessly defeated. Duke Luitpold lost his life fighting, and with him the Archbishop of Salzburg, as well as most of the bishops, abbots, and counts, laid down their lives during those three fatal days. It was but natural that, encouraged by this success- 46 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. ful battle, the Hungarians should eagerly continue their marauding expeditions in every direction into Germany and even France. Dividing into small bands, just as the Turcomans used to do up to quite recent times in Persia, the Hungarians infested the whole of Saxony and Thuringia, and penetrated as far as Bremen. They crossed the Rhine, flooded a part of France, and quick as were their inroads, no less promptly did they return, always laden with rich booty and driving before them a long file of slaves • of both sexes. The entire Occident was continually harassed by them, and this gave rise to those dire misrepresentations of the Hungarians and to the ex- ecrations against them which could be heard all over the western world during the tenth century, and which were faithfully copied into the chronicles of that time. In these chronicles they were charged with devouring the hearts of their enemies in order to render themselves irresistible in battle. Signs in the heavens were said to herald their approach. Virgins devoted to the service of God foretold the irruptions of the Hungarians and their own martyr- dom. Mere human power seemed hopeless against them ; the litanies of that time, therefore, abound in special prayers asking for the protection of the Lord. Impartial history easily recognizes in all this partly exaggerations, partly outbreaks of dismay, and the effects of fright, but these utterances, overdrawn as they are, contribute much to our knowledge of the violence of the struggle between the western Chris- tians and the Asiatic Hungarians. Quite differ- ently and by no means so dreadfully are the Hun- THE REIGN OF THE DUKES. 47 garians described by the Byzantine historians. Their reputation for ferocity, and the knowledge of the terror they inspired, enhanced their valor and audacity. Neglecting all precautionary measures, and undervaluing their enemies, they began to meet here and there with small disasters, and, as the Germans on the other hand, becoming familiar with their mode of warfare, and more accustomed to the strange appearance of Asiatic warriors, grew bolder and bolder, we may easily account for the turn which gradually took place in the war fortunes of the Mag- yars. It was Henry the Fowler, King of Germany, who, after making preparations for nine years, inflicted the first heavy loss upon the Hungarian adventurers near Merseburg in 933. The Germans rushed into the battle with the cry of " Kyrie eleyson," whilst the Hungarians were wildly shouting " Hooy, Hooy." The Saxon horsemen caught up the Hungarian arrows with their shields, and in solid ranks threw themselves in fierce onset upon the Hungarians. The latter perceived with surprise and dismay that they were opposed by a well-organized enemy. During the hand-in-hand fight which now ensued the Germans achieved victory by their determined bravery. A great many Hungarians fell in the fight, and many more were killed during their retreat. The number of killed is assumed to have been thirty-six thousand. The Hungarian camp with all the baggage fell into the hands of the victors. Henry commanded that a universal thanksgiving feast should be observed throughout the whole of Germany, and ordered that the tribute hitherto paid 48 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. to the Hungarians should be divided between the churches and the poor. The Hungarians now refrained from entering Germany in a northern direction, but the more frequent and more vehement grew their irruptions into Bavaria and also into the northern portion of the Byzantine empire. -It was the old lust of con- quest and adventure, and greediness for booty which spurred their activity. Duke Taksony, who suc- ceeded his father Zoltdn in 946, and reigned until 972, was animated by the same lawless spirit, and the Hungarians would have continued to be the scourge of the neighboring countries if the defen- sive measures taken by the Germans about this time had not acted as a dam against their devas- tating flood. In the year 955, on the river Lech, . near Augsburg, King Otto the Great inflicted a ter- rible defeat upon the Hungarians — a defeat by which nearly the whole of the Hungarian army, numbering forty thousand men was annihilated. Their generals, Bulcsee and Lehel were captured ; the chains of gold they wore around their necks, as well as other trink- ets of gold and silver, were taken from them, and at last they were carried to Ratisbon, and were made to suffer a disgraceful death by being hanged. A part of their fellow captives were buried alive, whilst the others were tortured to death in the most cruel man- ner. The remainder of the army was destroyed in its retreat by the people who had everywhere risen, and, according to tradition, but seven were left to reach their homes. The Magyars, a proud nation even in their misfortune, were so incensed against these THE REIGN OF THE DUKES. 49 fugitives for having preferred a cowardly flight to a heroic death, that they were scornfully nicknamed the Melancholy Magyars, and condemned to servi- tude. Even their descendants wandered about through the land as despised beggars. A tradition has survived amongst the people to this day, about the death of Lehel and his reputed ivory bugle-horn, upon which there are carved repre- sentations of battles. It is true that archaeological inquiry has proved its sculpture to be of Roman workmanship and that it was a drinking-cup rather than a bugle. The legend, however, as still current amongst the Hungarians, deserves to be told for the sake of its romantic character. Amidst the confusion and wild disorder incident upon the disastrous battle of Augsburg, Duke Lehel found no time to give thought to his battle-horn. His horse had been killed under him, and whilst he lay buried beneath it the trusty sword was wrenched from the hand of the hero before he could pierce his own heart with it. Taken prisoner he was led cap- tive into the presence of the victorious Otto. Princely judges sat in judgment on the princely captive and condemned him to death. This sentence caused Lehel no pain ; he felt he had deserved it, not, indeed, for having given battle but for losing it. Yet it hurt him to the soul to see the rebel Conrad seated amongst his judges, the traitor who had invited the Hungarians to enter Germany, and who, by his defec- tion, had caused their defeat. The success of his das- tardly desertion had, however, conciliated the victors and restored him to their confidence. 50 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. Lehel begged but for one favor, and that was to be allowed to wind the horn, his faithful and inseparable friend, once more, and to sound on it his funeral dirge. The horn was handed to him. He sounded it for the last time ; and, as he drew from it the sad strains which sounded far and wide and were mourn- fully re-echoed by the distant hills, the dying warrior on the field of Lech lifted up his head, eagerly listen- ing to the familiar bugle, and the soul which had come back to him, for one instant, took wings again as soon as the sad .strains died away. The dying music, plaintively quivering, told the tale of an inglorious death terminating an heroic life. The very henchmen were listening with rapture. At that moment Lehel broke away from his place, and, seeing Conrad before him, felled him to the ground, killing him with a single blow from the heavy horn. " Thou shalt go before me and be my servant in the other world," said Lehel. There- upon he went to the place of execution. There is discernible on Lehel's horn, in our days, a large in- dentation which posterity attributes to the event just narrated. Not only in Germany but also in the southeast of Europe the marauding Hungarians experienced more than one disaster, and it may be properly said that in 970, when they attacked the Byzantine em- pire and were defeated near Arcadiopolis, their long series of irruptions into the adjoining countries was brought to a conclusion. They became convinced that while they themselves were steadily decreasing in numbers and wasting their strength in continu- THE REIGN OF THE DUKES. SI .ous wars, the neighboring nations were becoming every day more formidable by dint of their unanim- ity, organization, courage, and skill in warfare, and that, in consequence, the Hungarian name inspired no more the terror which the first successes had earned for it. They saw that if they went on with their in- roads, as hitherto, they would thereby but bring about the dissolution of the empire from within, or that they might provoke on the part of foreign na- tions a united attack which they would be unable to withstand. For this reason they renounced those adventurous campaigns which began already seri- ously to menace their existence and their future in Europe. They were strengthened in the wisdom of this course by Duke Geyza, who succeeded his father in 972, and reigned until 997. Baptized during the life of his father at Constantinople, and having married Sarolta, the mild-tempered daughter of Duke Gyu- la, of Transylvania, he became very early awake to the necessity of refining the rude manners of his people. His disposition became much more appa- rent when, after the death of his first wife, he mar- ried the sister of Miecislas, the prince of Poland, a lady famous for her beauty, and also conspicuous for her energy and masculine qualities, for she vied in riding, drinking, and the chase with her chivalrous husband, upon whom she really exercised an extra- ordinary influence. Extremely severe in his rule, it was Geyza who began to transform the manners and habits of the Magyars. They began to show greater toleration towards foreign religions, and were really 52 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. on the eve of changing their Asiatic manners and habits into those of Europe. More than a hundred years had passed since their migration from the an- cestral steppes. Historical events, difference of cli- mate, and, above all, the separation from their Asiatic brethren had carried into oblivion very many features of that political and social life which, originating in Asia, could not be well con- tinued in the immediate neighborhood of, and in the continual contact with, the western world. The great crisis in the national career appears to have arrived at its culmination during the reign of Duke Geyza, and to have found its ultimate solution in the con- version of the Magyars to Christianity, a most im- portant act in the national life of the people, which deserves consideration in a separate chapter. CHAPTER V. THE CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. The Hungarians, when entering their present homes, were heathens, and professed what is called Shamanism, the faith common to all the branches of the vast Uralo-Altaic race, and which has survived to this day amongst the poulations of Southern Siberia and Western Mongolia. The doctrines and principles of Shamanism being generally but little known, it is proper to sketch here its outlines, in order to make clear the character of the Hungarian religious rites and customs. The believers in Shamanism adored one Supreme Being called Isten, a word borrowed from the Per- sians, who attach to it to this day the meaning of God. Besides the supreme being, they adored sun- dry spirits or protecting deities, such as the gods of the mountains, woods, springs, rivers, fire, thunder, etc. These divinities were adored either by prayers or through sacrifices offered to them in the recesses of woods, or near springs. What these prayers of the Hungarians were we do not know ; we can form, however, some idea of their character on reading the prayers of the present Shaman worshippers, a speci- men of which is here subjoined : 53 54 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. " O, thou God living above, Abiasli I Who hast clad the earth vifith grass, Who hast given leaves to the tree, Who hast provided the calves virith flesh. Who didst bring forth hair on the head. Who didst create all the creatures. Who prepares every thing present ! Thou hast created the stars, O God ! O, Alton Pi, who hast exalted the father, O, Ulgen Pi, Vfho hast exalted the mother, Thou creator of all created thing*, •Thou preparer of all that is prepared, O God, thou creator of the stars, give us cattle, O God ! Give food, O God ! Give us a chief, O God ! Thou preparer of all things prepared. Thou creator of all things created ! 1 prayed to my Father To bestow on me his blessing. To give me help, To me, in my house. And to my cattle, in the herd ! Before thee I bow down. Give thy blessing, O Kudai, Thou Creator of all things created. Thou preparer of all things prepared ! " The sacrifices consisted in the offering up of cattle and particularly, on solemn occasions, of white horses. Their priests, called Tdltos, occupied a pre- eminent place, not only in the political but also in the social life of the Magyars. They were a kind of augurs and soothsayers, whose prophecies were based either upon certain natural phenomena, or upon the inspection of certain portions of slaughtered animals, such as the intestines, the heart, and shoulder-blade, which latter was put into the fire, good and bad THE CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 55 auspices being prognosticated from the different positions of the cracks produced. Religious faith being always open to outside or foreign influence, it was but natural that the Hun- garians, in that long march from the interior of Asia into Europe, should have borrowed many novel feat- ures from the religious life of the countries through which they passed. Thus, in the earlier faith of the Magyars, we meet with many distinctive traits of the Parsee religion, of that of the Khazars,' and of the religions of many Ugrian races, for, like other fam- ilies of the Uralo-Altaic race, the Magyars were conspicuous for their spirit of toleration towards other believers. The numerous Christian prisoners they had brought with them from various parts of Europe were not only left in the undisturbed practice of their creeds, but were even permitted to influence to a very considerable degree the faith of their con- querors and masters. Under these circumstances it was by no means a hazardous undertaking, on the part of Duke Geyza, to give permission to mission- aries and priests to come into the country and preach the gospel. A Suabian monk named Wolf- gang was the first who tried to spread Christianity in Hungary in 917. A greater success was achieved by Pilgrin, the bishop of Passau, who, taking the matter of conversion into his hands, was able to re- port to the Pope in 974 that nearly five thousand Hungarians had been baptized, and that " under the benign influence of the miraculous grace of God those heathens even who- have remained in their $6 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. erring ways forbid no one the baptism, nor do they interfere with the priests, allowing them to go where they please. Christians and heathens dwell together in such harmony that here the prophecy of Isaiah seems to be fulfilled : ' The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox."' Considering the difficulty of turning inveterate Asiatics to western views of life, and, particularly to the totally different doctrines of the Christian re- ligion, we may easily realize that the total conversion of the Magyars was a work attended with many struggles and difficulties. After Pilgrin we find Bruno engaged in the pious undertaking ; but by far the most successful of all of the missionaries was St. Adalbert, the bishop of Prague, who came to the country in 993, and, remaining there for a consider- able period of time, had the good fortune to baptize several members of the reigning family, amongst whom was the son of Duke Geyza, called Vayik, to whom was given the Christian name of Stephen. This conversion being regarded as one of the most momentous events in the history of the Hungarians, it will be worth while explaining the accompanying illustration, representing this act. In the baptistry, we perceive, as the principal personage, Stephen, in his baptismal robes. Next to him is seen St. Adal- bert, robed and adorned in keeping with his episco- pal dignity and the apostolic office of conversion. To the left in the foreground, as witnesses to the baptism, are standing the Emperor of Germany, Otto III., who was brought there by his friendship 58 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. for Geyza and his interest in the baptism of Stephen, and Count Teodato, of San Severino, a knight who had emigrated from Apulia, and to whom Geyza had entrusted the education of his son. Behind the lat- ter stands Duke Henry of Bavaria, who, attending the emperor, is present as a guest. Farther in the background we perceive Duke Geyza and his consort, sunk in pious revery. We see Stephen after the act of confessing his faith and knowledge of Christianity. Already he had turned his face toward the west, had renounced Satan and devoted himself to the eternal war of the children of God, and then, turning to the east, had vowed, with exalted enthusiasm, obedience and devotion to the Law of God as re- vealed through Christ. Now we see him, according to the custom of the Church at that time, in the act of descending into the baptismal font in order to receive from the hands of the holy bishop the sign of the Cross, the sacrament of spiritual regeneration. Pious emotion is reflected in the countenances of the attendant Magyars, although there may be dis- cernible here and there the expression of a hidden spirit of antagonism. And the supposition of such an expression can, in no way, be called a groundless one. The worship of God on the banks of rivers, in woods and groves, the offering of sacrifices, and sun- dry superstitions connected with the soothsaying of the Shaman priests, certainly impressed more forcibly the minds of the free and independent dwellers of the steppes than the mass pronounced in Latin, and the rites of the Catholic Church, introduced by the monks and priests of the West; Conversion to THE CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 59 Christianity had to be unconditionally followed up not only by the relinquishment of the old national religion, but also by the renunciation of the ancient habits and manners, -to which the Hungarians clung in spite of the generations that had passed since their coming to the banks of the Danube and Theiss. The reluctance, shown here and there, must be also ascribed to the overbearing attitude assumed by the foreign missionaries towards the ruling race of the Magyars, upon whom these Bava- rians, Suabians, Czechs, Italians, etc., looked down as contemptible barbarians, a title they by no means deserved, for it was only the difference in culture and not the want of culture which separated the two elements. Suffice it to say that traces of this dis- content became visible very early, and that the slumbering spark broke out in open rebellion in 997, in the very year when Stephen ascended the throne, made vacant through the death of his father, Geyza. History records three different risings, which took place with the intention of doing away with the newly introduced Christian religion, together with all the changed modes of life borrowed from western civilization. In the first instance the movement was headed by KopAn, a nobleman in the county of Siimeg. His object was to drive out the foreign Christian missionaries and priests, to dethrone Ste- phen, and to re-establish the old pagan faith. A vast multitude of discontented Hungarians gathered under his banners, but Stephen was not at all afraid. Collecting his army and the foreign Christian knights about him, he left his regal seat Gran (Esztergom), 6o THE STOR Y OF HUNGAR Y. and marched on straight against the rebels. The engagement took place in the vicinity of Veszpr^m. It was a hard contested struggle, and only after a bitter fight and the death of Kopdn himself, did his. adherents lay down their arms. The happy issue of the battle decided the victory of Christianity in Hungary, and all that was still needed, was to strengthen the new faith. The effects of this victory were, nevertheless, of short duration, for in the year I0O2, another anti-Christian movement broke out in Transylvania, whose ruler, Duke Gyula, uniting with the partly pagan, partly Mohammedan Petchenegs, made an inroad into Hungary, carrying devastation and bloodshed everywhere. Stephen now had to march against this dangerous enemy, and not only vanquished the Hungarian duke Gyula, but con- tinued his march into the country of the Petche- negs, defeated their prince, Kaan, and looting his camp got possession of all the rich treasures these Petchenegs had carried away from the Greek empire. The third and decidedly the most dangerous ris- ing took place in 1046, when a certain Vatha, a zeal- ous adherent of the former pagan religion, and an offspring of Duke Gyula, availing himself of the dis- turbances arising from the contest for the succession to the throne, incited the people against the Christian religion and its institutions. They urged Andrew, the pretender to the throne of the country, " to abol- ish the Christian religion and its institutions ; to re- establish the ancient religion and the laws brought from Asia, and demanded that they should be permitted to pull down the churches, and to drive THE CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 6 1 out the priests and the foreign immigrants." Un- aware of the number and strength of the rebels the prince did not venture to refuse their request. This the rebels took for a tacit compliance, and, embold- ened by it, they fell, with wild rage, upon the Chris- tians. The Germans and Italians that were found in the country, especially the bishops and priests, were persecuted with most inhuman cruelty. The churches and other places devoted to Christian piety were destroyed, the ancient pagan religion was restored, and everywhere the people resumed the former mode of life according to their ancient customs and heathen faith, offering up sacrifices, as before, in woods and groves and near springs. Dur- ing these disorders St. Gerhard, the former tutor of St. Emeric, and at that time bishop of Csandd, lost his life. He was on his way to Pesth, to meet Andrew, when he fell into the hands of the enraged populace, was killed by them on the mountain oppo- site Pesth, called Gell^rthegy (Mount Gerhard) to this day, and his body was thrown into the Danube. Utterly dangerous as the symptoms of these risings were, we see, however, how deeply even at that time Christianity had taken root in Hungary. It very soon became apparent that the revolution was not only of a rehgious but of a political and social character. King Andrew issued rigorous laws, men- acing every one who did not return to the Christian religion and renounce the practice of heathenish customs, with loss of life and property. The de- stroyed churches were to be rebuilt, and the order of things introduced by Stephen be respected again. 62 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. These laws and the punishments inflicted upon some of the stubborn adherents of paganism did not fail to produce their effect, and, in a~ short time, the rebellion was crushed and order and quiet gradually restored throughout the country. And, strange to say, just as the Mohammedan Turks of our day ascribe the decline and downfall of their power to the many innovations introduced into their ■religious and social life, and discover the main source of their ruin in the assimilation to the West, precisely so spoke and argued the Hungarians of that day. They laid particular stress upon the fact that the nation, whilst adhering to the religion and customs of its ancestors, had been independent, strong, and mighty, and had even made the whole of Europe tremble; but that now, since it had adopted the religion and customs of the West, the nation was weakened by internal dissensions, strangers had be- come her masters, foreign armies had penetrated into the very heart of the country — nay, Hungary had lost her independence and had become the vassal of a foreign power. Such representations could not fail to produce their effect. It was easy to convince the uncultivated Hungarians, who were not yet confirmed in the Christian religion and but ill brooked its severe discipline, that all those troubles and misfor- tunes which had visited the country were the conse- quences of the introduction of Christianity, and that to achieve a splendid future for the nation, in har- mony with its glorious past, this must be done upon the ruins of Christianity and of the institutions in- troduced by Stephen. THE CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANTTY. 63 This great change, however repugnant it may have seemed to the Hungarians, was, nevertheless, un- avoidable. As previously stated, the foreign ele- ments which flooded the country, owing to the very large number of captives the Hungarians brought with them from every part of Europe, had wrought that change in the manners and habits of life in spite of all the reluctance of the former Asiatic nomads. These captives greatly outnumbering their masters, were mostly used for agricultural purposes, but their close contact with the ruling class unavoid- ably produced a mitigation of the rude military habits of the latter. The Hungarians eagerly lis- tened to the Christian chants and prayers of their subjects. They imitated them in their food and dress, and, although nearly two centuries had to pass be- fore the former wanderers on the Central-Asian steppes could get accustomed to permanent habita- tions, and, despite the aversion the proud warrior felt to the plow, the ice, nevertheless, began to break. The Asiatic mode of thinking had to be given up, and with the tenets of Christian tradition habits of Christian life were gradually introduced. This process of transformation was greatly quick- ened by the personal intercourse and family connec- tions of Duke Geyza and his chieftains with the court and nobility of the neighboring countries. Besides the involuntary immigration caused by the forays, we meet with a remarkable influx of foreign noblemen who, on the invitation of Duke Geyza, settled in the country, towards the end of the tenth century. The brothers Hunt and Pdzmdn came from 64 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. Suabia, Count Buzdd from Meissen, Count Hermann from Nuremberg ; the Czech knights Radovan, Bogdt, and Loddn came with large retinues ; many others immigrated from Italy and Greece, so that the high nobility of Hungary, already at the beginning of the conversion of the Magyars, had a large infusion of foreign blood. It may be added that the entire clergy of that day was composed of Czechs, Ger- mans, and Italians. The ground was, therefore, duly prepared, and it wanted only the iron hand of a reso- lute and wise ruler to achieve the work of conversion, and to accomplish the great task of transforming a fprmerly warlike and nomadic nation into a Chris- tian and peaceful community. This ruler was King Stephen I. CHAPTER VI. ST. STEPHEN, THE FIRST KING OF HUNGARY. 997-1038. King Stephen led the Hungarian nation from the darkness of paganism into the light of Chris- tianity, and from the disorders of barbarism into the safer path of western civilization. He induced his people to abandon the fierce independence of no- madic life, and assigned to them a place in the dis- ciplined ranks of European society and of organized states. Under him, and through his exertions, the Hungarian people became a western nation. Never was a change of such magnitude, and we may add such a providential change, accomplished in so short a time, with so little bloodshed, and with such signal success as this remarkable transformation of the Hungarian people. The contemporaries of this great and noble man, those who assisted him in guiding the destinies of the Hungarian nation, gave him already full credit for the wise and patriotic course pursued by him, and the Hungarian nation of the present day still piously and gratefully cherishes his memory. To the Hungarians of to-day, although eight and a half centuries removed from St. Ste- phen, his form continues to be a living one, and 65 66 THE STOKY OF HUNGARY. they still fondly refer to his exalted example, his acts, his opinions, and admonitions, as worthy to inspire and admonish the young generations in their country. This need be no matter for surprise, for at no period of Hungary's history has her political contin- uity been interrupted in such a way as to make her lose sight of the noble source from which its great- ness sprang. No doubt a complete change has taken place in the political and social order, in the course of so many centuries, but the state structure, how- ever modified, still rests upon the deep and sure foundations laid by the wisdom of her first king. One day in the year, the 20th of August — called St. Stephen's day — is still hallowed to his memory. On that day his embalmed right hand is carried about with great pomp and solemnity, in a brilliant procession, accompanied by religious ceremonies, through ancient Buda, and shown to her populace. The kingdom of Hungary is called the realm of St. Stephen to this day, the Hungarian kings are still crowned with the crown of St. Stephen, and the nation acknowledges only him to be its king whose temples have been touched by the sacred crown. The Catholic Church in Hungary although it no more occupies its former pre-eminent position in the state, still retains enough of power, wealth, and splendor to bear ample testimony to the lavish liberality of St. Stephen. Thus the historian meets everywhere with traces of his benignant activity, and whilst the fame and saintliness of the great king have surrounded his name with a luminous halo in 68 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. the annals of his nation, that very brilHancy has pre- vented from coming down to posterity such mere terrestrial and every-day details as would assist in drawing his portrait. The grand outlines of his form detach themselves vividly and sharply from the dark background of his age — but there is a lack of contemporary accounts which would help to fill up these outlines, and the legends of the succeeding generations, which make mention of him, can but ill supply this want, for they regard in him the saint only, and not the man. His deeds alone re- main to guide us in the task of furnishing a truthful picture of the founder of his country, and well may we apply to him the words of Scripture, that the tree shall be known by its fruit. Stephen was born in Gran (Esztergom), the first and most ancient capital of Hungary, about 969, at a time when his father had not yet succeeded to the exalted position of ruler over Hungary, and a mag- nificent jnemorial chapel in the Roman style of the tenth century, erected there, marks the event of his birth in that place. His mother Sarolta, Geyza's first wife, was the daughter of that Gyula, Duke of Transylvania, who, whilst upon a mission to Con- stantinople, in 943, had embraced the Christian faith and subsequently endeavored to spread it at home. Thus a Christian mother watched prayerfully at the cradle of young Stephen, and in early childhood, already, the tender mind of the boy was guided by the pious Count of San Severino. Adalbert, the Archbishop of Prague, who sought a martyr's death and subsequently won the martyr's crown, intro- THE FIRST KING OF HUNGARY. 69 duced him to the community of professing Chris- tians. With his wife Gisella, a Bavarian princess, a:t his side, he took his place among the Western rulers as their kinsman. While his long reign proved him to be true to his country and his na- tion, yet the paganism of the ancient Hungarians was quite foreign to his soul. After the first half of the tenth century religious ideas began to exercise a more powerful influence in Europe than before. The great movement which originated in the monastery of Cluny, in France, held out to the world the promise of a new sal- vation. Men of extraordinary endowments began again to proclaim with evangelical enthusiasm the mortification of the flesh, in order to exalt the soul, and the suppression of earthly desires for the pur- pose of restoring the true faith to its pristine glory. They insisted that the shepherd of the faithful souls, the Church, .should be freed from all earthly fetters and interests, for, just as the soul was above the body, so was the Church superior to the worldly communities. The Church therefore, they taught, must be raised from her humiliating position, her former dependence changed into a state of the most complete freedom. As a consequence, the visi- ble head of the Church, the Pope, could not be al- lowed to remain the servant of the head of the worldly power, the emperor, for it was the former that Providence had entrusted with the care of the destinies and happiness of humanity. These ideas spread triumphantly and with incredible rapidity throughout all Europe. They were heralded by 70 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. a sort of prophetic frenzy ; and soul-stirring fanati- cism followed in their train. The age of asceticism, long past and become an object almost of con- tempt, was rescued from oblivion and revived. The despised body was again subjected to tortures and vexations, and the purified soul longed for the destruction of its own earthly existence in order to soar on high freed from mundane trammels. It was the miraculous age of hermits, saints, and martyrs who made it resound with their wailing and weep- ing, changing this home of dust into a valley of tears, so that the soul transported to the regions of bliss might appear in greater splendor to the dazzled eyes of the earthly beholder. The popes, moreover, riding high on the unchained waves, guided the Church through the tempest of the newly awak- ened religious passions, with a watchful eye and steady persistence toward one end— the exaltation of the papal power over that of the emperors. At the end of the tenth century Pope Sylvester II. was the representative of the spirit of the age clamoring for the aggrandizement of the papal power, and Otto III. represented in opposition to'him the imperial power, undermined by the new ideas. Since the over- throw of the Western Roman empire the world had not been called upon to witness a contest of greater import than the impending struggle between these two rival powers. The great upheaval, indeed, which was to shake Europe to its very centre, did not take place until half a century later, but the seeds, from which the war of ecclesiastical investiture, the stir of the crusades, and the universality of the papal THE FIRST KING OF HUNGARY. 7 1 power were to spring, were already scattered through- out the soil which had lain barren through many- centuries. This was the age which gave birth to Stephen and in which he was educated, but his exalted mind rejected the exaggerations, eccentricities, and errors of his time and accepted only its noble sentiments and ideas. His sober-mindedness was equal to his religious enthusiasm, and as his innate energy ex- ceeded both, he left it to religious visionaries to in- dulge in ascetic dreams. He desired to be the apos- tle of the promises of his faith, but not their martyr. He made the maintenance, defence, and extension of Christianity the task of his life, because he saw in its establishment the only sure means for the safety and happiness of his people. He pursued no schemes looking to adventures in foreign lands, but devoted all his thoughts, feelings, and energies to his own nation, subordinating to her interests everybody and every thing else. He defended these alike against imperial attacks and papal encroachments. His eyes were fixed on the Cross, but his strong right arm rested on the hilt of his sword, and his apostolic zeal never made him forget for a single moment his duty to a people which had gone through many trials, whose position amongst the European nations was a very difficult one, whose destinies rested in his hands, and who were yet to be called upon to play a great part in the history of the world. Stephen was about twenty-eight years old when he succeeded his father in 997. He at once embarked with the enthusiasm of youth, coupled with the ^2 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. deliberation and constancy of manhood, on his mis- sion to bring to a happy conclusion the task begun by his mother. In this work he was sedulously assisted by Astrik and his monastic brethren, and the gaze of the for-eign Christian lords, who had immigrated with his Bavarian wife, as well as of the great number of lay and ecclesiastical persons who came flocking to the country, was centred upon the young royal leader, who surpassed them all in zeal and enthusiasm. He spared no pains, nor was he deterred by dangers ; he visited in person the remotest parts of the realm, bringing light to places where darkness prevailed, and imparting truth where error stalked defiantly. He sought out the men of distinction and the mighty of the land, and the hearts which were closed to the message of the foreign monks freely opened to his wise and friendly exhortations. Where he could not prevail by the charms of his apostolic persuasion he unhesitatingly threw the weight of his royal sword into the scale. Whilst battling with the arms of truth he did not re- coil from using violence, if necessary, in its service. Fate did not spare him the cruel necessity of having to proceed even against his own blood. The more rapidly and successfully the work of conversion went on, the greater became the appre- hension and exasperation of those who looked upon the destruction of the ancient pagan faith as danger- ous and ruinous to their nation. Nor did these re- coil from any hazard to maintain their faith and to prevent the national ruin anticipated by them. They took up arms on more than one occasion, as has THE FIRST KING OF HUNGARY. 71 been previously mentioned, but Stephen succeeded in quelling the dangerous rebellions. Assisted by the foreign knights, he broke the power of pagan- ism, and he showed no regard for any pretence of national aspirations. Those who still harbored the ancient faith in their hearts kept it secretly locked up there, and for the time being at least did homage to the new faith and the power of the king. The possessions of the rebels were: devoted to ecclesi- astical uses, and the king, at the same time, be- stirred himself in the organization of the triumphant Church. He divided the converted territory into ecclesiastical districts, providing each with a spiritual chief, and placing the ecclesiastical chief of Gran at the head of all and of the Church government instituted by him. He caused fortified places to be erected throughout the newly organized Church territory for the defence of Christianity, as well as for the maintenance of his own worldly power, which began nearly to rival that of the other Christian kings. But in order successfully to carry into effect these measures, Stephen had to obtain their con- firmation by at least one of the leading powers which then shared in the mastery over Europe — namely, imperialism and papacy. The emperors, on the one hand, claimed supreme authority over all the pagan populations converted to Christianity, while the papal see, on the other hand, was in- clined to protect against the empire the smaller na- tions/ which were jealous of their independence, in order to gain allies for the impending struggle of the 74 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. Church against the empire. Stephen was quick to choose between these two. The German Church — except in the abortive attempt made by Bishop Pil- grin — had contributed but little to the conversion of the Hungarian people, and it could therefore lay no claim to exercise any authority over the Church of Hungary. Nor had the German kings done any thing to assist Geyza and Stephen in their attempts at conversion. Stephen had before him the example of his brother-in-law, Boleslas of Poland, who had but recently applied to the papal see for the bestowal of the royal crown, in order to secure the independence of his position as a ruler and that of the Church^n his realm. The religious bent of Stephen's mind, com- bined with his acute perception of the true interests of his country, induced him, at last, in the spring of looo, to send a brilliant embassy to Rome, under the lead of the faithful, experienced, and indefatigable Astrik. Pope Sylvester H., than whom no one exerted him- self more strenuously to increase the papal power, received the Hungarian envoys cordially, and upon learning from Astrik their mission, he exclaimed : " I am but apostolic, but thy master who sent thee here is, in truth, the apostle of Christ himself ! " He readily complied with Stephen's every request, ad- ding even more signal favors. He confirmed the bishoprics already established, and empowered him to establish additional ones, conferring upon Ste- phen, at the same time, such rights in the admin- istration of the affairs of the Church of Hungary as hitherto had been allowed only to the most illustrious THE FIRST KING OF HUNGARY. 75 princes in Christendom, the sovereigns of France and Germany. He granted to Stephen and his successors the right of styHng themselves " apostolic kings," and to have carried before them, on solemn occasions, the double cross, as an emblem of their independ- ent ecclesiastical authority. As a further mark of his favor, the Pope presented Stephen with the crown which had been destined for Boleslas of Po- land, in order to symbolize for all times to come the blessing bestowed upon the Hungarian kingdom by God's representative upon earth. The crown of to- day, weighing altogether 136 ounces, is not quite identical with the crown that adorned St. Stephen's head. It now consists of two parts. The upper and more ancient part is the crown sent by Pope Sylvester, the lower one has been added at a later date. The former is formed by two intersecting hoops and connected at the four lower ends by a border. On its top is a small globe capped by a cross, which is now in an inclined position, and be- neath it is seen a picture of the Saviour in sitting posture, surrounded by the sun, the moon, and two trees. The entire surface of the two hoops is adorned with the figures of the twelve apostles, each having an appropriate Latin inscription, but four of these figures are covered by the lower crown. The lower or newer crown is an open diadem from which pro- ject, in front, representations of ruins, which termi- nate in a crest alternating with semicircular bands. The seams of the latter are covered with smaller- sized pearls, and larger oval pearls adorn the crests- Nine small drooping chains, laid out with precious 76 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. stones, are attached to the lower rim. A large sap- phire occupies the centre of the front of the diadem, and above it, on a semicircular shield, is a represen- tation of the Saviour. To the left and right of the sapphire are representations of the archangels, Mi- chael and Gabriel, and of the four saints, Damianus, Dominic, Cosmus, and George, and, finally, of the Greek emperors, Constantine Porphyrogenitus and Michael Ducas, and of the Hungarian king Geyza, with inscriptions. With regard to the upper crown no doubt whatever is entertained as to its being the one sent by Pope Sylvester, and concerning the lower crown Hungarian historians state that it was sent, about 1073, by the Greek emperor, Michael Du- cas, to the Hungarian duke, Geyza, as a mark of grati- tude for the good services rendered to him by the latter. The exact date when the two crowns united cannot be ascertained. This minute description of the crown of Hungary may be well pardoned, considering the antiquity and the high veneration in which this relic of the past is held by the Hungarian people. The legend of St. Stephen speaks thus of Astrik's mission to the Eternal City : " Father Astrik hav- ing accomplished his errand in Rome, and obtained even more than he had asked for, returned joyfully home. As he was nearing Gran the king came out to meet him with great pomp, and Father Astrik showed him the presents he had brought with him from Rome, the royal crown and the cross. Stephen offered up thanks to God, and subsequently expressed his gratitude to the Pope for the presents received. The great prelates, the clergy, the lords, and the peo- THE FIRST KING OF HUNGARY. 7/ pie having listened to the contents of the letter con- veying the apostolic benediction, with one heart and soul and with shouts of joy acclaimed Stephen their king, and having been anointed with the sacred oil, he was crowned on the day of Mary's ascension (15th of August) at Gran." That highly important letter brought by Astrik from Rome, which established the independent au- thority of the Hungarian kings over the national church, has been preserved to this day. The fol- lowing lines of the papal bull may in some meas- ure characterize the age in which they were written, and illustrate, at the same time, the importance which was ascribed to these missives during many centuries : " My glorious son," the letter proceeds to say, after having in the introduction exalted Stephen's apostolic zeal, " all that which thou hast desired of the apostolic see, the crown, the royal title, the met- ropolitan see at Gran, and the other bishoprics, we joyfully allow and grant thee by the authority de- rived from Almighty God and Saints Peter and Paul, together with the apostolic and our own benediction. The country which thou hast offered, together with thy own self, to St. Peter, and the people of Hun- gary, present and future, being henceforth received under the protection of the Holy Roman Church, we return them to thy wisdom, thy heirs, and rightful successors, to possess, rule, and govern the same. Thy heirs and successors, too, having been lawfully elected by the magnates of the land, shall be like- wise bound to testify to ourselves and our successors 78 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. their obedience and respect, to prove themselves subjects of the Holy Roman Church, to steadfastly adhere to, and support the religion of Christ our Lord and Saviour. And as thy Highness did not object to undertake the apostolic office of proclaim- ing and spreading the faith of Christ, we feel moved to confer, besides, upon thy Excellency and out of regard for thy merits, upon thy heirs and lawful suc- cessors, this especial privilege : we permit, desire, and request that, as thou and thy successors will be crowned with the crown we sent thee, the wearing of the double cross may serve thee and them as an apostolic token, even so that, according to the teach- ings of God's mercy, thou and they may direct and order, in our and our successors' place and stead, the present and future churches of thy realm. * * * We also beseech Almighty God that thou mayest rule and wear the crown, and that He shall cause the fruits of His truth to grow and increase; that He may abundantly water with the dew of His blessing the new plants of thy realm ; that He may preserve unimpaired thy country for thee, and thee for thy country ; that He may protect thee against thy open and secret foes, and adorn thee, after the vexations of thy earthly rule, with the eternal crown in His heavenly kingdom." The brilliant successes so rapidly achieved by Stephen during the first years of his reign se- cured the triumph of Christianity and of the royal authority in the western half of the country only. The adherents of the ancient faith and liberty still remained in a majority in the eastern, more-thinly THE FIRST KING OF HUNGARY. 79 peopled regions beyond the Theiss and in Transyl- vania. Gyula, the duke of Transylvania, and the uncle of Stephen, was not slow in protesting against the new kingdom and the innovations coupled with it. The rebellion failed, as we have already seen. Gyula and his whole family were made captives by the vic- tors, and neither he nor his posterity ever regained their lost power. Transylvania was more closely united with the mother country, and from that time, during a period extending over more than five centu- ries, was ruled by vayvodes appointed by the kings. Soon after Stephen opposed victoriously the Petche- negs, the allies of the defeated Gyula, who were set- tled beyond the Transylvanian mountains in the coun- try knovvn at present as Roumania, and having also defeated Akhtum, who, trusting in the protection of the Greek emperor, was disposed to act the master in the region enclosed by the Danube, Theiss, and Maros, there was no one in the whole land who— openly, at least;— dared to refuse homage to the crown pressing the temples of Stephen and to the double cross. During the twenty years succeeding the events just narrated, history is entirely silent as to any great martial enterprise of Stephen. It is true that hostilities were frequent along the north- ern and western borders against the Poles and Czechs, but they were never of a character to endanger the territorial integrity of the country. During those years of comparative peace Stephen firmly estab- lished the Hungarian Christian kingdom. The Christian Church was the corner-stbne of all social and political order in , the days of Stephen, 8o THE STORY OF HUNGARY. The Church pointed out the principal objects of human endeavor, marked out the ways leading to the accomplishment of those aims, drew the bounds of the liberty of action, and prescribed to mankind its duties. It educated, instructed, and disciplined the people in the name and in the place of the state, and in doing this the Church acted for the benefit of the state. Hence it was that Stephen, in organizing the Hungarian Christian Church and placing it on a firmer basis, consulted quite as much the interests of his royal power as the promptiilgs of his apostolic zeal. Where the Christian faith gained ground, there the respect for royalty also took root, and the first care of royalty, when its authority had become powerful, was to preserve the authority of the Church. Immediately on his accession to the throne, Stephen addressed himself to the great and arduous task, and in all places where the promises of the holy faith, scattered by his proselyting zeal, met with a grateful soil, he established the earliest re- ligious communities. Later, as the number of par- ishes rapidly increased, he appointed chief prelates to superintend and maintain the flocks and to keep them together. The ecclesiastical dignities and of- fices were conferred, in the beginning, without ex- ception, upon members of the religious orders, they being at that time the most faithful warriors of Chris- tianity against paganism, and the most devoted ser- vants of the triumphant church. Stephen took good care of them, and rewarded them according to their merits. He founded four abbeys for these pious monks, who all of them belonged to the religious THE FIRST KING OF HUNGARY. 8 1 order of St. Benedict. The abbey of Pannonhalom was the wealthiest and most distinguished among these ; and to this day, it maintains the chief rank among the greatly increased number of kindred so- cieties. The first schools were connected with the cathedrals and monasteries, and although their mis- sion consisted mainly in propagating the new church and faith, they yet cultivated the scanty learning of the age. Stephen endowed the bishoprics and monasteries with a generosity truly royal. He granted them large possessions in land, together with numerous bondsmen inhabiting the estates. The Hungarian Catholic Church has preserved the larger part of these grants to this day. His munificence was dis- played in the cathedral at Stuhlweissenburg (Sz6kes- fej^rvdr), built in honor of the Virgin Mary, of whose marvels of enchantment the old chronicles speak with reverential awe. The chronicler calls it " the magnificent church famous for its wondrous workmanship, the walls of which are adorned with beautiful carvings, and whose floor is inlaid with marble slabs," and then he proceeds in this strain : " Those can bear witness to the truth of my words who have beheld there with their own eyes the numerous chasubles, sacred utensils, and other orna- ments, the many exquisite tablets wrought of pure gold and inlaid with the most precious jewels about the altars, the chalice of admirable workmanship standing on Christ's table, and the various vessels of crystal, onyx, gold, and silver with which the sa- cristy was crowded." 82 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. Stephen's munificence was not confined to his own realm, and numerous memorials of his beneficence and generosity are still preserved in foreign lands. As soon as Christianity had gained a firm foothold in the land, and the Hungarian people felt no more as strangers in the family of Christian nations, the natives, either singly or in larger numbers, began to journey to the revered cities of Rome, Constanti- nople, and Jerusalem. Stephen took care that these pilgrims should feel at home in the strange places they visited. Thus, amongst other things, he had a church and dwelling-house built in Rome for the accommodation of twelve canons, providing it also with a hospitium (inn). In Constantinople and Jeru- salem also he caused a convent and church to be erected, within whose hospitable walls the Hungarian pilgrim might find rest for his weary body, after the fatigues of the long journey, and spiritual comfort for his thirsting soul. He was ever mindful of the in- terests of Christianity both at home and abroad. He not only founded the Hungarian Christian Church, but knew how to make it universally respected, and, in his own time already, the popes were in the habit of referring to Hungary as the " archiregnum " — that is, a country superior to the others. In establishing the Hungarian kingdom Stephen necessarily shaped its institutions after the pattern of the Western States, but fortunately for the nation he possessed a rare discrimination which made him imitate his neighbors in those things only which were beneficial or unavoidable, whilst he rejected their errors and refused to introduce them into his THE FIRST KING OF HUNGARY. 83 own land. At that period feudalism, although it had sadly degenerated, prevailed, England alone ex- cepted, throughout the whole West. It was a sys- tem which did not permit the strengthening of the central power of the state, and the countries sub- jected to it were divided up into parts but loosely connected, each of which acknowledged an almost independent master, who, although he held his county or duchy from his king, and owned and governed it by virtue of that tenure, was yet powerful enough to defy with impunity the sovereign himself. Without adverting to the pitiful dismemberment of Italy, we need only mention that France was divided into about fifty, and Germany into five small principali- ties of this character. The kings themselves might make hse of their kingly title, they might bask in the splendor of their own royalty, but of the pleni- tude of their royal power they could but rarely and then only temporarily boast. Stephen's chief aim was to enhance the royal power by rendering it as independent as he possibly could of restrictions on the part of the nation, and to intro- duce such institutions as would prove most efficacious in the defence of the integrity and unity of nation and country. He left the nobility — the descendants of those who had taken possession of the soil at the conquest of Hungary — in the undisturbed enjoy- ment of their ancient privileges ; he did not restrict their rights, but in turn did not allow himself to be hampered by them. He only introduced an innova- tion with reference to the tenure of their property, which he changed from tribal to individual posses- 84 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. sion, using his royal authority to protect each man in the possession of the estates thus allotted to him. The noblesgoverned themselves, administered justice amongst themselves, through men of their own selec- tion, and the king interfered only if he was especially requested toi judge between them. The nobles had always free access to the king's person, not only dur- ing Stephen's reign, but for many centuries after, wards. The nobility was exempted from the payment of any kind of taxes into the royal treasury, and they joined the king's army only if the country was menaced by a foreign foe, or if they chose to offer their services of their own free will. Inasmuch as the great power of the nobility had its foundations on freehold possessions in land, Ste- phen was careful to support the dignity of the royal power by the control of large domains. The royal family were already the owners of private estates of large extent, and toHhese the king now added those vast tracts of land which, scattered throughout the whole realm, and more particularly extending along the frontiers, were without masters, and could not well pass into private hands, as the scant Hunga- rian population was inadequate for their occupa- tion. These domains, which, for the most part, were thinly inhabited by the indigenous conquered popu- lations, speaking their own languages, and the col- onization of which by foreigners became a special object with the kings, were now declared state prop- erty, and as such taken possession of and admin- istered by Stephen. He divided these possessions into small domains, called in Latin comitatus, coun- THE FIRST KING OF HUNGARY. 85 ty, and in Hungarian megye, eyre or circuit, and placed at the head of the administration of each county a royal official styled comes, count. These districts sub- sequently gave rise to the county system, which was destined to play such an important part in the history of the country, but originally they were designed to answer a twofold purpose, one financial and one mili- tary. One portion of the people living on these royal lands had to hand over to the royal treasury a certain part of their produce, whilst another por- tion was bound to military service for life. In this way the royal counties furnished a sort of standing army, always at the disposal of the king, and supplied, at the same time, the revenues neces- sary to support that army. Stephen found also other means to replenish his treasury and to add to his mili- tary strength. The revenues derived from the min- eral and salt mines, and from the coining of money, flowed into the royal coffers ; he levied, besides, a thirtieth on all merchandise, market-tolls at fairs, and collected tolls on the roads, and at bridges and ferries. The towns and the privileged terri- tories had to pay taxes, and, on a given day, to send presents to the king. Stephen added, besides, to his military strength by granting to individuals — mostly to native or foreign noblemen of reduced circumstances — extensive estates in fee, subject to the obligation, in case of need, of joining the royal army with a fixed number of armed men. The Petchenegs, Szeklers, and Ruthenes settled as border guards along the frontiers were also obliged to ren- der military service, and even the royal cities sent 86 THE STOR Y OF HUNGAR Y. their contingents of troops equipped by them. This brief enumeration of the means employed by Stephen to strengthen his throne, will make it evident that he provided abundant resources for maintaining the royal power, such as none of his neighbors, or even the rulers of the countries further west, had, then, at their disposal. The royal court was the centre and faithful mirror of that kingly power, and, in its ordering and con- duct, Stephen was careful to imitate foreign courts, not only in their main features, but at times even in their most minute details. The court of his imperial brother-in-law, Henry II. of Germany, especially, served him as a model. Thus it was held that the person of the king was sacred, and that to offend against him who was the embodiment of the majesty of the state, was looked upon as a crime to be pun- ished with loss of life and fortune. The king stood above all the living, and above the law itself. Ste- phen surrounded himself with the distinguished men, lay and ecclesiastical, of the realm, and, aided by their counsel, administered the affairs of the country, but his word and will was a law to everybody. Amongst the officers of his court were a lord-palatine, a court- judge, a lord of the treasury, and many others, who, in part, assisted him in the government of the state and, in part, ministered to the comforts of the court. At a much later period only, after the lapse of centu- ries, did the offices of palatine, judge, and treasurer, become dignities of the realm. The government of the country in time of peace involved no great care or trouble, for only the royal THE FIRST KING OF HUNGARY. 8/ domains or counties and the royal cities possessing privileges fell within the sphere of the direct power of the king and court. The Church and nobility- governed themselves and applied to the king in cases of appeal only, the royal towns conducted their affairs through the agency of judges and chief magistrates elected by themselves, whilst the bulk of the people, composed of the various classes of bond- men and servants, were completely subjected to the authority and jurisdiction of the lords of the land. The bondman might move about freely, but he could never emancipate himself from the tutelage of the landlords. The Hungarian nation was composed of the same social strata which were to be met with everywhere in the West, and the growth of these pursued the same direction, differing, however, in one particular — the relation of the large landed proprietors, the nobility, to their king. To these exceptional relations must be attributed the fact that the political changes in the country did not run in parallel grooves with those of the other western states. Stephen granted no constitution, all complete, to his people ; its growth was the work of centuries, but the country was indebted to him for having organized the state in such a man- ner that, whilst there was nothing in the way of a free and healthy development of its political institu- tions, its inherent strength was such that it could successfully resist the many and severe shocks to which in the course of nearly a thousand years it was subjected. The country prospered during the long reign of 88 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. King Stephen, thanks to his untiring labors and to the rare moderation with which he tempered his pas- sionate zeal. The nation became gradually familiar with the changes wrought, and began to accept the new order of things, although it could not quite for- get the old ways. Old memories revived again and again, and those especially who bowed down before the crown and cross from compulsion and not from conviction, were filled with anxiety as to the uncer- tain future. Stephen thoroughly understood the feelings and prejudices of his people, and he care- fully avoided every act, and steered clear of every complication which might tend to rouse their pas- sions. He well knew that time alone could give permanence and stability to the institutions created by him, and that years of peace and continued ex- ertions were necessary to consolidate his work. Two great objects, therefore, occupied his mind con- tinually, even in his old age ; in the first place, to defend the realm against external dangers, and in the second place, to raise a successor to himself to whom he might safely entrust the continuation of the work commenced by him. But fate denied him the accomplishment of either of his objects. As long as Henry H., his brother- in-law, reigned there was peace between Hungary and the German empire, but the death of the latter in 1024 severed the bond of amity between the two countries. The feelings entertained by Conrad II. toward the kingdom of Hungary were very different from those manifested by his predecessor, and this change of sentiment was soon shown by Conrad's THE FIRST KING OF HUNGARY. 89 laying claim, by virtue of his imperial prerogative, to the sovereignty over Stephen's realm. Conrad, with his ally, the Duke of Bohemia, and the united forces of his vast empire, began war in 1030, and overran with his armies the country on both banks of the Danube, as far as the Gran and the Raab. Stephen was undismayed, his courage rather rose with the perils environing him. He bade the people throughout the land to fast and pray, for not alone his kingdom was at stake, but the independence of the Hungarian Church was menaced by the imperial forces. Those who looked with indifference at the cause of the Hungarian crown and the cross, had their enthusiasm excited by the proud satisfaction of fighting in defence of the national dignity and liberty. Amongst those western nations who had been for so long a time harassed by the military ex- peditions of the Hungarians, the German people, feeling its strength, was the first to turn its arms against the former assailants. But Conrad's attack proved unsuccessful against the united strength of the king and the nation, between whom the peril from without had restored full harmony, and he was compelled to leave the country in the autumn of the very year in which he entered upon the war, de- jectedly returning to Germany after a campaign of utter failure instead of the expected triumphs. Peace was concluded in the following year, and the emperor acknowledged the independence of the young but powerful kingdom. Conrad's son, who subsequently succeeded to the imperial throne as Henry HI., visited Stephen at his court, in order to 90 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. draw closer the ties of amity between the two coun- tries. The danger had passed for the time being, but the apprehensions of Stephen were far from being allayed as he pondered on the future. The peace just concluded did not satisfy him ; there were no guaranties for its preservation, nor had he any faith in its being a permanent peace, for he well knew that the German kings, as long as they wore the imperial crown, would not fail to repeat their attacks on the independence of the young kingdom. Reflections of this sombre nature often filled his soul with despondency, and then came occasions when he entertained fears that the nation might not be strong enough to withstand the dangers threaten- ing her, or that if she triumphed she would, in the intoxication of her victory, turn with exasperation against those innovations which had brought the foreign foes upon her. All his hopes centred in Duke Emeric, his only son, who, under the care of the pious Bishop Ger- hard, grew up to be a fine youth, full of promise, in whom his fond father discovered all those quali- ties which he wished him to possess for the good of his nation. The young prince was, indeed, very zealous in his faith ; his piety amounted almost to frenzy, and he turned away from the world, despising its joys and harassing struggles, and seek- ing the salvation of his soul in self-denial and the ■ mortification of his flesh. He was, in truth, the holy child of a holy parent, but not born to rule as the fit son of a great king. He preferred the cloister to the royal throne, and, far from inheriting the apos- THE FIRST KING OF HUNGARY. 9I tolic virtues of his august father, he was rather in- clined to indulge in the errors of the age he lived in. But the aged king, dazzled by the lustre of his son's holiness,, was blind to his shortcomings. He had faith in him, for in him he saw his only hope. In order fitly to prepare him for his future royal mis- sion, he set down for him in writing the experiences of his long and beneficent rule, and the wisdom and goodness treasured up in his heart and mind. These admonitions addressed to his son have been spared by all-devouring time, and to this day they are apt to delight and instruct us as one of the most precious relics of that age. The reader will surely be pleased with a few specimens of these exhortations : " I cannot refrain, my beloved son," Stephen wrote, " from giving thee advice, instruction, and commands whereby to guide thyself and thy subjects. * * * Strive to obey sedulously the injunctions of thy father, for if thou despisest these thou lovest neither God nor man. Be therefore dutiful, my son ; thou hast been brought up amidst delights and treasures, and knowest nothing of the arduous labors of war and the perils of hostile invasions by foreign nations, in the midst of which nearly my whole life has been passed. The time has arrived to leave behind thee those pillows of luxuriousness which are apt to ren- der thee weak and frivolous, to make thee waste thy virtues, and to nourish in thee thy sins. Harden thy soul in order that thy mind may attentively listen to my counsels." After enlarging in ten paragraphs upon the topic of his counsels, he proceeds as follows : " I command, 92 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. counsel, and advise thee, above all, to preserve care- fully the apostolic and Catholic faith if thou wishest thy kingly crown to be held in respect, and to set such an example to thy subjects that the clergy may justly call thee a Christian man, * * * for he who does not adorn his faith with good deeds — the one being a dead thing withou t the others — can- not rule in honor." Stephen then lays down rules of conduct towards the magnates of the realm, the lay lords, the high dignitaries, and the warriors, as follows : " They are, my dear son, thy fathers and thy brothers, neither call them nor make them thy servents. Let them combat for thee, but not serve thee. Rule over them peaceably, humbly, and gently, without anger, pride, and envy, bearing in mind that all men arc equal, that nothing exalts more than humility, nor is there any thing more degrading than pride and envy. If thou wilt be peaceable, ever)' one will love thee and call thee a brave king, but if thou wilt be irritable, overbearing, and envious, and look down upon the lords, the might of the warriors will weaken thy kingly state, and thou wilt lose thy realm. Govern them with thy virtues, so that, inspired by love for thee, they may adhere to thy royal dignity." He then recommends, above all, patience and care- ful inquiry in the administration of justice in these words : " Whenever a capital cause or other cause of great importance be brought before thee for judg- ment, be not impatient, nor indulge in oaths before- hand that the accused shall be brought to punish- ment. Do not hasten to pronounce judgment thy- THE FIRST KING OF HUNGARY. 93 self, lest thy royal dignity be impaired thereby, but leave the cause rather in the hands of the regular judges. Fear the functions of a judge, and even the name of a judge, and rather rejoice in being and having the name of a righteous king. Patient kings rule, impatient ones oppress. If, however, there be a cause which it is fit for thee to decide, judge merci- fully and patiently to the enhancement of the praise and glory of thy crown." Speaking of the foreigners settled in the country, he says > " The Roman empire owed its growth, and its rulers their glory and power, chiefly to the nu- merous wise and noble men who gathered within its boundaries from every quarter of the world. * * * Foreigners coming from different countries and places to settle here bring with them a variety of languages, customs, instructive matters, and arms, which all contribute to adorn and glorify the royal court, holding in check, at the same time, foreign powers. A country speaking but one language, and where uniform customs prevail, is weak and frail. Therefore I enjoin on thee, my son, to treat and be- have towards them decorously, so that they shall more cheerfully abide with thee than elsewhere. For if thou shouldst spoil what I have built up, and scat- 'ter what I have gathered, thy realm would surely suffer great detriment from it." The preference of Stephen for the immigrants from abroad did not degenerate into contempt for ancient customs, for he thus concludes : " It is both glorious and royal to respect the laws of the fore- fathers and to imitate ancestors worthy of reverence. 94 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. He who holds in contempt the decisions of his pre- decessors will not keep the laws of God. Conform, therefore, my dear son, to my institutions, and fol- low without hesitation my customs, which befit the royal dignity. It would be difficult for thee to govern a realm of this character without followihg the precedents laid down by those who governed before thee. Adhere, therefore, to my customs, so that thou shalt be deemed the first amongst thine, and merit the praise of the stranger. * * * The evil-minded ruler who stains himself with • cruelty vainly calls himself king ; he but deserves the name of a tyrant. I therefore beseech and enjoin upon thee, my beloved son, thou delight of my heart and hope of the coming generation, be, above all, gra- cious, not only to thy kinsmen, to princes, and to dukes, but also to thy neighbors and subjects ; be merciful and forbearing not only to the powerful but to the weak ; and, finally, be strong, lest good fortune elate thee, and bad fortune depress thee. Be humble, moderate, and gentle, be honorable and modest, for these virtues are the chief ornaments of the kingly crown." But the young duke was not fated to realize the hopes of his fond father. In the very year (103 1), arid on the very day, say the chronicles, on which Stephen intended to have his son annointed before the nation as his successor, the mysterious edict of divine Providence suddenly took him away. In place of the crown of terrestrial power, his unstained life, nipped in the bud, was to be rewarded by the glory of everlasting salvation. THE FIRST KING OF HUNGARY. 95 This sad blow prostrated the aged king, who had already been aiiling, throwing him on his bed, and from that moment up to the day of his death he was unable to recover either his bodily or mental strength. Bereft of all hope and left to himself with his great sorrow and harassing doubts, he looked about him irresolutely for one on whose shoulders the cares of royalty should rest after his departure. The descendants of his uncle Michael were still living, and his choice fell upon them, they being rightfully entitled to succeed to the throne. But he was foiled in his intention by the opposition of the court, where the foreigners rallying round Queen Gisella had obtained the mastery, and where they now resorted to every evil scheme to compel the decrepit king to designate as his successor Duke Peter, who resided at the court, and was the son of one of the king's sisters, and Ottone Urseolo, the Doge of Venice. He finally yielded, and by this act the vessel of State which he had piloted for nearly half a century with a strong arm and great circumspec- tion, was drawn into a most dangerous current. Stephen was the founder of the kingdom of Hun- gary ; to others was left the inheritance of defending and strengthening it. He died in 1038 on Mary's Ascension Day, the anniversary of the same day on which, thirty-eight years before, he had placed the crown on his head. On the day of his death Ste- phen gathered about him his courtiers and the mag- nates of the land, and commended the realm to their care, but, as if distrustful of them, he, in his last prayer, placed both the church and the kingdom 96 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. founded by him under the patronage of the Holy Virgin Mary. Five centuries later Stephen was canonized and placed upon the calendar of saints by the Church of Rome, and the event of the exaltation of their first king and apostle was celebrated"as a great national holiday by the people. Time has preserved St. Stephen's right hand and the crown which his piety earned for him, but the brightest and noblest monument he erected to himself is the crea- tion of a commonwealth whose free institutions, un- impaired strength and independence have survived the storms of nearly nine centuries. CHAPTER VII. THE KINGS OF THE HOUSE OF ArpAd. The crown of St. Stephen remained in the dynas- tic family of Arpid for three centuries. The kings of this dynasty erected, upon the foundations laid by the first great king of that house, the proud and en- during structure of the Hungarian Church and State. The liberty of the nation and the independence of the country were maintained by these rulers against the ever-recurring attacks of both the Eastern and West- ern empires, and the paternal meddling of the popes, as well as against the barbarians invading Europe from the East, whose devastations menaced the complete destruction of every thing that lay in their path. But while they repulsed with an ever-ready and strong arm all hostile attacks — from whatever quarter they might come — they willingly extended the right hand of friendship and hospitality to those who came to settle in the country with peaceful intentions, and brought with them the valued seeds of Western cul- ture. The Hungarians themselves could be but with difficulty weaned from their ancient customs, and they still continued to be the martial element of the country, inured to war and laying down their 97 98- THE STORY OF HUNGARY. lives on fields of battle ; but the populations which had emigrated from the West, protected by royal immunities, were the fathers of a busy and pros- perous city-life, and laid the foundations of civili- zation in Hungary. A few monumental memorials, spared by the hand of time, proclaim to this day the artistic taste and wealth of those remote cen- turies, and the scant words to be found in ancient and decayed parchments speak loudly, and with no uncertain sound, of the cities of that time as busy marts of industrial activity and thriving commerce. From the list of the- annual revenues of one of the Arpdds, B61a III., and those of the country in the twelfth century, which was submitted by him when asking for the hand of the daughter of the French king, the civilized West learned with amazement of the enormous wealth of the king ruling near the eastern confines of the Western world. The king's wealth was but a refl^ex of the prosperity of the peo- ple. During the era of the Arpads Hungary sur- passed many a Western country in power and wealth, and in the work of civilization either kept pace with them or faithfully followed in their footsteps. These three hundred years produced great kings, who, dis- tinguished by their abilities, character, and achieve- ments, made the country strong and flourishing ; but this era produced also weak and frivolous rulers, whose faults will forever darken their memory. Posterity, however, cherishes the memory of all with equal piety, and is accustomed to look at the entire period in the light of the lustre of the great kings only. No wonder, therefore, if the ancient chron- THE KINGS OF THE HOUSE OF ARPAD. 99 iclers, in describing the events of that era, are led by their piety to weave into the text gorgeous tales and legends for the purpose of enhancing the glory of the great kings, and of palliating the shortcomings of those kings who were weak and frail. The history of those three centuries may be divid- ed into three periods. The first, comprising the first two centuries, may be called the heroic period of the young kingdom, in the course of which both the foreign and domestic foes were triumphantly re- sisted, the attacks of the neighbori/ig nations re- pulsed, and the risings of paganism quelled. The second comprises the early part of the thirteenth century. During this period the royal power entered upon a state of decay, and was no longer able either to secure respect for the law or the execution of its behests. At this time too the nobility extorted from royalty a charter called the Golden Bull, con- firming their immunities. During the third period an oligarchy, recruited from the ranks of the nobility, rose to power, and became the scourge of the nation, defying the royal authority and trampling upon all law. The licentiousness of this class ruined the country, which was then very near becoming a prey of the Mongols, who made an unexpected invasion. The realm, however, was saved from utter destruc- tion by the devotion of one of her great kings and a happy conjuncture of circumstances. The misgivings which filled Stephen's soul when he closed his eyes in eternal sleep soon proved to have been well founded. Four years had hardly elapsed after his death when the armies of the Ger- TOO THE STORY OF HUNGARY. man emperor were already marching on Hungary, and in another four years paganism arose in a for- midable rebellion, with the avowed purpose of de- stroying the new church and kingdom. Peter (1038-1046), Stephen's successor, who was of foreign descent and of a proud and frivolous na- ture, despised the rude and uncivilized Hungarians. He surrounded himself with foreigners, German and Italian immigrants, who divided amongst themselves the chief dignities of the State, preyed upon the prosperity of the country, and ruined the morals of the people. The nation did not tolerate his misrule very long. The fierce hatred and exasperation with which they looked at every thing foreign found its vent against Peter, whom they drove from the country and then elected- in his place one of their own nation, Samuel Aba (1041-1044), the late king's brother-in- law. Peter did not renounce his lost power, but asked the help of the German emperor, which he readily obtained. The Emperor Henry HI. opened with his German troops the way to the forfeited throne, and Samuel Aba, who marched against him, having fallen on the battlefield, Peter for the second time had the crown of St. Stephen placed on his brow, but this time he took the oath of fealty to the German emperor. Thus did Hungary for the mo- ment become a vassal state of the German empire. But the vassalage was short, for hardly had the em- peror withdrawn from the country when the passion- ate wrath of the nation rose higher than ever against Peter. This time, however, the wrath was not alone against his person, but menaced destruction to every I02 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. thing opposed to the ancient order of things, and pro- duced a bitter contest against both Christianity and the royal dignity. Peter would have fain escaped now from his persecutors, but he was captured, thrown into prison, and deprived of his sight, and then, from the depth of his misery, he vainly bewailed the giddi- ness which had conjured up the storm of passions that had deprived him of his throne, his eyesight, and liberty. The leader of the pagan rebellion was Vatha. At his command firebrands were thrown into the churches and monasteries, the crosses were demol- ished, and every thing proclaiming the new faith was reduced to ruins; and by his advice ambassadors were sent to the dukes of the house of Arpdd, who, after Stephen's death, had sought refuge in foreign countries, to summon them to return to the country and restore there the old order. King Andrew I. (1046-1061), to whom the supreme power had been offered, and who, during his exile in Russia, had married the daughter of the Prince of Kiev, imme- diately obeyed the summons, not, however to submit to the behests of paganism, but to rule in accordance with the principles and in the spirit of his illustrious kinsman, King Stephen. For a while, indeed, he was compelled to bear with the outbreaks, massacres, and devastations of paganism, but as soon as he felt secure in his new power, and especially after having taken up his residence in Stuhlweissenburg, then the capital of the country, where he was able to collect around him the Christian inhabitants of the West, who lived there in large numbers, he at once turned THE KINGS OF THE HOUSE OF ARPAD. IO3 his arms against the pagan rebels. He dispersed their armies, captured their leaders, and crushed the rebellion with merciless severity. The double cross shone out again triumphantly, but the crown was still menaced by danger. After the de- feat of paganism the Emperor Henry TH. sent envoys to Andrew, asking satisfaction for the cruelties in- flicted upon Peter and calling upon the king to renew the oath of fealty to the emperor of Germany. An- drew felt that unless he maintained the independence of the country, and the dignity of the crown, he in- curred the risk of losing the throne itself. He therefore rejected Henry's claims and prepared for the defence of the country. At the same time he summoned home his brother B6Ia (Adalbert) who, during his exile in Poland, had won high distintction as a soldier, and had obtained, as a reward for his mili- tary services, the hand of a daughter of Miecislas. Andrew himself was in ill-health, and he did not care to face the brewing storm single-handed. He wanted to have at his side the powerful arm of his brave and mighty brother, whose very appearance was sufficient to inspire the distressed nation with confidence and hope. He gave B^la one third of the realm, and, being childless, promised him the crown after his decease. Neither Andrew nor the nation were disappointed in Duke B^la, who was believed by the people to be irresistible. It was in vain that Henry HI. collected the entire armed force of the empire, and three times in succession (1049-1052) threw this force upon Hungary. In each campaign Duke B^la succeeded in dealing deadly I04 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. blows upon the invaders. His triumph was so com- plete that the emperor was compelled to solemnly proclaim peace, again acknowledging the indepen- dence of the kingdom. The nation was not permitted long to enjoy the peace following her almost miraculous escape. Do- mestic dissensions took the place of the dangers threatening from abroad, and this time the feuds did not" originate with the people, but with the royal family itself. All the glory of the important results of the German wars, of the driving the enemy from the country, and of her happy escape from the besetting dangers, centred in the person of Duke B^la. The nation looked with love and admiration >upon the knightly form of their favorite, and his popularity was so great that .it quite overshadowed that of Andrew, notwithstanding all his kingly'power. Andrew's feelings were deeply hurt by the popularity of his brother, nor could he help being terrified by it. But it was not his brother's popularity alone which troubled him. During the war a son had been born to Andrew, who was christened Solomon. Andrew now repented of his promise to Bela. He wished his infant son to succeed to the throne, and in order to insure it to him, he caused Solomon to be crowned in spite of his tender age. Not satisfied with this, but fearing that B61a, aggrieved by these proceedings, might rise against Solomon at some future time, he betrothed his little son to the daughter of the recently humbled emperor, in order to secure for Solomon the powerful aid of the Ger- man empire against Bala's attacks. Every move- THE KINGS OF THE HOUSE OF ARPAD. I05 ment of Andrew was dictated by fear, and he saw cause for trembling in every thing. What troubled him most was that B^la had never breathed a word about his griefs or wrongs. Andrew would often ask himself whether B61a was candid in his apparent indifference, or whether, under the cover of this calm repose, he was not concocting dangerous schemes against him and young Solomon. He determined to put Bala's candor to the proof. He had been ailing, and made his feeble condition a pretext for inviting his brother to the court. He received B61a with kindly words, confided to him his misgivings, ap- pealed to his generosity, and repeatedly assured him that he did not intend to defraud him of his rights by the acts done in favor of his son Solomon. An- drew concluded by saying that he left it to B61a to decide whether he would rather succeed to the throne after his own death, or be satisfied to remain at the side of young Solomon as the military chief of the nation and the protector of the realm. The old chronicles relate that Andrew, having finished his sweet speech, caused to be placed before B^la the royal crown and a sword, calling upon him to choose between the two. " I take the sword," ex- claimed B61a, unable to conceal his indignation, "for if I coveted the crown, I could always obtain it with the sword." The feud between the two brothers became hence- forth irreconcilable. The nation sided with B61a. The emperor spoken of before was dead, and a boy occupied the German throne. Andrew had sent his queen and young son some time before to the Ger- Io6 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. man court, and now he marched against Bdla, who was prepared to meet him. The two brothers con- fronted each other near the Theiss, and Andrew lost both the battle and his life, whilst B61a was on the field of battle proclaimed king of the realm. B61a and his family occupy a conspicuous place in the history of the first century of the Hungarian kingdom. He himself, two of his sons, and one of his grandsons were destined to successfully defend the country, to pacify the nation, and, pursuing the work of Stephen, to complete the creations of that great king. They were all endowed with eminent qualities befitting the great task allotted to them. The heroism, devotion, and wisdom of the father descended to the children, in whose character the inherited virtues shone out with even a brighter and purer light. They were zealous guardians of their kingdom and devout Christians, and they were wedded, heart and soul, to their nation, which beheld in its kings with feelings of delight the em- bodiment of its own best qualities. The imagination of the people soars towards them after the lapse of so many centuries, and loves to make their lofty forms the heroes of fabulous legends. Hence it is that the events recorded of them in the pages of the chronicles are nearly choked up by the ever-gorgeous poetical creations of the imagination of the people. The reign of B61a I. was short (1061-1063), but even during this brief period he succeeded in ren- dering important services to his country. While he was king paganism once more reared its crest under the lead of James, son of the Vatha who had been THE KINGS OF THE HOUSE OF ARPAD. lO/ put to death during Andrew's reign. James stirred up the multitude against Christianity and royalty, but B^la nipped the rising in the bud. This last attempt of paganism having failed, its power was completely broken, and it finally lost entirely its hold upon the imagination and passions of the people. Some there were yet who continued to resort secretly to the sacred places in the groves, but their persecutors traced them even to these hallowed spots, until, at last, the sacred fire burning on the secretly elevated and visited altars was completely extinguished by the laws enacted under Kings Lad- islaus and Coloman. The imperial court of Germany made strenuous efforts to place Solomon, whom it had received under its protection, upon the throne of St. Stephen. Armies were collected and marched against Hungary in the hope of being able at last to assert the imperial supremacy over the kingdom which had been hitherto so unsuccessfully pro- claimed. The nation shrank from young Solomon, who was badly brought up and frivolous, and in whom they saw only the tool of the: German power. The voice of the people designated amongst Bala's chivalrous sons either the righteous Geyza or the brave and pure Ladislaus, as the princes best fitted for the crown. These generous princes, however, desiring to save their country from the calamities of an attack by the Germans, abdicated their power in favor of young Solomon, and gave*him a friendly reception on his ascending the throne, stipulating only this, that their cousin should leave them undisturbed in the posses- I08 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. sion of their paternal inheritance, which comprised about one third of the realm. Solomon (1063-1074) promised every thing and kept nothing. He was distrustful of his cousins, perceiving that the nation idolized them, and bowed down before him only from compulsion. It was in vain that his royal kinsmen supported him with an unselfishness al- most touching, and strove hard to lend him the lustre of their own popularity in order to obtain favor for him in the eyes of the nation. Solomon persisted in seeing in them his rivals, from whose grasp his crown was not safe, and not his brothers, the upholders and guardians of his royal power. The foreign advisers poisoned the mind of the wavering and fickle king against his young kinsmen, not be cause they doubted the unselfishness of their devo- tion, but because his civil counsellors well knew that the two brothers were sworn enemies of German ex- pansion and supremacy. The chronicles of the coun- try abound in praise of the heroic deeds performed by Solomon in conjunction with his cousins while he lived in harmony with them, and in ac- counts of the intrigues which disturbed that harmony, and finally led to their utter estrangement from each other. The foreign counsellors of Solomon succeeded in working upon his fears and jealousy to such an ex- tent that they finally prevailed upon the king to hire assassins to do away with Duke Geyza. The trap was laid but the victim for whom it was destined succeeded in making his escape. The feud of the fathers revived in their sons, and King Solomon and the dukes Geyza and Ladislaus confronted each THE KINGS OF THE HOUSE OF ARPAD. IO9 other in the same hostile spirit in which their fathers, Andrew and B61a, had once stood face to face. The question which the sword was to decide was not merely whose should be the crown, but as to whether the German power should become the master of the Hungarian kingdom, or not. Fate decided against Solomon. He lost the battle of Mogyor6d, and with it his throne, and with his de- feat vanished all hopes of establishing German su- premacy over Hungary. The vacant throne was filled first by Geyza (1074- 1077), and, after his short reign, by his brother Ladis- laus. Solomon escaped, and turned now to his impe- rial brother-in-law, Henry IV., now again to the adversary of the latter, Pope Gregory VH., for help, moving heaven and earth to regain his lost throne. It was all in vain, the mischief was done and could be remedied no more. The chroniclers delight in adorning the story of the erratic life and repentance of the unfortunate youth. They relate of him that, perceiving the utter failure of all his attempts, he was filled with loathing against himself and the blind passions which had made him the enemy and scourge of his country, retired from the world, and became a hermit in order to atone for the faults of his brief youth by doing penance during the remaining years of his life. A cave on the shores of the Adriatic, near Pola, is pointed out to this day, in which Solomon is supposed to have led the life of a her- mit. The chronicle adds that he lived to a high old age, became the benefactor of the inhabitants of the vicinity, prayed for his nation, and that the last wish no THE STORY OF HUNGARY. of his departing soul was the happiness of his country. Ladislaus (1077-1095), who succeeded his older brother Geyza, was one of the noblest, most note- worthy of the kings of the royal line of the Arpdds. He was great not only in the light of the important achievements of his reign, but by his eminent per- sonal qualities. His character was a happy combina- tion of strength without violence, of wisdom without vacillation, of piety without fanaticism, and of lofty majesty without pride. He was the hero, the model, and the idol of his nation, which had never clung to any of its kings with more boundless affection, greater devotion, and more respect. He identified himself with the nation, drew strength from her affection for him, and rendered her powerful in return. He gave the kingdom, founded by his illustrious ancestor, a permanent peace, restored the faith in its strength, and insured its development. He put an end t' derived but an unequal benefit from this triumph. To be sure the gratitude of the ally, freed from a formidable enemy, was fervent, and his vows of friendship (not always respected by his successors) most earnest. Thus Rudolph writes to Ladislaus IV. : " Tongue cannot tell, nor pen describe, the immense joy we feel at your having risen with so powerful a force to avenge our common injuries. Wherefore, glorifying God, we express the greatest gratitude of which we are capable to your Majesty, and loudly promise that no vicissitude shall shake us in the indissoluble alliance which we have vowed to you." The booty, gratifying the avarice of a few and the vanity of the nation, could also hardly be reckoned a solid advantage. One important result accrued, undoubtedly by the triumph of the allies, also to Hungary, in the destruction of Ottokar's Slavic kingdom. In other respects the victory THE KINGS OF THE HOUSE OF ARPAD. I47 proved rather a disadvantage, for, instead of strength- ening the power of the state, it relieved the minds of the powerful lords in the land, who now, freed from anxiety, once more indulged their self-seeking propensities, and labored to ruin the country. Ladislaus IV. (1272-1290) not only did not possess the qualities which might have enabled him to oppose the corruption of his age, but, by his levity, under- mined even the last remnant of the royal authority which had become more and more feeble in the course of the last century. The king, unmindful of his crown, and indifferent to the interests of the nation, deserted his ancestral court, and, pitching his residence amongst the tents of the Kuns, passed there his life in the society of his boon companions in riotous living and revels, destructive alike of his dignity as a man and king, and detrimental to the hopes of the nation. The great of the land imitated the example set by their king. They were led ex- clusively by their insatiate self-indulgence, and neither the law of the land nor the commands of the Church, the voice of faith or morality, could prevail upon them to respect themselves, and to have regard for the rights of others. The weak became, the victims of the strong, and the most powerful were making preparations to divide amongst thenlselves the masterless and defenceless country. The Bre- biris along the sea-shore, the N6metujv4ris beyond the Danube, the Csdk family in the regions of the Vig, and the Apors in Transylvania, were in reality the little kings of the country. They broke off a piece from the domain of St. Stephen whenever it 148 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. suited them, and of the size they wanted. They let their troops loose upon the people, and carried on wars in their own way with one another, and with the neighbors. And if any thing escaped the greed of the oligarchs, it fell into the hands of the Kuns, who, trusting in the protection and favor of the king, plundered and devasted the land like maraud- ing armies. " Then descended," says the chronicler, " Hungary from the grandeur of her glory. Owing to the domestic wars the cities became deserted and the villages reduced to ashes, peace and harmony were trampled upon, the wealthy became impoverished, and the nobles, in their misery, turned peasants. It was at this period that the two-wheeled cart got the name of St. Ladislaus' wagon, for owing to the universal plundering of the draught-cattle, the number of the latter had decreased to such an extent that peo- ple were compelled to draw these carts themselves." The country before long, however, was free from the misrule of Ladislaus, but his death did not ex- tricate it from the misery into which he had plunged it. A number of Kun youths, apparently from motives of private vengeance, assassinated him in his tent. The death of Ladislaus became a new source of trouble to the country, for there was now but one male descendant of the house of Arpdd to ascend the throne, Duke Andrew, the grandson of Andrew IL, the king who had given the Golden Bull to the Hungarians. Stephen, the father of Duke Andrew, had left Hungary early in life, and, settling in Venice, married there Tomasina Morozzoni, a lady descended from a distinguished patrician family. THE KINGS OF THE HOUSE OF ARPAD. 149 Andrew III. (1290-1301), the last king of Hungary of the Arpdd line, was born in Venice, where he re- ceived his education and remained until he attained the age of manhood. Hitherto he had lived entirely a stranger to the events which had plunged the country with rapid strides into the uttermost mis- ery. There were many within the land, and among the neighbors abroad, who did not look upon him as a genuine Hungarian and who refused to acknowl- edge his right to the inheritance of the Arpdds. Dur- ing his brief reign he gave, nevertheless, ample proofs of possessing abilities befitting an eminent ruler, and no blame can attach to him for having been unable with his inadequate strength and power to contend against the difificulties of that period. To put down the little kings in the country, and to keep away from the borders those foreign powers who, under the pretence of kinship and led by unblushing avariciousness, announced their claims to the inheri- tance at this early date, was a task to which Andrew HI. was not equal. But he struggled bravely and manfully against the difificulties that beset his royal path. He opposed to the oligarchs the gentry, whose ancient immunities he confirmed, and whom he attached to his person by granting them new ones. Duke Albert of Austria, the son of Rudolph of Hapsburg, who was the first to claim the throne, was driven from the country, but the diplomacy of Andrew turned him subsequently from an enemy into a friend and ally. He entered upon the contest with the Neapolitan Anjous, who, being the descend- ants in the female line of the Arpdds, were the ISO THE STORY OF HUNGARY. most pressing and determined claimants to the throne. But at the very outset of the struggle, when the shock of the collision of hostile interests is generally most severe, and just as Andrew was pre- paring to enter upon the campaign against Charles Robert of Naples, death suddenly took him in 1301. The chronicles contain traces of a suspicion that he died by poison administered by his Italian cook, who had been hired for that foul purpose by the Neapol- itan party, and that thus, the doom of the house of Arpdd was sealed by the wiles of an assassin. The sun of the Arpdds set amidst dark and storm-portending clouds, and the new dynasty of Anjou inherited the great task of reconciling' the oligarchs with the gentry, and both classes with the crown, and thus of restoring the ancient power and splendor of the Hungarian kingdom. CHAPTER VIIL THE ANJOUS IN HUNGARY. The male line of the house of Arpad became ex- tinct by the death of Andrew III. His only daugh- ter, Elizabet^h, retired to a convent, and the nation was once more called upon to exercise its ancient right of electing a king, and three candidates, a Czech, a German, and an Italian, at once came into the field. Each of these claimants had a party in the country, and not until the strength of the nation had been wasted by internal strife and warfare during a period of eight years did the Italian party succeed in placing on the throne Charles Robert, who became the founder of the Hungarian Anjous. It will be our task now to relate how the newly elected ruler, taking the reins of government into his own hands, introduced into the country the glorious era of chivalry. Under the reign of the Anjous we shall see the culture and customs of Western Europe gradually taking root in Hungarian soil, the name of Hungary becoming the object of respect and admi- ration abroad, the boundaries of the kingdom ex- tended by a powerful hand, the crown of a brave and chivalrous neighbor, the Polish nation, placed upon the brows of the Hungarian king, until, at last, as 151 152 •-■ THE STORT VF HUNGARY. the Hungarian poet Bajza sings, " the shores of three seas formed the frontier walls of the kingdom." At first the Czech party was victorious. Wences- laus, the aged king of the Czechs, who, through the female line, was related to the house of Arpdd, not feeling equal to the task of governing Hungary him- selfj offered to his party, in his place, his son and namesake, who was but thirteen years old. On the 27th of August, 1 301, at Stuhlweissenburg the sacred crown of St. Stephen was placed on the head of young Wenceslaus ; but his reign was of short dura- tion. The curse of the Church of Rome was pro- nounced against his partisans, but the citizens of Buda were little affected by this interdict, and caused the curse to be hurled back on the anathe- matizers by their own prelates. Yet the party of the boy-king grew so weak that his father deemed it ad- visable to recall him home. Wenceslaus the elder entered Hungary, pillaged the wealthier cathedrals, and expressed but one wish concernin,g his son — to see him for once attired in the royal Hungarian robes; His adherent^ complied with the wish of the old king, and, dressed in the royal robes and bearing the crown on his head, young Wenceslaus proceeded homeward, surrounded by his soldiers and under the protection of armed body-guards. The Italian party, intent upon avenging this affront, invaded the territory of the Czechs, and by frightful massacres made the people atone for the abdyction of the king. The fierce Kuns, or Cumans, throwing Czech children, strung together by means of holes bored through the palms of their hands, across their THE ANJOUS I.\' HUNGARY. 153 saddlebows, wildly tore through the land, devastating every thing. Very soon Albert, emperor of Germany, with Otto the Bavarian, came to the rescue of Wen- ceslaus, who, grateful for their assistance, delivered the crown to Otto. The German part)', in their turn, were now victo- rious, and obtained possession of the crown of St. Stephen, the most sacred relic of the nation. Otto CASTLE OF ArVA. marched into the country, but under the auspices of a bad omen. The crown was, through some accident, lost on the road, although his attendants discovered it afterwards, buried in the mire. Otto, whose vanity prompted him to display, marched in a procession through the capital, Buda, adorned with all the paraphernalia of royalty, and from that day on, every king succeeding him has, after the coronation, re- 1 54 THE STOR Y OF HUNGAR Y. peated this special pageant. Otto was as much the shadow of a king as Wenceslaus had been before him. In order to consolidate his power he asked in marriage the daughter of the most powerful Hunga- rian lord, Ladislaus Apor, the vayvode of Transyl- vania. Receiving a favorable reply, he hastened, full of hope, to Transylvania, but on his arrival was thrown into prison by the wily vayvode. After his liberation, which took place soon afterward, he turned his back for ever upon Hungary, and was satisfied with the empty title of King of Hungary. The crown, however, remained in the possession of the vayvode. The Italian party were now left masters of the field. The most obstinate and uncontrollable oli- garchs were by this time tired of the disorders pre- vailing in the country, and all combined with a hearty good-will to place Charles Robert, of Anjou, upon the throne of Arpad. On the 27th of August, 1 3 10, Charles Robert was crowned for the fourth time, but in this instance with the sacred crown, which had been at length obtained from Apor. Charles was now the lawful king (i 309-1 342), and could, without interference, set about the task of restoring order in the country, a work to which he proved fully equal. The king had many difficulties in his way. The ruler de facto and de jure could call but a small por- tion of the kingdom reaUy his own. The endless dividing up of the territory, which was characteristic of Germany at the close of the last century, was to be found in miniature also in Hungary. The dis- THE ANJOUS IN HUNGARY. 1 55 orders prevailing under the rule of the last Arpdd, and of the two kings succeeding him, had encour- aged the lawlessness of the marauding nobles. Every one appropriated as much territory as he could, and exercised royal or princely authority in the domains thus acquired by him. While so many had become the possessors of large estates, the king was without any personal patrimony. These little kings had to be reduced, one by one, to submission, and deprived of the usurped lands. The most powerful of them was Matthias Csdk of Trencs^n, and his subjection gave the greatest trouble, and consumed the most time. The power and territory of Matthias CsAk extended from the Northwestern Carpathians to the Theiss and Danube. The castle of Trencs^n was the seat of this petty king. From this fortified castle on the Vdg, built on a rocky eminence near the commercial road leading from Silesia to Hungary, he was in the habit of send- ing his marauders to devastate the neighboring coun- try. He pounced like a bird of prey from his rocky nest upon the unwary merchants who were passing with their ships below, and the poor traders esteemed themselves fortunate if they got safely off by leav- ing a portion of their wares in the freebooter's hands. The plunder thus got together enabled h\m to display royal pomp, and such was the dazzling sumptuousness and luxury exhibited at his castle that, compared to it, the king's palace seemed to be but a poor hut. Csdk had his own palatine treasurer and other officers of high rank, and when he went about he was attended by an escort of 156 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. several thousand armed men. It was only after a good deal of solicitation that Csdk consented to re- ceive the Pope's legate, Cardinal Gentilis, and even then the legate had to meet Csdk at the place speci- fied by the latter, who wished this church dignitary to understand that he should feel highly honored by being permitted to shake his hand. In the beginning, Csdk seemed to submit to Charles, and, swearing fealty to the king, he consented to be represented at the third coronation. In order to win Csik's friendship and support, Charles made him the Guardian of the Land. But this new honor did not prevent him from very soon becoming weary of his subordinate position, and when a law had been passed ordering the restitution of the royal castles and domains which had come into the possession of subjects or strangers, his wish to be in- dependent became e^n greater than before. An armed contest soon ensued between the king and his powerful subject. It was preceded, however, by a papal excommunication of CsAk and his adherents, extending even to the dead, but the impious rebel retorted by laying waste the lands of the neighbor- ing high prelates. Csdk's power stood at that time at its height. He was the master of a domain con- taining over thirty fortified castles, which, to this day, is called by the people, after him, Matthias Land, and it was quite natural that the king was re- luctant to beard the lion in his own den. The king's troops first entered the territory of Szepes, hoping to find there the weak point of the antago- nist, but they were compelled to retreat before the THE ANJOUS IN HUNGARY. 1 57 captains of Csak. The decisive battle took place in 1 312, north of the town of Kassa. The engage- ment was sharp and bloody, and terminated in the defeat of Csdk's men. The ancestors of the Bithorys, Tokolyis, Drugets, and Sz^chenyis, who were amongst the most powerful families in Hungary, fought on this occasion by the side of the king. Al- though humbled, Csdk's power was not greatly im- paired, for we find him, a few years later, strong and bold enough to attack John, king of Bohemia, and take from him the fortified castle of Holies. Charles Robert then turned his attention to his other rebellious subjects, reducing them to submis- sion, one by one, leaving Csdk to be dealt with by Providence. He had not, however, to wait very long, for in 1321 this great lord died. The manner of his death is.described to have been frightful. Worms generated by his own body consumed him slowly. There was no one after his death to inherit his vast estates and with them his great power. Matthias Land was divided up in smaller sections, and dis- tributed amongst the king's favorites. The sub- jects of Csdk, amongst them his palatine Felician, Zdch, submitted at once to the king. The king's attention was too much engaged by this domestic warfare to allow him, while it lasted, to dis- play the energy which marked the subsequent years of his reign, an energy which was destined to make Hungary an influential power in Central Europe. During these days of civil strife he had his seat in Temesvdr, and his household was so little befitting royalty that its poverty frequently elicited the com- IS8 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. plaints of the higher clergy. But matters quietly changed when Charles transferred his residence to Visegrdd, the royal palace to which cling so many fond and sad national memories, and which in our days still, though in ruins, looms up on the right bank of the Danube as a monument of Hungary's ancient power and glory. Charles was full of ambi- tious schemes to raise his family to the greatest pos- sible power, and the extension of the power of Hungary was deemed by him to be the readiest means of accomplishing this aim. First of all he stood in need of money and soldiers, but his genius enabled him to procure both. He exploited the rich mines of the country, and raised the commerce and industry of the realm- to a flourishing condition, and the wealth of the people increased to such an extent that he felt warranted in levying direct taxes, a mode of taxation which had before been entirely unknown in Hungary. The manner in which he created an army bears witness to his ingenuity. The county system had become so loose and dis- organized that no soldiers could be expected from that source. He had to look for them in another quarter. Charles knew, very well, the chivalrous disposition of the nation, which, in the matter of display, had still preserved its Oriental character ; he knew, too, from history, that those who appealed to the vanity of the Hungarian were never disap- pointed, and he laid his plans accordingly. He transplanted into Hungary one of the graceful insti- tutions of Western Europe, that of chivalry. Knights there were in the country, but they were not numer- THE ANJOUS IN HUNGARY. 1 59 ous and had not proved to be enthusiastic adherents of the king. Charles understood how to win the af- fections of the great lords; he distributed coats-of- arms and founded orders. In the wide courts of the castle of VisegrAd, knightly tournaments became frequent, and the new knights, with their fresh her- aldic devices, had an opportunity of meeting each other in armed combat in the presence of their for- eign king. The king's court came to be the resort of noble youths, and boys of noble descent became the playmates of the royal princes. In order to rouse the warlike spirit of his great nobles, he al- lowed those of them who joined in a campaign with a certain number of soldiers, to lead their men under banners bearing their own armorial devices. An event, however, of most tragic issue, which has furnished a fruitful theme to Hungarian poets and artists, almost overthrew the effect of the king's wise policy and endangered his life. The scene of the occurrence, which took place on the 17th of April, 1330, was the magnificent palace of Visegrdd. The former palatine of Csak, Felician Zdch, had be- come one of the king's chief councillors, and he, with his daughter Clara, one of the queen's maids of honor, a lady of extraordinary beauty, resided in the king's palace. Casimir, the King of Poland, and the queen's brother, was at the time a guest at Vise- grdd, and during his stay there, behaved improperly towards Clara Zdch. The infuriated father, on learning this, broke in upon the royal family sitting in the dining-hall, and intent upon avenging the affront offered to his daughter, threatened every one l6o THE STORY OF HUNGARY. in his way. He fell with sword drawn upon the royal children and their parents. The children re- mained unhurt, but the king was seriously wounded, and the queen had four of her fingers cut off. John Csel^nyi, the queen's treasurer, finally rushed to the rescue and felled the exasperated father with his bronze pole-axe to the ground, and the alarmed ser- vants, who had meanwhile hastened to the hall, gave the miserable man, in presence of the royal family, the coup de grace. A frightful and most cruel pun ishment was inflicted, for her father's bloody act, on. the unhappy Clara and all the members of the Zdch family. The maiden's ears, nose, lips, and hands were cut off, and in this condition she was tied, to- gether with her brother, to a horse's tail, and dragged through the land until both died a miserable death. The Zdch family were exterminated to the third degree, and the remoter kinspeople doomed to slavery. Such a sentence upon those who had committed no crime was a most vindictive and savage one, and the people saw the avenging finger of God in the results of the unhappy campaign of that year against the Wallachians. One of the chronicles, referring to the disastrous issue of the war, says: " The king had hitherto sailed under favorable signs, and cut, ac- cording to his heart's desire, through the stormy waves with the ship of his fortune. But changeable fortune had now turned her back upon him. His army had been defeated, and he himself is suffering tortures from his gouty hands and feet." Ban Michael Bazardd, then the ruler of Wallachia, dared to ignore his dependence on the crown of THE ANJOUS IN HUNGARY. l6l Hungary. Charles eagerly seized the opportunity to punish the traitorous vassal, and hoped, at the same time, that the indignation of the people against hirn for his cruelty would subside at the news of a vic- torious campaign against the Wallachians. Declin- ing the offers of peace made by the repentant ban, Charles boldly advanced, with his spirited knights, over the impassable and unfamiliar roads of Walla- chia. He had penetrated so far into the land that his further advance was rendered impossible by the absence of any road, and he was determined to re- trace his steps. The Hungarian army was led astray by the Wallachian guides, and in retreating found itself quite unexpectedly hemmed in between steep and towering rocks from which there was no outlet. A shower of stones descended on their heads ; the Wallachians who occupied the heights sent down dense volleys of rocks and arrows upon the doomed Hungarians. Charles himself owed his escape to the generous devotion of Desiderius Sz^csi, one of his men, with whom he changed dresses. This brave warrior sealed his devotion with his life. The enraged Wallachians, mistaking him for the king, attacked him from every side, and after valiantly resisting, he finally fell on the battle-field. His sov- ereign escaped in safety, and Wallachia maintained her independence. Charles, upon his return home, once more busied himself with the carrying out of his ambitious schemes for the aggrandizement of his family, and the results of his efforts gave ample proof of his political sagacity. He acquired for his family both Naples l62 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. and Poland, although as yet on paper only. Poland became only under his son Louis the undoubted possession of the Hungarian king, while Naples never came under his control. In 1335 Visegrid re- sounded incessantly with the din of feasting and merrymaking ; never before nor afterwards were so many royal guests harbored within its stately walls. There were Casimir, become King of Poland, the last descendant of the Piast family ; John, the ad- venturous King of the Czechs, who subsequently died the death of a hero on the field of Cr^cy ; his son Charles, the Margrave of Moravia, and subsequently Emperor of Germany ; three knights of the first class belonging to the order of German Knights ; the dukes of Saxony and Liegnitz, and numerous church and lay magnates. The entertainment of so many distinguished guests constituted a heavy draft on the royal treasury. A contemporary chronicler states that " fifteen hundred loaves of bread and one hun- dred and eighty flasks of wine were needed daily for the court of the king of Poland." Whilst the guests were feasting, Charles employed all his in- genuity in shaping the destinies of Eastern Europe. His negotiations with Casimir, the King of Poland, resulted in an agreement that Poland should de- scend, after his death, to Louis, the son of Charles. Two years later Charles had the satisfaction of learning that the Polish nation had confirmed the private arrangement, and had acknowledged the right of his son's succession to the throne of Po- land. One of the finest monuments of Hunga- rian mediaeval architecture, the cathedral in Kassa, 164 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. owed its completion to this welcome news. Queen Elizabeth ordered it to be completed in her joy at the elevation of her son Louis. Charles had also tried to secure Naples for his son Andrew, by having him betrothed, at the age of six, to Joanna, the grand-daughter and heir of the king of Naples. In July, 1333, the young prince proceeded to Naples to take possession of his kingdom, as his father tTiought, but in reality, as .subsequent events proved, to the place of his destruction. Charles died at i. not very advanced age, having brought most of his plans to a successful issue in his lifetime. Six days after his death the crown of Hungary was placed upon the head of his son Louis, after- wards surnamed the Great, who was then seven- teen years old (1342-1382). The young king im- mediately proceeded on a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Ladislaus, the most popular Hungarian king, at Grosswardein. There at his grave he made a sacred vow to govern the Hungarian nation after the ex- ample of his great predecessor. From Grosswardein he proceeded to Transylvania to receive the oath of fealty of the son of Michael Bazarid. Hardly re- turned to his palace at Visegrdd, the young king received depressing news , regarding his brother at Naples. The young Hungarian prince was looked upon with jealousy by the numerous Italian dukes at the Neapolitan court, who tried by every means to hinder his accession to the throne. His mother, the Hungarian queen, at once hastened, laden with treasure, to Naples, to rescue her son from the machinations of his enemies. The Hungarian money THE ANyOUS IN HUNGARY. 165 had its due effect at the papal court, whose vassal Naples was at that time. Queen Elizabeth obtained the assurance that her son Andrew would be crowned, but she returned to Hungary before the" ceremony of coronation had taken place. At her departure her mind was filled with evil forebodings, which were but too well justified by coming events. The queen's departure was the signal for fresh in- trigues at the Neapolitan court. Philip and Louis of Taranto, the sons of Catharine of Valois, openly insulted the young prince. Joanna wickedly turned from her husband and sided with his enemies. At length the day of the coronation was approaching. Andrew, relying on the power he was soon to wield, warned his enemies that he would avenge the affronts that had been heaped upon him. His enemies were seized with terror upon seeing, at the tournament which took place shortly before the coronation, the axe and noose depicted beneath the arms of Andrew, floating on high on his banner. The imminent dan- ger rendered the intriguing dukes desperate, and they at once determined to put Andrew out of the way. His assassination was resolved upon, and, Joanna giving her assent to the nefarious plan, the young prince was doomed. On the 1 8th of September, 1345, the whole court, and amongst them Joanna, proceeded to Aversa, to indulge in the merry pastime of the chase. Andrew was accompanied by his faithful Hungarian nurse, Izolda, who, poor creature,, little dreamed that her ward was to be the object of the chase. In the evening the whole company took up their quarters l66 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. at the convent of St. Peter. Andrew had just retired to his chamber when a familiar voice called him into the adjoining room, in order to discuss some grave •questions. The unsuspecting youth, anticipating no evil, left his chamber, but no sooner had he crossed the threshold when the door was locked behind him by his secretary. The assassins lying in wait fell upon their victim at once and strangled him ; his cries for help remaining unheeded. His dead body they then dragged to the balcony and precipitated it into the garden below. Whilst this bloody scene was enacted, Joanna slept soundly, undisturbed by the scuffle at her door, and cries of distress of her husband. She afterwards gave the explanation that she had been put under a spell by a witch. There was mourning at the castle of Visegrdd at the sad tidings. Louis swore dire vengeance, and the nation enthusiastically took up arms to support him. From abroad there arrived but voices of sym- pathy. The Italian princes offered his armies free transit through their territories ; Louis, the excom- municated German Emperor, entered into an alliance with the king; Edward IIL, the King of England, while condoling with him, spurred him on to re- venge ; the Pope alone maintained an ominous silence. This time, however, the desire for revenge proved stronger with the king than his reverence for the Pope, and in 1347 the Hungarian army was ready to march. To punish a faithless woman and not to conquer Italy was the object of their expe- dition, and the Italian princes were glad to afford the king's army every facility to reach the proposed goal. THE ANJOUS IN HUNGARY. 167 All the great lords of the realm rallied round the king. A large black flag was carried in front of the Hungarian army and on it was depicted the pale face of Andrew. On two occasions they were led by the king against Naples, and each time he was accompa- nied by the most distinguished Hungarian families. Michael Kont, Andrew and Stephen Laczfy, with Dionysius, the son of the latter, and a host of others, brought with them their armed trains, by whose mighty blows both Aversa, of mournful mem- ory, and proud Naples were soon reduced. Queen Joanna, with her second husband, Louis of Taranto, escaped beyond the sea. Louis of Durazzo, one of the intriguing dukes who was suspected of having been an accessory to the murder, expiated his crime by being killed after a gay carouse and thrown down from the same balcony which had witnessed the foul deed of the conspirators. Four other dukes were carried to Hungary as prisoners. King Louis himself was always foremost in battle and received grave wounds on more than one occasion. But his chief desire — to punish Joanna — was not gratified and at length he entrusted the Pope with the sentence to be pronounced against her. The Pope, however, de- clared her innocent of the crime of murder, imputed to her, but mulcted her in a fine of 300,000 ducats as a restitution of the expenditures of the campaign. The chivalrous king spurned the blood-money and left the punishment of guilty Joanna to a more up- right judge — to Providence. And Providence dealt more severely with the queenly culprit than the suc- cessor to St. Peter's see had done. Charles of l68 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. Durazzo, called also Charles the Little, son of Louis of Durazzo, having conquered the throne of Naples, ordered Queen Joanna in 1382, thirty-seven years after the commission of her crime, to be thrown into prison, where she met her death by Strangling. During the Italian campaign Hungary was also called upon to meet another enemy in the East. Roving populations were making constant inroads on the eastern border, harassing the Hungarian inhabi- tants, who had by this time become accustomed to the peaceful avocations of the husbandman and tradesman. The victorious arms of King Louis soon put an end to those lawless incursions. But one of the most beautiful legends of Hungarian history is connected with one of the campaigns against these marauding populations. Kieystut, the Prince of Lithuania, after having been defeated several years before, broke into Transylvania with an army considerably swelled by the accession of a numerous body of Tartars. The king sent Louis Laczfy, the vayvode of Transylvania, against him, and the brave Szekely people followed in his train. But the Hungarian army was small and the issue of the battle remained for a long time doubtful. The legend tells that the news of the peril threatening the Hungarian arms reached Grosswardein, where St. Ladislaus lay buried, and that the heroic saint, leaving his grave, bestrode the bronze horse of his own statue, which stood in the centre of the public square, and hurried off to the reliei of his distressed countrymen. The Tartars were struck with the apparition of a warrior " who towered over them THE ANJOUS IN HUNGARY. 1 69 head and shoulders," and above whom was visible the holy Virgin Mary, the patroness of Hungary. The pagans were seized with terror at this sight, and the battle ended in a brilliant victory for the Hungarians. The arms of the king were no less successful in Servia where he was about " to kindle the light of faith." But the most glorious of his wars was the one carried on against proud Venice, which con- tinued during the greater portion of his reign. Her enemies, especially Genoa, willingly sided with the king of Hungary, and the ultimate result was the utter humiliation of the city of St. Mark. At last, in 1 38 1, one year before the king's death, peace was concluded between the two belligerents, a peace of which the Hungarians had every reason to be proud, for by its terms Dalmatia was unconditionallyannexed to Hungary, and Venice herself had to send the Hun- garian king, annually on St. Stephen's Day, the 20th of August, a tribute of 7,000 ducats. As an indication of the high esteem in which the name of Hungary was held at that time, it is interesting to learn that for- eign rulers sent their children to the Hungarian court to be educated, and the inference is not a strained one that the court of Louis must have been a centre of the European culture and refinement of that day. The spouse selected by the king, Elizabeth, the daughter of Stephen, the Prince of Bosnia, had herself been sent to the court to be trained in courtly accomplishments. At the Hun- garian court also, Charles IV., the Emperor of Ger- many, wooed Anna, the Duchess of Schweidnitz, his 170 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. future empress. These two rulers were united by- ties of close friendship, until the discontent of the Germans with "the step-father of their country," as they called Charles IV., ripened a scheme to transfer the German crown to the Hungarian king. Although King Louis refused to accept the crown proffered to him, the sting remained, and his imperial friend be- carrie his deadly enemy. The emperor persisted in indulging in his unfounded suspicions of the king's good faith, and so far forgot himself as to speak insultingly of the king and his exalted mother. The Hungarian ambassadors at the emperor's court, incensed at the affront done to their master, chal- lenged the emperor to mortal combat. But he cravenly declined to accept the challenge, where- upon they declared war in the name of their king. Louis, who almost worshipped his mother, approved of the proceedings of his ambassadors, and sent the emperor an insulting letter, in which he declared that nothing better might be expected from a drunkard. Very soon a large army of Kuns devastated Moravia, until, at length, after a warfare of several years, the humiliated emperor begged for peace, obtaining the Pope's intercession in his behalf. Peace was at last concluded, and matrimonial alliances were to make it doubly sure. Sigismund, the emperor's son, was betrothed to Mary, the king's daughter. In the latter half of the fourteenth century Chris- tianity in Europe was threatened by a new foe. The warlike followers of Osman had, by the capture of Adrianople firmly laid the foundations of their power- ful empire in Europe. Youths, forcibly taken at a THE AN JO US IN HUNGARY. I /I tender age from their Christian parents, and educa- ted afterwards in implicit obedience to the behests of the Sultan, were rigorously trained as soldiers after the most approved fashion of the day, and the troops thus obtained were destined to become the most formidable aid in the building of the Ottoman power in Europe. The Eastern empire had sunk too low, at that time, to be able, single-handed, to resist such a power, and she lost her strongholds, one after the other. In this strait her ruler resorted to one of those deceitful devices characterizing the policy of the Eastern court. John Palseologos, the Eastern em- peror, proceeded to the court of the king of Hun- gary, at Buda, and, promising to give in his adhesion to the Western Church, he asked the aid of Louis against the savage enemy. The " Banner-bearer of the Church," as the king of Hungary was styled by the Pope, deemed it his duty, under these circum- stances, to come to the rescue of the distressed emperor, and shortly afterwards the two kindred nations, the Turks and the Hungarians, met in hostile array on the banks of the Maritza. This was the first warlike contest of the two nations. It resulted in the victory of 20,000 Hungarians over a Turkish army four times as large, a victory commemorated to this day by the treasures and appropriate inscrip- tions still to be seen at the church of Mariazell in Styria. Casimir, the last Polish king of the house of Piast, died on the sth of November, 1370. His death was caused by an injury contracted in falling from his horse during the chase. 172 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. On the 17th of the same month Louis was crowned King of Poland, at Cracow, by the Arch- bishop of Gnesen. At the very moment when he was about to reach the goal of the highest ambition of his predecessor, and of himself, Louis seemed to waver, and to doubt the expediency of accepting the crown. He could not help reflecting that governing two nations, which were united by no other tie ex- cept his own person, and defending them against their enemies, might prove a task to which one king was not equal. He nevertheless accepted the crown, but his sinister presentiments were fated speedily to be confirmed. The Polish lords were not used to an energetic rule. The nobles of Little and Great Poland were eager, each for themselves; to secure the offices of state, but both equally hated the queen- mother sent there to rule. The country soon fell a prey to internal dissensions and strife, compell- ing the queen to fly from the land, in which a new pretender had appeared. This pretender to the throne was a kinsman of the late king of Poland, and had retired to a convent in France in the life- time of Casimir. His ambition made him exchange the cassock for armor, and a large portion of the people of Poland very soon acknowledged him to be their king. But his royalty was of short duration ; the army of the adventurer was scattered by the ad- herents of King Louis. The Lithuanians, whom we have before mentioned as being driven back by Andrew Laczfy, now took advantage of the disorders prevailing in Poland, and succeeded in securing such a foothold in that coun- 174 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. try that one of their dukes, Jagello, who was con- verted to Christianity, and subsequently married Hedvig, the daughter of King Louis, became in the course of a few years the founder of ■ a new Polish dynasty, the Jagellons, a dynasty of mournful mem- ory in the history of Hungary. The last days of Louis were embittered by the disorders in Poland. He who had succeeded every- where else failed there. Disappointment shortened his life; upon returning to Tyrnau on the nth of September, 1382, from attending the Polish diet convened in Hungary, he was taken ill, and breathed there his last. The Hungarian nation lost in him one of their greatest kings. His reign was stormy but glorious. The Hungarian banner floated always victoriously on his numerous battle-fields, and he humbled the enemies of the nation. In spite of his many wars, Louis found leisure to devote his time to the cultivation of the arts of peace. He gave laws to his country, which secured her permanance, and remained in force up to the most recent ages. He brought order into the affairs of the Church, and into the administration of justice. He was a zeal- ous patron of learning, and established a university at Fiinfkirchen (P6cs). His court, the seat of which he fixed at Buda, was brilliant ; the Western customs, brought over from Italy, prevailing there. In times of peace magnificent tilts and tournaments at home took the place of the bloody game of war abroad, and the distribution of arms and knightly distinc- tions introduced by his father continued during his reign on even a larger scale. On all occasions Louis THE AN JO US IN HUNGARY. 1 75 showed himself to be a brave, wise, and pious king, whose long rule is described by an eminent Hun- garian historian as proving " a continued blessing " for his nation. Dark days succeeded the glorious reign of Louis. The Hungarian nation was eager to testify their gratitude to their great king by a concession made to his dynasty — notwithstanding its foreign origin, — which they had refused to make to the glorious dyn- asty of the native Arpdd family. After the king's death his daughter Mary was proclaimed queen and the crown conferred upon her. But the crown brought little joy to Mary, for the festivities of the coronation were hardly finished when she was menaced by dangers coming from two sides. The Poles hated Sigismund, to whom Mary was affianced, and insisted also that their ruler should live amongst them. Elizabeth, the queen-mother, in order to con- ciliate the opposition of the Poles, and not to risk the loss of Poland, offered them, as a substitute for Mary, her younger daughter Hedvig. The Poles agreed to this compromise, upon the condition that they should select a husband for Hedvig, their queen. It was a great trial for Hedvig to part from William, Duke of Austria, to whom she was betrothed, but her choice lay between him and the crown of Poland. The allurements of the latter prevailed, and in Febru- ary, 1386, the Polish nation celebrated the nuptials of their queen with the Lithuanian duke, Jagello, re- cently converted to Christianity, whom they had chosen for her husband. This marriage put an end to the union of the two countries, and Poland had once more a ruler of her own. 176 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. There was greater danger threatening Hungary from the south. The nobles of Croatia were dissatis- fied with female rule. There were some ambitious men who were incensed to see themselves excluded from the royal court, whilst a man of low descent, like Garay, the palatine, took the lead there. They were intent upon destroying the government in order to remove the queen. In Charles of Du- razzo, who owed the throne of Naples to Louis the Great, they found a man who was willing to become a candidate for the throne of Hungary. The traitors, however, on the appearance in their midst of the energetic Garay, accompanied by the queen and the queen-mother Elizabeth, kept quiet for a while. But no sooner had the royal party left Croatia, when these men, who all owed their honors to the favor of the late king, resumed their machinations, and pre- vailed upon Charles of Durazzo to perjure himself and to break the oath he had pledged to the late king not to disturb his daughter Mary in the pos- session of her throne. In 1385, undeterred by the warnings of his wife, he arrived in Croatia. Meanwhile the marriage of Mary and Sigismund had taken place. The latter, in order to collect an army with which he should be enabled to oppose the advancing enemy and defend the rights of his royal spouse, hypothecated a portion of the country to raise the necessary funds. This ill-timed transaction increased the chances of his opponent, for the na- tion saw with indignation that Sigismund, in the capacity of "the guardian of the realm " only, with- out possessing any royal rights, began his guardian- THE ANJOUS IN HUNGARY. \TJ ship by thus disposing of Hungarian territory. Such a disgraceful transaction was unknown in the his- tory of the country, and it was not long before Char- les could enter Buda, without let or hindrance ; dis- guising, however, even then, his lawless aspirations, by pretending to have only come to make peace be- tween the nation and her queen. But Charles was not long in showing his true designs. On the 31st of December, 1385, the cathedral of Stuhlweissenburg witnessed a most moving scene. The coronation of the usurper Charles was to be solemnized ; the church was crowded, to its remotest corner, with sumptuously dressed lords. The widowed queen and her daughter Mary were also in attendance. The customary question was asked of the magnates of the land, by. the Primate of Hungary, whether they wished Charles to be their king. The enthusi- astic acclamations of assent became, at the Primate's third appeal, feebler and feebler as the piteous sobs of the two queens, who had sunk upon their father's and husband's grave, resounded in the church. The coronation proceeded nevertheless, and whilst the archbishop sent up his prayers of grace to heaven, the widowed queen was silently vowing desperate vengeance at the grave of her husband. Bad omens followed the pageant ; dur- ing the solemn procession the banner of St. Stephen split into pieces, and as the new king entered the gates of his palace at Buda, its walls were shaken to its very foundations by a tremendous thunder-storm. Charles had occupied the throne thirty-nine days only, when he was summoned by the widowed queen, 178 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. residing under one roof with him, into her presence to settle some grave matters of state. The king obeyed the summons, and was humbly i^eceived by Garay the palatine, Blasius Forgdch the lord cup- bearer, Thomas Szent-Gyorgyi, the ban of Croatia, and the other lords present. The council had hardly commenced when, at a hint from the palatirie, For- gdch got behind the king and struck him on the head with his pole-axe. The blow inflicted a mor. tal wound and the king fainted away. The assassins had made careful preparations for the bloody event. Whilst Forgich was doing away with the king in the council-chamber, his Italian soldiers, in the palace, were disarmed by Garay's men. Charles was taken to Visegrdd, where he was thrown into prison and afterwards strangled. The news of the king's assassination stirred up fresh discontents in Croatia, where his party had been most numerous. Garay imagined he could quell the rebellion again by appearing amongst them. The two queens approved of his scheme, and proceeded, in his company, to Croatia. This time, however, their going to Croatia was to prove fatal to them. The queens, travelling with a small escort, were surprised by John Horvdthy, one of the rebels, near Didkovdr, and a mortal struggle ensued between the rebels and the queen's escort. Garay and Forgdch fought with exasperation in defence of the queens. Garay, pierced by arrows, set his back against the coach, valiantly selling his life, and not allowing the enemy to approach his royal charges except across his dead body. All this heroism was " THE ANJOUS IN HUNGARY. 1 79 wasted in the face of the overpowering number of the rebels, and the dreadful spectacle was soon pre- sented to the queens of having the heads of their faithful defenders cut off before their very eyes. The queens themselves were placed in confinement at Novigrad, on the sea-shore. The long series of deaths by violence, which appeared to persecute the Anjou race like a curse, was destined to have one more added to it at Novigrad. The widow of Louis the Great was, after a short imprisonment, strangled by one of the rebels before the eyes of her unfor- tunate daughter. The disorders had now reached their climax; one of the crowned rulers of Hungary, Charles, had been assassinated, the other, Mary, was a prisoner at Didkovdr. The rebels were preparing to bring the son of the usurper Charles into the country, while another party had cast their eyes upon Ladislaus Jagello, the husband of Hedvig, as an available aspirant to royal honors. The Prince of Servia was arming to attack Hungary from the south, and Poland was preparing to invade the country from the northeast, whilst the princes of Wallachia and Moldavia, vassals of Hungary, declared their inde- pendence. So many disasters demanded a prompt remedy, and the nation, in their distress, decided to accept as their ruler.Sigismund, the queen's husband. He was acknowledged as king, and the crown of St. Stephen was placed on his head by Benedek, the bishop of Veszpr^m, in March, 1387, and his reign lasted until 1437. To these melancholy circum- stances did Sigismund, of the house of Luxemburg, l8o THE STORY OF HUNGARY. owe his elevation to the throne of Hungary. It was a heavy burden that he had taken upon his shoul- ders, the task of bringing order into the affairs of the distracted country. His first and foremost duty was to liberate his august wife from her imprison- ment, but it must be reluctantly admitted that he exhibited little zeal in the accomplishment of this. While he was travelling leisurely from place to place without seemingly heeding the danger of delay, Venice came to the rescue. The statesmen of the city of St. Mark had watched with jealousy the union of Naples and Hungary in the hands of one ruler, and to obviate this danger to their own city, they sought the friendship of Sigismund, and sent vessels of war against his rebellious subjects. John Palisna, in whose charge the imprisoned queen had been placed, readily delivered her up to John Barba- dico, the captain of the republic, stipulating only for himself the right of leaving without molestation. In July, 1388, husband and wife met near Agram (Zd- grdb), and Sigismund made up for his former laxity by sumptuously rewarding the Venetians who had- liberated his queen. The newly elected king had on the very threshold of his reign a twofold difficulty to face. He had to quell the rebellion, which in the southern part ofhis dominions was still active, and to arrest the. en- croachments of the Turkish power. He succeeded in putting down the rebellion. He marched into Croatia and Bosnia, pursuing the rebels to their mountain fastnesses, and after many years of varying fortunes of war he reduced them to obedience. The THE ANJOUS IN HUNGARY. l8l survivors of the scattered rebels sought refuge in the wild forests of Syrmia. A small band of thirty men rallied round Stephen Kont of H6dervdr, the son of the famous palatine Michael, a man noted for his bravery. Sigismund charged Vajdafy, one of his trusty men, with the reduction of this band. He found it, however, impossible to get near them, and finally resorted to a stratagem. Vajdafy promised them a free pardon from Sigismund if they sur- rendered and came up to Buda with him. The thirty-one warriors accepted this proposal, but on their way the treacherous Vajdafy ordered them to be placed in chains. They were so incensed at this disgraceful treatment, that they determined not to do homage to the king when brought into his presence. They refused to bend their knees before him. The king did not reflect long, but ordered the thirty-one gallants to be taken to St. George's Place in Buda, where they met their death at the hands of the exe- cutioner. Kont was the last to lay his head on the block. His faithful page Cs6ka burst into tears at the bloody sight. Sigismund comforted the youth, telling him he would be a better master to him than Kont was. " I shall never serve thee, Czech hog," was the boy's reply, a reply which cost him his life, for he was immediately executed. This barbarous and illegal act of the king would no doubt have pro- voked, in ordinary times, a rebellion in the country, but the general attention was just then absorbed by the encroachments of the Turks. Servia had already become a vassal state of the Turks, and was compelled to swell with her army 1 82 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. the power of the mightiest foe to Christianity. The last victory won by the Servians over the Turks was in 1387, when they mowed down two thirds of the Turkish army, numbering 20,000 men. Sultan Murad invaded Servia in 1389 to avenge the disgrace of defeat. He was met in June by Lazarus, the last independent Prince of Servia, on the Kosovo (black- bird) field, called in Hungarian the Rig6mez6. The engagement was a bloody one, and disastrous to the rulers on both sides. Sultan Murad received his death wound "from the dagger of a Servian soldier, whilst Prince Lazarus was delivered by his own son- in-law, Vuk Brankovitch, into the hands of the Turks and into the jaws of certain death. With Lazarus was lost the independence of Servia, and his scat- tered army fled in dismay from the ill-fated battle- field. This victory had brought .the Turks one step nearer to the borders of Hungarj', and added further to the fear of their victorious arms in that Bajazet, the successor of Murad, surnamed the " Lightning," was known to be eager for new conquests. Two years after the battle of Kosovo we find the Turks already on Hungarian soil. Sigismund tried, at first, negotiations. Viddin, NicopoUs, and Silistria, which belonged to Hungary under Louis the Great, had recently fallen into the hands of the Turks. Sigis- mund sent an embassy to Bajazet calling upon him to surrender these cities to their rightful owner. The sultan received the embassy at Brussa, and, con- ducting them into a hall ornamented with arms and weapons of every description, he pointed at these, saying : " Go back and tell your king that, as you THE ANJOUS IN HUNGARY. 183 see for yourself, I have a good enough title to these lands." Sigismund rightly understood this to be a declaration of war. He at once summoned the chivalry of Europe to take part in a crusade against the infidels, and entered into an alliance with Manuel II., the Emperor of the East. Many knights from England, France, and Italy responded to the call. Meanwhile, Mary, the wife of Sigismund, died in' 1395. It was to her that Sigismund owed his throne, and now that she was no more, there was nothing to keep up the ties of affection between the people and their restless and inconstant king. Sigismund hoped to dazzle the nation by the glory of a successful war. In 1396 he marched the assembled crusaders to Nicopolis against the Turks. The king, surrounded by the chief captains of the army, was merrily feasting when the news was brought that Bajazet, the " Light- ning," was approaching. Both armies were eager for the contest. The French knights, in spite of Sigis- mund's protests, claimed the privilege of the first attack. Ignorant of the Turkish system of fighting, which consisted in sending the weakest and least- disciplined troops to the fore, to bear the brunt of the first attack, the French rushed with their united strength upon the enemy. The attack, as usual, was favorable to the French arms, but hardly had they dispersed the inferior troops when they found them- selves face to face with the serried ranks of the Spahis and Janissaries. The hot-blooded Frenchmen were no match for these incomparable soldiers, and a large portion of them fell on the battle-field while the re- mainder were taken prisoners. This discomfiture had 1 84 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. a depressing effect on the other crusaders, and their army scattered in disorderly flight. Sigismund, him- self, escaped only with great difficulty, and took refuge on a ship on the Danube which brought him to Constantinople. This unlucky campaign proved a fresh source of trouble to the country, for the king, keenly feeling the disgrace of his defeat, stayed away from Hun- gary for over half a year. The southern part of Hungary was again in rebellion and many, believing in the false report of the king's death, were desirous of proceeding to the election of a successor. The king, apprehensive of losing his throne, came back and, in his own fashion, rewarded his friends and punished his opponents. In order to add to the number of his adherents he distributed amongst them, in defiance of an ancient law, the crown-lands. He filled the highest positions in the state with foreigners. This was more than the Hungarian lords would submit to, especially after the disgraceful defeat the king had just suffered on the battle-field. The impatient magnates, weary of his inglorious rule, entered upon a conspiracy to overthrow the king. On the 28th of April, 1401, a number of the great lords of the land assembled at Buda and requested the attendance of the king, in order to take counsel on affairs of state. The Garays, the unflinching adherents of the king, knew what was going to happen, but did not dare to divulge or oppose the plans of the conspirators. Sigismund appeared among the assembled mag- nates, but only to find out, 'too late, that he was, in THE ANJOUS IN HUNGARY. 185 fact, their prisoner. He was taken to Visegrdd and confined in its castle. Another king had now to be elected. Three claimants were on the field — Lad- islaus Jagello, William of Austria, and Ladislaus, the son of Charlee the Little. It was fortunate, however, for the king that no election could be agreed upon ; and, while the magnates were taking counsel with each other, the Garays succeeded in liberating the king and took him to Sikl6s, one of their own fortified castles. His followers, mean- while, took up arms in his cause and succeeded in placing him again on the throne, after he had been a prisoner for four months. But before doing so they obtained his promise not to punish or molest the conspirators. Michael Garay was generously re- warded for his exertions on behalf of Sigismund ; he received annually a pension of one thousand ducats, and was appointed to the dignity of a palatine. The severe lesson was of benefit to the king. He ap- peared totally changed after his experience in prison. He faithfully kept the promise he had given, and did not molest the rebellious lords, but rather sought their friendship, and, making union with them, seri- ously endeavored by legal means to improve the government of the country. He had hardly seized the reins of government with firm hands, when the cry of battle called him again away. Having no son, Sigismund tried to secure the throne for his daughter Elizabeth. She was affianced to Albert of Austria, and the king pre- vailed upon one hundred and ten lords to sign a document by which his daughter's husband would. 1 86 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. after the king's demise, become entitled to wear the crown of St. Stephen. The NeapoHtan party was roused into rebeUion by this arrangement, and Lad- islaus of Naples penetrated into the interior of the country. The primate of the realm, the archbishop of Gran, sided with the rebels and placed the crown of Hungary upon the head of the invading for- eigner. Sigismund, who was just then amongst the Czechs, whose crown he coveted, hastened home upon leai-ning the peril with which he was menaced. The followers of Ladislaus were soon put down, and, being assured of the king's pardon, they all gave in their submission. Ladislaus, fearful lest the fate of his father, Charles the Little, should overtake him, left the country', and henceforth dared not to ques- tion the right of Sigismund to the crown. In the course of the years that followed some wise measures were introduced concerning the privileges and fran- chises of the cities, and regulating the relations of the Church of Hungary to the Vatican. The Pope having been the most zealous partisan of Ladislaus of Naples, a law was enacted putting an end to the Pope's right of interference in the affairs of the Hungarian Church. The king formed again new marriage ties, and took Barbara, the daughter of Count Arminius Cilley, the powerful lord of the Styrian castle of Cilli, for his wife. The new queen added but lit- tle to his happiness. The king established the order of the dragon in commemoration of his wedding. The insignia of the qrder were a red cross with a gold dragon who twisted his tail in a circular shape THE ANJOUS IN HUNGARY. 1 87 around his own neck. The membership was confined to twenty-four, who bound themselves to defend the Christian faith against the Turks. The king and queen were the first members of the order, the re- maining members were selected from among the highest dignitaries of the land. A high distinction fell to the lot of the king of Hungary on the 20th of September, 14 10. Ruprecht, who had been elevated to the imperial throne of Germany, after the deposi- tion of Wenceslaus the drunkard (the half insane brother of Sigismund), was now dead. Wenceslaus was now striving to regain the lost dignity, but in this he was opposed by his own brother Sigismund. The electoral princes voted for the latter. This was the first time that a similar distinction had been con- ferred upon the wearer of the crown of St. Stephen. The nation felt proud of the exaltation of their king, but the nation as well as the king found subsequently ample reason to regret their premature rejoicing. In- deed the fears of St. Ladislaus and Louis the Great, who had declined the imperial crown lest they might, accepting it, be caused to neglect the affairs of Hun- gary, proved but too well founded. The business of the emperor required his presence elsewhere, and while he was absent for years from the country, matters at home visibly went to rack and ruin. The emperor-king could not spare time to attend to the most important duty of his reign, the driving back of the Turks, and, there can be no doubt, that" it was owing less to the civil wars of that period than the lukewarmness of Sigismund in the face of the Ottoman advances during the last years of his 1 88 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. reign, that it became possible for the Moslem power to obtain possession, a century later, of the strong- hold of Christianity. The signs of the coming life- and-death struggle became already apparent — and once the struggle begun there was no way to de- stroy the Ottoman power, nor could a favorable opportunity, once missed, return again. The fortunes of war were once more propitious to the Hungarians — in their war against Venice — but for several years afterwards history records nothing but a long series of uninterrupted disasters. The war with Venice was carried on to get possession of the littoral islands and cities. Venice was shame- fully beaten, and the peace-suing ambassadors of the proud city of St. .Mark had to undergo the humiliation of seeing before their very eyes nine- teen of their flags torn to pieces in the streets of Buda. But the new banners of Venice were soon destined to be victoriously planted on the Hunga- rian littoral territory, and Sigismund was compelled to sign a peace by which the nation lost her sea- coast possessions. And while the power of Venice was curtailing the country in the south, the richest towns in the north were being lost through the reck- lessness of Sigismund. In order to extricate himself from financial embarrassments he hypothecated to Ladislaus, the king of Poland, thirteen of the wealthiest cities of the Szepes country, which was largely settled by German merchants and tradesmen. These places remained hypothecated until the first partition of Poland, 1772, when Hungary was re- instated in the full possession of the mortgaged THE ANJOUS IN HUNGARY. 1 89 towns. After arranging these affairs the king went abroad, where he remained for six years. During his absence the country, owing to the despotic rule of Barbara, his queen, became a prey to disorder. It would cover pages unprofitably to give a detailed account of the private affairs of the wanton queen, and, passing over these, we shall accompany her royal husband on his journey to the Council of Constance. The condition of the Church of Rome was at that period a most lamentable one. The question of re- forms within the Church became from day to day more pressing. Wycliffe, the Englishman, had the boldness to assume the role of a heretic. John Huss, the rector of the university of Prague, soon became a zealous propagator of his teachings. The majority of the inhabitants of Bohemia embraced the new tenets, assuming, after their leader, the name of " Hussites." One of the chief objects of the Council of Constance — 1414-1418 — was to ex- tirpate heresy, and to exterminate its votaries. Numerous ecclesiastical and lay lords gathered at Constance to advise together under the guidance of the emperor-king, who presided. The attending Hungarian magnates deemed it due to their fame and dignity ■ to indulge in the most extravagant luxury. The emperor-king felt constrained to eclipse his subjects in sumptuous display on such an occa- sion, and, in order to accomplish this, he had to sell Brandenburg to Frederick of Hohenzollern, and there can be no doubt that through this sale he un- wittingly contributed to the future greatness of the 1 90 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. present imperial, dynasty in Germany. We will not attempt to describe here the Council of Constance, but need only mention that it was the treachery and bad faith of Sigismund which caused the tragic end and martyrdom of John Huss. His disciples vowed vengeance, and Hungary, of all the dominions of the emperor-king, was, during many years, most exposed to their cruel devastations. After an absence of six years, during which Sigis- mund had visited Germany, France, Italy, and Eng- land, he at length returned to Hungary. He found the country unsettled, and menaced on two sides by powerful enemies. Having sent his wife, the cause of the internal disorders, to prison, he led an army against the Turks, who were threatening the southern portion of the country. Before describing the events of that campaign let us cast a rapid glance at the condition of the Moslem world in Europe. A dreadful blow had fallen on the Otto- man empire in July, 1402. Timur, the Central- Asian conqueror, destroyed the Turkish army near Angora, and captured the person of the redoubtable Bajazet himself. The impaired power of the Otto- man empire was still more weakened by the inter- necine strife between Bajazet's sons. Mohammed I. emerged at last as the victorious sultan, and in his person the warlike qualities of his ancestors re- appeared once more on the throne of the Osmanlis. The rulers of Servia and Moldavia very soon ac- knowledged his sovereignty. Hervoja, the Bosnian boyar, followed their example. The three captains of Sigismund, John Mardty, John Garay, and Paul THE ANJOUS IN HUNGARY. I9I Csupor, marched against the latter. The engage- ment resulted in the victory of Hervoja. Csupor was taken prisoner, while his fellow-captains sought safety in an ignominiou. : flight. Csupor, years ago, had scofifingly greeted Hervoja, when at the Hun- garian court, by bellowing like an ox, and the victor, now remembering the affront put upon him, revenged himself by having the ill-fated captain sewn into an ox's skin, and telling him : " Now thou canst bellow as much as thou likest ; thou hast also the shape of an ox." He caused him to be thrown into the water, where, he was drowned. Meanwhile Stephen Lazarevitch, the Prince of Servia, became weary of the Turkish alliance, and with a view to securing to his nephew, George Brankovitch, the succession in Servia, he sought the aid of Sigismund, offering to surrender to him several important fortified places along the Danube for his services. The Prince of Servia died in 1428, and Sigismund claimed the possession of the places promised to him. The Servian commander of Galambdcz, one of the strongest of these fortresses, however, treacherously allowed it to pass into the hands of the Turks. It was to re-possess himself of this fortress, which he could not permit to remain in Moslem hands, that Sigismund marched against the enemy. He had nearly succeeded in capturing it, when news reached him that Sultan Murad II. was approaching. Sigismund did not dare to engage in battle with such overpowering numbers, and having stipulated for himself and his army free passage, he pusillanimously gave up the siege. Yet the Hun- 192 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. garians were just beginning to cross the Danube, when the Turks, breaking faith, attacked them. Sigismund himself was in great danger, and he owed his escape only to the heroism of Cecilia Rozgonyi, the wife of the captain-in-chief, who facilitated his flight in a galley steered by herself. This was Sigismund's last armed encounter with the Turks, and its issue did by no means add to his laurels. The remaining years of Sigismund's reign were taken up with the organization of the defences of the country and with continual warfare against the Czech Hussites in the north. Wenceslaus, the king of Bohemia, died in 1419, and Sigismund endeavored to obtain his brother's crown. The Czechs hated the executioner of their. beloved spiritual teacher, and conceded to Sigismund the Bohemian crown only after a hard and protracted struggle. Hungary had to suffer for the ambition of her king, for, during these struggles, the exasperated Czechs, on more than one occasion, laid waste her territories in the northwest. Sigismund, however, did not allow him- self to be deterred from pursuing his aim. Acting upon the principle of divide et regna, he very sensibly conciliated a portion of the Czechs by granting them religious reforms, and whilst the people were desper- ately fighting among themselves he succeeded in securing the crown of Bohemia. Sigismund may be said to have reached the goal of all his wishes. He united on his head the crowns of imperial Germany, Hungary, and Bohemia. Yet, on the whole, he was not a happy man. His wife Bar- bara had regained her freedom and was embittering the last days of the sickly monarch. This ambitious THE ANJOUS IN HUNGARY. I93 woman coveted the crown of Hungary, and. in Jorder to obtain it she was scheming, first of all, to hinder the succession of Albert, the son-in-law of the em- peror-king. With this view she entered into nego- tiations with Ladislaus III., the king of Poland, the purport of which was that he should marry her after Sigismund's demise, and thus unite the domin- ions of the king of Hungary with Poland. The arrangement was nearly concluded when these in- trigues were discovered by Sigismund. He deprived his wife once more of her liberty, and hastened from Bohemia to Hungary to prevail upon the Estates to accept Albert's succession, and then to turn his steps towards Transylvania to put down the rebellion that had broken out there. The peasantry of Transyl- vania, having a leaning towards the teachings of Huss, were exposed to constant persecutions. They were also oppressed by burdensome taxes,and finally, goaded on by their unhappy condition, they rose in arms against their tyrants. The massacred nobility and burning villages bore witness to the exasperation of the peasantry. Fate prevented Sigismund from either meeting the estates or quelling the Transylva- nian rising. He was overtaken by death at Znaym, in Moravia, in December, 1437. His dead body and the captive queen arrived in Hungary one week later. His remains were conveyed from Presburg to Gross- wardein to be placed there by the side of his first wife, Mary, and at the feet of St. Ladislaus. It is rather saddening to reflect that, after a reign of fifty years, his funeral procession should have been lighted by the glare from the burning villages of Transylvania, set on fire by her own peasantry. CHAPTER IX. JOHN HUNYADI (HUNIADES), THE GREAT CHAMPION OF CHRISTIANITY. 1456. Very little, if any thing, is known of the father of John Hunyadi, or of the pedigree of his family ; in- deed, the very circurhstances of his birth are shroud- ed in dim legendary light, and yet he looms up all at once in the proud position of governor of Hungary, the adored idol of his country, and the admiration of ^11 Christian Europe. It was owing to his ex- ertions that his family became great, rich, and power- ful, but, at the same time, he guarded Hungary against the evils of domestic war, and saved her from Moslem rule. He served his country in the capacity of a brave soldier, an eminent general, and a cautious and energetic statesman, lending her the aid of his strong arm, his undaunted courage, and his clear understanding. In his time, during the fifteenth century, through all Europe, and especially in Hungary, that man was most respected who had earned the repute of a distinguished soldier. If any one wished to become conspicuous amongst his countrymen he had to be, first of all, an able general and a military hero. Ac- 194 JOHN HUNYADI. 19s cording to the views of that day, only he was looked upon as a true man who was a free man, or, in the nomenclature of that period, a noble man, but every noble was a born soldier, and soldiering was both his duty and privilege. Martial merit was recognized as the only real merit, and military service as the only honorable occupation. By this means every ■Mf^^-UUjmm '''^/'IICMfJfflll™''"™'" ' ' HUNYAD CASTLE. man had the chance of becoming the possessor of land, and of acquiring nobility, for bravery was re- warded by the king with a grant of lands, and with the rank of a noble. As a consequence wars were longed for by many. The common man (or as he was then styled, the bondman) hoped to acquire land and to be created a noble, the noble to add to 196 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. his landed estate, and to rise in rank. The more land a noble owned, and the greater the number of his bondmen, the larger the nurnber of the soldiers he was able to equip, and the greater the military power wielded by him, the better his prospects of promotion to a higher position in the state, in soci- ety, and about the person of his king. The first games of childhood were martial games, and the first tasks of youth were military tasks. Such, no doubt, had also been the early training of John Hunyadi ; by such means he rose, acquired a large fortune, and was. able to support a great army. In truth, however, there is no information whatever extant as to his early education, for when he first entered upon the stage of war, in 1437, he was already an accomplished general. In this year the Turkish sultan, who was constantly attacking, harassing, and laying waste the vassal states of: Hun- gary, Bosnia, Servia, Wallachia, and Bulgaria, turned his arms against Servia. ' The general of the Hun- garian king met the enemy , near the fortress of Semendria, where the decisive battle was to be fought. During this engagement a knight with a coat of arms, familiar to no one, made his appearance. A black raven, holding a gold ring in his beak, was painted on his shield. Never before had they wit^ nessed fighting as gallant as that of the Raven Knight at the head of his small troop. He was seen now in one place, now in another, but wherever he showed himself the enemy either fled before him or was slain. To the Hungarians it seemed as if the god of war himself had descended to fight under yOHN HUNYADI. 1 97 tiieir banners, and they were seized with wild enthu- siasm. The Turkish general, with the remnant of his army, fled in dismay, and from this day forward the name of the raven knight continued to be the terror of Turkish warriors. This mysterious knight was John Hunyadi. To be sure, men like Pongrdcz, Szentmikldssy, Thalloczy, or Mardthy, had before this day proved themselves heroes in the many struggles against the Turks. After this memorable battle, however, the splendor of Hunyadi's name dimmed the glory of all. With the people, whose chief delight was martial exploits, and in whose eyes the Turks were the most dreadful enemy of their country, his prestige increased from year to year. For Hunyadi, like his powerful antagonist the Turk, never knew what it was to rest. No other enemy was like this one he had to cope with. The Turkish state was so organized that it could not ex- ist without fresh conquests and incessant wars. The Janissaries wanted occupation and glory, the mounted Spahis new lands, the immense hordes which marched at the distance of a day's walk in advance of the Turkish army were hungry after booty, and the sultans themselves longed to win fresh con- quests and military glory against the infidels, as the followers of the cross were styled by them. An enemy like this was a most dangerous neighbor. It is true that Hungary was divided from the Turkish empire by her vassal states, Bulgaria, Wallachia, Servia, and Bosnia, but the Turkish sultans already looked upon these territories as their own, and were constantly organizing inroads into Hungary from 198 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. them. Hunyadi had passed his early hfe near the border ; and, accustomed to the perpetual fighting going on there, he was also familiarized with the magnitude of the danger. With an iron will he determined to devote his whole strength to the struggle against the Turks. By his gallantrj' he gradually acquired the fortune necessary for this purpose, for the kings were lavish in granting to him again and again large estates as a compensation for his bravery. Nor was he wanting in opportuni- ties against the Turks, for, having been successively created Count of Temes, ban of Szor^ny, and vay- vode of Transylvania, it became his duty to defend the border with the money and army placed in his hands. If the Turks appeared at any point on a marauding expedition, or to provoke hostilities, Hunyadi was quick to meet them at once, and did not rest until he had achieved victory; In one such expedition, Ishak, the pasha of Semen- dria, fared badly. This overbearing Turk, issued from the fortress of Semendria, and, having overrun the country, left behind him nothing but desolation and the tears of widows and orphans. Hunyadi, with a small troop, started in his pursuit, and, coming up with him, he took away from him the prisoners and the booty he had captured, and drove him and his army back to the very walls of Semendria. The sultan, upon hearing the news of this defeat, at once despatched Mezid Bey with an army of 80,000 men against Hunyadi. Orders were issued to destroy every thing — property and human life alike; neither the young nor the old nor the women were to be spared. JOHN HUNYADI. I99 Hunyadi was well informed as to the enemy's move- ments. He knew that in this campaign the special aim would be to kill or capture him, for his person stood almost alone in the way of the Sultan's conquests and glory. The Turkish commander offered, on the eve of the battle, an enormous re- ward to the soldier who would succeed in capturing Hunyadi. This critical occasion showed not only the importance attributed to Hunyadi's person by the Turks, but also the great love with which he was surrounded and the degree to Tdaich he was idolized by his soldiers and comrades. On« of the latter, Simon Kemdny, who knew of the intentions of the enemy, urgently begged his leader to exchange with him horses and accoutrements. Hunyadi at first refused, but finally yielded to Kem^ny's entreaties and handed him over his military equipments. But he built his plan of battle upon this ruse : He ordered five hundred distinguished soldiers to be stationed near the person of the devoted officer, and he himself withdrew with his reserve and took up a position in a remoter spot. The following day the two armies engaged in battle. Every Turkish warrior sought the famous Hungarian hero ; all were eager for the glory of capturing and killing him, and anxious to secure the prize set on his head. They all knew his face — which strikingly resembled that of Simon Kemdny — and his accoutrements, which had been minutely described to them by their comrades. They at once made a rush on Kem^ny, the pretended Hunyadi. This gallant hero, with his five hundred men, stood the brunt of the onslaught with super- 200 THE STOR Y OF HUNGAR Y. human courage ; the enemy were literally mowed down by their swords, but, at last, they had to give way to superior numbers, and their brave kader laid down his life on the battle-field. The Turkish soldiers precipitated themselves eagerly and with shouts of triumph upon his inanimate body, when suddenly Hunyadi broke upon them — the real and living Hunyadi whom the enemy had already thought dead. At this sight, the enemy, who, a few moments ago, felt sure of their victory, were seized with a panic, and sought safety in flight. Their leader, Mezid Bey himself, and his son lay lifeless, with battered skulls, on the field of battle. The entire Turkish camp, with immense treasures and its military stores, as well as numerous prisoners, fell into the hands of the victorious Hungarians. Many a brave Hungarian warrior, it is true, had lost his life, and the devoted Simon Kem^ny had found the death he expected, but the country was saved, and the Hungarian losses were as nothing compared with the losses of the Turks. The devout Hun- yadi afterwards caused a chapel to be erected from the. proceeds of the Turkish booty in memory of his martyred comrades. The news of the ignominious defeat reached Sul- tan Murat. at Adrianople ; he was greatly incensed, and swore dire vengeance against the Hungarians. He summoned before him his brother-in-law, en- trusted to his command eighty thousand men, and ordered him to invade Hungary, to lay every thing waste with fire and steel, and to annihilate Hunyadi and his army. The Turkish commander, letting JOHN HUNYADI. 20I loose his Tartars, entered Hungary quite suddenly through Wallachia. The frontier is here formed by gigantic mountains, and but narrow passes lead from one country into the other. Through one of these passes, the Vaskapu (Iron Gate), the Turkish army passed into Hungary. The invaders had hardly time to rest from their fatigues, when Hunyadi with his army appeared before the unsuspecting enemy, ready to give battle. Abedin was surprised and dis- concerted ; he thought the Hungarians would fly before him, and they were facing him. Hunyadi entrenched his foot soldiery in a wagon-canrip, whilst he himself with his horse attacked the Spahis (Turk- ish cavalry). After scattering the latter, he turned against the Turkish infantry, the Janissaries, in the rear, but the attack was only a feigned ohe. As if fearful of being surrounded, he suddenly began to retreat with his army to that portron of the valley where the wagon-camp was stationed. The Janis- saries, leaving their protected positions, started with wild exultation in pursuit of the Hungarians. Hunyadi, having taken up his position at the for- tified place in the narrow valley, directed a side attack against the Turkish horse and drove them back upon the fighting Janissaries, whose storming of the wagon fortress was attended with as little success as that of the waves beating against the solid rock. The Turkish army could not display its strength, and confusion and wild disorder soon seized the troops. Their commander, perceiving that it was impossible to save his army, mounted his horse and galloped away. Fifteen thousand Hungarians 202 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. were opposed, on that occasion, to eighty thousand Turks, inured to war, well trained, and accustomed to victory. The Turkish Janissaries, whose impene- trable line never broke, were annihilated ; the cav- alry, the far-famed Spahis, were scattered ; and the whole Turkish army was in part massacred and in part put to disorderly flight. The meanest portion only saved themselves by running away ; the best of the warriors perished, for the Turkish troops were by no means lacking in personal courage. The principal difference between the opponents was that the Turkish army was usually too confident of vic- tory, and was often led by incompetent generals, while among the Hungarians discipline prevailed. Hunyadi, furthermore, not only gave battle accord- ing to plans concerted by his military genius, but understood also, during the tumult and confusion of the battle, how to execute with his troops rapid and precise movements. These qualities had decided the present battle, and were also the secret of his future triumphs. All Europe hailed with joy and admiration the splendid victories of the Hungarian arms, for the whole Christian world had witnessed with alarm the extension of the power of the dreaded Osmanlis. Not only Hunyadi himself, but all his companions in arms, felt that, in inflicting such heavy losses upon the Turks, they were not defending Hungary alone, but saving all Christendom from that Turkish rule which had exhibited a boundless appetite for continental extension. Aware of this state of things, Hunyadi initiated a policy exceeding in boldness the one JOHN HUNYADI. 203 hitherto pursued by him. He appealed to all the rulers of Europe — to some personally, to others through the king and the pontiff of Rome — to lend him their aid, and he declared that, if they re- sponded to his appeal, he was ready to begin an offensive war against the Turks. All Europe received with satisfaction both his plan and request, but. all he could obtain was gra- cious words and fair promises ; aid in any tangible shape was flowing in but thinly. The Poles (the Hungarian king Uladislaus being also their king) sent a tolerably large contingent ; in Germany, France, and Bohemia, too, there were many ready to enlist in a holy war against the unbelieving Turks, as had been formerly done in the time of the cru- saders, and these joined Hunyadi's camp. The southern vassal states sent also some forces. The principal army, however, was still composed of Hunyadi's Hungarians, which was joined by the king's own troops. They may have numbered alto- gether forty thousand men. The king himself joined in the offensive campaign (in July, 1443) and placed himself at the head of the motley army. His leader- ship proved an injury rather than an advantage, for the discipline would have been far more perfect in the army if Hunyadi in person, with his own men, had taken the lead. The Hungarian general, never- theless, defeated the Turks in their own country in four smaller engagements and in two larger battles. When the Hungarian army approached the Balkans — the heart of the Turkish' empire in Europe — they were already wading in snow. They nevertheless 204 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. marched on, undaunted by the enormous mountains and the impracticable and narrow passes. But the Turks had already taken up their positions along the difficult passes, on the mountain tops, and in the passes themselves, in such a manner that they had made sure of every advantage. Hunyadi quickly perceived that the position of the sultan behind such entrenchments and bulwarks was impregnable. Being, therefore, foiled in his desire to aim an offen- sive blow at the enemy, he endeavored to entice him into the plain. In this he succeeded. As he was retreating from the Balkan passes, slowly and cau- tiously tracing his way back, the Turkish army quickly started in his pursuit. The sultan reasoned that the Hungarian army was, by this time, ex- hausted with cold, the fatigues, and the extraordi- nary exertions, and that it would be an easy matter to catch them now in their own trap. But he counted without Hunyadi. When the latter thought the time had come for it, he turned and faced the enemy. He selected a vantage-ground where the Turkish army could at no time bring all their forces into play, and must therefore offer to the Hungari- ans a chance of beating them in detachments. The struggle was protracted, for the Turks could afford to wait. As soon as one of their generals was de- feated, the sultan had him strangled on the spot, and despatched in his place another general and another army. The contest went desperately on by the light of the moon. Every one took part in it ; King Uladislaus himself was wounded. The exasperated Turks, after their ranks had been broken up, did JOHN HUNYADI. 205 not attempt to fly, but perished fighting. The commander-in-chief of the sultan's army was taken captive. The Hungarian army returned in triumph to Buda. Close upon their heels followed the sultan's envoy, begging for peace. All he now asked for was to be let alone in his own country, and he in turn would not molest Hungary. This was an im- portant concession, for the faith of the sultans had heretofore been held to forbid them to enter into a parley with, and still less to entreat peace of, the infidel Christians. But the sultan had just now a special reason for peace. Half of his empire had risen in arms against him — the Albanians in Europe and Mohammedan rebels in Asia. As usual with states based upon violence, the discontented rose on all sides at the news of the first lost battle. This was the effect of Hunyadi's campaign. The terms of peace offered by the sultan were of the most flattering and tempting nature. He prom- ised a great deal of money, territory, mines, and captives. H unyadi was now in favor of peace ; he felt that he must gather strength. Peace was therefore concluded, the king swearing by the Gospel and the sultan by the Koran. The ambassadors of the sultan had hardly left Hungary when Cardinal Julian, the pope's nuncio, arrived in the country and declared, in the pontiff's name, the oath of Uladislaus, the Hungarian king, to be null and void, adjuring him, at the same time, by all the saints, to hasten and make use of this opportunity to annihilate the Turks, and insisting that one so favorable would never 2o6 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. occur again. All Europe's eyes were upon them, he added, and all Europe wished to take part in the struggle. And, indeed, the Christian princes hasten- ed to protest against the peace, and offered money and soldiers in abundance to continue the war. Meanwhile news arrived that the Italian naval squadron had appeared in the Turkish waters to intercept the sultan's crossing over from Asia to Europe. It was urged that now had come the time to fall upon the Turkish empire, which was without a master. The papal nuncio summoned all his elo- quence to prove that the peace concluded with the Turk was not valid, for the word given to an unbe- liever was not binding, and God did not listen to an oath deposited into pagan hands. "All Europe," he continued, " scoffed at this peace, and the honor and martial glory of the Hungarian nation will be like naught if she persisted in keeping it. It will disgrace her heroic name." There was no occasion for adding more ; the Hun- garians had no wish to be thought cowards, and to this they preferred perjury. They enthusiastically resolved upon war. Hunyadi alone remained cold ; he had no faith in big words and promises. But he was compelled to obey the commands of his king. He collected about 20,000 men, and with these he again marched into the Turkish empire. The fa- mous European contribution had dwindled down to a few hundred soldiers and a few thousand florins, but it was hoped that many of the discontented would join them on their march. And, indeed, the vayvode of Wallachia joined them with about io,ooo men, JOHN HUNYADI. 207 but he could not help remarking to the king with regard to the forces of Sultan Mura, that the latter was in the habit of surrounding himself when on a hunting expedition with a retinue more numerous than the entire Hungarian army. It was, however, too late to think of drawing back. And now bad news came crowding in ; it seemed as if good fortune had altogether deserted the Hun- garians. The Prince of Servia refused to join them. The Albanians failed in their attempt to cut their way to the Hungarians, and what seemed most in- credible of all, the Italian naval squadron, whose task it was to have been to hinder the sultan's cross- ing over to Europe, had itself carried over the Turk for good money. The Hungarians were left alone and forsaken in the foreign country. There was reason enough now for retreating, and there were some who counselled retreat. It was Hunyadi's turn now to interfere. He declared that he did not fear the Turks under any circumstances, and if they had got so far they were bound to engage them in battle by beginning the attack themselves. As soon as Hunyadi came to the fore, confidence was at once restored ; his person inspired the army with courage, and they continued their march against the Turks. The two opposing armies met near Varna, on the lOth of November, 1444. The sultan had pitched his tent on the top of a hill, and near it he had the' document, upon which the treaty of peace was writ- ten, hoisted on a pole. He had with him more than iOO,boo men ready for the fray. But the order of battle of the Hungarian army was again most ad- 208 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. mirable, such as could only be suggested by the lofty genius of Hunyadi. To every man was as- signed his part and place, nor was any exception made in this respect in favor of the king. He ob- tained a post where no danger could reach him, and Hunyadi solemnly engaged him not to leave his place until he himself would call upon him to do so. The battle now commenced. Hunyadi with his reserve horse-troop went wherever there was most danger, assisting, encouraging, and commanding. The first set-to took place between the cavalry. The struggle did not last long ; the brilliant Turkish cav- alry was put to flight in disorder. At this desperate sight the sultan put spurs to his horse, and turning its head was about to leave the battle-field, but the commanders near him seized the bridle of his horse, and menaced him with death if he did not go on with the battle. The sultan, taking courage again, ordered fresh troops into the fight, and the battle be- gan to rage with renewed fury. In the midst of the sanguinary contest the two hostile leaders met face to face. Karafi Bey, his eyes sparkling, fell upon Hunyadi, and lifted his sword, but before he could strike a blow he slid from his horse pierced to the heart. The fall of their leader was the signal for the .wild flight of the Turkish horse. The Polish banner-bearers, surrounding the king, were envious witnesses of Hunyadi's victory, and urged Uladislaus, who was hardly able to restrain his youthful ardor, to participate in the engagement, by representing to him that victory was already assured, JOHN HUNYADI. 20g that he should not leave all the glory to Hunyadi, and that he should, at least, draw his sword and show himself a hero worthy of the double crown. The king, forgetting his promise, accompanied by the banner of the country, made straight for the Janissaries, who had, as yet, hardly been in the fight. Hunyadi immediately saw the king's movement, and followed him as swiftly as he could. Upon this the king penetrated more deeply still into the ranks of the Janissaries, Hunyadi being unable now to cut his way to his sovereign. The king's companions succumbed one after the other. At last a Janissary succeeded in creeping up close to the king's horse, and striking at the horse's feet with his sword, he brought it down. Horse and rider fell, and the king was instantly despatched. The mad fray lasted a few minutes longer, when suddenly the pale head of the king, in his silver helmet, stuck on a pike, became visible. At this sight the Hungarian army and their leaders lost their senses, and the campaign came to a sudden end. The victorious Hungarians became fugitives, and Hunyadi himself returned to his home a lonely wanderer. The sultan, in surveying the bloody battle-field, exclaimed : " I wish my enemies only a victory like this." The Turks were not in a condition to pursue the defeated Hungarians. The discomfited army crept back to their country, bringing with them the news that Hungary was with- out a king. The uppermost question now was who should be elected king. The plight of Hungary at that time was a sorry one, indeed. The king had left no children behind him, and yet there was an 2IO THE STORY OF HUNGARY. heir to the throne. When Albert of Hapsburg, the predecessor of Uladislaus, died, in 1439, his widow was enceinte, and she afterwards -gave birth to a boy. The partisans of the late queen caused this her son, Ladislaus, to be crowned at once. The great ma- jority, however, and Hunyadi with them, wanted on the throne a man who would be able to be their leader in the struggle against the Turks. The result was the election of Uladislaus, the Polish king, in 1440. The widowed queen with her son repaired to the court of the Duke of Austria, and from there she caused Hungary to be devastated by the Bohemian, John Ziska. It was quite natural that after the death of Uladislaus the whole nation should look to the child Ladislaus as the future king. But the Austrian duke claimed a large sum under the title of the expenses of education of the young prince, a sum which the Hungarians were neither able nor willing to pay. Whilst this matter was being discussed, Hunyadi, being the captain-general of the country, was tem- porarily entrusted with the conduct of the principjJ affairs of state. Two years later he was elected governor of the country, with powers that but little differed from those of royalty. As governor he deemed it his paramount duty to resume hostilities against the Turks. His mind was busy again with the plan to which he had devoted his life and fortune — namely, to attack the Turks and to drive them from Europe. In 1448 the sultan, at the head of an army of 150,000 men, invaded Albania, a country with which Hungary, owing to JOHN HUNYADI. 211 their community of interests, deeply sympathized. Hunyadi thought this an opportune moment to carry out his plan. From abroad he received again assurances of aid, but in the end they turned out to be, as before, empty promises. Putting his trust in God and himself, he started with 24,ocx) men. It was his purpose to unite his forces with those of Scanderbeg, the commander-in-chief of the Al- banians. But as soon as the news of Hunyadi's ad- vance reached the sultan, he left the Albanians and marched against his old and most implacable enemy. He offered him peace, but Hunyadi replied by draw- ing up his army in battle array. The battle was fought with great desperation, the fight continuing for days, and although the Turkish army outnum- bered five times the Hungarians, the strategy of Hunyadi rendered the issue doubtful for some time. At the last moment, however, it was decided in favor of the Turks. Treason had turned the scale ; the Wallachian vayvode, losing confidence in the wearied troops of Hunyadi, deserted with 8,000 men and joined the sultan. When the Hungarians saw this, they refused to listen any further to their comman- ders, and, scattering, they fled. Hunyadi himself escaped with great difficulty only. Whilst wander- ing towards his country on foot, unarmed, and through impassable roads, he fell into the hands of two Turkish marauders. They little knew what a distinguished person they had captured, but there was no mistake about the golden cross on his breast. Luckily for Hunyadi they both coveted the cross and began quarrelling over it, and finally fell to fisti- 212 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. cuffs. During their fight Hunyadi suddenly drew the sword of one of them, slaying him with it ; the other, on seeing this, took to his heels. He had hardly escaped one danger, when another was in store for him. On his way he had hired a guide, who, instead of taking him to his own country, brought him to Brankovitch, the Servian prince, the man who, since the campaign of 1443, had been con- stantly crossing his plans. The treacherous Servian, who was licking now the hands of the Hungarians, now of the Turks, entered into negotiations with the Turkish sultan concerning Hunyadi's head. The latter, however, esteemed, even in his enemy, the pure-minded hero, and refused to entertain so base an offer. Hunyadi returned to Hungary, and hastened to forget the injury done to him by the Servian prince ; but the Turks he did not forget. In his most desperate straits he steadily kept before his eyes — the main object of his life — the ruin of the Turks. In 14S3, the child-king, Ladislaus V., began his reign ; but, although Hunyadi then relinquished his position as governor of Hungary, he still re- mained the captain-general of the country, the com- mander-in-chief of the army, and as such he missed no opportunity to injure his arch-enemy. This same year, 1453, witnessed a most remark- able event in the history of Europe. Mohammed II., the new sultan, took Constantinople, the capital of the Greek empire and the gate of Europe, and made it the capital of his empire. " There is one God in heaven, and one Lord on earth, and I am JOHN HUNYADI. 213 that Lord ! " exclaimed the sultan on entering Con- stantinople. All Europe trembled ; Hunyadi alone remained calm and prepared for war. After a few minor engagements, Turks and Hungarians stood face to face again near Belgrade in 1456. This for- tress was the gate of Hungary, and the great sultan wanted to get possession of it. For this purpose he determined to make a supreme effort, feeling that the seizure of this fortified place would decide the fate of generations to come. He led over 150,000 men under the walls of that famous fortress, and hastened to station his ships on the Danube, on which Belgrade lies, in order to cut off the communi- cation between the Hungarian army and the garri- son, and thus to isolate the latter. The Hungarian army itself did not number, even now, over IS,QOO men, hardly more than those whom Hunyadi had been able to collect by his own exertions. Only this time, however, the great captain did not stand alone, but received great help, from another quarter. A monk of magic eloquence, John Capistrano, who was sent by the pope to the country to preach a crusade, had, by the irresistible power of his appeals, collected 60,000 crusaders to assist Hunyadi. These men were armed with scythes and pole-axes only, and were led by the sound of bells instead of words of military command ; but their fanaticism was quite equal to that of the Mohammedan Turk. With an army composed of such warriors Hunyadi engaged in the great contest. His first effort was directed to the river, in order to relieve the garrison of the fortress. After an engagement of five hours, 214 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. the great naval squadron of the Turks was scattered by the small galleys which had been the objects of the enemy's ridicule, but which were led to the at- tack by fanatic crusaders under the captaincy of Hunyadi. This restored the communication of the Hungarian army with the Hungarian garrison. Still Mohammed looked with scorn at the rabble collected on the opposite bank, the leaders of whom were largely monks, and he swore an oath that in two months' time, he would plant the proud crescent on the walls of Buda, the capital of Hungary. For eight days and eight nights the Turkish guns roared against Belgrade, and on the ninth day Mohammed ordered a general assault. The assault was renewed three times, and three times were the Turks repulsed. At the last moment, when the strength of the be- sieged seemed ready to give way, the Hungarian commander ordered the fascines soaked with oil and pitch, which were piled up in the ditches, to be set on fire and to be hurled at the storming men. Con- fusion seized the assailants, and each sought safety for himself, for he who did not escape met with a miserable death in the flames. Meanwhile the de- fence was rapidly changing into an attack along the whole line ; the crusaders, mad with the excitement of the struggle, rushed forward, while Hunyadi directed an orderly attack against the Turkish camp. The engagement now became general, and the sul- tan himself received a wound. Dismayed, he took to . flight, his troops following. Nothing could keep them longer together ; the immense army was scat- tered to the winds, leaving behind them, under the JOHN HUNYADI. 21 5 walls of the famous fortress, 40,000 killed and 300 cannon. At that most glorious moment of Hunyadi's life, when the Turks were put to flight by the bare men- tion of his name, this Christian hero, suddenly and without any premonition, breathed his last. He did not live to hear the panegyrics and felicitations of all Europe, the grateful recognition of his services by his own nation. His mighty frame sank under the weight of the fatigue- of war, and, after a brief agony, he expired. His inveterate enemy, the great sultan himself, expressed grief at the news of his death, pronouncing him to be the ablest general in Europe. Many there were, however, who rejoiced at his death. For, like all great men, he too had enemies against whom he was engaged in a life-and-death struggle as much as against the Turks. He had his envious rivals from the moment he had struggled into fame and had acquired a fortune. These men cared little to remember that he was indebted for both to his talents. and courage. Some of the great lords, who were able to trace back their pedigrees to past centuries, looked upon him, the son of a simple noble, as an upstart. When he afterwards became captain-general and governor, they refused to obey him, but he made them obey by force of his arms. They were only silenced, however ; in their inner- most hearts they both hated and feared him. Among these were Garay, Brankovics, and Czilley, all of them connections of the royal house. The latter, Ulric Czilley, a wily and base man, who, though a for- 2l6 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. eigner, had pushed himself into the first place near the minor King Ladislaus V., was unremitting in his intrigues against him. He and his companions made the shallow-minded young king believe that Hunyadi and his two sons, who were growing into manhopfj, were ambitious of the crown, and, under this pretext, but without the king's knowledge, they laid traps for him. The fearless hero faced all such base machina- tions with the loftiness of a truly martial spirit. The secret attacks he met with caution and straight- forwardness, and the slanderous insinuation that he coveted the throne he refuted by the simplicity of his life. Rich enough to have at any moment ten thousand men at his back, he was always as modest and unselfish as a monk. His detractors reflected on his great wealth, forgetting that his entire income was spent in armaments against the Turks. He lived and died like a true knight, and in Hun- garian history he will live forever as their grandest hero. If he did not achieve his most ardent wish, the expulsion of the Turks from Europe, his will always remain the merit of having made the arms of Hungary respected and feared by the Turks, and they no longer dared to look upon his country as an easy conquest. Over sixty years elapsed before a Turkish sultan again ventured to threaten Belgrade. CHAPTER X. KING MATTHIAS. 1458-1490. Matthias, the son of Hunyadi, was indebted for his elevation to the throne to the prestige of his father, who was the idol of the nation, but it was through his own genius alone that he strengthened the throne and became fa,mous, mighty, and, per- haps, the greatest king of whom his country could boast. He excelled alike as a soldier and leader of armies, as a statesman and diplomatist, and as a man delighting in science and art. In those warlike days it would not have been possible for him to become conspicuous among his contemporaries and to be- come a powerful king, unless he had, in the first place„shown ability as a soldier. Matthias inherited the courage and soldierly qualities of his great father, and, fojlowing in his footsteps, became the foremost general of his age, combining rare personal gallantry with a remarkable capacity for military organization. The .splendid example of his father had been before his eyes since his most tender years ; it was his father who initiated him into the skilful handling of arms and into the secrets of strategy, and both his father and his famous mother, Elizabeth Szilagyi, vied with each other in inuring his body and mind to the strug- 217 21 8 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. gles and dangers of which, since his earliest childhood, so larger share had been his lot. Trained amid warlike games, he very soon had to face serious struggles, for the men who had looked upon John Hunyadi with envy and jealousy ex- tended their ill feeling to his two handsome boys, Matthias and his elder brother, Ladislaus. No secret was made before the youths of the dangers that surrounded them ; they were taught rather to brave than to avoid them. Ladislaus, less fortu- nate than his brother, soon fell a victim to the machinations directed against both. Ladislaus was threatened with assassination in his own castle at the hands of Gzilley, who was a foreigner and the guar- dian and friend of the boy-king. His men, attracted by the noise of the scuffle which ensued, rushed in and killed the would-be murderer. The king vowed that he would not molest Ladislaus for this act of self-defence, but he had him afterwards seized, thrown into prison, and executed without warrant of law or judicial sentence. This was the work of the enemies of the house of Hunyadi, but very soon they had to pay the penalty of their iniquity. The mass of the nation was roused, and upon the sudden death of Ladislaus V. in his other kingdom, amongst the Czechs, Matthias, the surviving son of Hunyadi, was proclaimed king of Hungary. Although but fifteen years old when he ascend- ed the throne, he both knew and was accustomed to the dangers that lurked around him, and it was not long before he proved that he could cope with them. Indeed his natural disposition and early training 220 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. rather .led him to seek danger. From his earliest childhood he worshipped heroes, and nothing de- lighted him more than the ballads, legends, and heroic songs glorifying the gallant deeds and won- derful performances of such leaders of men, as Attila, Alexander the Great, Roland, the French Knight, or his own father. He could listen to these stories all day long, forgetting both hunger and thirst. As he grew to manhood and became king, he had oppor- tunity himself to perform the great deeds he had admired in others. His personal courage knew no limits, and his reckless daring frequently confounded his own men, who, not without cause, feared for his hfe. There was one remarkable trait which particularly characterized his valorous deeds as well as his other acts, and that was his love of justice. To this might be traced, in most cases, his boldest actions. Nothing afforded him greater pleasure than to unmask the hypocrite, and to shame the bully and braggart. On occasions like these he would often risk his life to make the truth triumph. Many an instance of this kind is related of him. On one occasion, a German knight, by the name of Holubar, came to Buda, the capital of Hungary. He paraded everywhere his gigantic frame and extraordinary strength, and was indeed thought to be invincible in the tournaments where mounted knights rushed at each other, lance in hand, for he invariably precipitated his adversary . to the ground. King Matthias, anxious^ to measure arms with the big-bodied German, challenged him. The latter declined the challenge, fearing lest he KING MATTHIAS. 221 might do some harm to the king, and be in conse- quence exposed to ill treatment. But the king in- sisted, and Holubar finally consented. He was de- termined, however, to slide from his saddle at the slightest thrust from the king. Somehow the king heard of his determination, and immediately caused him to be summoned to his presence. He there vowed, by all the saints, that if he perceived Holu- bar doing this, he would have him executed, and at the same time made him swear that he would fight with him as if he were the knight's mortal enemy. The contest took place in the presence of many thousands, and many doubted the king's success, comparing the German giant with the middle-sized Matthias. The two combatants rushed at each other with tremendous thrusts ; the steeled muscles of the king proved superior to the heavy bulk of his ad- versary, who reeled from his horse, struck by a heavy blow on the forehead, and lay with his arm broken and fainting on the ground. The king, too, stag- gered by his adversary's thrust, had to slide off the saddle holding on by his horse's bridle. The king, having humiliated the bragging foreigner, sent him away with presents of horses, splendid dresses, and a large purse of money. This happened shortly after his elevation to the throne, showing that he then already was a practical master in the use of arms. Matthias was of middle size, but the trunk of his body tall in comparison with his legs, which were rather short, and it was owing to this freak of nature that when on horseback he always overtopped his fellow-riders. He was broad-shouldered, deep-chest- 222 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. ed, and his limbs were as hardened as steel. On this solid frame rested a massive yet finely cut head, and his eyes were as sharp as those of the falcon. He was able to concentrate his strength and will on one point, never losing his self-confidence, never waver- ing, and full of endurance. He never vacillated, and- sure of the present and of the coming moment, was always ready for action. He possessed an even na- ture, and was equally unruffled and steady in single combat and on the battle-field, in his private and his public life. He at all times produced the impression of a man full of power and determination, and of a mind ,of large culture and many-sidedness. We shall now speak of him as the soldier, for he will appear before us during most of his career in wars and battles. He waged war, on several occa- sions, against his neighbors on the north, the Poles and Czechs, defeating them often, and finally becom- ing the king of the Czechs. On the south he fought numerous smaller battles, but almost without cessa- tion, against the sultan. His most inveterate enemy, however, was Frederic, the envious and avaricious emperor of Germany, his western neighbor, who in- cessantly harassed him. Matthias was engaged in four great wars against him, and finally captured, in 1485, Frederic's capital, Vienna, compelling the German emperor to go begging from convent to convent, seated on a wagon drawn by oxen. Hungary was, at that period, beset by many troubles and enemies, but her name was honored and respected everywhere. The sword was in everybody's hand, and it almost seemed as if men were born KING MATTHIAS. 223 with it. It was the prevailing characteristic of European society, in that age, that all men went about armed, and were ready to draw their swords on the least provocation, and in Hungary especially, where fighting against the neighbors was constantly going on, this fashion was more prevalent than else- where. King Matthias was well aware that the rash, passionate, hot-headed, free, and soldier-nation he ruled over would but reluctantly submit to re- straint. He was, nevertheless, determined to intro- duce discipline amongst his soldiers. It was an ex- ceedingly difficult task, considering that the armies of Europe in general were, in those days, undisci- plined, loosely organized, composed of motley ele- ments, and not subjected to uniform military train- ing. But Matthias was not at a loss for a remedy, being a man to inquire, to observe, to learn from others, and to put to use what he had learned. He remembered the example of his" father, who had drilled his own soldiers, the lessons derived from the study of ancient Roman generalship and from con- versations with the most renowned contemporary captains, and finally he did not spurn to profit by the example of his enemies, the Turks. The Turk- ish Janissaries, the most famous foot-soldiery in the world, were well-disciplined troops, forming a perma- nent and standing nucleus for the Turkish forces. A similar standing body of soldiers was now or- ganized by King Matthias. He employed his genius in their training, kept them together, supported them by his own means, and established discipline amongst them by the force of his character. This was the 224 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. famous black troop, one of the corner-stones of his power, and, next to the French, the earliest standing army in Europe. These soldiers he attached to his person by the strongest ties. He lavishly bestowed upon them both pay and booty, and made them shar- ers of his triumphs. But it was, above all, the rare charm of his personal qualities which won for him their affections. They were not only faithfully devoted to him during his life, but fondly cherished his memory after his death. He himself trained and instructed them, sparing neither time nor trouble to accomplish his purpose. He set them a bright example in all sol- dierly duties. He shared with his soldiers all the hard- ships of war ; suffered with them cold, hunger, and thirst, and the fatigues of forced marches. He did not shrink from the most exposed position on the battle-field whenever his presence was needed. At sieges, he was often seen walking to and fro' amidst a hail of bullets and arrows, a recklessness to which numerous lesser and larger wounds on his body abundantly bore witness. He paid particular atten, tion to the ferreting out of the weak points of fort- resses. He employed clever spies for that purpose, paying them liberally, but never placed implicit trust in them, for he himself was a cleverer spy than any of them. It particularly gratified him to hood- wink -an enemy by discovering his plans, even at the risk of his life, and thus frustrating them. In 1475 he laid siege to Shabatz, situated on the southern border of the country. He was exceeding- ly anxious to take the place, but knowing nothing about its defences, he undertook in person the spy- KING MATTHIAS. 22$ ing out of the plan of the fortifications. At night he got into a boat in company with a trusty attend- ant and an oarsman, who was to row him around the walls. They were hardly half way, when the Turks discovered them, and hailed them with a volley of shots, which, in spite of the darkness, struck his at- tendant. The king, defying death, contined his in- vestigations, undaunted by the heavy fire, until he had finished the inspection of the fortress. The bold venture, moreover, was not thrown away, for shortly after the place was captured. Some of his expeditions were more amusing, but not less danger- ous. At the siege of Vienna, in 1485, he frequently walked all around the walls, unattended, or, at most, followed by a page. On one occasion, he stole into the city in disguise. Dressed in the shabby dress of a country boor, with a basket containing butter and eggs on his back, he traversed the city in every direction, selling his wares, and at the same time spying out the condition of the fortifications. He lounged about in the market-place, listening to what the people talked about, and what they were planning. He made his escape in safety, and, making good use of what he had seen and heard, the city shortly afterward fell into his hands. Upon another occasion, his forces being stationed opposite the Turkish camp, he assumed the disguise of a Turk, and mixing with the country people who entered the camp to sell their provisions, he suc- ceeded in passing in with them. Once there, he had the hardihood to seek out the sultan's tent, and, 226 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. settling down near it, he went on selling provisions and spying all day long. Upon his return to the Hungarian camp, he sent, on the following day, a letter to the sultan, conceived in these terms : " Thou guardest thy camp badly, emperor, and thou art thyself badly guarded. For yesterday I sat, even from morn until night, near thy tent, selling provisions. And lest thou doubtest my words, I will tell thee now what was served on thy table." The sultan, upon reading this letter, became frightened, and, together with his army, noiselessly left the neighborhood. The king was particularly rigorous in the ordering of the sentry service. He used to rise at night and inspect the sentinels, to see if they were awake, and in their places. He was especially active during sieges, being constantly on his feet. He was never satisfied with reports alone, but was bound to look after every thing in person. Everybody marvelled at his incessant watchfulness. He awoke at the slight- est sound, at the merest whisper. At the same time, he was famed for his sound slumbers amidst the din of battle. Upon such occasions, the shouts of the men, the roaring of the cannon, and the re- ports of the musketry seemed to lull him to sleep. He was self-willed when it came to action. He would, it is true, call a council of war, and listen to the opinions of his captains, but in the end he near- ly always acted on his own views. He was admir- able in distinguishing idle reports from the truth, being as indefatigable and clear-headed in his in- vestigations as he was quick and fertile in the con- 228 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. certing of plans. During the intervals of rest, he liked to mingle with his soldiers. He would joke and be full of mischief with them, and, especially in his younger days, would often eat and drink with them. He always had a kind word for the men in the ranks, just as, in civil life, he was anxious to impress people that he held the great lord, the poor noble, and the peasant in equal esteem, as long as they proved themselves worthy of it. This was truly a rare princely virtue in his age. Always gracious and affable, he loved to discover merit, and to reward it. He sought out the wounded, often even on the battle-field, inquired into their circum- stances, comforted them in their troubles, and re- assured and nursed those who were low in spirits. He made it a point that his soldiers should be regularly and punctually paid, and rather than get into arrears with their pay, he would borrow or levy heavy taxes. On one occasion, however, during the Czech wars, he was completely out of funds. He had been just pondering how to raise money for his soldiers, when he was called upon by his captains to join them in a game of dice. The playing was kept up all night, and the king hardly threw any other numbers than those indicated by him beforehand. It was easy for him, with fortune thus in his favor, to win 10,000 florins, a sum which he at once dis- tributed amongst his soldiers in the morning. Full of sympathy for his soldiers, and princely in his rewards, he yet rigidly exacted discipline, es- pecially in times of peril ; and well might he do so, as he himself was amongst the first to submit to it. KING MATTHIAS. 229 A comrade to his soldiers during the hours of rest, he became a most severe commander in war, and during the military exercises and drills. Disregard of discipline and disobedience were punished with death. At the tournaments, he often challenged (as was customary in Europe during the middle ages) his captains to combat, rigorously enjoining upon them not to spare his person, but the very per- son whom he thus distinguished was mercilessly punished if he offended against military discipline. At a tournament, he met in single combat, in sight of the whole country, Szv^la, one of his captains ; yet, but a short time afterwards, he sent both him and his companions to the gallows for breaches of discipline and mutinous conduct. He was, however, never cruel to his soldiers, and readily forgave offen- ces if he was convinced that they sprang, not from ill-will, but from awkwardness and lack of experi- ence. During the campaign against Frederic, the em- peror of Germany, he sent against him one of his generals by the nam'e of Simon Nagy. Nagy, otherwise a brave captain, was defeated, and re- turned home filled with shame at his disgrace. The king received him with a cheerful countenance, well knowing that the gallant captain had done all he could, and sent him back again at the head of an army to resume the campaign. The brave soldier, animated by his king's confidence and magnanimity, achieved such a triumphant victory that from that time Frederic never again ventured to send an army against Matthias. He was happy in the selec- 230 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. tion of his generals, and did not object to raising a man of merit, although of low degree, to the most exalted position. Kinizsy, his most distinguished captain, a man of mean fortunes, owed his elevation to the king. This man had been, in his youth, a plain miller-boy, endowed by nature with gigantic strength. As a miller, he was capable of lifting with one hand the heaviest mill-stone, and, on becoming a leader of armies, he rushed upon his enemy with a ponderous sword in each hand. Such was his enoromous strength that, at a great feast held on the battle-field to celebrate his most renowned victory, near Keny^rmezo, he, the triumphant Kinizsy him- self, stood up before the merry-making crowd, and, holding the dead body of a full-grown Turk in his right hand, another in his left, and a third between his teeth, tripped the national dance. Captains like these contributed to the military prestige of the king, but he owed still more to his own royal quali- ties. The impression made by these qualities upon his soldiers remained unchanged, for he continually demonstrated his soldierly virtues, his affability, his liberality, and generosity by deeds. Anecdotes in which the king always played a pleasant part went all the time from mouth to mouth. An old chronicler says of him : " Never was prince more beloved and respected by his people and his soldiers than he, but, at the same time, everybody feared him as they would a savage lion." At the sound of the drums and the blowing of the horns, every one stood instantly ready for the engagement, and will- KING MATTHIAS. 23 1 ing to meet death for his king. During the mili- tary drills, every eye was fixed on his person, and every ear listened to the sound of his voice only ; he alone was the magnet that attracted and riveted the general attention of his soldiers. In this respect, Hungary stood alone amongst the nations of Europe, and it was with men like these only that he was en- abled to achieve his wonderfully rapid and well- planned strategetic movements. At a time when the armies of Europe were generally noted for their unwieldiness, this mobility constituted one of the chief advantages of the king's army, and to it he owed his most conspicuous military achievements. The king, in his-turn, placed the fullest confidence in his soldiers. In the camp and on the battle-field, as we have seen, he went about unattended, or, at the most, accompanied by one or two of his men. He bestowed no care upon the guarding of his per- son, although at that period immense sums were lavished by the rulers to insure their personal safety by surrounding themselves with a body-guard com- posed of picked men. He did not feel the necessity of imitating his royal neighbors in this particular; the love and respect of his soldiers proved a more powerful protection than any troop of body-guards he could have organized. In summing up all we have said about Matthias as a soldier, we obtain an interesting, attractive, and by no means commonplace picture of him. Severe to others, he was no less severe to himself ; active, en- ergetic, enterprising, and crafty, he was most happy when actively engaged. Versed in military matters, 232 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. he at times exhibited a knowledge of military science which reminds us of a modern tactician. The general historian, as well as the chronicler of his own country, will always assign to him a con- spicuous place, not only as a ruler and statesman distinguished in his own age, but also as an illustri- ous example for the world of royal power, dignity, and magnanimity. He entertained a high opinion of the functions of a ruler. Being ambitious and proud, he liked to give to the world the spectacle of a throne occupied by a king dignified, powerful, and splendid, who, nevertheless, paid tribute to all that was noble and virtuous in humanity. His mind was always busy with great affairs and bold schemes, and he was unwearying in seeking the means of accom- plishing them. He never shrank from any task, nor was any task too trifling for him to engage in if there was a pressing occasion for it. He was as inde- fatigable in his study attending to diplomatic affairs as on the battle-field, unflagging in his activity, and thoroughly informed about every thing. There was a great deal of work to be done, for Matthias took a large part in the political mazes of Europe. He kept up connections with all Europe, with a view tq maintaining and increasing his power — a system which was at that time pursued by no other European ruler. The intercourse with the foreign countries was now of a friendly now of a hostile nature, but it never ceased. As soon as the campaign was at an end on the batttle-field, the dip- lomatic contest was resumed and continued in the study. As the king grew older and more powerful, KING MATTHIAS. 233 his troubles with the neighbors increased, for, owing to the enhanced weight of his word, more and more people sought him out and entered into relations with him. Foreign ambassadors were continually either arriving or departing from his court, while his own emissaries were either leaving on, or returning from, missions of lesser or greater importance concerning affairs of state or family. Upon such occasions, es- pecially in the case of missions of greater importance, he felt the whole dignity of the royal position and spared neither pains nor money to surround it with stateliness. The ordinary embassies usually num- bered from fifty to sixty members ; the more brilliant embassies were frequently attended by as many as a hundred servants. In 1487 Matthias sent a splendid embassy to the court of Charles VIII., king of France, a description of which, will give an idea of the pomp displayed by the Hungarian king. He caused three hundred horses of uniform color to be selected, on each of which sat a youth clad in purple velvet. These youths all wore long gold chains on their sides, and upon enter- ing a city each placed a braidwork mounted with pearls on his head. The contemporary chronicles speak with ecstasy of the beauty of the men, of the splendor of their dress, and of the rich harnesses of their horses, embossed with precious stones. The presents sent to the French king on that occasion, consisting of costly horses, horses' trappings, splen- did robes, ves.sels and, ornaments of gold and silver, amounted to a sum of no less than half a million of florins of the currency of our days. 234 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. The embassy sent by Matthias in 1476 to the king of Naples — whose daughter, Beatrice, became sub- sequently his wife — exceeded the last named in numbers, if not in splendor. It was composed of church and lay magnates, scholars, prelates, soldiers of high rank, nobles, knights, relatives of the king, his intimates and councillors. These again were at- tended by their secretaries, chamberlains, pages, grooms and forerunners. It was a wonderfully variegated sight, rich in coloring, this mounted army of men dressed in costly robes of various and glaring colors. The great lords were dressed from head to foot in gala costumes, brilliant with gold and silver and jewels, the nobles and knights in cos- tumes of colored velvet, the pages and courtiers in colored satin — all of them mounted on high-mettled steeds. In their train followed the numerous jesters or fools, whom it was customary at that time for every great lord to have by his side, to make sport, or to tell the truth ; musicians, especially, according to the fashion of the day, trumpeters, drummers, and harpists ; and, finally, players and buffoons, all of them attired and bedizened in motley, parti- colored and tawdry costumes. The horses' keep alone cost this embassy a million of florins, present currency. But not satisfied with carrying on their backs half of the current wealth of the country they came to represent, the members of the embassy had brought with them, besides, vessels of gold and silver, and jewelry of all kind, to be dis- tributed as presents, or to be paraded about. Os- tentation was the fashion of the day ; objects of KING MATTHIAS. 235 luxury were still a sort of novelty, and those posses- sing them were anxious to have the pleasure of their display. There was another feature about the pa- geant of this mission which made it almost unique ; and with which Matthias created the greatest sensa- tion. This was a band of Turkish prisoners of high rank, clad in costly caftans with golden turbans on their heads, who preceded the brilliant Hungarian procession upon their entering the Italian cities. These prisoners had just been captured by the king near Shabatz, and they were to serve as an evidence of Hungarian prowess. At that time half Europe stood in awe of the powerful Turks, particularly the Italians, who, although excelling in art and science, were wretched and pusillanimous soldiers. Both Matthias and his father, John Hunyadi, were known to the Italians as the most powerful and successful foes of the dreaded Turks, and the prestige of the names of these two warriors won greater respect for the embassy than all the wealth and luxury dis- played by it. Brilliant as were the embassies sent by Matthias to foreign courts, he was no less gratified by the ar- rival of missions to his own, which were looked upon as a sort of holiday event. The king himself was inclined to be liberal if he wished to do honor to any one. There were, besides, gathered about his person a motley crowd of Hungarian, German, and Czech magnates, prelates and nobles, attentive to every command of his. Then there were the court attendants amounting to many hundreds, and all these persons required but a nod from the king to 236 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. devote themselves to the preparation of a brilliant reception. They were quick to don their sumptuous and costly dresses, they brandished their weapons inlaid with precious stones, they pranced on their steeds caparisoned in colored silk and velvet, and, attended by an army of courtiers and servants, clad in garments representing all the colors of the rain- bow, the procession went out amid the blast of horns, to meet the ambassador and to escort him to the' court. In 1487, John Valentini, the envoy from the court of Ferrara, in Italy, and in 1488, Melchior Russ, the Swiss envoy, were honored by receptions of this kind. In December, 1479, John Anagarini, the papal cardinal ambassador, was received with the greatest imaginable pomp, by the king in person, who, attended by his church and lay dignitaries, came out to meet him at three o'clock in the morn- ing. Thousands of wax torches shed a light as broad as day over the dark and wintry scene. Thr£e days after the arrival of the cardinal the solemn audience took place. The king appeared in his royal robes, surrounded by the highest dignitaries of the court, and by the church and lay magnates, all sumptuously dressed. The king well understood the art of astonishing and dazzling his visitors by the dignity of his presence and by the display of lavish pomp. Upon one occasion he was staying at Visegrdd, his splendid palace a short distance from Buda, when the sultan's ambassador arrived. It gratified the pride of Matthias to dazzle the eyes of the Turkish envoy, who was accustomed to the brilliant surround- 4 » iiii iiihiiiiiiyi i (I n 1i ii II -'fin 111' ill 238 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. ings of the sultan, with the splendor of his own court. Visegrdd, which was called by the contempo- raries " an earthly paradise," fully suited his pur- pose. The envoy and his train were brought from their city quarters to the royal castle, in order to be admitted to the solemn audience with the king. As the gates of the castle were thrown open a gorgeous spectacle met their eyes. The king stood on an em- inence of one of his hanging gardens. Around him, above and below him, were grouped the great of the land and his courtiers, clad in silk, velvet, gold, and silver robes, with shining arms. At this unex- pected sight the envoy was struck with awe. In confusion he drew nearer, but as his eyes met the proud look of the king he became so embarrassed that he lost the command of his voice, and was only able to stammer out, after a pause : " The padishah greets you, the padishah greets you." The king, perceiving his painful hesitation, had him led back to his quarters. After the lapse of a few days he was conducted again into the king's presence, who, after having bestowed upon the envoy rich presents, sent him back to his master with the proud message to " send another time an ambassador who, at least, can speak." Of such a nature were the audiences granted to foreign envoys. The audiences granted to his own subjects lacked, of course, the pomp and pageant of the former, but the king was particularly careful and painstaking in the treatment of the matters thus brought before him. This was more especially the case during the beginning of his reigji. His first KING MATTHIAS. 239 wife, the daughter of the Czech king, whom he had married in 1458, died a few years afterwards, leaving him a widower, and the ceremonial of the court, in the absence of a queen, admitted of an unrestrained intercourse with his people. But he married again in 1476 the daughter of the king of Naples, Princess Beatrice. With her presence Italian etiquette and formality began to prevail in the royal court, and free access to the king's person became more and more difficult. In his youth the business of his doorkeepers was but scant, for the doors stood wide open for the petitioners, who were kindly received by the young king. Nor was the number of these small, for the king's fame as a friend to justice had spread all over the country. A whole army of peti- tioners, from the great lord to the simple peasant, frequently besieged the doors of the audience hall, for Matthias was known to treat them all with uni- form affability. He attentively listened to and duly weighed the petitions and complaints of all. This was a matter of great importance at a time when a privileged class, the nobles, were the masters of the property of the numerous peasantry, and fre- quently held control even of their lives. The laws at that period were both loose and defective, and the judges could, with impunity, either misinterpret or distort their meaning to the injury of the suitor. Besides, in that age nearly every noble had a train amounting to a small army, and the terriptation proved frequently irresistible to be his own judge and to treat the weaker party as he pleased. Such was then the condition of things all over Europe. 240 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. The most efficacious remedy for these evils was a king just and strong, who was not loth to inquire into abuses and was ready to lend the weight of his kingly command and of armed force against the recalcitrant. Matthias was a ruler equal to such a task. Many excellent laws were introduced during his reign, and he had both the sense of justice and the power to enforce them. The very knowledge of the existence of such a final appeal greatly improved the administration of justice, for every one was aware that the king was a man of his word, and that his threats were not empty utterances, but were sure to be followed by swift and severe punishment. He was as quick in disposing of the matters" submitted to him as he was careful in their consideration. If he ever delayed affairs they were mostly connected with important questions of state, diplomacy, and finances, requiring caution in their management. On such occasions he was master in the art of keep- ing silent, and might have excited the envy of the craftiest Italian diplomatist by his wariness. His mind was not easily open to extraneous influences ; he liked to get at the bottom of all complaints and ac- cusations by personal investigation. He brought into the management of civil affairs the habits ex- hibited by him on the battle-field ; he was always inspecting and investigating. It was a matter of frequent occurrence with the king to go among the people in disguise in order to study their characters and dispositions, to learn their complaints and troubles, and, if possible, to give at once a helping- hand. During these expeditions he strayed unknown KING MATTHIAS. 24I into the villages, exposing himself frequently to the overbearing treatment of a village judge, a landed noble, or a constable, and even to occasional blows, but if he afterwards got hold of the guilty parties he showed them on his part no mercy. In his disguise he was indifferent to the scoffs and gibes levelled at him ; he rather enjoyed the incongruous and comical plights he often found himself in, but at the same time he was apt to give and to take a joke. Of course the king always laughed last, when the dis- graced culprits, after being punished, ruefully slunk away. He was, as a general thing, very fond of good-natured intrigues, and liked to season even graver matters with a bit of pleasantry. To the secret denunciations of eavesdroppers the king, unlike many of his royal contemporaries, never listened, preferring to trust to his own eyes and ears only. This manly straightforwardness inspired all his actions, and was instrumental in causing him to arrive at the truth and to do justice, and obtained for him among the people, even in his lifetime, the name of " the just." The memory of his fame for justice has survived to this day in the" current popular saying : " King Matthias is dead, justice has fled ! " Although as a soldier and statesman crafty and full of expedients, and even loving disguise in contact with his people, he never was treacherous and deceitful. Poisoning and assassination did not enter into his catalogue of expedients as it did into the policy and practice of his contemporary, the French king, Louis XL, or the Italian princes, the Estes, Sforzas, the Borgias, and the popes them- 242 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. selves, who employed both as a favorite means for accomplishing political objects. All unclean means were repugnant to his frank and knightly nature, as was evinced by the following instance. While he was engaged in war, in 1463, against George Podiebrad, the Czech, king, he. was approached by a man who offered to take George's life in armed combat for a reward of five thousand florins. The king, knowing the difficulties of the enterprise, at once consented, promising even a larger amount in case of success. This man, after lurking for a long while about the person of King George, despaired of being able to carry out his fell design,' for the king was surrounded by the finest soldiers of the period, arid to attack him, under those circumstances, would have been equivalent to forfeiting his own life. He therefore proposed to King Matthias to remove the Czech king by poison. The king indignantly refused to profit by the assassin's offer, proudly exclaiming: " We are in the habit of fighting with arms and not with poison ! " At the same time he^ent a message to the Czech king putting him on his guard against the attempt to take his life by poison, and caution- ing him not to partake of any food or drink unless it was first tested by one of his trusty men. With views like these it was natural that King Matthias should not be accessible to any fear of poison or assassination. It was secretly intimated to him at one time that his courtiers intended mix- ing poison with his food. Upon hearing this he ex- claimed : " Let no king ruling justly and lawfully fear the poison and assassin's dagger of his subjects." KING MATTHIAS. 243 His capacity for government was particularly shown in the right selection and thorough appreciatiqn of men, and in the independence which he always main- tained. This trait of character became at once evi- dent on his ascent to the throne. Being only fif- teen years of age he was deemed too young for the burden of government, and a governor and state- councillors were placed by his side. But he felt equal to the duties of his royal office, and deter- mined to take the reins of government in his own hands. In this scheme, however, he saw both his friends and his enemies arrayed against him. The former, the adherents of old Hunyadi, to whose ser- vices he owed his throne, wished to superintend his education, to guard him against dangers, and to maintain at the same time their influence over him. His enemies, on the other hand, true to the instincts of their inveterate hostility to the Hunyadi family, after having first opposed his aspirations to the throne and afterwards intrigued against him, were glad of an opportunity to balk him in his wishes, and therefore they now sided against him, and soon after openly declared for Frederic, the German em- peror. The position of the young king was an exceed- ingly critical one ; his foreign enemies, too, the Turks, Germans, and Czechs, began open opposition and, what was most discouraging of all, the treasury was empty. But he surprised everybody by the independence and circumspect conduct with which he met both friends and foes, and also the difficul- ties threatening from abroad. His astute questions 244 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. and ready replies in conversation were the theme of universal admiration. It was thought that, being a youth, he would busy himself with empty trifles, and give little thought to his royal responsibilities. His partisans had hoped to be called upon to in- struct him in the art of government, whilst his ene- mies had anticipated that, unmindful of his kingly duties, he would very soon be ruined. But he dis- appointed both. In the council chamber he listened attentively when any of the lords spoke, but as soon as their views diverged and threatened to degenerate into a heated discussion, it was he, the youth, whom they had met to advise, who admonished them to be calm and to agree. His enemies saw that the youth was thoroughly conscious of the exaltedness of his position, which placed him above his adherents as well as his enemies, and they now tried every means to create dissensions between him and his partisans. In this they failed, for the king was on his guard. Knowing his difficult position, he took pains to con- ciliate his friends. In the treatment of them he was both determined and smooth. In conversation he first ascertained the views of those to whom he spoke, and then shaped his own remarks accordingly. He had the talent of persuading his antagonists without seeming to do so, and of getting them to share his views, and as he was quick to discover the opinions of others, he was not liable to being im- posed upon. By slow degrees all opposition to him died out and both friend and foe were silenced. After disposing of his domestic antagonists, he turned his attention to his enemies abroad, and, by KING MATTHIAS. 24$ dint of an active mind, knowledge of men, polished manner, and generosity, where it was needed, he soon succeeded in strengthening his throne against all enemies. One by one, the proud princes and oli- garchs, who had only reluctantly and disdainfully accepted the sovereignty of the upstart, were con- ciliated by his royal qualities, and under the rule of Matthias, the son of Hunyadi, Hungary secured a wider influence and a higher degree of power than she had ever attained beneath the sceptres of the descendants of the ancient kings. An account has been previously given of the splendor which the king's embassies displayed abroad, and we may add that Matthias was the wealthiest and most luxurious ruler in all Europe. He had enormous wealth at his disposal, composed in part of his own private fortune, and in part of the royal revenues. At that time there was generally no distinction made between the revenues of the king and those of the state. The king disposed of all the sums flowing into the royal treasurj', whether derived from the state taxes or from any other sources. King Matthias was quite proficient in the art of turning to the fullest use these sources of income, and of adding fresh ones, in case of need. He introduced a more punctual and rigorous admin- istration of the finances with most a'dmirable results. He was himself also the possessor of a vast private fortune, inherited from his father. His domains ex- tended for many miles, and he was the owner of mines of gold and silver, of great productiveness, in the rich- est mineral region of the country. None of his sub- 246 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. jects could compare with him as to the extent of their private estates, although there were many amongst the church and lay magnates who could boast of immense wealth. In his reign the royal revenues increased upon an unprecedented scale. The aggregate annual income of the Hungarian treasury amounted under King Ladislaus V. to only about 120,000 florins. Under Matthias it increased, on an average, tenfold. His yearly income very soon exceeded one million, and not un frequently reached even two million florins, and this at a period when the French king, who was supposed to be the richest sovereign, was unable to make his income reach one million. It is true Mat- thias stood always in need of a great deal of money to carry out his vast schemes, his soldiers and wars swallowing up enormous sums ; while it may be said, he was also prone to indulge in all the luxuries of life. The time had passed when men's whole lives were divided between war and prayer only. Until now these had been the essential characteristics of the middle ages. But all this was suddenly changed ; people awoke to the consciousness of their wealth, and there were several countries in Europe offering a long list of varied enjoyments fit to tempt the most fastidious. The arts, painting, sculpture, and skilful working in precious metals, as well as the sciences, began to flourish ; and people began to read books, books written by hand in elaborate manuscripts and richly ornamented with gold and silver and the most varied illuminated work. The classic authors KING MATTHIAS. 247 of ancient Greece and Rome — long lost sight of — had been ■ rediscovered, and scattered memorials of ancient art came to light, and were cherished by the finders with the fresh delight of childhood enjoying new playthings. In this movement Italy occupied the front rank. From his early youth Matthias was drawn by all the fibres of his heart towards the awakening culture, the motto of which was to enjoy the beautiful. How thoroughly he entered into the spirit of the rising glory of the new civilization, is best shown by the fact that his Italian contemporaries praised him to the skies as the whole-souled patron of science and art. In the magnificence and the splendor with which he surrounded himself, Matthias certainly ex- ceeded all his contemporaries, not even excepting the Italian princes, who were famous for their sump- tuousness and their appreciation of works of art, and of whom Matthias had, undoubtedly, learned a good deal. The example set by the king influenced his subjects, the chief prelates of the church, who had obtained immense endowments from the first kings of Hungary, and the proud and rich great lords. But none of them could approach the king in magnificence or in refined luxury. His court was the gathering place of scholars and artists not only from Hungary and Italy but from all Europe. To them he assigned the highest places in the state, in the church, and in the schools. From these scholars he selected his chancellors and vice-chan- cellors, his treasurers and sub-treasurers, the royal councillors, his son's tutor, men employed to read to 248 THE STORY OF HUNVARY. him, his librarians, court historiographers and secre- taries, all of whom were munificently rewarded for their services. Nor was it necessary for a scholar to have a fixed position at court in order to secure a rich income ; his very presence at court was supposed to give him a valid title to a compensation. Theologians, philoso- phers, poets, orators, jurists, physicians, and astrono- mers came to admire the renowned court, and re- mained there to add to its brilliancy, to amuse the king, and to be the recipients of his munificence. These men were treated by the king as his friends and companions and led a comfortable, and, fre- quently, a luxurious life. They had their abundant share in the good cheer of the table, and in the pas- times and honors. The frequent discussions of sci- entific and literary questions, which arose in such a circle, produced, especially when peaceful seasons intervened for a time, a busy scholarly life at court, of which the king, who was fond of taking part in the conversations, was the bright centre. He was himself proficient in the lore of his age. It is true that his youthful education had not been completed, for he had been left an orphan at a tender age, and had soon been compelled to exchange the games of youth for the cares of government, but his great talents, his quickness, and the keen interest he took in every thing, greatly contributed to make up for any deficiency in precision oi knowledge. He had a retentive memory and rarely forgot what he heard in conversation, and probably a large part of what he learned came in this way. It was also the fashion at KING MATTHIAS. 249 that time for scholars to prolong their discussions, after the fashion of the Greek gymnasiums, from morn until night, and to appoint special meetings for special subjects. The subject under discussion was pursued everywhere — at the table, during the sports, in the reception room, the garden, and the fields. The subjects were principally classical. Some- times lectures were delivered in the presence of the king or queen, as in the instance of Bonafini, who visited the court in 1487. In order to get better acquainted with him and to present him to the court, the king, who subsequently appointed him his court historiographer, ordered him to deliver a lecture at his palace, in Vienna, where he then hap- pened to hold his court. The whole court, together with the foreign ambassadors, appeared on this inter- esting occasion. At the conclusion of the lecture the writings of Bonafini were brought in and dis- tributed amongst the chief prelates and the mag- nates. The court dinners afforded favorable opportunities for scholarly discussions and conversations. A great number of guests had a permanent invitation to the king's table. Such were his near relatives, soldiers of high rank, dignitaries of Church and State, foreign ambassadors, and, especially, the scholars residing at his court. In an atmosphere like this it was quite natural that the discourse should take a lively turn, and include in its range both serious and amusing subjects. The king himself enjoyed a world-wide fame for his ready wit and attractive talk. He liked to propound riddles to his learned friends, 250 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. and at times would give them a great deal of trouble by his cleverly-contrived oracular questions, particu- larly if he wished to confound some braggart. He delighted in disputes, in which he was seldom worsted, because he kept his temper to the last. But in most cases the discussion was begun by his guests — the king only joining in afterwards, and very frequently giving the decision. Some of his puns and anecdotes are remembered to this day. The theme of one of these was decidedly of a convivial nature. The discourse ran on eating, and the ques- tion was mooted as to which was the best dish. The king quoted the Hungarian proverb: "Nothing is worse than cheese " {Habere nihil est pejus cased). This, of course, was denied by many, who main- tained that cucumbers, apricots, and many varieties of fish were far worse than cheese. Evey one was amused when the king explained the double mean- ing of the saying that "Nothing is worse than cheese" being equivalent to " Cheese is better than nothing." It happened, however, often enough that grave scientific propositions or Scriptural themes were under discussion, and, on such occasions, the king would send to his library for books calculated to support the soundness of his statements or argu- ment. This library was the king's chief glory and pride. It contained on his accession to the throne but a few volumes, but in the course of time it so increased in the number of books as well as their value, that it brought to the king even greater fame than his suc- cesses on the battle-field — not only in the age he KING MATTHIAS. 2$ I lived in, but during the ages that followed. Over a hundred specimens of those books are still in ex- istence, and from these we can form an adequate idea of its magnificence and richness. The library was in the castle of Buda, and the place assigned to it comprised two large halls, provided with win- dows of artistically stained glass, opening into each other. The entrance consisted of a semicircular hall commanding a magnificent view of the Danube. Both halls were provided with rich furniture. One of them contained the king's couch, covered with tapestry em- broidered with pearls, upon which he spent his leisure hours reading. Tripod-shaped chairs covered with carpet were placed about, recalling the Delphian Apollo. Richly-carved shelves ran along the walls and were curtained with purple-velvet tapestry, inter- woven with gold. It would be difficult to describe properly the magnificence of the books themselves. They were all written on white vellum and bound in colored skins, ornamented with rose-diamonds and precious stones and with the king's portrait or his arms. The pages are illuminated with miniature paintings and ornaments, vying with each other in excellence, and the work of some of the most fa- mous illuminators of the age. At the time of the king's death there were over io,000 such volumes in the library. The king permanently employed at his court thirty transcribers and book-painters, and also gave occupa- tion to Florentine and Venetian copyists and paint- ers, who sent the volumes when finished to Buda. Although the art of printing had been already in- 252 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. vented, yet its productions appeared so primitive when compared with these splendid works of art, that the collectors preferred having their books written and painted by hand. It was, to be sure, much more expensive. King Matthias spent over thirty thou- sand florins annually on his library, a sum equivalent in present currency to considerably over half a million of florins. He lavished larger sums even on architects, painters, sculptors, carvers, and gold- smiths. A whole army of artists were kept busy at his court, especially after his second marriage. Dur- ing the first years of his reign he was content with the edifices and art memorials inherited from his ancestors, but the arrival of the new queen entirely changed the old modes of life. The habits of life which had been familiar in Italy long ago, with brilliancy, good taste, and wit in their train, were now domesticated on the banks of the Danube. The royal bride was a child of the sunny clime of Naples, a city which was one of the first to foster the new civilization. King Matthias had both the ambition and the ability to effect such changes in the royal residence, before the arrival of his bride, as would make her feel at home in Buda. Long before the new queen was to come, Buda presented a busy scene. The royal palace was enlarged and embel- lished. Its court-yards were beautified by bronze statues and sculptured marble fountains, and the ancient plastering gave way to porphyry and marble columns. The sides of the staircases were ornamen- ted with frescoes, and from the niches statues of an- tique style peeped at the passer-by. Costly new KING MATTHIAS. 253 tapestry covered the walls, and splendid carpets were spread on the floor of the wide vestibules, stately halls, and roomy chambers, which were filled with sumptuous furniture. The walls were hung with paintings representing heroic events or themes from ancient history or from the Scriptures.- Modern carved furniture took the place of the old pieces, and every thing seemed to breathe a new life and to be rejuvenated. The vaults gave up their old treasures, and new ones were added to the collections. Immense buffets were groaning under the weight of silver and gold, while antique gems, statuettes, and groups of vases were displayed on small tables and in sideboards with glass doors. The palace became a very museum of exquisite objects of art. We can picture to our- selves the vast main hall of the castle, with its pecu- liar mediaeval splendor and brilliancy, in which the marriage took place in December, 1476. The walls of the hall were tapestried with silk interwoven with gold, and strewn with pearls and precious stones, and over the table of the bridal pair a tapestry of sheer'gold came flowing down from the ceiling. In the centre of the hall, in front of the king's table, stood a buffet with four faces, each side containing eight shelves loaded down with enormous silver pitchers, cans, goblets, tankards, amphores, and glasses of every description. On this buffet, alone, there were over five hundred vessels, besides two unicorns, which ornamented the lowest shelf, and which weighed seven hundred marks of silver. A gigantic fountain of silver of artistic design, in the 254 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. centre of the hall, spouted fiery wines. It was so high that a tall man could hardly reach its top. Near the fountain was a bread-basket of solid silver. Further on, silver casks were suspended from the ceiling dispensing various wines. The hall contained eight more tables, and by each stood a buffet weighed down by gold and silver vessels. Over nine hundred vessels and plate of all kinds were arrayed on the shelves of these buffets without being used. The vessels and plate on the table of the royal couple were all of pure and massive gold. Nor were the other palaces or summer residences, in which the court dwelt, inferior in splendor. The permanent seat of the court was the castle of Buda, but it was frequently shifted to Visegrad, Tata, Presburg, and Vienna, everywhere displaying the same pomp and sumptuousness. These royal residences ap- peared like real fairy castles, with their hanging gardens, fountains, fish-ponds, aviaries, game-parks, small pleasure-houses, arbors, and statues. Visegrdd, became especially famous. One of the papal legates, a man of taste and education, and a great lord, used to sumptuous living, speaks of Visegrdd, in a com- munication to the Pope, as an earthly paradise created anew by the hands of King Matthias. Within this brilliant network of royal palaces pul- sated the busy court life, with a frequent exhibition of exceptional gayeties and splendid feasts. The court was always thronged with the relatives of the king, with captains of the highest rank, and with hundreds of courtiers, from the chancellor down to the humble attendant, and great lords and high KING MA TTHIA S. 255 prelates, with their courtly trains, gathered around the king, hoping for advancement of one kind or other. The court was also a favorite resort for foreign diplomatists, who came for the purpose of settling questions relating to politics, church, or fam- ily concerns, and delivering messages of respect and homage to the king, whose strong arm was able to re- JELLACHICH SQUARE, AGRAM. strain and check the Turks, the Germans, and the rov- ing bands of marauders. By degrees the Hungarian court took on a European, or cosmopolitan air, becom- ing more and more refined, gaining also the repute of being a scat of classical learning and culture. There was both compliment and truth in the remark made to King Matthias by his antagonist, Uladi.s- 2S6 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. laus, the Czech king, at one of the brilliant feasts given by the former : " Your Majesty, it is difficult to triumph over a king who is the possessor of so much treasure.'' It was a great misfortune that Matthias died without leaving a son to succeed him, for all the accumulated splendor and culture vanished with the king who had introduced and developed them. It was at the zenith of his glorious career, while he was pondering on far-reaching plans for the future, that death surprised him. On Palm Sunday of the year 1490 he attended divine service, and, on re- turning from church, he was suddenly seized with extreme lassitude. He at once called for figs. They were brought, but on finding them mouldy, he angrily rejected them. Soon after he was over- come by dizziness, and a fit of an apoplectic char- acter deprived him of the power of speech and memory. He expired on the 6th of April, after an illness prolonged for two days. CHAPTER XL THE PERIOD OF NATIONAL DECLINE, AND THE DISASTROUS BATTLE OF MOHAcS. We are now approaching one of the darkest pages in the history of Hungary. The nation which but thirty-five years before had occupied a command- ing position in the world, had, within that short space of time, sunk so low as to become merely a bone of contention for foreign princes. The con- cluding act of that sad era was the calamitous bat- tle fought on the field of Mohdcs, where were ex- piated the many national sins which had brought about this sorrowful state of things. The period following the death of the great king was marked by feeble rulers ; by hierarchical chiefs, unmindful of their duties ; by an oligarchy acknowl- edging no restraints ; by a military organization rot- ten to the core ; and by discontented subjects. So rapidly did the fame of the nation decline that we find Erasmus of Rotterdam envying their king, Louis, the possession, not of his kingdom, but of an eminent teacher (Jacob Piso) then living there. The power of the king was even at a lower ebb than that of the nation. We find, for instance, John Szapolyai (or Zdpolya), the head of the oligarchy, dar- 257 258 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. ing to attack King Uladislaus at the latter's own palace at Buda, in order to force from him the hand of Anna, his daughter. King Louis, the successor of Uladislaus, was told to his face by Thomas Bakacs, one of his councillors, at a meeting of the National Assembly, that, unless he acted according to the wishes of his councillors, and listened to their advice, they would drive him from the country, and elect another king in his place. These inci- dents clearly denote the character of the rulers, and of the leading men of the nation, whose province it was to defend the country against an enemy which the great Hunyadis themselves had hardly been able to withstand, namely, the Turkish power, and the ruinous effects of their misrule became evident soon enough. In rapid succession followed one loss of territory after another, coupled with loss of prestige abroad, and civil strife within, and shortly after- wards came the crowning disgrace of the Turkish yoke. It is but right to add that this melancholy period was not quite barren of good men, who both knew and strove to do their duty, and it will be a grateful task to make lionoratle mention of these noteworthy exceptions. The partisans of four hostile candidates met on the 17th of May, 1490, on the field of Rdkos, for the purpose of electing a king of Hungary. The Na- tional Assembly, at that period, greatly resembled the popular meetings held by the conquering Hun- garians under the Arpdds. They gathered on horse- back, numbering many thousands, on some exten- sive plain, taking counsel with each other, or, rather, THE PERIOD OF NATIONAL DECLINE. 259 listening to the utterances of their party leaders. These assemblies continued their so-called delibera- tions at times for many weeks, and their attendance entailed no little expense to those taking part. Many of them came with a large retinue of servants, and it frequently happened that the poorer members, the so-called middle, running short in provisions and money, were compelled to leave for their homes be- fore the deliberations were concluded. This was precisely what happened on the present occasion. The powerful magnates purposely wasted time by delaying the deliberations, and thus compelled the smaller gentry to withdraw. Before leaving, how- ever, these last elected sixty members from their number, who were to remain as representatives, but it was of no avail, for their party was defeated, ow- ing to the withdrawal of such large numbers. This time the stratagem of the oligarchy proved more suc- cessful than at the former election, when, as we liave seen, the impatient smaller gentry, who were greatly in the majority, succeeded in electing their candi- date, Matthias Hunyadi. Of the several candidates, John Corvinus, the son of King Matthias, had few adherents and many ene- mies. It was accounted a crime in him that he was not descended from a queenly mother. Beatrice, the widowed queen, was especially opposed to his elec- tion. She could not bear the idea of her husband's son ascending the throne. She flattered herself, be- sides, with the hope of being able to retain her regal position by the election of a prince who would make her his queen. With this view she became the parti- 26o THE STORY OF HUNGARY. sail of Maximilian, the son of the emperor of Germany, and advanced his interests with the passionate vehe- mence characteristic of the Itahan blood which ran in her veins. Her partiality for the imperial prince, however, soon gave way to feelings of disdain, upon being addressed by him, in one of his letters, as his " dear mother," and she transferred her affections to Ladislaus (styled by the Hungarians, Uladislaus), king of Bohemia. Her new favorite was descended, through the female line, from the Arpdds. The wealthy and influential magnates were also on his side, but with them the fact chiefly weighed in his .favor that he was understood to be a kind-hearted, gentle, and feeble prince, whom it would be easy for them to govern. Both Bdthory and the oligarchy wanted no king but a royal tool. Albert, the brother of Uladislaus, was the fourth . aspirant for royal honors. The States-General not being able to agree upon any one of the candidates, they at last resolved that he who should obtain the vote of Szapolyai, governor of Vienna, should become king. This decision greatly elated the party of John Corvinus, for as soon as they learned that the election of their candidate de- pended upon Szapolyai's decision, they felt assured of his triumph. They could expect no less of the man who, from having been twenty years ago a com- mon trooper — at Visegrid — had been raised to his present exalted position by King Matthias. Szapol- yai received in Vienna the deputation which had come to invite him to elect the king. In the con- sciousness of his power, the proud upstart lifted up THE PERIOD OF NATIONAL DECLINE. 26i his little boy, who afterwards became king of Hun- gary, and placing him upon his knee, said : " Wert thou, my boy, but that tall, I would make thee king of Hungary." This unscrupulous man was not in- clined to obey a master, and, knowing that he him- self had no chance of royalty, he preferred a weak king, such as he believed Uladislaus to be, and, in consideration of a large reward, he sold to him the throne. The result of the election greatly disappointed and surprised the middle classes. John Corvinus him- self was at first at a loss- how to act, but finally de- termined to retire to the southern part of the country and to take with him the crown of St. Stephen, which was in his hands. Six thousand men ready to do battle for his cause accompanied him, and an occasion for the display of their zeal soon presented itself through the treachery of Stephen Bdthory and Paul Kini'zsy. These faithless favorites of the late King Matthias had promised him, on his deathbed, to stand by his son, and now, instead of redeeming their sacred obligation, they turned traitors to the cause they had vowed to defend. They were the first to assail the son they had promised to sup- port. They came up with him in the county of Tolna, scattered his troops, and not only took from him the crown, but robbed him also of his personal treasures. John Corvinus himself became afterward reconciled to the new order of things, and^ at the coronation, it was he who presented the crown to his more fortunate rival. A deputation was sent to Uladislaus, to invite him to the throne of Hungary. 262 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. He received them most graciously, kissing each of them in turn, and crying with joy. In the month of August the newly elected king made his triumphal entry into Buda, accompanied by a gayly dressed cavalcade, 'and no one could have anticipated that the brilliant pageantry displayed on that occasion would be followed so soon by a series of humiliations terminating in a national tragedy. The remaining rival candidates, however, were not disposed to consider their cause as lost. Each of them wanted his share of the kingdom, which was now become an easy prey to its neighbors, and the borders of Hungary on the east and west were sim- ultaneously crossed by enemies. A few months had hardly elapsed since the death of Matthias, the great king, and Albert, Duke of Poland, brother to Uladis- laus, was already laying waste the country to the east as far as Erlau (Eger), while the horsemen of Maximilian were tramping at Stuhlweissenburg over the grave of Matthias, and making booty of his treasures. Uladislaus remained inactive in the face of these outrages committed by Maximilian. He finally concluded a most humiliating peace (which to him seemed advantageous), by the terms of which all the former conquests of Matthias were to revert to Maximilian. The true patriots blushed at the news of the disgraceful treaty, and all the comfort they could obtain from the king was his favorite ejaculation, " Dobzse, dobzse." (It is all well, it is all well.) Whilst the country was pursuing its downward course, the Czech attendants of the king were inces- THE PERIOD OF NATIONAL DECLINE. 263 sant in their clamors against poor Hungary. They complained that if they did not wish to starve they would soon have to leave the country. The king himself had not money enough at his disposal to provide for the ordinary expenses of the royal house- hold. And yet the taxes were as high, and even higher, than during the reign of Matthias ; nay, the chronicles of the time tell us that the people were better off under that Matthias who arbitrarily im- posed taxes, than now under Uladislaus. In truth, the many burdens which were now weighing down the people were owing to the desire of many in high places to enrich themselves. The disorders of the time afforded a rare opportunity of doing so with impunity. It happened, though, at times, that the mismanagement of such greedy men would leak out, as in the case of Lukics, bishop of Csandd, and Sig- ismund Hampr, bishop of Fiinfkirchen (P^cs), who were both treasurers of the realm, and whose fraudu- lent transactions were discovered. But the king was too weak to visit their crimes with condign punish- ment, and amongst the great of the land none were disposed to throw the first stone at the criminals. The impotence of the king caused the decline of the national strength, the ruin of the finances, and, as a natural consequence, the complete disorganization of the military institutions. In this connection we have to record a strange encounter which took place in 1492 in the vicinity of Halas, in the county of Pesth. Paul Kinizsy, the terror of the Turks, the general who had grown gray on victorious battle-fields, met there, in hostile array. 264 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. the army he himself had formerly commanded, the famous " Black Guard " of Matthias. This very army, with their brave old leader, had a few months earlier repulsed the Turks near Sz6r6ny. After this victory the soldiers demanded the pay which had long been in arrears. As usual on such occasions, tumults and disorders broke out in consequence of this failure to keep faith with the troops. The wis- dom of the Hungarian National Assembly knew no better remedy than to instruct Kinizsy to march against the exasperated men. The old general obeyed orders. Seven thousand men were massa- cred, and the remainder, flying to Austria, dragged out their weary lives as robbers, constantly at war with the law. This cruel and impolitic measure de- prived the nation, at a time when she was preparing for the life-and-death struggle against the formidable power of the Turks, of one of her main supports, in destroying that army which alone could have saved her. For Kinizsy, the former miller-boy, this was the last campaign, for very soon after he was stricken with paralysis and deprived of the power of speech. His contemporaries saw in this a punishment decreed by Providence for the part he had played on that bloody occasion. The better part of the nation soon grew restless under this state of things, and a party arose which was hostile to the king. Stephen Verboczy was the leader of the new party. He was a thorough patriot and a skilled jurist, well versed in legislation. He was highly esteemed by the middle class, in whom he saw the only element which would restore to his THE PERIOD OF NA TIOMAL DECLINE. 26e, country the universal respect she formerly enjoyed. This party aspired to the government of the land, and their choice of a ruler fell on Stephen Szapolyai, the son of John Szapolyai. If Stephen had not been, in 1490, still a child, his father would then have made him king. That he should become king was the highest ambition of his mother Anna, Duchess of Teschen, a woman more ambitious even than her son, and of whom it is said that she invari- ably concluded her daily devotions with a special prayer to God, asking that she might be permitted to live to see her son ascend the Hungarian throne. Szapolyai himself did not consider it an arduous task to accomplish this, for he argued that it was a precedent in his favor that Matthias, who was of no more exalted origin than himself, had become king. His partisans first tried to attain their end by mar- riage, and with this view Szapolyai asked of Uladis- laus the hand of the young Duchess Anna. Uladis- laus refused to accede to his request, and sought pro- tection against the vaulting ambition of the national candidate in an alliance with the emperor Maxi- milian. The idea of a treaty of marriage between the two reigning dynasties was broached. The national party answered by convoking the National Assembly on the field of Rdkos and passing the important law that, in case of the extinction of the male branch of the dynasty, they would elect a native king only. In the meanwhile Szapolyai re- newed his wooing, and he was all the more confident of accomplishing his object, as Uladislaus was then seriously sick and still remained without any male 266 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. issue. But Uladislaus could not be moved to recon- sider his refusal. He' told Szapolyai that he trusted to God that he would recover his health, and that a male child might yet be born to him. Nor was he disappointed in his hopes. He regained his health, and shortly afterwards his queen bore him a boy who reigned, at a subsequent date, under the title of Louis II. Uladislaus now perceived the bearing of the Rakos resolution and, in consequence, entered into a new treaty with Maximilian. Under its terms Ferdinand, a grandson of Maximilian, was to marry Uladislaus' daughter Anna, whilst another grandchild of Maxi- milian, Mary, was betrothed to Louis, the boy just born. By virtue of this treaty Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, took possession of the throne of Hungary after the fatal day of Mohdcs. This new alliance, however, did not deter Szapolyai from his bold pur- pose. Twice again he tried to gain Anna's hand, forcing his way into the presence of Uladislaus, but it was all in vain. His partisans now began to medi- tate the policy pursued by them later on, namely, to resort to Turkish friendship for assistance. The present state of things had become so intolerable, that the national party recoiled from no measures, however extreme, to bring about a change. One day a wicked hand sped two balls into the palace of Uladislaus; the king escaped, but to this day the suspicion of the foul deed rests on the adherents of Szapolyai. The desperate contentions of the two parties gave frequent rise to lawlessness and stormy scenes. The THE PERIOD OF NA TIONAL DECLINE. 267 nobility laid waste each other's estates and often even took unlawful possession of them. In this way many a castle which John Corvinus had inherited from his father passed at that time into the hands of Szapolyai. Duke Ujlaky ventured even to molest the royal do- mains, and upon being called to account for this by the king, Ujlaky disdainfully styled him an ox. The offended king, in order to avenge this affront, sent an army against him under the lead of Bertalan Drdgfy, the vayvode of Transylvania, with the message that the king's second horn was now growing, and that henceforth the king would fight his unruly subjects with two horns. Szapolyai, the palatine of the king- dom, offered to intercede ; the intercession, however, being nothing but a cloak to incite the people to rebellion against Uladislaus, the latter was compelled to yield, and to pardon Ujlaky. A most disgraceful brawl, such as is usually witnessed only amongst the drunken rabble, took place in the very presence of the king in the royal council-chamber. George Szal- kdn, the primate of Hungary, allowed himself to be carried away, during a heated discussion with Chris- topher Frangepdn, to such an extent as to seize the latter by the beard, whereupon he was struck in the face by Frangepdn. The king, by personally inter- fering, put an end to these most unparliamentary pro- ceedings. A dangerous movement was at this time gaining strength throughout Europe. The peasantry, weary of the servitude in which they were held, resorted to arms against their former oppressors. In Hungary, especially, this movement assumed ominous propor- 268 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. tions. The rebellion brolje out in 15 14, and was com- monly called either the Kurucz rebellion, from the fact that those who took part in it were originally intended to be soldiers of the cross (cruciferi), or, after the name of their leader, the Ddzsa rebelion. Julius II., one of the most distinguished popes, died at Rome in 15 13. Amongst the aspirants to the papal see we find a Hungarian archbishop, Thomas Bakacs. He is said to have spent fabulous sums in the eternal city to further his object. In order to ingratiate himself with the populace he had his horses' feet shod with silver shoes, but so loosely that they were dropped on the road and picked up by the people. Being unsuccessful at the papal elec- tion, he begged of the new pope, Leo X., to be allowed, as a solace for his disappointment, to organ- ize a crusade against the Turks on his return to Hun- gary. The arrival of Bakacs was the signal for a fierce struggle in the ranks of the Diet. A portion of the oligarchy, who hoped to derive some profit from this venture, warmly advocated his scheme, while by others, who were too much burdened already, it was violently opposed. Stephen Telegdy, the keeper of the treasure, stood at the head of the latter and threw the whole weight of his authority into the scale in order to prevent the passing of the law sanc- tioning the crusade. He vividly pictured the misera- ble condition of the peasantry, and resolutely objected to providing them with arms, saying that it would be equivalent to arming their own enemies. The law was passed in spite of this remonstrance, and the crusade was proclaimed on the i6th of July, 15 14. THE PERIOD OF NATIONAL DECLINE. 269 The condition of the Hungarian peasants at that period was a most wretched one. Those who inhabited the border were beggared by the incessant plundering expeditions of the Turks, while the remainder fared hardly better at the hands of their lords. Their masters were always in need of large sums of money to cover their enormous expenditures. A German contemporary, who lived for some time in Hungary, wrote of the landed gentry that they were in the habit of spending whole nights in riotous living, and passing the days with sleeping off the effects of their nocturnal orgies. The money required for this mode of life had to be wrung from the hard labor of the poor peasant, who was also weighed down by other burdens. The Hungarian nobility enjoyed privi- leges only; their shoulders knew no burdens. It was the peasantry who paid all the taxes, who had to pay out of their hard-earned farthings tithes to support the clergy ; and over and beyond all this, they had to provide for their lords and masters. The peasant had to till the soil if he did not wish to starve, and in time of war he was compelled to ran- som himself from military service. Against oppres- sions on the part of his lord he had no remedy, for his master was his judge. The lords' tribunal sat in judgment over the peasant, and it can be easily imagined what kind of justice was meted out to him. Such was the sad condition of the peasantry when the crusade was proclaimed. No wonder that the oppressed peasants flocked in great numbers into the camps ready to exchange the abject drudgery of their daily life for the perils of crusading. A 270 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. large portion of the nobility were from the first arrayed against this movement, all the more so as it happened during the season when there was most work to do in the field, and it was very difficult for them to get along without the laborers. The peasants looked with indifference upon the distress of their mas- ters, and deserted them in daily increasing numbers to take up the holy cross. Bakacs had already provided a leader for them, singling out for that position a simple gentleman from Transylvania. His name was George D6zsa, a name which, coupled with a doubt- ful fame, will, nevertheless, continue to figure for all times in the history of his country. Hungarian his- torians of our days are fond of ascribing to him high and patriotic schemes, and love to portray him as a hero in the cause of liberty and one animated by a lofty spirit. Yet, if we attentively scan his actions, we are compelled to admit that he was little better than a brave and desperate peasant, whose whole con- duct proves him to have bitterly hated the nobility. Nor was he indebted to any great qualities for the distinction he had won. His chief merit consisted in being a bold man, of a fine and martial appear- ance, in possessing a voice fit for command, and in having a few years before, in a skirmish, cleft in twain a Turkish pasha. The officers placed under him were for the most part poor nobles like himself, together with a few citizens from Pesth, and a certain Lawrence M^szdros, a priest from Czegl^d. In a few days there were collected at the camp of Pesth no less than 40,000 men, who were to be marched against the Turks. But the army did not THE PERIOD OF NATIONAL DECLINE. 27 1 need to go so far to find an enemy — namely, their old oppressors, their Hungarian masters. The more hot-headed amongst the peasants were harangu- ing the others with vehemence, exciting their pas- sions. Their chief, Ddzsa, was himself swept into "the new movement. Bakacs himself became terror- stricken at the direction things were taking. He called upon Dozsa to lead the army to their place of destination, and as the latter hesitated to obey, he was placed by this high church dignitary under the ecclesiastical ban. D(5zsa, in answer to the archbishop's anathema, changed Jiis programme, and led his men against the nobility. The struggle was short but bitter. It was fear rather than the badly armed troops of peasants that, at first, defeated the great nobles. As soon as the first shock was over, every member of the nobility felt that to avoid the general ruin of all, they must stand together, in a well organized force. They gathered under the leader- ship of Stephen Bdthory, the chief Comes (count) of Temes, and Nicholas Csdky, bishop of Csandd, but were destined to meet with yet another defeat. The cruelties then perpetrated by the blood-thirsty peas- antry beggar all description. They overran the whole country, burning one castle after another, and massacred, by the light of the flames, all the noblemen with their families who were so unfortunate as to fall into their hands. Stephen Telegdy, who had so vehemently opposed the crusade, himself lost his life in this shocking manner, and Nicholas Csdky was captured on the battle-field, and was, to the delight of the whole camp, Idlled with torture. 272 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. D6zsa now proceeded to lay siege to Temesvdr. He had singled out this fortified place as the point from which he would conquer the country for his peasants, but at this very spot he had to learn by painful experience that' it was not an easy task to cope with the established power, no matter how de- moralized for the time it be. The factions, admon- ished by the common peril, ceased for the time their party strife, and the chief Comes of Temes, a parti- san of the king, did not hesitate to invoke the support of John Szapolyai, the vayvode of Transylvania, who was the leader of the national party. The vay- vode, together with a strong force of the yeomanry of Transylvania, came to his assistance, and the struggle soon approached its termination. At the first engagement the army of Ddzsa was utterly de- feated, those who survived were scattered, and the leader with a few of his companions was taken cap- tive. The savage work of retaliation now followed. The vayvode Szapolyai was the president of the tribunal. The victory he had achieved raised his authority with the nobility, who looked upon the late struggle as a war waged for their extermination, and he thought it would add to his glory if he presented to the excited nobles a harrowing spec- tacle. Mercy was shown only to Gregory, the brother of George Ddzsa, inasmuch as he was merely beheaded. The remaining rebel leaders, including Ddzsa, were thrown into prison, and were not permitted to taste any food for a fortnight. Nine of them still remained amongst the living. Ddzsa was seated on a, red hot iron throne, a red hot crown was placed on his THE PERIOD OF NATIONAL DECLINE. 2/3 forehead, and a red hot sceptre forced into his hand. Not a murmur of pain escaped him during this dreadful torture. Only when his famished compan- ions in arms rushed upon him and tore the charred flesh from his body to appease their craving for food, he exclaimed : "These hounds are of my own train- ing." This was the end of one of the episodes of this sanguinary domestic war. Four months of civil strife had cost the country the lives of 50,000 men. At a future period, not very distant, the nation might have made a much better use of these lives, but there seemed to be a fatality impelling the peo- ple to become their own destroyers. The Hun- garian popular feeling has always sympathized with the peasantry in this bloody rebellion. Thus the story is, to this day, current amongst the people, that, as often as the Lord's body was raised, during mass, Szapolyai became maddened for a few minutes, because by his deeds he had rendered himself un- worthy of beholding the sacred host. History, on the other hand, still cherishes the names of John Gosztonyi, bishop of Raab, and Gotthard Siikey, a captain from Pdpa, of whom it is recorded that in order to scatter the peasantry with as little bloodshed as possible they loaded their guns with grass and rags instead of cannon balls. The 50,000 victims, however, did not suffice to appease the vindictive spirit of the victors, for in their opinion the crimes of the peasantry called for a sterner expiation. The crime of the fathers must be visited on all genera- tions to come. The Diet, which met on the i8th of October, 1 5 14, seemed to think that the peasants had 274 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. been treated too mildly, and that all of them deserved death. The wise fathers of the land reflected, how- ever, that if all were exterminated no one would be left to work for the nobles and to provide them with food and drink. They therefore let mercy prevail — but mercy as they understood it was the most re- fined cruelty. The peasants were to be allowed to live, but their life should become a calamity to them. The perpetual servitude of the peasantry was pro- claimed, and it was ordained that they should be chained down to the soil. This iniquitous law was passed and sanctioned by the king on the 19th of November, on the same day that he confirmed the celebrated tripartite code com- piled by Stephen Verboczy, the Chief-Justice of the land. Truly a most remarkable contrast in legisla- tion. On the one hand, a code which established law and order in the kingdom ; on the other hand, the most inhuman measure in European history dictated by savage vindictiveness. Verboczy's tri- partite code, or, as its title runs, " Decretum triparti- turn juris consuetudinarii" is the most famous and the most important work of Hungarian jurisprudence, shedding also an interesting light on the social con- dition of the country at a remoter period. The iripartitum is a strong advocate of the privileges and immunities of the nobility. It establishes equal rights for all the members of the Hungarian nobility, acknowledging no difference between them except on grounds of personal merit. Every Hungarian noble accordingly was entitled to the privileges accorded to the whole body ; he could not be de- THE PERIOD OF NATIONAL DECLINE. 2/5 prived of his liberty without due conviction ; above him there was but one lord and master, and that was the king, and he was exempt from taxation. It further limits the authority of the clergy over lay nobles, and denies the right of the Pope to the dis- posal of church benefices. After endeavoring in this manner to claim for the nobles independence as to those above them, the code at the same time tries to enlarge their rights as to those below them. The recent uprising of the peasantry offered a good op- portunity for this tendency. It says : " The recent rebellion, aimed, under the pretext of a crusade, against the whole nobility, and led by a robber chief, has, for all days to come, put the stain of faithless- ness on the peasants, and they have thereby forfeited their liberty and become subject to their landlords in unconditional and perpetual servitude. The peas- ant has no sort of right over his master's land save bare compensation for his labor and such other re- ward that he may obtain. Every species of property belongs to the landlords, and the peasant has no right to invoke justice and the law against a noble." This was the view taken by the nobility at that period, a view which they succeeded in forcing upon the feeble king. The king, indeed was indifferent to the political and social changes which injured the best interests of the nation. His main purpose was to secure the throne to his family, and as long as he succeeded in this all the rest was " dobzse" to him. He had his sickly son crowned when he was but an infant of two years, and obtained for him the powerful protection 276 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. of the imperial family. In 1506 his queen, Anna of Candal, an intelligent and energetic woman, the niece of Louis XL, King of France, died. The sor- row of the widowed king was boundless; for days he remained in his rooms weeping and moaning. Ten years later he followed the queen he had so much mourned, and his son, Louis IL, succeeded him. Louis was a mere boy, but ten years old, when he ascended the throne, and his youth was an- other misfortune to the weakened and divided coun- try. The events of his reign are usually summed up in one sentence: "He was prematurely born, mar- ried young, ascended the throne young, and died young." We shall, however, devote a larger space to this kind-hearted but unfortunate youth. Louis, as was stated, came prematurely into the world, and it required all the skill the medical science of the time afforded to keep alive the royal infant, who hardly breathed when he was ushered into the world. For weeks he was kept lying in the warm carcasses of animals slaughtered and cut open for that pur- pose, and in this manner was saved from death. But little attention was paid to his education during his father's life ; it is reported that at a later period he blamed the latter for his neglect, and strove hard by redoubled exertions to make up for lost time. Although prematurely born he developed quite early in life, and was a tall and strong youth at the time his father died. Cardinal Thomas Bakacs, John Bornemisza, the castellan of Buda, and George of Brandenburg, Margrave of Anspach, were, by the king's last will, appointed his guardians. George THE PERIOD OF NA TIONAL DECLINE. 2"]"] became the ruin of the ambitious young king. The good lessons taught him by Jacob Piso, his excellent teacher, were set at naught by this guardian. He was not actuated by sinister motives in spoiling his ward ; his conduct was the effect rather of a life-long habit of riotous living, of which he could not divest himself, and it was no wonder that the youthful king was quick to imitate the unworthy example. The more serious studies soon gave way to amusements of all kinds, and the boy-king spent his life in riding, hunting, and feasting, as long as his means would allow. Some of the frolicsome eccen- tricities recorded of him best illustrate his giddiness. He had among his courtiers a man named Peter Korogi, whose indestructible stomach was far-famed for its utter want of squeamishness. It was his great delight to summon before him Korogi, and see him devour living mice, cats' tails, carrion found in the streets, and inkstands with the ink in them. Poor Korogi lost his life afterwards at the battle of Mohdcs. A glance at Louis' court and at his personal sur- roundings will suffice to give us a picture of the condition of the country. Uladislaus had al- ready repeatedly complained that but a small portion of the revenues of the state ever reached his hands, and that his income dur- ing three years did not amount to as much as King Matthias used to spend on his clerks. Louis, who, besides, had to defray the expenses of his edu- cation, fared infinitely worse. He had to put off from day to day his journey to Prague, the capital 278 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. of his Bohemian kingdom, because he was unable to procure the funds necessary for his travelling expenses. Things came to such a pass that the king could not provide decently for the royal table, which was all the more unfortunate for him, as he boasted of an excellent appetite ; his con- temporaries relating of him that when his re- sources permitted, seven meals were daily served at his court. His penury finally reached such a point that he lacked the means of paying the wages of his household servants, and then it was that a certain sum was set apart for royal expenses, to be paid into the hands of the treasurer and not of the king, a contrivance which was of little avail, the treasurers themselves being untrustworthy. King Louis re- mained as poor as he was before, and we read that at a reception given to the ambassadors of foreign powers, where the most brilliant display would have been in place, the young king sat on his throne in dilapidated boots. In spite of his poverty Louis found a way to indulge in pastimes and to squander money. At a time when they write of him that he could not call a sound pair of boots his own, he re- mitted to one of his courtiers a debt of 40,000 ducats in exchange for a trained falcon. George of Branden- burg wrote on one occasion that although the court was dreadfully poor, yet they managed to carouse all the time. These entertainments were marked by scenes and occurrences which but ill comport with the dignity of a court. The king was excessively fond of amusements, and on one occasion he wrote three months before the carnival : " Wherever we THE PERIOD OF NATIONAL DECLINE. 279 shall happen to be, even on a journey, we intend to make merry and to pass gayly our days." The ca- rousing at the court, however, was not confined to the carnival season, for we read that on the very eve of the battle of Mohdcs, the king and queen were en- joying themselves right royally. The queen, too, was fond of gayeties. No one would have foretold of her that she should ever become so versed in matters of state. The difference between Mary the queen and Mary the widow might well elicit universal surprise. The eventful battle of Mohdcs sobered her. While her husband lived she so freely entered into the pastimes and frolics of the king that the partisans of the king himself were compelled to re- mind her more than once of the rules of decency and propriety. A fierce struggle ensued between the oligarchical and the national party as to who should be selected for the royal council. This rivalry sprang by no means from patriotic motives, or from a desire to serve the country in the royal councils, but from the more sordid aim of making use of the royal authority to extend and increase their personal power and influ- ence. The party leaders were still the same. Szapol- yai and Verboczy stood at the head of the middle- class party, whilst the royal party, led by Bdthory, made common cause with the Fuggers. The Fug- gers were the Rothschilds of the sixteenth century ; they had amassed immense wealth in Hungary by advancing at first an inconsiderable sum to the king, and obtaining for it the privilege of working the mines. They fraudulently exported from the land 280 THi: STORY OF HUNGARY. all the gold and silver obtained from the mines, while of the money advanced by them but very little got into the king's hands, as it had first to pass the hands of middle-men, who managed to keep large portions. In this way can it be accounted for that Thomas Bakacs' household was far more lavish and brilliant than that of the king himself, and that Count Alexius Thurzd, being in collusion with the Fug- gers, was enabled at one time to advance to the king 32,ocK) florins. Emeric Szerencs' name figures most conspicuously amongst these money manipulators. He was a converted Jew, occupying a prominent position, and who subsequently became treasurer of the state. While he was never able to procure money for the treasury, he succeeded in constantly adding immense sums to his own fortune. The peo- ple at last rose against the unscrupulous treasurer, and attacked Szerencs in his own palace. He saved himself only with great difficulty from the fury of the populace by escaping through a window to which a rope ladder was attached. The party of the nobility was at last victorious. At the Diet assembled at Hatvan 14,000 nobles as- sumed such a menacing attitude towards the gov- ernment that all its members were compelled to give in their resignations, and Stephen Verboczy was elected by the triumphant party palatine of the kingdom. John Szapolyai became treasurer. To what extent the treasury was better managed under his direction it would be difficult to deter- mine, for the sad fact remained that the treasury still remained empty, and that the new treasurer was THE PERIOD OF NATIONAL DECLINE. 28l constantly adding to the number of his estates and increasing his domain. The magnates as well as the burghers clearly saw that nothing had been gained by the change effected in the administration. They therefore combined to restore the former govern- ment, and wdre headed by the great nobles who had been deprived of their offices — Bdthory, the late palatine, and Alexius Thurz6. The league is known in Hungarian history under the name of the "Kalandos " Society — the word " kalandos " having in the Magyar language the meaning of " adventurous," but in truth the word was derived from the "Kalends" the society being in the habit of meeting on the " Kal- ends," or first of each month. This patriotic band of would-be saviors of their country went on with their intrigues even after the news had arrived of an- other Turkish inroad threatening the country. The league at last succeeded. At the Diet convoked in Buda they reinstated their party in power. Verboczy himself was not slow in perceiving that he had been used by Szapolyai merely as a tool, and, refusing to be an instrument in his hands, he resigned the dignity of which he had been already deprived by the Diet. In order to save his life he fled to Transylvania, but he could not prevent the Diet from declaring him to be an enemy to his country. Bdthory occupied again his former position of a palatine, and announced his programme in these brief words : " We are not the cause of the ruin of the country " — a very strange assurance on the part of the councillors and leading statesmen of Louis II., coming too at a time when they were menaced on all 282 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. sides by approaching perils. This conduct occasioned the papal nuncio's remark that " they were playing comedy with their mutual protests." The Reformation added a new complication to the many dividing the nation, being a fresh source of discord amongst the people. This miighty religious movement spread as far as Hungary about the same time that it had won a large territory for itself in Germany. Here as there its adherents met with persecutions at the hand of the Roman Catholic Church. The new faith, although it had not gained large numbers, soon found its martyrs in the coun- try. Both of the political factions were equally guilty of these persecutions, and we find a telling proof of this in the fact that Verboczy as well as Bathory, the respective palatines of the hostile parties, each had his share in the executions of the Protestants who laid down their lives for their faith. While Hungarian blood was thus shed by the Hungarians themselves, their proud neighbor. Sultan Selim, the mighty ruler of the Turkish empire, had registered a vow before Allah, in case he would vouchsafe vic- tory to his armies over Persia, to build for his wor- ship three magnificent mosques — one in Jerusalem, another in Buda, and a third in Rome. The sultan vanquished the Persians, but was prevented by death from fulfilling his vow. In Hungary they made merry, drinking death to the Turks, and little dreaming that the new sultan was destined to in- flict upon them soon a most deadly blow. Solyman the Magnificent succeeded the fierce Se- lim. He combined in his person the talents of a THE PERIOD OF NATIONAL DECLINE. 283 great warrior, a great legislator, and a great theo- logian. It was not long before the Hungarians them- selves offered him an excuse for waging war against them. On his accession to the throne he had sent an ambassador to Louis II. for the purpose of pro- longing the peace between them. The overbearing Hungarian nobles did not so much as enter into a parley with the envoy, but threw him into prison, dragged him with them all over the country, and finally, after cutting off his nose and ears, sent him back to his master. This dire offence against the law of nations, and the unprovoked insult to the sul- tan in the person of his representative, could not be left unpunished. Solyman swore he would be avenged for this affront, and vowed he would get possession of that Belgrade which at one time had maintained its independence against the warlike genius of a Mohammed II. He attacked simultan- eously two of the strongest border fortresses — Sha- batz and Belgrade. The king was just then too busy with his wedding with the Austrian princess Mary to allow himself to be disturbed by the hos- tile inroad, nor did his chief councillors take any heed of it. Bdthory, the palatine of the kingdom, was also celebrating his nuptials, whilst Chancellor Szal- kay's attention was entirely absorbed by the admin- istration of the bishopric of Erlau that had been re- cently bestowed upon him. Shabatz stood under the command of Simon Lo- gody and Andrew Torma, both men of great hero- ism and rare courage. They shone out as conspicu- ous exceptions in this corrupt age. They preferred 284 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. to face certain death rather than save themselves by deserting the fortress entrusted to their care, and solemnly swore to be true to the cause of the coun- try unto death. They and their brave garrison kept their oaths faithfully ; of five hundred men, but sixty were left on the i6th day of the siege. These sixty men were drawn up in soldierly array on the public square of the fort to receive the last assault of the Turkish army, and not one of them escaped with his life. Six weeks later Belgrade, the famous scene of Hungarian heroism, was taken by the Turks, and it is not often that an enemy achieved as easy a victory over such a stronghold as this border fortress as the Turks secured on the 29th of August, 1521. Francis Hedervdri and young Valen- tine Torok had been entrusted with the defence of Belgrade. These selfish nobles, unmindful of their sacred duties, left Belgrade and proceeded to Buda, in order to obtain from the government repayment for the expenses already incurred by them for the maintenance of the fortress. Failing in their errand, they did not return to their trust, but left the gar- rison, numbering seven thousand men, to themselves, under the command of their subordinate ofificers, the brave Blasius OMh, and the treacherous Michael Mor6. Their desertion sealed the fate of this fort- ress. Mor6 became a traitor to the cause of his country ; he deserted to the enemy's camp, and, be- traying to the Turks the weak points of the strong- hold, he endeavored, at the same time, to prevail upon Oldh to aid him in his wicked designs. The patriotism of the latter, however, was proof against THE PERIOD OF NATIONAL DECLINE. 2%% all the allurements of the tempter. The fall of the fortress was, nevertheless, unavoidable. The number of the garrison had dwindled down to seventy-two men, when a squabble ensued between those of them who were Hungarians and those who were Servians, which ended in their compelling OUh to surrender the fortress. By the terms of the surrender the gar- rison was ajlowed to leave the fortress unmolested, but the Turks interpreted this clause in their own way. They were permitted to march into the Turk- ish camp, but on their wishing to leave the camp they were all of them massacred. The fall of Belgrade spread terror all over the country — all the more as it was entirely unexpected, and, certainly might have been prevented. Bdthory, the palatine, and John Szapolyai stood, each with a great army, not very far from Belgrade ; but these noblemen, obeying only the dictates of their mutual hatred, would not join their armies, and truly says the poet Charles Kisfaludy, that the deepest wounds inflicted upon the poor country were " no, not by her enemies, but by her own sons." Louis himself was roused from his lethargy upon hearing the sad news. He upbraided his coflncillors for neglecting to warn him of the dangers menacing the country, and for not having taken measures to avert them ; nay, in his exasperation, as we are informed by his chaplain, he struck one of his councillors. Bishop Szalkay, in the face. Repentance was now too late, and the impending catastrophe seemed un- avoidable. It is true that the Hungarians achieved one more victory in the Hungarian Lowlands. Paul 286 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. Tomory, the newly appointed archiepiscopal captain- in-chief of that section, defeated Ferhat Pasha on the field of Nagy-Olasz, in Syrmia. But the passing glow of this success left no permanent effects ; three years later the Turks were more formidable than ever to Hungary. While the Hungarian Diet was the scene of fierce discussions, Francis I., King of the French, smarting under the defeat he had suffered at the hands of the Emperor Charles V., stirred up Solyman against Hungary and the Hapsburg crown-lands, in order to effect a division of the imperial army. In this scheme Francis I. succeeded so well that in the month of August, 1526, an army exceeding 300,000 men, with 300 cannon, under the lead of Solyman, was invading Hungary. The news of Solyman's approach found the coun- try unprepared. The treasury did not contain money enough to pay the messengers, still less to organize an army. A requisition of the gold and silver plate and vessels of the church was of little avail, for what little could be collected, owing to the resistance of the clergy, was appropriated again by the nobles, who were charged with the duty of coining them into money. Caspar Ser^dy owed his wealth to such transactions. In soldiers they were even poorer than in money. The sultan was already crossing the southern frontier, and not a soldier was near King Louis. The cities bought their exemption from military service with money, and the great nobles were dilatory. The king finally marched alone against the enemy. The THE PERIOD OF NATIONAL DECLINE. 28/ guilty were seized with shame at this noble example, and about the beginning of August four thousand men had already rallied round him. He was steadily proceeding southward and reached Mohdcs in the latter part of August. The army had swelled by this time to twenty-five thousand men, but it wanted a commander, and there was not in the whole country a single general capable of wielding large forces. The king, under these circumstances, had no other choice but to appoint, as commander-in-chief, Paul Tomory, whose victory achieved over the Turks was still fresh in memory. Shortly afterwards the Turkish army, which had occupied Peterwardein (P^tervirad) a few days before, made its appearance. A serious discus- sion arose now whether the Hungarians should stand a battle, or, retreating first, join the army of Christo- pher Frangepdn, coming from Slavonia, and that of John Szapolyai, marching from Transylvania. Tomory was in favor of accepting battle at once, and was sustained by the king. Francis Perdnyi, the witty bishop of Grosswardein, on seeing that Tomory's counsels had prevailed, is reported to have said : " The Hungarian nation will have twenty thousand martyrs on the day of battle, and it would be well to have them canonized by the pope." The battle took place on the 29th of August, on a fine summer's day. The Hungarians formed in battle array early in the morning. The king, surrounded by his lay and ecclesiastical magnates, occupied the centre. A thousand mailed horsemen were around the king, and in their midst John Drdgfy, the Chief-Justice of the land, waving high up in the air the national 288 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. banner. Seated on a white horse, he wore no spurs, according to the ancient custom, implying that flight to him was impossible. Bithory, afflicted with the gout, rode with the king along the line of each troop, addressing words of encouragement to the men. The whole army im- patiently looked forward to the moment when the battle should begin, and,* finally, at five o'clock in the afternoon the Turks advanced. It was remarked that the king, on the silver helmet being placed on his head, became deathly pale, as if in anticipation of the near danger, but while it shocked the attend- ants, it by no means disheartened them. The first onslaught came from the Hungarian horse, who rushed upon the enemy in front of them and drove them back. The Turkish troops thus at- tacked retreated without offering any resistance to the body of the army. The Hungarians, shouting victory, pressed on in hot pursuit, little dreaming that they were running into the jaws of sure destruc- tion. The retreat was but a feint, for when the Hungarian army had been drawn on near enough to the Turkish centre, the retreating troops opened their ranks, and, through the gap left open, three hundred cannon and several thousand Janissaries poured a murderous fire on the advancing troops. The slaughter was dreadful ; a large portion of the troops, including their commander and their stand- ard bearer, fell at the first fire. The rest fled in every direction, but were greatly impeded in their retreat by a violent shower of rain which suddenly burst on the fugitives, among whom was also the THE PERIOD OF NA TIONAL DECLINE. 289 youthful king. As he was trying to cross the Csele, a small brook, swollen by the rain, the horse, after reaching the opposite bank, stumbled backward into the waters below, and buried his rider under him. The prophecy of Per^nyi was fulfilled. Twenty thousand martyrs strewed the field of Mohdcs, and among them was the witty prophet himself. The Hungarians paid the heavy penalty of thirty-six years' misrule and disorder, but the worst was yet to come. On the loth of September there passed again a brilliant procession through the gates of Buda. This time it was not the crowned king of Hungary who made his entry into the fortress, but Solyman, who delivered it up for pillage to his soldiers. On this occasion was destroyed the famous library of Matthias. CHAPTER XII. THE TURKISH WORLD AND THE RISE OF PROTES- TANTISM IN HUNGARY. While Islam was rapidly losing ground, and hur- rying to irretrievable destruction on the peninsula south of the Pyrenees, it obtained a fresh foot- hold on another southern peninsula of Europe, in the regions of the Balkan washed by the Mediter- ranean Sea, and became there so powerful as to influence, for nearly five centuries, the poUtical destinies of the Western world. At the same time that the power and culture of the Moorish state was declining in Spain, Europe found itself assailed by another Mohammedan nation, the Turks, who, tak- ing up the standard of the crescent, attempted to force upon the Christian world their new ideas, religious, political, and social. On the first appear- ance of the Turks on the Balkan peninsula, they were met by the two states which opposed their further advance, and the struggle with these began at once. The first, the Byzantine empire, was, however, at this time already an effete and tottering organization, an ancient and venerable ruin, and it was able to make but a feeble resistance. It retreated step by step before the Asiatic conquerors, who got posses- 290 THE TURKISH WORLD. 2gi sion, first, of its entire outlying territory, and finally captured (in 1453) the seat of government, Byzan- tium, the renowned city of Constantine. The sec- ond opponent which withstood the advance of the Turks was Hungary, a state which, though still young, had shown a sturdy national vitality, and successively reduced to vassalage the countries of the Balkan, and was steadily engaged in extending its influence and authority towards the East. The Turks could not dispose of Hungary as easily and quickly as of the enfeebled Byzantine empire. More than a century of nearly constant conflict had to elapse before the Hungarian supremacy in the regions of the Balkan was put an end to, and the Turks were able to penetrate as far as Mohdcs, and there to inflict a mortal blow on the indepen- dence of Hungary. During this struggle of a century and a half the name and fame of Hungaiy were perpetuated by many a brilliant feat of war, and by many glorious victories, and when John Hunyadi, the most formidable foe of the Turks, died, all Europe mourned his death as the loss of the great champion of Christianity. His son, Matthias the Just, one of the greatest kings of Hungary, whose memory is held in pious reverence by the Hun- garian people to this day, following in the foot-steps of his illustrious father, through his many triumphs, made his own name, too, hardly less formidable to the Turks. But Hungary, as the offspring of the Western Church, the Church of Rome, turned her looks, at that time, to the West rather than to the East, and Hungarian statesmanship was 292 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. far more intent upon humiliating the emperor of what was then known as the Roman empire, than upon breaking down the power of the Turks. King Mat- thias captured Vienna, and made large conquests at the expense of the German empire, but he chastised the Turks only now and then, and never seriously thought of endeavoring to thoroughly crush the Turkish power. Under his feeble successors, the Turks, who easily recuperated from the losses of single battles, grew into a formidable power, which soon brought Hungary to the verge of ruin. We have described, in the preceding pages, the fatal battle of Mohdcs, fought on the 29th of August, 1526, in which the youthful King Louis II. opposed an army of hardly 25,CXX) men to Solyman's 300,00x3, to be swept away by the torrent of overwhelming numbers. To give an adequate idea, however, of this awful catastrophe in the annals of Hungary, we will add here that seven bishops and archbishops, thirteen lords of the banner, five hundred magnates, and many thousand nobles laid down their lives on the bloody battle- field. The nation was seized with indescribable ter- ror on learning the details of this dreadful calamity ; entire villages were deserted by their inhabitants, who scattered in every direction. The widowed queen, finding herself utterly deserted in Buda, fled to Presburg, and the capital of Hungary, one of the finest cities of Christendom, which but a little more than a generation before had been made one of the chief centres of European learning and culture, passed, in less than two weeks after the fatal day of THE TURKISH WORLD. 293 MohAcs, without any resistance, into the hands of the victorious Solyman. The Turks sacked and set fire to the beautiful city, and all its magnificent buildings, save the royal palace, were destroyed by the flames. The victorious enemy met with as little opposition in ravaging and massacring in the country as they had encountered at the capital. There was no one to stay their devastations. The miserable peasantry still made some feeble attempts at defence ; here and there a few thousand men collected at some fortified position to protect themselves and their families. Thus some 20,000 men retreated into the V^rtes mountains, and, under the leadership of Michael Dobozy, entrenched themselves near the village of Mardt, in a camp fortified by a barricade constructed of wagons. But the Turks had their guns carried up to the nearest eminence, and opened a fire on the occupants of the improvised wall. The peasants were struck with terror, and the undisciplined boors, the wailing women and children, deserted their shel- tering wagons in despair. Dobozy, seeing that all was lost, mounted his gallant steed, and placing his young wife on the saddle before him, he sought safety in flight. The elated Turks fell upon the fly- ing Hungarians, frightfully massacring their ranks. Among the fugitives, Dobozy especially attracted the enemy's attention, owing to the superior- ity of his armor, indicative of gentle blood, and more particularly because of the young woman he carried in his arms. They pursued him like blood- hounds. The distance between the pursuers and pursued gradually diminished, and Dobozy's horse 294 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. began to show signs of exhaustion under the double burden. Wife and husband saw the fierce forms, eager for prey, draw nearer and nearer. Still there was a gleam of hope for them if they could reach the near brook, cross the bridge, and destroy it before their pursuers came up with them. They succeeded in gaining the bridge, but, alas, the flying peasants had already broken it off, and there was no other thoroughfare to the opposite bank. All was lost now. Dobozy told his wife to fly by herself, whilst he would remain and stay with his own breast the progress of their pursuers. But the young spouse would not part from her loving hus- band, not even in death, and besought him to kill her rather than to expose her to the chance of falling into the hands of the pagan enemy. The desperate husband, seeing the Turks quite near to them, stabbed his youthful wife with his own dagger, and then, turning upon his adversaries, dearly sold his life. The spot where Dobozy and his faithful wife lost their lives is, to this day, called Basaharcz (the Pasha struggle). The immense Turkish army spread all over the country, everywhere plundering, ravaging, and de-. stroying defenseless lives, and reducing, in a war of a few months' duration, the population of the coun- try by nearly 200,000 souls. The capital in ruins, hundreds of other places deserted and laid waste, the country without a king, the church without any higher clergy, the greater part of the nobility, used to arms, killed — such was the condition in which Hungary was left by the Turks at the departure of THE TURKISH WORLD. 29$ Sultan Solyman. In October, 1526, he left the doomed country, having first laden his ships, sailing for Constantinople, with the treasures of the palace of King Matthias — its rare curiosities, its bronze statues, and a portion of the famous Corvinian library. The fatal day of Mohdcs had entirely overturned the order in the state, and amongst the magnates who survived it party strife soon broke out. One party, acting upon the conviction that enfeebled Hungary was unable to resist, unsupported, the over- whelming power of the Turks, elected a Hapsburg archduke, Ferdinand of Austria, a brother of Charles v., the Roman emperor, king of Hungary, and since that time the royal crown has, in fact, remained in possession of the Hapsburgs. It was through this dynasty that the Hungarian people endeavored to secure the aid of the German empire against the Osmanlis. But another party amongst the great lords pursued an opposite course. In their opinion a native dynasty and peaceful relations with the invincible Turks were the means of rescuing the country from her pitiable plight. These patriots, therefore, elected as king of Hungary, John Szapolyai, the vayvode of Transylvania, and the most powerful lord in the coun- try, and thus the nation had now two kings in the place of the one who had fallen at Mohdcs. But neither of these parties nor their royal repre- sentatives could save the country from the Turks ; on the contrary, the continual rivalries between the two kings not only demoralized public virtue and upset all law and authority within the kingdom, but 296 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. they assisted not a little the foreign enemy in getting into their possession, by slow degrees, the larger part of Hungary, and enabled the Turks, within a brief period, to float their crescent on the towers of Buda, and there, to the ruin of the, nation, and to the per- petual terror of the Christian world, it continued to wave for nearly one hundred and fifty years. The history of the Hungarian nation during this entire period is sad in the extreme — a tragedy, the scenes of which are supplied by an uninterrupted series of trials and sufferings. Owing to the incapacity of the leading statesmen and generals, the ruin of the coun- try became more and more irretrievable. Yet, how- ever dark and forlorn this period may seem, the na- tional sufferings of those days are relieved and bright- ened by the glorious heroism and patriotism dis- played by the people. The Hungarians, although menaced, in their very existence, by many enemies, by party strife, and religious dissensions, exhibited such rare moral courage, heroism, devotion, self- denial, and manliness, that the memory of the gen- erations of that melancholy era will remain forever hallowed. Heroes arose on every side, and the struggle, sustained by the nation for nearly a cen- tury and a half against the oppressive power of the Turks, reminds one, in many of its features, of the protracted contest between the Spaniards and the Moors, and, like it, abounds in poetry, romance, and those noble examples of patriotism and loftiness of soiil which kindle the human heart, arouse the sym- pathies of the poet, and are treasured up by the piety of *ifter-ages as glorious relics of the past. THE TURKISH WORLD. 2^^ Solyman's ambitious schemes looked for still wider fields of conquest, and in 1529 he marched towards Vienna, in order to attack King Ferdinand in his own capital. The city, however, was successfully defended. In 1532 Solyman advanced again upon Vienna. The sultan's progress was unopposed until he reached Koszeg (German, Giins), in the neighbor- hood of the Austrian frontier. The keys of sixteen fortresses and fortified cities lay at his feet ; Koszeg alone refused to do homage, and arrested the sultan's triumphal march. Michael Juricsics was its com- mander; he was just about to remove his small garrison, consisting of twenty-eight hussars and ten cuirassiers, to Vienna, for whose defence all the available forces were being called in, when the Turks appeared beneath the walls of Koszeg. On beholding the approach of the immense Turkish army, Juricsics took a bold and noble resolution. He determined to hold the fortress, and to die rather than surrender it to, the enemy. He immediately took measures to defend the place ; he repaired the walls and bastions, armed seven hundred peasants who had sought refuge in the city, and purchased with his own money gunpowder and provisions. The Turkish army arrived under the walls of Koszeg on the 5th of August, 1532; a few days later the sultan himself joined them, and the siege was prose- cuted at once with the utmost energy. The outer fortifications had already fallen into the hands of the enemy, the guns and mines had effected a breach sixteen yards wide in the main wall of the citadel, of its seven hundred defenders half had fallen, and on 298 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. the 24th of August Juricsics had but one hundred weight of gunpowder left. Yet the plucky reply he gave to the sultan's summons to surrender was : " As long as I live I will not surrender." The Turks there- upon directed a fresh assault upon the citadel, and the garrison again lost many lives, while Juricsics himself was wounded. The Turks pressed into the city, but the inhabitants, at their approach, broke out into such dreadful howling and wailing that the frightened assailants retreated, and the city was once more miraculously spared. But Juricsics him- self saw now the impossibility of further resistance ; he had no more gunpowder, and most of the gar- rison were like himself wounded. For the purpose, therefore, of sparing the lives of the remaining in- habitants, he finally permitted the Turkish flag to be hoisted over the city. Solyman, seeing the Turkish flag floating over Koszeg, thought he had captured the citadel, and retired from under the walls on the 3 1st of August. But it was not towards Vienna that he directed his steps, but homeward. He had been delayed nearly four weeks near Koszeg, and during this time a powerful army had been collected in Vienna which the sultan had not the courage to face. Juricsics had thus, by his heroism, saved Vienna from a siege, the issue of which might have been calamitous to that renowned city of Chris- tendom. Many were still found in other parts of the country to follow the stirring example set by Juricsics, but unfortunately success but rarely attended their devo- tion. Most of them were fated only to be martyrs to THE TURKISH WORLD. 299 the sacred cause, shedding their blood on the altar of their tottering country. The farther the Turkish conquests extended the more precarious and peri- lous became the position of the isolated commanders of the Hungarian border fortresses. The safety of a whole territory or country often depended upon the possession of one of these strongholds. Thus were the wealthy mining towns and the entire Hungarian mining region protected by the fortified place of Drdgel, and it naturally attracted the attention of the Turks, always thirsting for plunder, who hast- ened to lay siege to it, hoping, by its possession, to open the road to the mines. Gallant George Szondi, the commandant of the fortress of Dr^gel, was a de- termined and magnanimous man who, fully con- scious of the great importance of the place, was ready to defend it with his life. The fortress itself was not one of the first order, and was guarded only by a small garrison. In July, 1552, a Turkish army numbering about 10,000 appeared under the walls. Ali, the Pasha of Buda, himself a chivalrous and noble-minded- soldier, stood at the head of the besiegers, and, under the fire of his guns, the bastions crumbled to dust in the course of a few days. When the great tower too, was but a heap of ruins, and the walls were showing wide gaps everywhere, and all hope of being able to continue the defence seemed to have vanished, Ali sent a message to the com- mandant of Dr^gel. He employed a clergyman by the name of Mdrton, the parish priest of a neighboring village, to go to Szondi and to tell 300 THE STOR V OF HUNGAR Y. him that : " Ali reverently bowed before Szondi's bravery and determined spirit, the report of which had reached him long ago, and of which he had had good occasion to convince himself during the present siege, but as the position could be held no longer, Szondi ought to preserve his heroic life and to surrender the crumbling fortress, and if this were done free departure should be guaran- teed for himself and his people." Szondi silently listened to the message of Ali, whom he knew to be a noble and chivalrous foe, but manfully de- clined to lay down his arms. He was resolved to defend the place to his last breath, and rather bury himself under its ruins than negotiate with the enemy. But he in turn asked now a favor of Ali Pasha, not for himself, but for two youthful troubadours, two young bards who were in the fortress, and for whom the Hungarian hero wished to provide before his death. He had the youths dressed in purple velvet and sending them, under the care of Father Mdrton, to Ali Pasha, he re- quested the latter to take these youths — some say they were his own sons — into his service, as he himself would not be able to bring them up, and to make brave men of them. Then summoning into his presence two Turkish captives remaining in the fortress, he bestowed upon them rich pres- ents and allowed them to depart. As soon as Morton had left with his youthful charges Szondi felt that the supreme moment, the moment of a glorious death, was near at hand. He ordered his money, his clothes, and all his valu- THE TURKISH WORLD. 3OI ables to be taken into the courtyard of the cita- del, and, for fear they might fall into the hands of the enemy, he himself set fire to them and saw them reduced to ashes. Then he directed his steps to the stables, and thrust with his own hands his lance through his horses, his noble war steeds. Hastening now to his few remaining sol- diers he addressed to them touching words of farewell. Outside, the approach of the Turks, preparing for the assault and shouting Allah, was already heard. Szondi, at the head of his two com- panies, rushed to the citadel gate and there laid down his life after heroically defending himself. A ball having penetrated his foot, the dying man sank on his knees and continued the fight to his last breath. He was finally cut down by the Turks, who surrounded him on all sides ; his head was placed on a lance and carried in triumph to the victorious Ali. The generous Turk was deeply moved by this noble example of self-sacrifice, and, having given orders to seek out Szondi's body, he caused his remains to be buried with great military pomp, in a neighboring hill. For a long time the spot where Szondi was laid into the grave was marked by a pike and a flag. One of the greatest poets of modern Hungary, John Arany, has perpetuated Szondi's story in a beautiful ballad, and contemporary piety has just erected amidst the ruins of Dr^gel a chapel in memory of the departed hero. Stephen Losonczy, another Hungarian hero, who shared Szondi's fate a few days later, had no such noble opponent as Ali to deal with. Temesvdr, the 302 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. largest fortress in the country, was entrusted to his care. Fifty thousand Turks marched on Temesvclr, and having quickly reduced all the smaller fortified places and cities near it, they reached the fortress in an over-confident mood. Losonczy immediately sallied out to meet the enemy, and so intimidated them that they soon gave up the siege and left the neighborhood. Yet only for a short time ; they re- turned in greater numbers under the leadership of Ahmed Pasha. The latter at once called upon the Hungarian commandant to surrender the fortress. Losonczy collected in the public square the garrison which numbered altogether 2,200 soldiers, of whom 1,300 were Hungarians and the remainder Germans, Czechs, and Spaniards, and asked them if they were ready to defend to death the fortress in their charge. The enthusiastic shouts of the soldiers — that they were ready to die rather than yield up the place — was the answer he received. Losonczy at once swore in his men, and immediately answered the summons of the Turkish pasha by a sally from the fortress, driving the enemy from the vicinity of the trenches. The Turks now proceeded to lay regular siege to the fortress — a branch of military science in which they were highly accomplished. They were masters in the art of reducing fortified places, in the mining works, and in the handling of the great battering guns. Thirty-six guns of heavy calibre soon poured their shot's into the fortifications, which after a couple of days exhibited such breaches that the pasha thought the time for an assault had arrived. Thousands of THE TURKISH WORLD. 303 brave Janissaries rushed at the tottering walls. There, however, they were met by the guard, who, themselves ready to die, made a frightful havoc amongst their assailants. The assault was repulsed in a few hours, the trenches were filled with the Turkish dead, and many a distinguished bey and officer of high rank was left lifeless on the scene of the sanguinary con- test. ■ Losonczy, however, saw that all the heroism of his soldiers was thrown away if he did not receive aid from abroad. He therefore applied to the com- manders of the royal and Transylvanian armies for soldiers, gunpowder, and other war requisites of which he had run short, but could obtain nothing from them. In this strait he resolved to devote his own fortune to the cause of his country, and wrote to his wife, the high-minded Anna Pekry, who was outside the for- tress, to turn all he had into money, to mortgage his estates, and, with the funds thus obtained, to hire soldiers, purchase munitions, and send them into the besieged fortress. The generous woman was ready to bring any sacrifice to assist her husband in his ex- treme distress, and, taking into her pay five hundred volunteers (hayduks) whom she provided with the necessary military equipments, she bade them march to the relief of Temesvdr. But the place was already completely invested, and the small troop was unable to penetrate the strong blockading cordon of the Turks. The five hundred hayduks were dispersed by the enemy, the gunpowder was taken away from them, and now Losonczy gave up all hope of aid from without. 304 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. Yet the gallant commander never for a moment wavered in his duty. He wrote, in one of his last letters : " We are patiently looking forward to the moment when we must die," and all he asked of the king was to take care of his little orphans. The hour was not far off, for the long siege had already ex- hausted their ammunition and provisions, and' the Turks were constantly renewing their assaults. Al- though the enemy lost at times three thousand men in one assault, they returned each day in still greater numbers and repeated the attack. St. Anne's Day arrived, the day of the patron saint of Anna, Losonczy's wife, which in brighter days he used to celebrate, according to ancestral fashion, by merry carousing, but it was now a melancholy day for the brave commander. The provisions and ammuni- tion were all exhausted, and the Turks, after immense losses, had finally succeeded in occupying the large entrenched tower lying between the inner citadel and the town. Hungry, without gunpowder, and with no hope of relief from abroad, Losonczy's soldiers began at last to mutiny, and, wishing to save their lives, they in- sisted upon the surrender of the town. The Span- ish soldiers — the foreigners — especially demanded the giving up of the place, while the Hungarians declared that they were still ready to follow their gallant leader to death. The inhabitants of the town, reflecting that by a capitulation they might save their lives and property, whereas if the Turks entered the city by force of arms they would be shown no mercy, finally sided with the Spanish party and were THE TURKISH WORLD. 305 bent upon making terms with the enemy. At first Losonczy would not hear of yielding, but when Ahmed Pasha's messengers appeared at the fortress and promised every one safe departure, besides the right of taking with him all his movables, the Span- iards compelled him to sign the capitulation. So the brave soldier at last gave up the struggle, and, troubled by sad forebodings, he withdrew from the ruined fortress at the head of his decimated troops, who were still fully armed. Outside the gate he was received with military honors by the Turkish commanders. Losonczy was proceeding on his good horse through the ranks of the enemy which were in a line drawn up on either side, when sud- denly there came from the Hungarians in the rear shoutings and cries. He turned back and saw that the Turks, in shameful disregard of the terms of capitulation, had fallen upon his pages and were pil- laging them. The old warrior could not witness this disgrace unmoved ; he drew his sword, once more the war-trumpet sounded the attack, and he rushed to the rescue of his men. The engagement became general and the small band was almost entirely cut down. Losonczy fearlessly braved death, and, bleed- ing from numerous wounds, was finally taken by the perfidious enemy, who, cutting off the hero's head, sent it as a token of triumph to Stambul. Thus, in 1552, passed Temesvdr, one of the most important fortified places in Hungary, into the possession of the Turks. It remained longer under the Turkish yoke than any other Hungarian stronghold of importance, for thirty years elapsed after the reconquest of Buda 306 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. before it was again restored to the possession of the king of Hungary. Szondi and Losonczy might have been spared martyrdom if the commander-in-chief of the royal army, who were all foreigners, had, in their vanity, had the courage to attempt their rescue. They wit- nessed, sunk in cowardly inactivity, the deadly throes of these heroes, and looked on with indifference while one fort after the other was falling into hostile hands. These foreign commanders, with their armies composed of foreigners, were never able to cope with the Turks. If they ventured to engage in a battle they were sure to lose it. In this way can it be accounted for that in spite of the superhuman efforts of the Hungarians who heroically battled for their country, the Turkish conquests grew apace, and the flat portions of the land, the rich and fertile lowlands, passed under the rule of the Osmanlis. Transyl- vania, the eastern portion of the country, had strug- gled into a sort of independence, and severing herself gradually from the mother-country, had a separate state organization of her own under her native rulers, so that Hungary may be said at this time to have been cut up into three parts. The largest portion accepted the Turkish supremacy, Transylvania as- serted its independence, and the remaining and smallest division acknowledged the kings of the Hapsburg dynasty, whose residence was in Vienna. The German, Italian, and Spanish troops employed by the latter, together with those by whom they were led, so far from being instrumental in the lib- eration of the country, indulged in the same licen- THE TURKISH WORLD. 307 tious and lawless behavior as the Turks themselves. They were utterly ignorant of the language, customs, and institutions of the Hungarian people, and were entirely indifferent to the interests of the country. These irresponsible military bodies harassed and plundered the native population to such an extent that it was not long before the Hungarians came to hate the foreign soldiery, and the Germans in gen- eral, as much as they did the Turks. But even during the most depressing days, and under circumstances of a most desperate and hope- less character, the spirit of heroism did not die out amongst the Hungarian people. Shortly after the reduction of Temesvdr the immense Turkish army marched against Erlau. Stephen Dobd was the com- mandant of the latter place. He knew by the sad examples of Losonczy and Szondi what was in store for him, and, although the royal troops were near, he also knew, from experience, that he could not de- pend upon any help from that quarter, and must needs look to his own resources to stay the progress of the overwhelming forces of the Osmanlis. " We expect aid from God only, and not from men," he wrote at the approach of the enemy. H^ immedi- ately took measures to defend the place ; he laid in large supplies of ammunition, sulphur, saltpetre, and provisions, sent his lieutenant, Mecsey, a soldier worthy of his chief, into the adjoining counties to fire the hearts of the young men, and to invite them to enroll themselves amongst the defenders of the fortress. He made up his garrison of Hungarians only, knowing, from experience, that the foreign 308 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. hirelings could not be trusted. He had altogether only nine guns and nine gunners, but he hurriedly drilled the students and the more intelligent amongst the peasants in artillery practice, and formed them into a separate corps of cannoniers. Having pro- vided every thing in time, and placing his trust in God and his own strength, he calmly awaited the enemy. No sooner had the immense Turkish army arrived, when Ahmed Pasha summoned Dobd to surrender the fortress. Dobd collected about him his men and publicly read to them the pasha's letter. The gal- lant Hungarian garrison shouted, as with one heart, that they would never surrender the place. Dobd, his fellow-officers, and all the men, then took a sol- emn oath to fight to the bitter end, and that, if any one but breathed about the surrender, he should be hanged on the pillar of the town well. As an answer to Ahmed's missive, Dobd caused to be placed upon one of the lofty towers of the bastion a large iron coffin with' two lances, one of them floating the Hungarian flag, and the other the Turkish. This was to convey to the enemy that on this place either the Turks or the Hungarians must perish, and in order to give weight to his answer. he .sallied forth with part of his garrison that very night, and brought away from the besiegers a great deal of booty. Ahmed retorted by opening a fire on the town and citadel from 120 guns, some of which sped balls of fifty pounds as far as the bastion,, but eighteen days elapsed before the enemy could summon up suf- ficient courage to try an assault. It proved ineffec- 3IO THE STORY OF HUNGARY. tual, the assailants being gallantly repulsed by the Hungariafts. A few days later a great calamity befell the denizens of the citadel. The powder magazine, struck by a hostile ball, exploded, and a portion of the wall of the citadel was thrown down by the ex- plosion. Taking advantage of the wild confusion the explosion had created amongst the garrison, the enemy directed another assault against their works, but quite as ineffectually as before. They were driven back ; Dob6 had the wall repaired, and in the cellar vaults he established a gunpowder factory, which proved sufficient to furnish the necessary supply. After several unsuccessful minor attacks, the Turks prepared for the great final assault. They came against the fortress in overwhelming num- bers on every side, and already the garrison began to show symptoms of exhaustion and wavering. At that^ moment of supreme danger, however, the gallant defenders of the citadel obtained help from quite an unlooked-for quarter. Wives, moth- ers, and daughters armed themselves, and rushed to the walls to fight by the side of their dear ones. Some of these amazons robbed the dead of their swords, and rushed, thus armed, where the enemy was thickest ; others brought boiling water and oil, and poured it upon the 'heads of those who at- tempted to scale the walls ; and, with the help of these brave women, the assault was beaten back at the most dangerous points. The women of Erlau had a large share in the saving of the city, and the fame of their heroic devotion still survives in Hun- THE TURKISH WORLD. 3II giry. The Turks were quite panic-struck; in one day alone they lost 8,000 men : and the soldiers loudly declared that God was fighting on the side of the Hungarians, and who could struggle against God ? After a siege of thirty-eight days, the Turk- ish army at length withdrew, and Dobd and his brave men were left in possession of the now ruin- ous citadel, thus preserving it for their country. The glory of their daring deeds has passed into a conimon saying. Of any one accomplishing a great deed, the people say : " He has won the fame of Erlau." The place, nevertheless, passed under Turkish rule in 1596, its Hungarian com- mandant having been compelled by the foreign garrison to capitulate. In 1566 Sultan Solyman, who, though old, was still full of vigor, placed himself at the head of a for- midable army, and invaded Hungary for the sixth time, his object being to take Erlau and, eventually, to march against Vienna. On reaching, with his 200,000 men and 300 guns, Hungarian territory, he was met by the news that Mohammed Pasha, his favorite, together with his army, had been massacred by the Hungarians at Szigetvdr. The aged sultan desired to avenge this affront at once. Szigetvdr and its brave commander, Nicholas Zrinyi, had long since been troublesome to the Turks. Zrinyi, the scion of a most ancient family, had been engaged for years in constant fighting against the Moslem power, during those periods even when peace was officially established. His possessions and castles lay in the border territory, and the fearless man 312 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. was ever at war with the Osmanlis, making them feel the weight of hjs irresistible sword. The storming of Szigetvdr had been attempted once before, but the enemy had been beaten back with great slaughter. And now the great sultan de- termined himself to. bring him to terms, and to invest in person the small fortress. Zrinyi was prepared for the worst, and calmly got ready to face the formidable foe. Szigetvdr was not a for- tress of the first rank, but only one of the minor strong places. The main feature of its strength was that it lay almost entirely surrounded by lake and marsh, the only road leading to the place being over the bridge communicating with the gate. In front of the citadel, on an island, was the old town., and south of it, on another island, the so-called new town. Szigetvdr, therefore, con- sisted, in point of fact, of three places, each for- tified, but differing from each other in the strength of their works of defence. The two towns were, in reality, advanced fortifications of the fortress itself. Without much aid from any quarter, Zrinyi undertook the defence of this small place. His own money purchased the necessary ammunition and military supplies; he filled the granaries with provisions, produced on his own estates, and from his cellar came the necessary wine. There was an abundance of provisions in the place, but there were not soldiers enough. When it became quite certain that the sultan was marching his whole army against Szigetvir, all Zrinyi could obtain from the king, after repeatedly urging his want THE TURKISH WORLD. 313 of soldiers, was the permission to hire one thou- sand foot-soldiers. German, soldiers, it is true, were offered to him, but those he did not want, preferring to select his troops from amongst the garrisons of his own castles, so as to have only tried men by his side. All the force he could mus- ter to oppose to the hundreds of thousands of Solyman numbered, at the highest, 2,500 men. He had 54 guns and 800 hundredweights of gunpowder, and, what was worth more than all that, he and his men were inspired by the sublime resolve, rather to die on the field of honor than to submit to the cruel enemy, who had turned into a desert a large por- tion of their beautiful country. His soldiers wor- shipped their heroic leader, and enthusiastically pledged their devotion by oaths of fidelity and obedience. On the 31st of July, 1566, the advance guard of the enemy showed itself. During the first few days several minor engagements took place, but the siege began in real earnest on the 7th of August. On that day the first assault was attempted ; it was di- rected against the weakest point, the new town, but it met with no success. A few days later, how- ever, Zrinyi himself deemed it expedient to give up the defence of this advanced position, and, after hav- ing set fire to the new town and reduced it to ashes, he abandoned it to the enemy. The besiegers im- mediately occupied it and erected their batteries, protected by bags and baskets filled with earth, and sacks of wool. The batteries were hardly ready when the Hungarians surprised them one night 314 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. and destroyed them all. Chance, however, now fa- vored the Turks. A drought had prevailed during two months, and the terrain surrounding the old town had become so dry, as considerably to facilitate the approach of the enemy. The besiegers attempted also to drain the lake surrounding the fortress, and planned to accomplish this by cutting through the great dam around it, so as to provide an outlet for the waters. The neighborhood of the dam became the scene of fierce struggles. The position was heroically defended by the Hungarians, while the Turks quite as heroically again and again returned to the attack. After a sanguinary contest lasting the whole day, the Turks finally took the old town on the 19th of August, and Zrinyi with his shrunken garrison entirely withdrew to the citadel, after hav- ing demolished the bridge leading to the old town. Sultan Solyman, however, now thought that lives enough had been lost, and he therefore tried to get possession of the fortress by peaceable means. He tried Zrinyi with fair promises ; he sent him messages that he would make him prince of Dalmatia, Croa- tia, and Slavonia, and tempted him^with treasures and estates. Then h* tried him with threats. The enemy had captured one of the trumpeters of Zrin- yi's son, George. The trumpet found in the pris- oner's possession had the arms of the Zrinyi family painted on it, and Solyman sent this trumpet to Szigetvar as a token that Zrinyi's son had been taken captive, and threatened that the prisoner would be cruelly executed unless the place was sur- rendered. Neither promises nor threats were of any THE TURKISH WORLD. 315 avail. Zrinyi did not for a moment waver, but was steadfast in his determination to follow the dictates of duty and patriotism alone. The wrath of Solyman at the wearisomeness of the siege knew no bounds. He had been patiently expecting day after day the reduction of the place, and finally, tired of further delay, gave the order for a general assault on the 29th of August. The super- stitious sultan thought this a particularly lucky day, for it was the anniversary of the day on which he had taken Belgrade and of the battle at Mohdcs. The aged ruler, who now but rarely showed himself to his soldiers, mounted his favorite charger and ap- peared amongst the Janissaries, in order to rouse and encourage them. His troops rushed enthusiastically into the fight, for which the artillery and the engi neers conducting the siege had made every prepara- tion many days before. But Zrinyi was ready and wide-awake, and drove the assailants back with great slaughter. Aliportug, a Portuguese renegade, who was the enemy's most distinguished artillery officer and military engineer, and had conducted the siege of Sziget, lost his life during this engagement. The Hungarians, although they too had suffered severe losses, celebrated their triumph with bonfires and feasting. They now fondly hoped that their heroic resistance would at last induce the royal troops to come to the relief of Sziget, and to attack the ex- hausted troops of the sultan. Some negotiations to that effect had been carried on, but the result was as usual ; the German commanders allowed the scanty garrison to perish. 3l6 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. The besiegers, after their last repulse, passed an entire week without renewing the attack. They employed this pause to lay unobserved a powerful mine under the walls of the bastion, which was fired by them on the 5th of September. The explosion shattered the walls, the bastion fell down, and a ter- rible gale carried the flames into the citadel in every direction. All the buildings were soon on fire, and the Turks too began a general assault. Hemmed in by the dreadful conflagration and the storming ene- my, the Hungarians finally yielded. They retired from the outer fortification, and Zrinyi with his men — who had dwindled down to a few hundred — withdrew into the inner or smaller fort. Further re- sistance seemed now hopeless, yet Zrinyi did not think of capitulating. The cannon-balls of the ene- my set on fire the smaller fort on the 7th of Septem- ber. Zrinyi, in this extremity, had all his valuables, his thousands of gold and silver, his precious vessels and plate, brought into the public square of the cita- del and cast into the flames. He then divested him- self of his armor and helmet, donned a dolmdny (a short jacket braided in front), and threw over it a dark-blue velvet cloak, placing in each of his pockets a hundred ducats as a reward to the man who should discover his dead body. He wound a costly chain of gold around his neck, in place of his helmet he put on his head a kalpag (a Hungarian fur cap), orna- mented with a heron's feather and diamond rosettes, and, arming himself with a curved sabre and a light shield, he took with him the keys of the citadel, to make sure that they should pass into the enemy's THE TURKISH WORLD. 317 hands only upon his death. In this attire he ap- peared before his men, who were assembled in the courtyard. He addressed them in a speech full of his generous spirit, " lauding them for their gallant conduct, which would earn for them the respect of the Christian world and of generations to come. The conclusion of their heroic career," he added, "ought to be worthy of their brilliant feats of the past. There is but one road before us," he con- tinued, " that of honor ; all the other courses are those of shame. You must either meet with death here amid the flames, or must sally forth, and, dearly selling your lives, die the deaths of heroes. Choose between the two." The kindling words of their leader did not fail of their effect. At this supreme moment the people of Szigetvdr, in their exalted en- thusiasm, thought only of their honor. The very women wished to follow the men on this their last journey. Zrinyi had the bridge lowered and was the first to advance upon it. Lawrence Juranics was at his side carrying the large banner, and the other offi- cers promptly followed. About six hundred people joined the sally of their heroic leader, who, after a fierce struggle, la,id down his devoted life. Of his companions-in-arms but few escaped.* Thus, after a glorious resistance of over six weeks, did Szigetvdr fall into the hands of the Turks. Sultan Solyman did not see the victorious end of the siege ; he had expired a few days before in his camp. The Turkish army returned home, and thus through Zrinyi's noble self-sacrifice was the entire campaign * See Frontispiece. 3l8 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. of the enemy rendered barren of results. The for- midable army which had menaced the whole country wasted its strength at Szigetvdr, and the capture of this fortress alone cost the enemy 30,000 lives. Zrinyi's heroic death roused the admiration and sympathy of the whole European world, and his name became famous as one of the martyrs of Christianity. Nor were the muses silent, in the midst of the heroic combats which marked this sad period. With so many inspiring themes presenting them- selves, the poet, the successor of the mediaeval trou- badour, soon appeared on the scene to perpetuate in song the memory of the glorious deeds. Among others was Sebastian Tin6dy, who described in verse some of the most glorious of the episodes in the sad chronicle of the sixteenth century. He visited the scenes of the battles and engagements, sought out the survivors or those who had taken a conspicuous part, the captains and their brave followers, collect- ing the incidents presented in his ballads. Tinddy did not confine himself, however, to his lyre, but was also an adept in the use of arms, and often took part in the contests of his time, and had more than once been wounded. Another and even more in- teresting figure was that of Valentine Balassa, who was as gallant a soldier as he was eminent as a poet.. His works, consisting in part of religious poems and partly of lyric songs, have been, for three centuries, the favorite reading of the Hungarian people. Some of his writings have, however, come down to us in manuscript only, and present a most valuable example of the poetic genius of the Hungarians of his time. THE TURKISH WORLD. 319 Balassa lived a stirring, eventful and dangerous life, which came to a glorious end on the field of honor. At the storming of Gran, in 1597, he was among the Hungarian besiegers, and the gallant poet received a wound during the engagement, which soon proved fatal. In the midst of these perpetual struggles and suc- pasha's house. cessive calamities closed the sixteenth century, and began the seventeenth quite as inauspiciously for the Hungarians. Until now they had cherished the hope that the Hapsburg kings would rescue them from the cruel rule of the Osmanhs. But after a lapse of seventy years they not only saw their hopes of liberation from the hated yoke destroyed, but had the mortification of witnessing the continual spread of the Turkish power. Besides, a sharp antagonism 320 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. of another kind gradually arose between the nation and their king. The national spirit, in spite of the sad condition of the people, asserted itself more and more, and frequently came into collision with the foreign royal dynasty, whose seat of government was without the frontiers of the country. This antago- nism was not only of a national, but also of a religious character, for, while the largest part of Hungary was overwhelmingly Protestant, the kings of this period were among the staunchest supporters of the Church ' of Rome. In addition to this, the kings, who were at the same time emperors of Germany, had brought themselves, by their autocratic actions, into direct opposition to the constitution of the country and to the rights and privileges guaranteed by law. As a consequence a fierce constitutional contest . was raging, during the whole of the seventeenth century, between the nation and their kings, which quite overshadowed the struggle against the Turks. In these contests the Hungarian people leaned for support chiefly on the principality of Transylvania, whose rulers, Stephen Bocskay, Gabriel Bethlen, George Rikdczy I., not only made their comparatively small country the bulwark of Hungarian nationality and of the Protestant Church, but raised her to a posi- tion of exceptional influence in European politics. Before continuing to sketch the period of the Turkish rule in Hungary, we will take a rapid glance at the rise of Protestantism amongst the Hungarians. The fall of Luther's hammer upon the door of the castle-church of Wittenberg, as he nailed to it his famous theses, reverberated even in Hungary, and HUNGAKIAN PEASANTS IK AN INN. 322 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. produced an intense commotion in that distant coun- try. The period of the renaissance, the revival of art and literature, had prepared all active and inquiring minds for changes in church and religion. The coun- try had maintained an active intercourse, political, commercial, and cultural, with the western nations, and when Luther began the great work in Germany, which was to mark a new era in the history of the world, his ideas spread like wildfire all over Hungary, and, especially, found favor amongst the German in- habitants, who formed at that time an important element of her population. The cities of Buda, Oedenburg (Soprony), Presburg, the wealthy mining regions in the north, the Kirdlyfold in Transylvania, were settled by Germans. Many of their clergy, at- tracted by ties of national kinship had finished their studies in Germany, and their merchants were closely connected in business with those of the old father- land. Owing to the intimate relations thus established between the Germans of Hungary and their brethren abroad, the teachings of Luther gained almost as rapidly ground among them as among their country- men in Germany, where the new doctrines had first been promulgated. In the course of a few years the new movement had assumed such formidable propor- tions that it attracted the attention of the whole nation. The Catholic clergy, threatened in their supremacy, were the first to take the field in defence of the Church thus assailed. Round them very soon rallied that class of the nation which, alone, enjoyed politi- cal rights in the land, the entire nobility. In siding THE TURKISH WORLD. 323 with the Catholic clergy, in this conflict against the Reformation and its followers, the Lutherans, the nobility were by no means actuated by religious mo- tives only. Their hostile attitude was rather owing to important political considerations. The throne was then occupied by Louis IL, who was of Polish extraction, the same youthful king who, noted for his frivolous character, expiated the errors of his reign upon the battle-field of Mohdcs. This un- fortunate ruler was personally as indifferent to religion as to every thing else involving a serious turn of mind. But his wife. Queen Mary, the sister of the German emperor, Charles V., was all the more en- thusiastic in the defence of Luther's teachings. The queen and her German courtiers, by exerting a bane- ful influence over the affairs of Hungary, had incurred the ill-will of the nobility, which was identical with the national party. This party, with a view to strik- ing a blow at the German and Lutheran sympathiz- ers surrounding the king, enacted from the outset most rigorous laws against the Lutherans. Thus, as early as 1523, a law was promulgated declaring Luth- erans and their protectors (clearly indicating by the latter term the German courtiers of the king) foes to the Holy Virgin Mary, the patroness of Hungary, and as such, punishable with death and confiscation of their property. The persecutions against the adher- ents of the new faith began immediately. Luther's works and writings, which had been largely imported into Hungary, were seized and consigned to the flames. The Reformation, nevertheless, steadily gained ground. 324 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. In the diets which, owing to the attacks threat- ening the country from abroad and troubles at home, were then held three or four times annually, the national party, headed by John Szapolyai, one of the most powerful lords of the land, was constantly urging the cause of the Catholic Church. But there were other political reasons, besides their antipathy to the German courtiers, which determined the national party to persist in their antagonism to the new faith. The Osmanlis were continually harassing the southern frontiers, and the country was always on the brink of a war with them. The nobility, representing the nation,, felt instinctively that a catastrophe was near at hand, which Hungary, by her unaided strength alone, would be unable to avert. They had to look for foreign aid, and effective help from abroad could be expected only from the two most powerful rulers in Christendom, the pope and the emperor of Germany, both of whom were Luther's most determined opponents. They succeeded in securing the good-will of the pope, who, having no armies at his disposal to aid Hungary, assisted the country by abundant supplies of money. In return the nobility deemed it their sacred duty to keep a faithful watch and ward over the interests of the Catholic Church, and, in order to do so effectively, they inaugurated relentless measures against the Lutheran heretics. In 1525 another law was passed against the votaries of the new creed, ordering their extermination throughout the country, and declaring that Lutherans, wherever they were found, should suffer death by fire. This cruel law began its abom- THE TURKISH WORLD. 325 inable work, and the funeral stakes soon sent forth their lurid flames. The religious persecutions thus inaugurated hastened the downfall of the Hungarian kingdom. The dreadful catastrophe at Mohdcs, in 1526, forced Hungary into untrodden roads, not only politically, but also in the matter of religion. The death of her king, and the slaughter of so many prelates and of thousands of nobles, on the fated battle-field, gave . a violent shock to the organization of both state and church, and rendered easy the further ex- tension of the Reformation. Many of the great lords and nobles, who hitherto had been the most ardent supporters of the Catholic Church, speedily became, from political motives or private interest, zealous apostles of the new faith, so that the doctrines of Luther, before principally confined to the inhabitants of the cities, now found many adherents among the magnates. The bondmen, too, who, even in matters of religion, were compelled to obey the behests of their masters, embraced the religion of their lords. As a consequence, the victory of the Reformation be- came, a few decades only after the battle of Mohdcs, complete through the larger part of Hungary. The doctrines of Luther had paved the way for the teach- ings of Calvin. The latter, owing to their puritanic spirit and democratic tendencies, which suited the rooted predilection of the Magyar race for self-gov- ernment, spread mostly over the Hungarian section of the country. The religion of Calvin, or the Hel- vetic confession, had such a hold upon the Hun- garian-speaking population that it was soon desig- 326' THE STORY OF HUNGARY. nated by the special name of the Hungarian faith, while the Lutheran tenets were held chiefly by the German denizens of the cities and the Slavic inhabitants of the upper country. The ancient Roman Church was confined to a comparatively small territor}', and during the seventeenth century hardly numbered one seventh of the population. One of the most shining pages in the law records of Hungary— an enactment granting to the two Protes- tant churches equal rights with the Catholic Church — is connected with the name of Stephen Bocskay. Although the Catholic Church had, during the six- teenth century, lost most of its followers, yet legally, and owing to the circumstance that the Hapsburg kings were the most zealous propagators of the Roman faith, it continued to be the only recognized church, and to exercise an unduly preponderating in- fluence in public life, which, at that time, bore an exclusively religious impress. The Hungarian mag- nates and noblemen, then almost all Protestants, under the leadership of Prince Stephen Bocskay, took up arms against this privileged position of the Catholic Church, as well as in defence of the laws of the land, and succeeded in obtaining, in 1606, at the peace of Vienna, a law whereby perfect equality be- tween the Protestant churches and the Catholic Church was established. This great victory, achiev- ed by the Protestants, had the effect of rousing the Catholic Church to energetic action. The anti-re- formation movement began in Hungary, as it had already all over Europe, and produced, under the direction of Cardinal Peter PAzmdny, the archbishop THE TURKISH WORLD. 327 of Gran, in a comparatively short time, the most surprising results. In the course of a few decades, the most influential and leading families of the aris- tocracy returned to the fold of the Catholic Church. The mass of the people, however, the nobility, the inhabitants of the cities, and the peasantry, still re- mained Protestants, and when the Transylvanian, princes, Gabriel Bethlen and George Rdkoczy I., were about to engage in war against the Hapsburgs, they readily rallied around these bearers of the standard of the national faith. The peace of Linz, a confir- mation of the treaty of Vienna, was concluded un- der Rdkdczy, again solemnly proclaiming the per- fect equality of the Protestant churches with the Roman Catholic Church, an equality, however, which, in point of fact, was never put into practice. The written law and their good right was of no use to the Protestants, for the power was gradually slipping from their hands. Under the patronage of the royal court, the anti-reformation movement had made great conquests amongst the lower classes of the people, and sometimes by the use of violence, sometimes by other means, whole districts and large territories again became Catholic. Elated by these successes, the court of Vienna for a long time ignored its promise of freeing the Hungarian people from the Turkish yoke, and about sixty years elapsed with- out any hostilities against the sultans. The chief endeavor of the court was forcibly to deprive the Hungarian nation of her constitutional institutions which were based upon her nationality, and to sub- ject to imperial absolutism the people, jealous of 328 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. their liberties and accustomed to freedom. These unconstitutional proceedings on the part of the gov- ernment produced popular risings and party strife, and were, in their sad consequences, fatal to thou- sands of fanatics, spreading misery and poverty even to those parts of the land which, from their geo- graphical positions, had been exempt from the ravages of the Turks. The cessation of hostilities did not interrupt the continued ravages and devastations. Officially, it is true, there was, for about sixty years, peace between the royal court and the sultans, but this did not pre- vent the latter from constantly indulging in minor military operations. In 1663, however, when Leopold I., who was of an eminently peaceful disposition, held the throne, the Turks officially declared war. Although it had already then become apparent that the Turkish empire was impaired in strength, and, ipore particularly, that her military organization had degenerated, yet the Turks were eager for new bat- tles, and war was determined upon in Constanti- nople. Hostilities soon commenced, and at St. Gotthard, in 1664, the Turks got their first repulse, for Christian arms there dealt them a heavy blow. Not once during the two centuries that had gone by were the Turks so overwhelmingly defeated on the continent as on this occasion. Enslaved Hungary breathed more freely, and already thought that the long-hoped-for hour of shaking off Moslem thraldom had arrived. But she was doomed to disappoint- ment. The brilliant triumph was not turned to Hungary's advantage in Vienna. A hasty peace was THE TURKISH WORLD. 329 concluded with the terrified Turks, and thus was prolonged for many decades the Turkish rule, which, though enfeebled, was still ruinous to Hungary. It was at this period, too, that a man of great genius, and a true patriot, preached, with genuine apostolic zeal, a crusade against the Turks. His name was Nicholas Zrinyi. The namesake and great- grandson of the hero of Szigetvdr, he was himself a gallant soldier and famous poet, and has immortal- ized, in a grand Hungarian epic, the martyrdom of his heroic ancestor. By his writings he fired the hearts of his countrymen, and his life was passed on bloody fields, in perpetual warfare against the Turks. From his youth he had been inspired by one thought only, to live and die for his country, and, although a devout Catholic, he nobly proclaimed religious tol- eration, at a time when the country was torn by re- ligious dissensions. His educated mind led him to cultivate poetry, and to study the works of classical authors on history and philosophy, but his chief in- terest always remained the battle-field and the strug- gle against the Turks. On one of his estates he had a small fortress erected, called Zerinvdr, from which the Hungarians were in the habit of sallying forth into the neighboring Turkish territory. This little place was a thorn in the side of the Turk, and the main cause of the declaration of war of 1663. Zrinyi, however, defended it gallantly, and beat back the assault of the enemy. In the course of the war he took several Turkish fortresses, and burned down and destroyed the bridge across the Drave, 4,000 paces in length, near Esz6k, which had been built 330 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. under Solyman, and which, being the main road leading into the western part of the country, was de- fended by trenches and other fortifications. The repute made by Zrinyi's extraordinary feats of war resounded in all Europe, and he was loaded down with distinctions by the pope, Louis XIV. of France, and by the princes of Germany and Italy, as the hero of Christendom. In the zenith of his glory, he lost his life by a cruel accident. While engaged in the chase, a wild boar rushed upon him, and wounded him mortally. He was found by his servants, lying on the ground, bathed in his own blood, and ex- pired shortly afterward. All Hungary and Christian Europe lamented the loss of the distinguished sol- dier and poet. His devout wish, to see the Hungarian nation freed from the oppressive rule of the Turks, did not approach its fulfilment until twenty years after his death. But even then it was not the royal court which accomplished the work of liberation, for, in- stead of making preparations in that direction, the government initiated the most cruel persecutions against the Protestants, compelling them to resort to armed resistance. The struggle between the Kuruczes, or the armed Hungarians, and the imperial troops was at its height, when Kara Mustapha Pasha, the ambitious grand-vizier of Sultan Mohammed IV., saw in this intestine war a favorable opportunity to conquer the remaining territory of Hungary, and even to menace in his own residence, Vienna, the emperor of the Romans. Leopold I., the emperor of Germany and king of Hungary, did all in his power THE TURKISH WORLD. 33 1 to conciliate the Turks and to delay the war. But Kara Mustapha remained inexorable, and boldly ventured on an enterprise which was destined to be fatal to him, and which, after a long and sanguinary contest, finally led to the overthrow of the Turkish power in Europe and the liberation of Hungary. In the spring of 1683 the sultan and his grand- vizier commenced their march at the head of a force numbering 250,000 men, carrying with them 300 cannon. In Hungary they were joined by the so- called Kurucz king, Count Emeric Tokolyi, and his adherents. This tremendous army was already under the walls of Vienna in July, but two months of a severe siege had already elapsed and the city could not be taken. The Christian forces, led by John Sobieski, King of Poland, and Charles, Duke of Lorraine, were meanwhile hastening to the relief of the city, and on the 12th of September they suc- ceeded in completely routing the Turkish army, which lost 60,000 men, the remainder scattering in wild flight in every direction. This was the last great campaign undertaken by the Osmanlis against the Western world. They could never recuperate from the effects of the defeat then suffered, and the great calamity which befell the Turkish power rendered it, at length, possible for Hungary, the bulwark of Chris- tianity, which had been the scene of continual wars during a century and a half, to regain her liberty. Leopold I., who had seen his capital menaced by the Turks, now took energetic measures to continue the war, and very soon his forces recaptured Gran, the ancient seat of the primate of Hungary, which 332 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. for a long time had owned the Turkish rule. The whole line of the Danube fell into the hands of the Christians, and in 1684 an attempt was made to capture Buda, the once famous capital of Hungary. The siege, however, failed on this occasion, in spite of the heroic efforts made by the Hungarians. But they were more fortunate in the case of another powerful Turkish stronghold, Neuhausel (Ersekujvdr), the re- capture of which, a brilliant military feat, was made the occasion forfeasting and merriment in many European cities. At length, in 1686, Buda, too, was restored to Hungary. Volunteers flocked into Hungary, from every part of Europe, when the news spread that Duke Charles of Lorraine, the commander-in- chief, was making preparations for the recapture of the ancient and famous seat of the Hungarian kings. A powerful army gathered around his banners, and in the middle of June the duke arrived under the walls of Buda, which was defended by Abdi Pasha, then seventy years old, and a garrison of i6,(Xio determined soldiers. The siege lasted seventy- seven days, during which time the Turks made two sallies, and the grand-vizier made three attempts to come to the relief of the garrison, but the enemy was each time driven back by the Christian forces. The strongly fortified city, which had been heroically defended, fell, at length, after five unsuccessful as- saults, on the 2d of September, 1686, into the hands of Duke Charles. On the afternoon of that day, at four o'clock, began the sixth assault ; 9,000 Chris- tian heroes resolutely stormed with fixed bayonets (an arm at that time still new and here employed for THE TURKISH WORLD. 333 the first time) the walls which had been reduced to ruins by the guns of the besiegers. After a sanguin- ary contest lasting about one hour, a gallant Hun- garian, David Petnehdzy, succeeded in penetrating, first, with his 800 hayduks, into Buda, whose garri- son and inhabitants were almost entirely put to the sword. Thus after a lapse of 145 years was Buda freed from the Turkish yoke, and the whole Christian world was jubilant over the glorious news. Many bloody battles, however, occupying a con- siderable period of time, had to be fought before-the Moslem oppressors were entirely swept away from Hungarian territory. Duke Charles marched to the southern parts of Hungary and destroyed the Turkish army near Mohclcs, there, where 161 years before the Hungarian army had been annihilated by the Moslems. Soon after, Transylvania, too, passed under the supremacy of the king of Hungary. All the principal fortresses and towns were successively occupied by the royal troops, and when, in 1691, a Turkish army numbering 100,000 men was sent again to Hungary by the Sublime Porte, they were completely routed near Szaldnkem^n. It was one of the most sanguinary battles of that century ; the grand-vizier himself, the aga of the Janissaries, seventeen pashas, and 20,000 Turkish soldiers lost their Hves during the engagement. During a few years succeeding this great battle, lesser engagements only were fought, but hostilities never ceased. In 1697, however, Duke Eugene of Savoy, the " noble knight " and illustrious general, assumed the com- mandership of the royal forces. In the battle near 334 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. Zenta he utterly annihilated, after a contest of two hours, a Turkish army led by Sultan Mustapha II., inflicting frightful losses upon the enemy; 10,000 Turks met their death in the waters of the Theiss, 20,000 were killed, and among the dead were the grand- vizier, 4 pashas, and 13 begler beys. These succes- sive disasters and the frightful loss of men, amount- ing to many hundreds of thousands in the course of the fifteen years of warfare, finally prevailed upon the sultan to accept the terms of peace proposed by Leo- pold I. The treaty of peace was signed at Carlowitz in 1699, and under its terms Transylvania and the greater part of the Hungarian territory was restored to the king of Hungary by the sultan, but a smaller portion, lying between Transylvania and the Theiss, the ancient county of Temes, was still permitted to remain in Turkish hands. The court of Vienna, in- stead of attempting to regain the remaining terri- tory, elated by the recent military successes, again renewed its attacks upon the nationality of the Hun- garians and their ancient liberties, which it had al- ways looked upon with decided dislike, and the complete subversion of which it now attempted. The nobility, weary of the absolutism of the court, combined at last with the peasantry, who had suffered severely under the lawlessness and illegal exactions of the soldiery, to raise the standard of re- bellion, under the lead of Francis Rdkdczy II. The great national struggle for liberty was initiated by electing Rdkdczy king of Hungary and Transylvania, and, very soon, the Kurucz troops roamed as far as Austria. Later on, however, the fortunes of war THE TURKISH WORLD. 335 changed, and Rikdczy retired to Poland hoping to obtain aid from the Russian Czar Peter the Great. During his absence he entrusted one of his generals, Alexander Kdrolyi, with the command of his army, who, however, instead of continuing the struggle, made his peace with the king. The peace of Szatmdr, in 171 1, finally put an end to the period of constitu- tional struggles between the nation and the king. Now, at last, came the time for the still enslaved Hungarian territory to be freed from Turkish rule. The new war began in 1716. The imperial troops were again commanded by Prince Eugene, who, once more defeating the Turks near Peterwardein wrested, at last, Temesvir and the county of Temes from the Turks, in whose possession they had re- mained one hundred and sixty-four years. At the peace, concluded in 1718, the Sultan relinquished also his claim to that part of the country, and thus the entire territory belonging at the present day to the crown of Hungary was at last freed from Turk- ish thraldom. There was now an end to the Islam rule in Hun- gary, as there had been to the same rule in Spain. But whilst the Moors had immortalized their name by memorials of a grand civilization, leaving behind them flourishing and wealthy cities, numerous works of art, and marvels of architecture, the Turks left Hungary ruined and devastated. Throughout the whole territory of the reconquered country, only a few miserable villages could be met with here and there, population had sunk to the lowest ebb, end- less swamps covered the fertile soil of the once 336 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. flourishing Alfold (Lowland), and the genius of the Hungarian nation had now to engage in the arduous labor of subduing, by the arts of peace and civiliza- tion, the sterile waste they had regained at last by their bravery and endurance. The work, hard as it was, was done. For a century and a half the severe • task of colonizing and civilizing has been going on bravely, until finally that tract of land, which they recovered from the Turks an uninhabited desert, has grown to be populous, flourishing, and one of the richest granaries of Europe. CHAPTER XIII. THE AUSTRIAN RULE, 1526-I780. The preceding chapter gave an account of the varying fortunes of that part of Hungary which, although geographically appertaining to the domains of the crown of St. Stephen, was virtually occupied and ruled by the Turks, and this account was brought down to the time when the country suc- ceeded in shaking off the foreign yoke. The thrill- ing episodes of that sad era deserved a place by themselves. Yet in describing these tragic events but little was said of the kings of the ruling dynasty and the destinies of that portion of the country which remained subject to their rule, or so much only was touched upon in a general way as was absolutely necessary for a proper understanding of the occurrences related there. This hiatus will now be supplied, by resuming, in a succinct form, the historical narrative of the events following the disas- trous battle of Mohics. We have already seen that at no time was the Turkish power so strong as during the first half of the sixteenth century, and that Hungary was never so weak as after the death of Matthias Hunyadi. The innovations of Matthias had broken down the 337 338 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. ancient military organization, which recruited its armies from the ranks of the nobihty and the armed bands in their train, and established in its place a standing army. But on the death of the genius which had called it into existence, the standing army also disappeared. We have described elsewhere the sad fate of his valiant " black guard." The disas- trous reverses at Belgrade and Mohdcs were the con- sequence, and it became evident that Hungary, single-handed, could not withstand the power of the Osmanlis. Under these circumstances the nation was com- pelled to look for assistance from abroad, and, in searching for a powerful alliance, it was quite natural that public attention should be drawn to the house of Hapsburg, the great authority and influence of which gave the fairest promise of effectual support to the prostrate country. This dynasty occupied at that time a front rank amongst the reigning families ; its rule extended over Austria, Germany, the wealthy Netherlands, Spain, with her American colonies and dependencies, Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia — an im- mense domain, of which it might have been then truly said that " the sun never set in it." No dynasty, since the Caesars, had controlled the destinies of so many nations and of so vast a territory. Ferdinand, a scion of that influential dynasty, who at this time was also elected king of Bohemia, owed his elevation to the throne of Hungary to hopes and arguments of this kind. He gave the people assurances of support on the part of his family ; he vowed to respect the rights and liberties of the nation, and promised to live in the THE AUSTRIAN RULE. 339 country and to confide the conduct of her affairs to Hungarians only. Every thing turned out quite differently from what the royal electors had hoped and expected. The Turks were decidedly averse to any augmenta- tion of the power of the Hapsburgs by the acquisi- tion of the Hungarian throne. They desired to see Hungary under a separate king of her own, and to A csik6s. accomplish this the Turks shrank from no sacrifices, and succeeded in embroiling the unfortunate country in continual wars. Unhappy Hungary was placed between the hammer and the anvil. The Turks were unwilling to yield, and the Hapsburgs, quite as reluctant to give up the country, were, nevertheless, unable to defend it. The result of the cruel war, waged for over thirty years, was, in the end, that Hungary was torn into three parts. The heart of 340 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. the land, the Alfold, was seized by the Turks ; the hilly plateau of Transylvania was ruled by native princes, acknowledging the suzerainty of the sultan ; and the remaining portion only, the northern and western part, owned the supremacy of the Hapsburgs in their capacity of kings of Hungary. Thus the new dynasty, so far from proving a protection to the country, rather led to its dismemberment. The condition of Transylvania was, comparatively speaking, more favorable than that of either of the two other sections of the country. She had to pay her tribute to the Turks, but beyoiid that she expe- rienced no interference on the part, of her paramount lord. She was allowed to elect her own -rulers, to convene her national assemblies, to keep up an army of her own, and to live as before under the ancient laws of Hungary. The Alfold, in the hands of the Turks, was governed in Turkish fashion. The Turks never settled down in the country they conquered ; they only garrisoned it, as it were. The government and the spahis were the new landlords, and their chief care was, not to watch over the welfare of the people, -hut to fleece them and to extort from them heavy taxes and all sorts of vexatious imposts. The effects of such an administration became soon visible. The ancient culture perished, the population gradually decreased, and the once fertile soil relapsed into barrenness. Nor were the complaints fewer and less bitter in the western and northern parts, ruled by the Haps- burg kings of Hungary. The hope of obtaining, through these kings, aid from the West gradually THE AUSTRIAN RULE. 34I vanished. The nation, besides, was quick to perceive that Hungary was looked upon by the Hapsburgsas an unimportant province, rather than an independent country. The king did not reside in Hungary, but in Vienna, which was tlie permanent seat of his gov- ernment, and all the remonstrances coming from the various diets against this state of things led only to bare promises. There were numerous grievances besides. After the first vacancy in the dignity of a palatine no other palatine had been appointed, Ger- man advisers alone were listened to in affairs con- cerning Hungary, the country was flooded with German ofificials and soldiers, and distinguished Hungarian magnates were thrown into prison with- out due form of law. These evils were already felt under Ferdinand, the first Hapsburg king, but they still increased under his successor. King Maximilian (i 564-1 576). The latter proceeded quite openly in his anti-national policy. He promised Germany for himself and his successors, in return for her aid, to use every endeavor to bring about the annexation of Hungary to that country. The Diet of 1567, in enumerating the many abuses of the govern- ment, bitterly inveighed against the foreign sol- diery, charging them with arbitrarily raising tolls, taking the thirtieth part, imposing unlawful taxes on the communes, wasting the substance of the peasantry and robbing them of their last penny, and, finally, selling their children into slavery to the Turks. The Diet declared that, " There is no salva- tion, no hope for us ; we have no other alternative but to leave our native land and emigrate to foreign parts." 342 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. These complaints remained unheeded by Maxi- mihan, nor was his son and successor, Rudolph (i 576-1608), more disposed to remedy the ills com- plained of. The office of the palatine still remained vacant ;. the affairs of Hungary were administered, without consulting the Hungarians, by a court cabi- net and a military council. Rudolph's reply to the remonstrances of the Estates of the realm, that " these things have been in practice long since," was certainly a cynical apology for the continuance of abuses. Thus was the continual infringement of the law claimed to have become a law in itself, and in- dependent Hungary became virtually subject to the authority of foreigners. The temper of the diets which met during the first years of Rudolph's reign clearly indicated the state of irritation produced by the king's presumptuous treatment of the liberties of the nation ; the exasperated Estates spoke of re- fusing to vote subsidies, and some of them, although in the minority, threatened even to join either Po- land or Turkey. Rudolph, wearied with these bois- terous scenes, turned his back upon the country, and the nation did not see her king for twenty-five years. The country was compelled patiently to suffer the encroachments on her ancient rights, for to no quar- ter could she look for help. Alone she was too weak to right herself, and the only alliances that of- fered themselves were either the German or Turkish. A sad alternative, indeed, for the Turks on the one hand never ceased to harass and devastate the country, threatening even to absorb the territory yet free, and the Germans on the other utterly ignored THE AUSTRIAN RULE. 343 the constitution and liberties of Hungary, although the kings on their election and coronation always swore to respect and to defend both. The Turks were extirpating the nation, whilst the Germans were trying to rob her of her Hungarian nation- ality. The Germans, being considered the lesser evil, carried the day, and hopes were besides enter- tained that, after all, Germany would finally rid the country of the Turks. These hopes were further encouraged after the death of Solyman (1566), when it became apparent that the Turkish power was de- clining from day to day. But the country was doomed to disappointment, for the Viennese govern- ment, instead of arraying itself against Turkey, was on the eve of trying the patience of her people again with measures and acts hostile to their nationality. The great obstacle to the Germanizing schemes had always been the Hungarian Diet and the stiff- necked independence of the nobles composing it. It was impossible for the governlhent to do away with the diet as it had done away with the dignity of palatine and the other exalted Hungarian of- fices, as the grant of taxes and soldiers required in an emergency depended upon the good will of the diet. If there was no diet in session, no supplies of money and soldiers could be voted. The govern- ment therefore determined to resort to measures which would bend the majority of the diet to its will. The royal free cities had at that time the priv- ilege of sending members to the diet of Hungary to represent them. But the influence at the diet of these municipalities, of whom there were but few. 344 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. and most of these with German inhabitants, was very slight. A great number of private boroughs were made by the government royal free cities, and an attempt was made to use the new members sent by these constituencies as a counterpoise to the hostile nobles in the diet. But the nobility loudly protested against this innovation. Some of those who protested were charged with treason, but, unable to obtain their conviction before a Hungarian tribunal, the govern- ment had them brought to Vienna before a military council, which pronounced them guilty of the charge against them. One of the victims of these illegal proceedings, a certain lUeshdzy, a wealthy magnate, saved his life by flight only. His immense estates were confiscated, and an inquiry into his case fully proved that the cruel sentence passed upon him was not meant so much to punish his supposed crime, as it was intended to be a means of getting possession of his vast property. But the persecutions of the gov- ernment did not stop there ; the turn of the Protestants soon came. Thus was one of the captains ordered to take away by violence from the Protestants the cathe- dral at Kassa, and to hand it over to the Catholics. The city authorities of Kassa recaptured the church, but it was taken from them again by force, and the city was mulcted by the government in a heavy fine of money. This outrage might well excite indignation at a time when three fourths of the population of Hungary were Protestants. It became evident that the German influence was bent upon attacking the people in their liberties as well as their religion, and whilst the government was yet inclined to show THE AUSTRIAN RULE. 345 some Indulgence to the Catholics, it was determined to show no kind of mercy to the Protestants of the country. The excitement and indignation of the people, throughout the whole land, at these lawless pro- ceedings, were reflected in the temper of the Diet which met in 1604. They protested against the ille- gal persecutions, stood up for the freedom of worship, and warned the government not to stir up dissen- sions amongst the followers of the antagonistic churches. A fresh injury, however, was added to those complained of, by Rudolph's arbitrarily sup- plementing the 2 1st article'enacted by the Diet with a 22d article, in which the Diet was enjoined from discussing religious topics ; intimations were thrown out at the same time that heresy was to be per- secuted. This 22d article was the spark which set ablaze all the inflammable material that had accumulated in the country since the time that the Hapsburgs had occupied the throne of Hungary. The North of Hungary, allied with Transylvania, rose in arms, and the entire Upper Country was soon gathering in the camp of Stephen Bocskay, the prince of Transylvania. The Turks favored the insurrection and proclaimed Bocskay king of Hungary, bestowing upon him, at the same time, a crown of gold. The insurgents aimed at the entire overthrow of the Haspburgs, but the politic Bocskay opposed this, being disinclined to deliver up the whole of Hun- gary to the tender mercies of the Osmanlis. Bocskay saw in the Germans a counterpoise to the overwean- 346 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. ing power of the Turks and counselled a policy of conciliation. The result of his counsels was the peace of Vienna, concluded in 1606, in which the abuses complained of were remedied, and constitu- tional government and freedom of worship were guaranteed for all time to corner Remarkable as were the results of Bocskay's ris- ing, they were quite eclipsed by the effects of the astute policy inaugurated by him as the ruler of Transylvania, a policy which he bequeathed to his princely successors, enjoining upon them in his last will always to adhere to it. It consisted in maintain- ing, at all hazards, the independence of Transylvania, in order to enable her, according to the necessities of the moment, either to combine with the Turks in defence of the Hungarian nationality against the encroachments of Germanism, or joining the Ger- mans to keep, with their aid, the Turks out of the re- maining Hungarian territory. This course, marked by rare political acumen and inspired by the purest patriotism, was effectively aided by the mutual jeal- ousies of the Turks and Germans, and enabled the Transylvanian princes ultimately to achieve their noble aim of saving the liberties of Hungary, their common country. The terms of the peace of Vienna were soon for- gotten by the Viennese government, and its prosely- ting Catholicism brought it again into collision with the Hungarian Protestants. The successor of Ru- dolph, Matthias (1608-1619), succeeded in restraining to some extent the outbreaks of hatred by which the various sectaries were animated, but hardly had the THE AUSTRIAN RULE. 247 succession to the throne of Bohemia been secured to his cousin Ferdinand (II.), who had been brought up by the Jesuits, and was their. zealous pupil, than the Czech Protestants took up arms, severed their connection with the Hapsburgs, and inaugurated the religious war which raged in Germany for thirty years, and which stands in history unexampled for its Jiorrors (1618). This movement could not leave Hungary indiffer- ent. In Hungary, too, Romanizing was being strenu- ously carried on. The Jesuits gained a foothold in the country, and bringing with them their schools, books, and well-organized machinery they soon suc- ceeded, under the patronage of the government of Vienna, in supplanting the Protestants. Peter Paz- mdny, who, from a simple Jesuit, had risen to the primacy of Hungary, was the life and soul of the proselyting movement. He brought to the work of Romanizing the country an irresistible eloquence, in- vincible arguments in his writings, and unsurpassed religious zeal. All the great powers of his master- mind, and the resources of his enormous wealth were employed by him to add to the Catholic fold. By his own personal influence alone, thirty of the most conspicuous Hungarian families returned to the CathoHc faith of their ancestors, families among whom some owned domains larger than a dozen of the smaller principalities of Germany. Protestantism gradually lost ground, its followers became a minor- ity in the Diet, and the Catholics became daily more arrogant. Under these circumstances the Protestants of Hungary (where in 1618 Ferdinand was elected 348 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. king, to succeed on the death of Matthias) could not look on with unconcern when their Czech brethren rose in arms nor could they permit their defeat by the Catholic court, for such an event was sure to hasten the moment when they, in their turn, would have to resist the violent measures ofcoercion practiced now against the Czechs. They therefore joined the Czechs and took up arms for the defence of their liberties, for freedom of worship was with the nation closely interwoven with the cause of constitutional liberty. Gabriel Bethlen, who had become prince of Transylvania in 1613, stood at the head of the movement. On his first appearance on the scene of action, Bethlen is thus spoken of by a Frenchman in a report to his own government : " Bethlen is a distinguished soldier who has taken part, in person, in forty-three engagements ; he is a man of wise judgment and great eloquence * * * in short, the great Henry IV. excepted, there is no king like him in the world." The high expectations entertained of his abilities were not disappointed. The whole Upper Country as far as Presburg passed into his hands dur- ing the first year of the rebellion, and in 1620 he ob- tained possession of the greatest part of the territory beyond the Danube. But while he was carrying on hostilities with such signal success, the Czechs were completely routed by Tilly near Prague, and this defeat cost Bohemia her independence. Bethlen, being left without allies, hastened to make terms with the Viennese government, and the result was the Treaty of Nikolsburg, concluded in the begin- ning of 1622, based upon the peace of Vienna. HUNGARIAN I'EASANl S 3SO THE STORY OF HUNGARY. Bethlen, perceiving, with his wonted judgment, that the dissensions among the Protestants of Ger- many augured nothing favorable for the future, en- deavored to enter into amicable relations with the court of Vienna. He used every means to prevail upon it to abandon the persecution of the Protestants, and to unite with him in a common war against the Turks, in order to drive them from. Hungary.. But the court was not disposed to listen to his overtures, and seemed to consider it a matter of greater import- ance to accomplish the destruction of Protestantism than to free the country from the Turks. Bethlen, seeing that all attempts in this direction were doomed to faiilure, returned to the old policy of the Transylvania princes. His political connections reached as far as France, England, and Sweden, and, upon the breaking out of the Danish war (1625), he again began armed hostilities, which, however, al- though crowned with victory, gave way to a new treaty of peace, owing to the defeat of Bethlen's allies in Germany. Wh£n Gustavus Adolphus made his appearance in the West, achieving victories for Protestantism, the great Transylvanian prince was no more amongst the living ; he died in 1629. Beth- len was, no doubt, one of the most conspicuous figures in the history of Hungary. Through his ex- ertions little Transylvania moved, in politics, abreast of the most powerful European nations, and under him she became rich, powerful, and greatly advanced in culture, and a strong prop to the rest of the Hun- garian nation. His premature death deprived the country of the advantages which he certainly would THE AUSTRIAN RULE. 35 1 have drawn from the triumphs of Gustavus Adol- phus. Toward the close of the Thirty Years' War, the prince of Transylvania, George Rdkdczy I., took ad- vantage of the distressed position of Ferdinand III. of Hapsburg (who had succeeded his father, Ferdi- nand II., on his thrones in 1637) to strike a success- ful blow for the liberties of Hungary. The begin- ning of the reign of the successor of Ferdinand III., Leopold I. (1657-1705), witnessed the downfall of Transylvania's power. This event disturbed the balance of power be- tween the Turks and Germans, and alone was sufficient to bring about the great changes which soon took place in the. affairs of Hungary. In order to account for the overthrow of the power of Tran- sylvania, it must be remembered that both the Turks and Germans had for a long time back looked askance at the strength and influence of this little principality. They were filled with apprehensions of having their Hungarian territories gradually ab:- sorbed by Transylvania, and there was an agreement between these two powers, to the effect that she should not be allowed to add to her territory. It is impossible to suppose that the then ruler of Transyl- vania, George Rdkdczy II., had no information of this secret treaty, but he apparently paid no heed to it, or entertained no fears as to its effects. He quietly continued to extend his power, and for that purpose entered into an alliance with the Swedish king for the partition of Poland. In vain did the Viennese court oppose this aggressive course, in vain 352 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. did the Turks command him to desist from it ; the Transylvanian prince crossed the Carpathians, with a gallant army, in 1657. The allied forces of Sweden and Transylvania were everywhere victorious, and the power of Transylvania stood higher than ever. It was at this conjuncture that Leopold I., who had succeeded Ferdinand III., inaugurated, at once, a warlike policy, parting with the peaceable traditions of his predecessors. Leopold divided the attention of Rdkdczy's Swedish ally by setting on him .his ancient enemies, the Danes, and sent his own armies into those Hungarian domains belonging to Rdkdczy, which the Transylvanian princes had extorted from the Hapsburgs, in the treaties of Vienna and Nikolsburg, arid on other similar occasions. Nor were the Turks behindhand in co-operating with the Hapsburgs. A Tartar army was sent into Poland against Rdkdczy, and he himself was deposed from his princely office as a punishment for his disobedience. Rdkdczy, thus left to fight his own battles, without an ally, and hemmed in by Turks, Germans, and Tartars, suffered defeat on every side, the flower of his army fell into the hands of the Tartars, and it was only by paying a large sum that he obtained peace from Poland. When he returned to Transylvania in August, 1657, with the wreck of his army, the prin- cipality was involved in utter financial and miHtary ruin. The Turks, however, did not pause here ; they wished to get the whole of Transylvania into their possession. Twice the unhappy country was devas- tated by Tartar hordes, and the inhabitants repeat- THE AUSTRIAN RULE. 353 edly carried away into slavery by thousands ; a prince was given to her at the dictation of the Turks, and part of her territory actually passed under direct Turkish rule (1662). The hearts of the patriotic Hungarians bled at this cruel sight, and they appealed to and incessantly urged their king to interfere, and not to allow the principality to perish. Leopold I. turned a deaf ear to these appeals ; he was not inclined to venture on a war with Turkey, on behalf of Transylvania, and was, at best, careful to get his share of the common plunder. It was a gloomy outlook for the Hungarian nation ; the Turks, on the one hand, oppressing her with their formid- able forces, and their own king langtiidly looking on. The Turkish successes in Transylvania only served to whet the Moslem appetite for further conquests. In 1663 the Turks attacked Leopold without any warning, and obtained possession of the region of the Upper Danube, and of the lower valley of the Vig. This was a great blow to Hungary, for the conquered territory was thrust like a wedge into the semicircular national territory, dividing it again into two new parts. Although an imperial army was sent to meet the Turkish forces, no efforts were made to stay the continual advances of the latter as long as they were on Hungarian ter- ritory, but as soon as they neared the Austrian frontier they were opposed by the imperial forces. This imperial army achieved at St. Gotthard, near the Raab, a brilliant victory over the Turks. This victory gave fresh courage to the despondent Hungarians. They now hoped that the war would 354 '^^^ STORY OF HUNGARY. be successfully pushed forward, and would end only with the liberation of their country, and the less sanguine expected at least a peace which would re- store to the possession of the king of Hungary, Transyivania, and all the other territories obtained by the Turks since 1657. A sad disappointment, hmv- ever, fell upon the country. The peace concluded by the victorious government left ju tlie possession of the Turks all the terxitory they had previously taken, thus virtually leaving the country in her former maimed condition. This disgraceful peace which had been concluded by the court of Vienna without consulting the Hun- garians, at last shook even the faith of those Cath- olic Hungarians who, until now, had been the un- conditional adherents of the Hapsburgs. They had, heretofore, acquiesced in the forlorn condition of their country, being persuaded that the Viennese government lacked the ability of rescuing her, but recent events showed them that it was lack of good will on the part of the government which was pre- cipitating the ruin of the country. It became the universal conviction that the Hapsburgs would glad- ly see the country in the hands of the foreign in- vader, in order to enable them, by reconquering her anew, to do away with the uncomfortable trammels of the national constitution. Leopold did not heed the general discontent ; he pursued the great aim he had proposed to himself, of uniting, after the illustri- ous example of Louis XIV., all the dependencies of his dynasty into one homogeneous empire. Things had come to such a pass in Hungary that the most in- THE AUSTRIAN RULE. 355 veterate enemies of Turkey openly counselled amity with the Turks, declaring that they preferred paying a tribute to the latter rather than to see the country go to ruin by the Germanizing machinations of the Viennese court. The general discontent soon budded into a con- spiracy in which, this time, not only the Protestants, but chiefly the Catholic population took part, who were now quite as eager to rid themselves of the Germans. The heads of the conspiracy were all Catholics. Their leader was Wessel^nyi, the palatine of the j-ealm and the king's representative, and affili- ated witTi "him in tie leadership) were the largest landlords in the country : Peter "Znnyi, l^adasdy, Francis Rdkdczy, and Frangepdn. Their aim was to rid the country of the Germans by the aid of the Turks, or, if possible, of the French. The conspiracy, how- ever, failed. Wessel6nyi died, and the plot was be- trayed to the government before it had ripened into the intended rising. Leopold, without loss of time, swooped down upon the principal conspirators. Zrinyi, Nddasdy, and Frangepdn were seized, and without being given the benefit of the laws of their country, were decapitated. Their immense estates were confiscated, and Rikdczy himself could only save his life and obtain mercy by paying a ruinous ransom (167 1). The government, however, was not satisfied with the cruel punishment of the ringleaders alone ; it deemed this a propitious time for the introduction of various oppressive measures. Without convoking the Diet, a land and corn tax was imposed upon the country, excise .duties were introduced, and a poll 356 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. tax levied on every inhabitant, including the nobles. The land was swarming with a foreign soldiery brought there to restrain the rebellious Hungarians. The governnaent added injury to insult ; not satis- fied with insulting the nation by entirely ignoring its . constitution, and keeping down the national aspira- tions by quartering foreign garrisons in national territory, it raised illegal taxes wherewith to pay the armed oppressors. The government at Vienna threw off its mask at last ; the Hungarian constitution was abolished, and Hungary reduced to the condition of a province of Austria (1673). Whilst the government thus succeeded in subvert- ing the constitution of the country, it showed no less activity and success in the prosecution of its other aim, the Romanizing of the people. There was no law to protect those professing the new faith ; they could be oppressed with impunity ; their churches were taken away from them ; hundreds of their ministers and teachers were sentenced by the tribu- nal to slavery on the galleys, or were sent adrift by private persecutions. It was an open secret that the king himself was eager to exterminate the last heretic, and just as the oath of the king to protect the constitution had been forgotten,, so were the various treaties of peace, guaranteeing the freedom of worship, doomed to oblivion, as soon as there was no Transylvanian prince to recall them to royal memory by force of arms. And yet it was Transylvania, in her weakened condition, that now came to the assistance of Hun- gary, which had become a prey to A,ustrian rapacity. . THE AUSTRIAN RULE. 357 Many of those who were compelled to fly from the persecutions of the sanguinary policy of the govern- ment sought and found a refuge in Transylvania, and they were continually urging Apaffy, the prince of Transylvania, and the Turks to intercede with arms in behalf of the Hungarian cause. The Vien- nese government assailed Stambul with letters re- questing the sultan not to allow Transylvania to be the place of refuge of certain "thieves," but to no purpose. The Porte, indeed, so far from favorably receiving these epistles, secretly promised aid against the Austrians. A fresh insurrection broke out in 1672. The refugees flocked into the Upper Country and inaugurated a warfare which, for cruelty and mercilessness, stands alone in the history of Hun- gary. The era of this contest, commencing in 1672, and covering a period of nearly ten years, is called the Kurucz-Labancz era. This aimless and pur- posless struggle was kept up between the Kuruczes (insurgents) and Labanczes (Austrians), within the limits of the territory lying between Komdrom and Transylvania, and there was no end of the horrors the contestants were guilty of in the course of their hostilities against each other. To cut tobacco on the enemy's bare back, or to cut strips from his quivering skin, to drive thorns or iron spikes under the finger-nails, to bury him in the ground up to his head and then fire at him, to skin him alive, to put a stake through him, — in a word, to perpetrate tortures at which humanity shudders, these were the every-day courtesies exchanged between the two belligerents. The combatants of that day respected neither God 358 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. nor man ; they acknowleged only one guide for their actions : a bitter and undying hatred of all that called itself Labancz. They were the misguided crea- tures of a period during which the insane policy of the government had robbed the people both of their religion and their teachers. The ruling powers had thus conjured up days of terror, but were utterly inadequate to the task of terminating them. Indeed after several years of this schemeless struggle, the rebellion became at last organized and conscious of a fixed object. The rebels received aid from the French and from the Porte, and Transylvania, as a state, was ready to make common cause with her countrymen. Tokolyi, a magnate of the Upper Country, a youth only twenty- one years old, but of eminent abilities, placed him- self at the head of the rebels, and, now in 1678, began the war in good earnest. The rebels soon became masters of the Upper Country, and the government which had been unable to cope with the headless Kuruczes, proved quite helpless against the organized rebellion, led by an able chief. Austria was, besides, continually harassed by Louis XIV. in the west, and, to add to her difficulties, it was rumored that the Turks were preparing to invade Hungary with an immense army, which, uniting with the forces of Tokolyi, should drive the Austrians from the country. The government, thus driven to the wall, surren- dered. Negotiations soon began, the Diet was con- voked in 1 68 1, and constitutional government and freedom of worship were restored with a show of THE AUSTRIAN RULE. 3S9 great alacrity. The concessions came too late. The rebels had no faith in the government after the cruel deceptions of which it had been guilty, and placed no trust in promises wrung from its necessitous con- dition. They refused to submit, and Tokolyi was proclaimed by the Porte king of Hungary. The threatened Turkish invasion became also in 1683 a fact. At this moment Hungary seemed to be lost forever to the Hapsburgs ; the whole country sided with the Turks, the territory beyond the Danube also acknowledging the authority of Tokolyi. The destinies of Hungary, nay of all Eastern Europe, hung upon the fate of besieged Vienna. The siege of Vienna. was raised through the victory of Sobieski the Polish king; and the rapidly succeed- ing victories of the Christian armies, already referred to in the preceding chapter, awakened the hopes of the Hungarian nation, and showed that, at last, the emperor-king concerned himself in the liberation from Turkish rule of Hungarian territory. The decisive victories of Prince Eugene of Savoy finally accomplished this, and the Turks henceforth gave up all hopes of reconquering Hungary. The liberation of the Hungarian soil, however im- portant in itself, proved no immediate panacea for the ills of which the country had to complain. Even while the struggle was going on, many things happened which pointed to troubles in the future. The Hunga- rian inhabitants along the course of the Danube were rudely interrogated by the soldiers of the imperial army of liberation as to what faith they professed, and if they were found to adhere to the new tenets 360 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. they were mercilessly set adrift. In the Upper Country a certain Caraffa, the military command- ant of that district, committed acts of the most cruel atrocity. This bloody monster pretended to have discovered a conspiracy, and obtained from the gov- ernment, which was disposed to suspect the loyalty of the Hungarians, full powers to deal with it and to put it down. Caraffa made a terrible use of his commission. He made wholesale arrests of the sus- pected and loyal alike, threw into prison men of high standing against whom he had a personal grudge, and rich people whose property he coveted, and ex- torted from them by dreadful tortures the confession of crimes they had never committed. These unfor- tunates were then executed upon the strength of their confessions. This bloody tribunal of Eperjes, of ill-fame, which inspired horror all over the land, con- tinued its malevolent functions until the first months of 1687, when it was abolished, through the interces- sion of the Diet which had just been convoked. This Diet, however, was in most of its work not at all anx- ious to hamper the government. On the contrary, it displayed a pliability which made it forget the true interests of the country. Thus it substituted for the ancient right of the nation to elect their kings, the hereditary right of succession in the male branch of the Hapsburg dynasty, and it was this Diet that relinquished the time-honored right of the people, guaranteed by the Golden Bull, to resist with arms any illegal acts of the king, without incurring the penalty of treason for so doing. There were some malicious critics who pretended that this unpatri- THE AUSTRIAN RULE. 361 otic legislation was due to the pressure of imperial guns pointed at the place in which the Diet met. At all events the servile spirit exhibited by the Diet gave color to the apprehensions of those Hungarians who were of one mind with Tokolyi, that Hungary must be irretrievably ruined if she passed under the authority of the Austrians. As the Turkish wars were drawing to an end, more melancholy portents began to darken the horizon. Hungary was re-organized by the government at Vienna without the Hungarians being consulted. Transylvania remained a separate " grand duchy," and the district beyond the Drave was formed into a separate province, and all this was done from the fear lest united Hungary might become too strong to suit Austria's schemes. A large portion of the recovered territory was distributed amongst German landowners, the southern portion of the Alfold was colonized by Servians, and in other parts of the land, especially in the cities, the settlement of Ger- man-speaking people was encouraged, for the pur- pose of tempering the hot blood of the rebellious Hungarians. The fortified castles scattered through- out the.whole country, the property of private own- ers. Were blown up by the hundred, without the consent of their proprietors, lest in case of a fresh rising these strongholds should be used as centres of a factious spirit. The Protestants were not allowed to settle in the re-conquered districts. In other places the freedom of their worship was interfered with, the churches were taken from them, their ministers driven away, 362 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. and if any one, appealing to his constitutional rights, had the courage to resist these illegalities, he was thrown into prison. In a word, regular dragonnades, as they flourished in France under Louis XIV., now became the order of the day. The government imposed upon the people such oppressive and burdensome taxes that it almost seemed as if it dreaded the prosperity of the coun- try. If the people complained of the heavy burdens, they were instigated against the nobles, whose ex- emption from taxation was pointed out as the only cause of the heavy burdens. The country was again flooded by a foreign soldiery, whose chief business consisted in robbing and plundering, the common soldiers oppressing the common people, and the officers the nobility. The honor and the property of the people were at the mercy of these brutal troops, and those who complained of such outrages found themselves always in the wrong. This forlorn condition is reflected in many of the plaintive popu- lar songs of that period, but there was no means of remedying these evils crying throughout the land, for no Diet had been convoked since 1687. The aim of the Viennese government became daily more evident, to put the Austrian rule in the place of the Turkish, and to ignore altogether the Hungarian national aspirations. The nation herself seemed to the government too much enfeebled and trodden down to give any ground for apprehending any re- sistance in defence of her rights, but to make assur- ance doubly sure every effort was made to crush the national spirit. THE AUSTRIAN RULE. 363 Yet the nation could not brook oppression, she could not be kept quiet, deprived of constitutional government, and as soon as she had found again a leader in Francis RAkdczy II., she rose in arms. The new leader was the bearer of a great name. His ancestors had been princes of Transylvania. He himself was the grandson of that George Rdkdczy II., who in 1657 invaded Poland, and subsequently lost his life fighting against the Turks in defence of his country and his throne. His father Francis had taken part in the Wessel^nyi conspiracy, and es- caped the scaffold only at the cost of an immense ransom. His maternal grandfather, Peter Zrinyi, met with his death on the scaffold, and his only great-uncle perished in prison in spite of his inno- cence. His stepfather, Tokolyi, together with his own mother, Ilona Zrinyi, ate the bitter bread of exile in Turkey. He and his sister were, in their early youth, torn from their parents, and their edu- cation entrusted to Germans. In Vienna he was subjected to many humiliations, and as he grew up he left that city and retired to one of his estates, in- tending to pass his life peacefully near his wife. He was averse to action, and the bloody shades of his family seemed vainly to beckon to him, who alone bore yet the famous name and was the master of immense possessions, to follow in their footsteps. But all this was changed as soon as he came to Hungary. He could not bear to witness the wrongs perpetrated about him, and he could not move a step without becoming aware that the nation ex- pected from him, the descendant of a line of heroes, 364 THE STOR Y OF HUNGAR V. their salvation. Meanwhile the Spanish war of suc- cession had broken out in 1701, and very soon all Europe was involved in it. This appeared to R4- kdczy to be a propitious time for the reconquering of the liberties of the people, and, aided by the French king, he hoisted in 1703 the flag of the rebel- lion, bearing the inscription " pro patria et libertate," for the fatherland and liberty. The sages at Vienna would not at first credit the news of the rising of the people ; they had long ago made up their minds that such an event was impos- sible. But when the movement spread like wild- fire throughout the Upper Country, Transylvania, and ultimately all Hungary, and the great majority of the nation unsheathed the sword, they became frightened, and resorted to — negotiations and fresh promises. The rebels were inclined to cease hos- tilities provided their liberties were secured. But mere words did not satisfy them now, having been taught by sad experience the futility of royal words, oaths, and solemn treaties of peace, and they there- fore endeavored to obtain more substantial guar- anties from the government. They exacted the in- dependence of Transylvania, under a Hungarian prince and the guaranty of the European powers. To these propositions the government neither would nor could accede, while the rebels insisted upon their first proposals, declaring that it was impossible for them to have any faith in Austrian or — as it was popularly termed — in German promises. This uni- versal sentiment of distrust, pervading the nation, is admirably reflected in a popular song, to which that PEASANT GIRL FKOM THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF BUDA-PESTH. 366 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. period gave birth, and of which we subjoin a transla- tion : " Magyar, trust not the Germans, No matter how or what they protest ; Naught is the parchment they give thee, 'Though it be as large as thy round cloak, And though they set a seal on it As big as the brim of the moon. Spite of all, it lacks all virtus (trustworthiness). Confound them, yesus Christus ! " These overtures failed to lead to peace, and the struggle continued throughout the land, giving up to ruin what had been left intact by the Turkish slavery of a century and a half and the sixteen years' war of liberation. The government was un- able either to quell or to crush the rebellion, stand- ing in need of all its strength for the struggle in the west. At this conjuncture Leopold I. descended into his grave in 1705, and his well-intentioned son, Joseph I., succeeded to the throne (1705-1711). Joseph sincerely wished for peace, and, convinced of the mistakes of the policy of his father, he did all in his power to allay the apprehensions of the rebels, but his constitutional sentiment failed to efface the baneful effects of his predecessor's misgovernment and duplicity. Nor was it possible for him, either, to accept the terms of the rebels, and thus it came to pass that the dynasty of Hapsburg was dethroned in Hungary, during the reign of this upright mon- arch, in 1707. This was a great mistake on the part of the rebels, but Joseph had now the advantage of being able to show his respect for the liberties of the nation, under the most «1 HUNGARIAN PORTER. 3/8 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. imposed upon himself. A champion of the op- pressed, he freed the human conscience from its mediaeval fetters, granted equal rights to the per- secuted creeds, protected the enslaved peasantry against their arbitrary masters, and enlarged the liberty of the press. He endeavored to establish order and honesty in every branch of the public service, being mindful, at the same time, of all the agencies affecting the prosperity of the people. In a word, his remarkable genius embraced every prov- ince of human action where progress, reforms, and ameliorations were desirable. Unhappily for his own peace of mind and for the destinies of the nation he was called upon to rule, he committed a fatal error in the selection of the methods for accomplishing his humane and philan- thropic objects. He desired to render Hungary happy, yet he excluded the nation from the direction of her own affairs. He wished to enact salutary laws, yet he reigned as an absolute monarch, unwilling to call the Diet to his aid in the great work of reforma- tion, ignoring and disdaining the constitution and laws of the country. He was impolitic enough to attack a constitution which, thanks to the devotion of the people, had withstood the shock of seven centuries. He was unwise enough to suppose that the people, in whose hearts the love of their ancient constitution had taken deep root, for the defence of which rivers of blood had been shed, could be prevailed upon to relin- quish it to satisfy a theory of royalty. The old polit- ical organization was eminently an outgrowth of the Hungarian nationality, and all classes of the people, THE EMPEROR JOSEPH II. 2)79 including the very peasantry to whom the ancient constitution meant only -oppression, clung to it with devoted fervor. The people were as anxious for reforms as Joseph himself, but they wanted them by lawful methods, and with the co-operation of the nation and their Diet. Joseph might have become the regenerator and benefactor of Hungary if he had availed himself, for the realization of his grand ob- jects, of the national and lawful channels which lay ready to his hand. But he, unfortunately, preferred attempting to achieve his purpose out of the pleni- tude of his own power, by imperial edicts and arbi- trary measures, thus conjuring up a storm against himself which well-nigh shook his throne, and plung- ing the nation into a wild ferment of passion border- ing on revolution. The people presented a solid phalanx against Jo- seph's attacks upon their nationality and language, which to them were objects dearer than every thing else. They little cared for the emperor's well-inten- tioned endeavors to make them prosperous and hap^ py as long as he asked, in exchange, for the relin- quishment of their nationality. And this, above all, was his most ardent wish. He wanted Hungary to be Hungarian no more, and wished its people to cast off the distinctive marks of their individuality, and to adopt the German language, instead of their own, in the schools, the public administration, and in judicial proceedings. In a word, he made German the offi- cial language of the country, and was bent on forcing it upon the people. Henceforth every reform coming from Joseph be- 380 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. came hateful to the people. The oppressed classes themselves spurned relief which involved the sacrifice of their sweet mother-tongue. By proclaiming equal rights and equal subjection to the burdens of the state, he arrayed the privileged classes against his person. The Protestants and the peasantry, who had hailed him in the beginning as their new Messiah, and fondly saw in his innovations the dawn of brighter days, also turned from him as soon as he attacked them in what they prized even more than liberty and justice. It was not long before the whole country, without distinction of class, social standing, or creed, combined to set at naught the Germanizing efforts of Joseph. The hard-fought struggle roused the people, hitherto divided by an- tagonisms of class and creed, to a sense of national solidarity. It was during the critical days of these constitutional conflicts that the foundations of the modern homogeneousness of the Hungarian nation and society were laid down. - The privileged classes looked upon Joseph, on his advent to the throne, with distrust. They foresaw that he would not allow himself to be crowned, in order to avoid taking the oath of fidelity to the con- stitution of Hungary. The first measures of his reign concerned the organization of the various churches of the country. He extended the religious freedom of the Protestant Church. By virtue of the apostolic rights of the Hungarian kings, he intro- duced signal reforms into the Catholic Church, espe- cially regarding the education of the clergy, which proved, in part, exceedingly salutary. He abolished THE EMPEROR JOSEPH II. 38 1 numerous religious orders, especially those which were not engaged either in teaching or nursing the sick. One hundred and forty monasteries and nun- neries were closed by him in Hungary. The ample property of these convents he employed for ecclesi- astical and public purposes and for the advancement of instruction. He exerted himself strenuously and successfully in the establishment of public schools and in the interest of popular education. He re- moved the only university of which the country could then boast from Buda to Pesth, a city which was rapidly increasing, and added a theological de- partment to that seat of learning. All these inno- vations met with the approval of the enlightened elements of the nation, whilst the privileged classes and the clergy opposed them with sullen discontent. The opposition was all the more successful, as the emperor had contrived to insult the moral suscepti- bilities of the common people by some of his meas- ures. Thus, with a view to economizing the boards required for coffins, he ordered the dead to be sewed up in sacks, and to be buried in this apparel. This uncalled-for meddling with the prejudices of the lower classes had the effect of creating a great indig- nation among them, and of driving them into the camp of the opposition. Trifling and thoughtless measures of a similar nature impaired the credit of the most salutary innovations. The people looked with suspicion at every change, and, heedless of the lofty endeavors of the emperor, everybody, includ- ing the officials themselves, rejected the entire gov- ernmental system of Joseph. 382 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. The emperor also wounded the national feeling of piety by his action concerning the crown he had spurned. According to ancient custom and law the sacred crown was kept in safety in Presburg, in a building provided for that purpose. In 1784 the emperor ordered the crown to be removed to Vi- enna, in order to be placed there in the royal treas- ury side by side with the crowns of his other lands. The nation revolted at this profanation of their hal- lowed relic, and the highest official authorities, throughout the land, protested against a measure which, while it created such. wide-spread ill feeling, was not justified by any necessity. A dreadful storm, accompanied by thunder and lightning, was raging when the crown was removed to Vienna, and the people saw in this a sign that nature herself rebelled against the sacrilege committed by the emperor. The counties continued to urge the return of the crown in addresses which were sometimes humbly suppliant in their tone and sometimes threatening, but Joseph did not yield either to supplications or menaces. When the edict, which made German the official language of the country, was published, the minds of men all over the country were already greatly dis- turbed. It is true, that hitherto the Latin and not the Hungarian language had been the medium of communication employed by the state. But the na- tional spirit and the native tongue, which during the first seventy years of the eighteenth century had sadly degenerated, were awakening to new life dur- ing Joseph's reign. The literature of the country SLO^'AK WOMAN AND CHILDREN. 384 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. began to be assiduously cultivated in different spheres. Royal body-guards belonging to distinguished fami- lies, gentlemen of refinement, clergymen of modest position, and other sons of the native soil labored with equal zeal and enthusiasm to foster their cherished mother-tongue. It would, therefore, have been an easy matter for Joseph to replace the Latin language, which had become an anachronism, by the Hunga- rian, and thus to restore the latter to its natural and legal position in the state. He was perfectly right in ridding the country of the mastery of a dead tongue, but he committed a most fatal error in trying to sub- stitute for it the German, an error which avenged itself most bitterly. Joseph entertained a special antipathy to the Hungarian tongue, a dislike which betrayed him into omitting the teaching of the native language from the course of public instruction, and refusing to allow an academy of sciences to be estab- lished which had its cultivation for its object. The emperor's attack upon the language of the nation irremediably broke the last tie between him and the country, and, henceforth, the relations be- tween them could be only hostile. The counties as- sumed a threatening attitude, some of them refusing obedience altogether. Thus most of them declined to give their ofificial co-operation to the army officers who had been delegated by the emperor to take the census. The count, nevertheless, proceeded, but in many places the inhabitants escaped to the woods, and in some there were serious riots in consequence of the opposition to the commissioners of the census. A rising of a different character took place amongst THE EMPEROR JOSEPH II. 385 the Wallachs. The Wallachs, smarting under abuses of long standing, buoyed up by exaggerated expec- tations consequent upon the emperor's innova- tions, and stirred up by evil-minded agitators, took to arms and perpetrated the most outrageous atroci- ties against their Hungarian landlords. The ignorant common people were assured by their leaders, Hora and Kloska, that the emperor himself sided with them. The Wallach insurgents assassinated the government's commissioners sent to them, destroyed 60 villages and 182 gentlemen's mansions, and killed 4,000 Hungarians, before they could be checked in their bloody work. Although they were finally crushed and punished, a strong belief prevailed in the country that the court of Vienna had been privy to the Wallach rising. Joseph subsequently laid down most humane rules regulating the relations between the bondmen and their landlords. But the country could not be ap- peased by any boon, especially as the high protective tariff, just then established for the benefit of the Aus- trian provinces, was seriously damaging the prosper- ity of the people. Joseph's foreign policy tended to increase the domestic disaffection. In 1788 he de- clared war against Turkey, but the campaign turned out unsuccessful, and nearly terminated with the em- peror's capture. The nation, emboldened by his de- feat, urged now more emphatically her demands, and requested the emperor to annul his illegal edicts, to submit to be crowned, and to restore the ancient constitution. Joseph continuing to resist her de- mands, most of the counties refused to contribute 386 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. in aid of the war either money or produce. In addi- tion to their recalcitrant attitude, they most energet- ically pressed the emperor to convoke the Diet at Buda, a few counties going even so far as to insist upon the Chief Justice's convoking it, if the emperor failed to do so before May, 1790. The courage of the nation rose still higher when the news of the revolution in France and the revolt in Belgium reached the country. The people refused to furnish recruits and military aid, and the emperor was compelled to use violence in order to obtain either. The counties remained firm and continued to remon- strate in addresses characterized by sharp and energetic language. Joseph yielded at last. He was prostrated by a grave illness, and feeling his end approaching he wished to die in peace with the exasperated na- tion he had so deeply wounded. On the 28th of January, 1790, he retracted all his illegal edicts, ex- cepting those that had reference to religious toleration, the peasantry, and the clergy, and re-established the ancient constitution of the country. Soon after he sent back the crown to Buda, where its return was celebrated with great pomp, amidst the enthusiastic shouts of the people. Before he could yet convoke the Diet death terminated the emperor's career on the 20th of February. The world lost in him a great and noble-minded man and a friend to humanity, who, however, had been unable to realize all his lofty intentions. The effect of his reign was to rouse Hungary from the apathy into which it had sunk, and at the time of Joseph's death, the minds of the people were a prey to an excitement no less THE EMPEROR JOSEPH J I. 387 feverish than that which had seized revolutionary France at the same period. But while in Paris democracy was victorious over royalty, the latter had to yield in Hungary to the privileged nobility. The restored constitution was a charter of political privileges for the nobles only, and as such was most jealously guarded by them. This class kept a strict watch over the liberal tenden- cies of the age, preventing the importation of demo- cratic ideas from France from fear of harm to their exclusive immunities. Joseph was succeeded by his brother, Leopold II., who until now had been Grand Duke of Tuscany. The new ruler was as enlightened as his predecessor, and had as much the welfare of the people at heart ; but , he respected, at the same time, the laws and the constitution. He im- mediately convoked the Diet in order to be crowned, and by this act he solemnly sealed the peace with the nation. The people hailed with joy this first step of their new king, and there was nothing in the way of their now obtaining lawfully from the good- will of the king tiie salutary legislation which Joseph had attempted to force arbitrarily upon them. But the fond hopes in this direction were doomed to disappointment. The national movement had not helped to power those who were in favor of progress, equality of rights, and democracy. No doubt there were people in the country who differed from the men in authority, who were sincerely attached to the doctrines of the French Revolution and eager to supplant the privileges of the nobles by the broader 388 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. rights belonging to all humanity. The national liter- ature was in the hands of men of this class. They combated the reactionary spirit of the nobility, and contended for the recognition of the civil and politi- cal rights of by far the largest portion of the people, the non-nobles. They boldly and with generous en- thusiasm wielded the pen in defence of those noble ideas, and indoctrinated the people with them as much as the restraints placed upon the press allowed it at that period. They succeeded in obtaining re- cruits for their ideas from the very ranks of the privileged classes, and many an enlightened magnate admitted that the time had arrived for modernizing the constitution of Hungary by an extension of political rights. Their number was swelled also by the more intelligent portion of the inhabitants of the cities, and those educated patriotic people who, although no gentle blood flowed in their veins, had either obtained office under Joseph's reign or had imbibed the political views of that monarch. But all of these men combined formed but an insignifi- cant fraction of the people compared to the numer- ous nobility, who, after their enforced submission during ten years, were eager to turn to the advantage of their own class the victory they had achieved over Joseph. During the initial preparations for the elections to the Diet, and in the course of the elec- tions, sentiments were publicly uttered and obtained a majority in the county assemblies, which caused a feverish commotion amongst the common people and the peasantry. The latter especially now eagerly clung to innovations introduced by the Emperor REACTION AND NAPOLEONIC WARS. 389 Joseph, so beneficial as regarded their own class, and were reluctant to submit to the restoration of the former arbitrary landlord system. Their remon- strances were answered by the counties to the effect that Providence had willed it so that some men should be kings, others nobles, and others again bondmen. Such cruel reasoning failed to satisfy the aggrieved peasantry. Symptoms of a dangerous revolutionary spirit showed themselves throughout a large portion of the country, and an outbreak could be prevented only by the timely assurance, on the part of the counties, that the matter would be submitted to the Diet about to assemble. The Diet, which had not been convened for twenty- five years, opened in Buda in the beginning of June, 1790. The coronation soon took place. Fifty years had elapsed since the last similar pageant had been enacted in Hungary. After a lengthy and vehement contest extending over ten months, in the course of which the Diet was removed from Buda to Presburg, the laws of 1 790-1 791, which form part of the fundamental articles of the Hungarian constitution, were finally passed. By them the independence of Hungary as a state obtained the fullest recognition. The laws, which were the result of the co-operation of the crown and the Estates, declared that Hungary was an independent country, subject to no other country, possessing her own constitution by which alone she was to be governed. Important conces- sions were also made to the rights of the citizens of the country. The privileges of the nobility were left intact, but the extreme wing of the reactionary 39° THE STORY OF HUNGARY. nobles had to rest satisfied with this acquiescence in the former state of things, and were not allowed to push the narrow-minded measures advocated by them. The majority of the Diet was influenced in their wise moderation, partly by the exalted views of the king, and to a greater extent yet by the disaf- fected spirit rife amongst the people, and especially threatening amongst the Serb population of the country. The laws secured the liberties of the Prot- estant and the Greek united churches, remedied the most urgent griefs of the peasantry, and declared those who were not noble capable of holding minor offices. Although the most important measures of reform were put off to a future time by the diet of 1 790-1 79 1, several preparatory royal commissions having been appointed for their consideration, yet the work it accomplished was the salutary beginning of a liberal legislation which culminated, not quite sixty years later, in the declaration, of the equal rights of the people as the basis of the Hungarian commonwealth. After the meeting of this Diet, however, very little was done in the direction of reforms. The good work was interrupted, partly by the premature death of Leopold II. (March i, 1792), and partly by the warlike period, extending over twenty-five years, which, in Hungary as throughout all Europe, claimed public attention, and diverted the minds of the lead- ers of the nation from domestic topics. Francis I., the son and successor of Leopold II., caused himself to be crowned in due form, and much was at first hoped from his reign. But the Jacobin rule of terror REACTION AND NAPOLEONIC WARS. 39I in Paris, and the dread of seeing the revolutionary scenes repeated in his own realm, wrought a com- plete change in his character and policy. He soon stubbornly rejected every innovation, and gradually became a pillar of strength for the European reac- tion, that extravagant conservatism which expected to efface the effects of the French Revolution by an unquestioning adherence to the old and traditional order of things. This illiberal spirit of the monarch rendered impossible for the time any further reform- movement in Hungary. Every question of desirable change met with the most obstinate opposition on the part of the king, and the reforms submitted by the royal commissions were considered by every suc- cessive Diet without ever becoming law. The period which now followed was gloomy in' the extreme, as well for Hungary as for the Austrian provinces of Francis I. The inhabitants of these countries were constantly called upon by the king in the course of the wars to make sacrifices in treasure and blood, by furnishing recruits and by paying high taxes. At the same time the government resorted to the most absolute and arbitrary measures to prevent the peo- ple from being contaminated with French ideas. The press was crushed by severe penalties. Every enlightened idea was banished from the schools and expunged from the school-books. Only men, for whose extreme reactionary spirit the police could vouch, were appointed to the professorships or to other offices. A system of universal spying and secret information caused everybody to be suspected and to suffer from private vindictiveness, whilst those 392 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. who dared to avow liberal views were the objects of cruel persecution. The numerically few but staunch adherents of democracy, being thus debarred from openly labor- ing for their views, endeavored to accomplish their purposes by secret combinations. A secret society was formed in Pesth, the centre of the political life of the countr}-. This league of Hungarian Jacobins had but a confused idea of its own aims, and of the means of achieving them. They produce, at this distance of time, the impression of an organization, indulging in crude, exaggerated, and even thought- less visions, but theirs, nevertheless, is the credit of having been the first society of the kind in the country, and of thus furnishing a link in the political development of the public spirit in Hungary. Al- though the members of the league were unable to secure any tangible results, yet they deserve a place in the national history as the first martyrs of univer- sal freedom and human rights in Hungary, for they forfeited their lives or suffered long imprisonments for the holy cause. The movement was originally planned by Ignatius Martinovics, a learned abbot who entered into relations with the Jacobins abroad, first with those of Paris, and afterwards with their sympathizers in Germany and Austria. With the assistance of these he intended to bring about a republic of Hungary, and to establish there the doctrines of equality and liberty. He organized for that purpose a secret society in Pesth, after the pattern of the masonic societies, which were then flourishing throughout the country. There REACTION AND NAPOLEONIC WARS. 393 were in point o£ fact two distinct associations, one called the reformers, the other styled the friends of liberty and equality. The former knew nothing of the designs of the latter, whilst these, occupying a higher rank, were fully initiated into the secrets of the reformers. The aim of both ahke was to insure the triumph of the principles of the French Revolu- tion. The members recognized each other by secret signs, and used in their correspondence a cipher de- vised for the purpose. Martinovics' scheme was to hoist the revolutionary flag as soon as the increased number of members in both societies might rander such a step advisable. Meanwhile the sole business of the members consisted in spreading among the people a catechism conceived in a revolutionary spirit. Martinovics commenced the organization of the secret society in the spring of 1794. He was assisted in his work by John Laczkovics, formerly a captain in the army, Joseph Hajndczi, an ex.-alispdn (vice- comes or deputy sheriff of a county), and Francis Szentmarjay, a young man of distinction, who were all zealously engaged in recruiting members for the new association. Among the latter, however, but few knew of Martinovics' ultimate object, or of his French connections. Most of them thought that it was his intention to secure the introduction of re- forms by lawful means. As to the secret character of the society, they looked upon it as a concession to the fashion of the period, introduced by the free- masons. During the eighteenth century a real mania for secrecy of this kind prevailed all over Europe, 394 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. and secret societies sprang up in every quarter for purposes which, if publicly proclaimed, would have met with no opposition whatever. The society of the Hungarian Jacobins did not owe its existence to subversionary tendencies, but to that eagerness for reforms which never ceased to agitate the nation. With the exception of a dozen unreflecting men who dreamt of overthrowing the Hungarian monarchy with the aid of the French, the rank and file were entirely composed of men who believed in reforms achieved by lawful methods. The leaders them- selves, Martinovics, Hajn6czi, and Laczkovics, had filled important offices under the Emperor Joseph, and had subsequently supported King Leopold in his efforts at reform. If Leopold had lived, every one of them would have borne a conspicuous part in public affairs. But the triumph of the re- actionary spirit under the reign of King Francis made them conspirators. Those of their friends who joined them were all honest and enthusiastic patriots, who saw in the success of democratic ideas the welfare of Hungary. But they did not look to a revolution for the realization of their fond hopes. They entered the society for the sole purpose of preparing the minds of their countrymen for reforms to be obtained by constitutional means. Almost every Hungarian writer, who was not in some de- pendent position, belonged to the society. Amongst these was Francis Kazinczy, the regenerator of Hun- garian literature, and one of the most respectable members of the literary guild. The French ideas found a grateful echo among the intelligent elements REACTION AND NAPOLEONIC WARS. 395 of the country. The reports of French victories were hailed with joy in the capital, by the professors at the university, and the students, as well as by people in the country, especially in the county of Zempl6n, the home of Kazinczy. Liberty poles were erected in several places, many hoping that the vic- tories of the French would establish in Hungary the reign of liberty and equality. These demonstrations, however, were entirely independent, and were not inspired by Martinovics. Such occurrences reflected only the effect of foreign events on the public mind of Hungary, which had at all times been open to influences from abroad, and which did not fail, in this instance, to respond to the voice of humanity which then rang out through a large portion of the Western world. The secret society confined its work to procuring fresh members and to a wide distribution of their political catechisms. The number of the members amounted altogether to seventy-five, of whom twenty- seven lived in Pesth, and the remainder belonged to every part of the country. Only three months had elapsed after the organization of the society when Martinovics was arrested in Vienna, and Laczkovics, Szentmarjay, and Hajndczy in Pesth. The Viennese police had discovered the Austrian fraternity, and> finding Martinovics amongst its leaders, detained him at once. Martinovics while in prison made a full confession of every thing, and the arrests in Hun- gary were the consequence. About fifty men were thrown into prison. At the time of their arrest, the distribution of a few revolutionary pamphlets ex- 396 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. cepted, no deed, subversive of the public order, could be traced to the secret society of which they were members. It was therefore hoped that the government, in punishing them, would act with moderation and humanity. King Francis disap- pointed such hopes. He ordered them to be prose- cuted without mercy, being determined to set a ter- rifying example, and, by inaugurating a reactionary reign of terror, to discourage his subjects from sym- pathizing with French ideas. Eighteen prisoners were sentenced to death, but Martinovics and six of his companions only were executed. They lost their heads by the executioner's sword on the meadow in Buda, a spot called to this day the field of blood. The remaining prisoners, with few exceptions, were sentenced to longer and shorter terms of imprison- ment, and two of the suspected escaped arrest by suicide. Francis Kazinczy suffered severe imprison- ment in an Austrian dungeon during eight long years, and numerous other Hungarian writers were similarly deprived of their liberty. These bloody executions created widespread dis- may in the country. No one felt safe, for everybody was ignorant of the nature of the crimes with which the unhappy victims had been charged. The coun- ties remonstrated, in addresses sent to the king, against these cruel proceedings, but without any effect. Francis pensioned off five liberal professors at the university, interdicted the teaching of Kant's philosophy at that seat of learning, began to persecute every enlightened man in the country, and especially delighted in vexing in every possible way the intelli- REACTION AND NAPOLEONIC WARS. 2)97 gent element of Zempl^n County. The friends of liberty, the men of progress, were thoroughly fright- ened. The press, too, was fettered by the govern- ment, and thus, by degrees, public life in Hungary became torpid and stagnant, the adherents of reform were reduced to silence, and innovations had to bide their time. The reactionary government achieved a complete victory. It banished from the high offices even the most moderate men, and filled every place of importance with persons who delighted in relent- lessly repressing every democratic impulse in Hun- gary. The Diets which met during this period paid no attention whatever to reforms. Their main function consisted in voting considerable supplies in money and soldiers for the war against the French. The Hungarian nation sacrificed a great deal for her king during the Napoleonic wars, and, when the hostile armies were approaching the border of the country, every noble personally took up arms to def.end the throne of his crowned king with his life and blood. The gentry distinguished themselves by their devo- tion, especially in 1809. Napoleon made the Hun- garians the most enticing offers in order to seduce them from their allegiance to King Francis. He called upon them by proclamation to abandon Fran- cis, to elect, under the French protectorate, a king of their own, and to restore Hungary to complete independence. But the Hungarian nation remained unshaken in their devotion to the king, and rallied round him and the ancient dynasty. The French, failing in their scheme, entered Hungary. The 398 THE 5T@RY OF HUNGARY. Hungarians gallantly defended their native soil, but were defeated near Raab, owing to the inca- pacity of their Austrian generals. During the whole Napoleonic contest, to its termination, in 1815, Hun- gary made immense sacrifices for the royal throne, and thousands of her sons shed their blood in its defence, on the most distant battle-fields of Europe. Francis but scantily rewarded the fidelity of the nation. He always had words of praise for the Hungarians, but constantly put off remedying the evils they complained of. The long wars, paralyzing commerce and trade, had fatally affected the pros- perity of the country. The government, in order to meet the expenses of the continuous wars, had issued paper money to such an enormous extent that the paper currency became completely depreciated. The depreciation of one florin to one fifth of its face value was subsequently officially promulgated by the gov- ernment, causing thereby immense losses to the peo- ple. To these miseries were added the numerous illegal acts and arbitrary and unconstitutional pro- ceedings of the government, which continued even after Napoleon had'been safely chained to 'the rock of St. Helena and peace began anew to dawn upon the world. The reign of reaction and absolutism which set in in Europe in 18 15 extended its baneful influence also over Hungary. The constitution was completely ignored by the king and no Diet was con- vened. These were sad days for Hungary. There was no one to promote her national interests, and her advancement in culture was hampered by the meddling rule of the Austrian police. And, in- REACTION AND NAPOLEONIC WARS. 399 deed, had not, about this time, the national litera- ture infused a fresh and hopeful spirit into the body politic, Hungary would have presented a most de- plorable picture of apathy and despair. Literature, science, and poetry, the cultivation of which was sad- ly interrupted by the imprisonment of most of their votaries in 179S, in consequence of the Martinovics conspiracy, became powerful agencies in rousing the nation to renewed political activity. Numerous dis- tinguished writers sprang up, exerting themselves to inculcate lessons of patriotism and national self-re- spect into the minds of the people who had been arbitrarily debarred from the most telling influences of legitimate culture by the Viennese government. The latter at last thought that the time had arrived when the absolute government prevailing in her Austrian dominions might be established with safe- ty also in Hungary. The first attempt made by King Francis in this direction was to levy, arbitrarily, solely by his own authority and without the consent of the Diet (which was necessary under the law), 35,000 recruits for the army. This illegal exaction of the king created a tremendous commotion amongst the people, and resulted in a most desperate conflict between the Hungarian nation and the Viennese government. The political contest which lasted five years newly inflamed the national enthusiasm. King Francis finally saw the error of his ways, ac- knowledged the illegality of his action, and returned to constitutional government. He summoned the Diet, in 1825, which, continuing the work of reform checked in 1791, gave the impulse to a new era of modern progress in Hungary. CHAPTER XV. SZlfiCHENYI, KOSSUTH, AND THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY IN 1848-1849. On one of the most picturesque positions in Buda- Pesth, on the left bank of the majestic Danube, stands the bronze statue of Stephen Sz^chenyi, the greatest Hungarian of this century. The piety of the nation has placed it in the midst of her most conspicuous creations. At its feet rolls the mighty river whose regulation was commenced by Szdchenyi, who made it a line of communication in the commercial sys- tem of Europe ; in front is seen the grand sus- pension bridge, and beyond it is visible the mouth of the tunnel which, piercing the castled mountain of Buda, connects the dispersed parts of the city. In the rear rise the palatial edifices of the Hun- garian Academy of Sciences, which owes its exist- ence to Szechenyi's munificence, and round about stretches noisy, surging Buda-Pesth, to whose embel- lishment and enlightenment no one ever devoted himself so zealously as Stephen Sz^chenyi. Every thing surrounding the statue reminds us of the tran- scendent genius of Szechenyi, who raised for himself by his indefatigable labors, which form a link between 400 ^ m iiltl 402 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. old and modern Hungary, a monument more lasting and grander than the. one cast in bronze. Stephen Sz6chenyi was born on the 2 1st of Sep- tember, 1 79 1. He was the scion of a family which had given many distinguished men to their country, and with whom patriotism was traditional. His father, Count Francis, was the founder of the great- est institute of Hungary, having public culture for its aim, the National Museum of Buda-Pesth, which is now reckoned one of the finest and richest of the kind in Europe. Count Francis clung with passion- ate devotion to the cause of his country. The ten- der mind of his .son Stephen was often puzzled to see his father melancholy and lost in thought, and later only, when grown to manhood, did he learn that his father had been grieving over the backward- ness of his country. Count Stephen inherited the patriotic sentiments of his father, and never for a mo- ment lost sight of the one great object of Tiis life, to revive the now decaying nation, which had acted so proud a part in the past, and to secure for her a better future by promoting her material and cultural interests. Stephen Sz6chenyi became the apostle of this patriotic mission ; he devoted his whole life to this one lofty thought, studying for many years, re- flecting, travelling, gathering knowledge, and when the hour arrived to enter upon the scene of action, he took the lead of the nation, aptly equipped for the severe task. He finished his studies under the roof of his father, who was a man of high culture. The turmoils of the Napoleonic wars, shaking all Europe and with it OLD GYPSY WOMAN. 404 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. Hungary, allowed but scant opportunity for peaceful avocations when Count Stephen had reached his sixteenth year. He accordingly entered the army and gallantly took part, as a young officer, in the wars of the period, being present at the famous battle of Leipsic. The Congress of Vienna put an end to the wars which had raged in Europe for twenty-five years, and during the protracted period of peace following it, Sz^chenyi bestowed his atten- , tion upon the affairs of his- country. Before taking an active part, however, he travelled for a consider-' able time through Italy, France, and England, and, only after having become familiar with the advanced civilization of foreign countries did he return to his own, filled with grand ideas, with lofty, patriotic feelings, his brain seething, and his soul thirsting for action, in order to conquer for himself a sphere of public activity. The Diet of 1825 afforded him a fitting oppor- tunity in this direction. During the thirteen years preceding the convoking of this Diet the country had been ruled in the most absolute manner. The govern- ment ignored, during that period, the constitution, col- lected by force of arms and arbitrarily illegal taxes, filled, in the same despotic way, the ranks of the army, fettered, the liberty of the press, and deprived the nation of her ancient rights. These acts of vio- lence stirred up the indignation of the country, and the natural reaction was still more roused and fos-' tered by the dawning Hungarian literature which proclaimed a brighter future to the nation. Csoko- nai, Francis Kazinczy, Alexander and Charles Kis- HALT OF GYPSIES. 406 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. faludy, Michael Vorosmarty, Francis Kolcsey, and other eminent writers were the fathers of a new era in Hungarian Hterature, and by their works they kindled the national feeling and roused the public spirit. The nation awoke and was eager to march in the footsteps of the civilization of Europe. She only lacked a leader, but in the course of the delib- erations of the Diet of 1825, that leader was found. Stephen Sz6chenyi, being a member of the Upper House by right of birth, took his seat there among the aristocracy of the land. His first act was des- tined to be the precursor of a new epoch in the his- tory of the nation. On the 25th of October he made a short speech ; his manner was embarrassed and confused ; but he spoke in Hungarian, a proceeding which was looked upon at that time as a revolution- ary act, full of boldness, and which excited the ut- most indignation of the highest circles. The Latin language had until then remained, in keeping with the traditions of the past, the official language of the House of Magnates. Sz6chenyi was the first magnate who dared to cut loose from the ancient tradition, and, although a great portion of his fellow- magnates, especially the older ones, were shocked at the innovation, yet the number of Hungarian-speaking great lords continually increased after this, and the bold stand he took on that occasion had much to do with the restoration of the national language to its rightful place. Shortly after the Lower House witnessed the tri- umph achieved by him in the cause of Hungarian culture. During the preliminary sessions preceding THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. 407 the plenary ones, the question had been deliberated upon for several days as to the best means of foster- ing the national language. Sz^chenyi, with several of his noble friends, was present at one of these con- ferences, listening and looking on. Each deputy in turn stated his views on the subject. One of them, Paul Nagy, a distinguished orator of the opposition, declared, with an air of deep conviction, that to cul- tivate the Hungarian language with a view to make it successfully compete with the Germanizing ten- dencies of the government, and with the Latin language, it was necessary to establish a Hungarian academy of sciences. To accomplish this, he added, money was needed, and this could not be obtained from the government, which was hostile to the scheme. Let the nation furnish the money, the great lords, the owners of the vast fortunes and landed estates, setting first a good example to the rest. The effect of these kindling words was a thril- ling one. Sz^chenyi immediately stepped forward, and, addressing the presiding officer, asked leave to say a few words. Amidst the general attention of those present he briefly stated that he was ready to contribute one year's entire income from his es- tates to a fund wherewith to found an institute whose object would be the fostering of the Hun- garian language. These simple words were received with a storm of applause. A remarkable spectacle now ensued. One man after another arose eager to contribute to the fund of the future Hungarian Acad- emy of Sciences, and the sum was soon swelled to 154,000 florins, Sz^chenyi's contribution alone 408 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. amounting to 60,000 florins. The institute was soon established, and, thanks to the patriotic support of the nation, the funds of the Academy exceed at pres- ent 2,000,000 florins. The activity of this institute has proved, for the last fifty years, most beneficial to the development of the Hungarian language and the advancement of science in the country. This munificent act placed Sz^chenyi at once in the front ranks of the nation, and the very enthusiasm roused by his generous patriotism was the means of exciting his best energies, and of spurring him on to further action. Szdchenyi, although acting, on the whole, with the exceedingly moderate opposition, which was conservative and not unfrequently quite reactionary, influenced as it was by the famous pol- icy of Prince Metternich, never became a member of either of the political parties. His leading idea was that the first thing to be done was to im- prove the material and intellectual condition of the people, and to increase the prosperity and culture of the country. He had founded in the interest of civilization the Hungarian Academy, and now he labored enthusiastically to improve the commercial, industrial, and economical condition of the country. In this work he had to contend with all sorts of obstacles and prejudices on the part not only of the higher circles, but of the very class that was to be benefited by his reforms. But Sz^chenyi did not lose heart, and, undisturbed by many a bitter experience, he undeviatingly pursued his own course, and carried through with an iron will every measure deemed beneficial by him. His busy brain never THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. 4O9 ceased to devise new patriotic schemes, and to make them acceptable to the people. He won back the estranged aristocracy of the country, and assigned to them a leading position in national politics ; he strove to raise the capital to a European level, and advanced the national prosperity by the discovery of new resources, the opening of new roads of com- munication, and by the creation of many useful public institutions. He had equal regard for the in- terests of all classes, from the lord to the peasant, and thus strove, while yet surrounded by the anti- quated order of things, to awaken the people to a sense of national consciousness, and to promote the recognition of the solidarity of interests between all the classes of the nation. His busy brain embraced every public interest, and he exerted every social and economical agency to ripen in the nation the notions of modern European civilization. He was a powerful agitator, in equal degrees master of the sword and the pen, and although his whole individual- ity, his character, and his habits bore the stamp of the aristocratic circle in which he was born and edu- cated, yet, by dint of his conspicuous and many- sided labors, he in reality was the most indefatigable champion and pioneer of democratic ideas in his own country. His first great literary work (a smaller one had pre- ceded it), entitled "Credit," was published in 1830, and -in it he treated of economical questions of the most im- mediate importance to the country. It was a work of great power, marked by scholarly thoroughness, practical statesmanship, and poetic elevation, and 4IO THE STORY OF HUNGARY. produced an extraordinary sensation throughout the country. It was read everywhere, in the palaces of the magnates, in the mansions of the provincial gentry, and in the homes and offices of merchants and tradesmen. The book was spoken of in the most exalted terms by some, while others declared its author to be a communist and revolutionary agi- tator. The foes to progress, the defenders of the decaying privileges of the nobility, burned the book, while the friends of the new ideas, and especially the rising generation, saw in it the gospel of a new era. It was in this work that Sz^chenyi, addressing the generation that vainly clung to the reminiscences of the past, said : " Do not constantly trouble your- selves with the vanished glories of the past, but rather let your determined patriotism bring about the prosperity of the beloved fatherland. Many there are who think that Hungary has been, but for my part I like to think that Hungary shall be'' Under the influence of these exalted ideas Sz^ch- enyi persevered in his practical efforts for the com- mon weal. He wrote a great deal up to the time of his death, and- some of his works are justly ranked among the gems of Hungarian literature. But more precious than these are his practical creations, which still, for the most part, survive, and which are des- tined to perpetuate his fame for many centuries to come. His busy mind attended to every variety of matters of public concern. Thus it was he who in- troduced horse-racing into the country, not for the purpose of affording a mere gentlemanly pastime, but with the object of developing horse-breeding in THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. 4II Hungary, an object which has been very success- fully accomplished by the new sport. In further- ance of this object he formed a society which subse- quently became the National Breeding Association, which flourishes to this day. In order to afford to the gentry permanently a rallying and central point in the country, he established the Buda-Pesth National Casino, a social club of high distinction, still in existence and enjoying an enviable reputation in the best European circles. He took quite an active part in the management of the new Academy of Sciences ; zealously supported the efforts made to found a permanent national theatre, efforts which subsequently proved successful ; started and realized the scheme for building a permanent bridge across the Danube, connecting Pesth and Buda, and for the construction of a tunnel under the castled mountain of Buda ; conducted for years the work of regulating the Danube, especially in the vicinity of the Vas- kapu (Iron Gate) ; and also aided in the estab- lishment of the Danube Steam Navigation Com- pany, which at this day has hundreds of ships engaged in the local and export trade. His most glorious work, however, was the regulation of the Theiss, resulting, in the course of time, in the re- claiming of a marshy territory containing one hun- dred and fifty square miles, and turning it into a rich and fertile soil. His mind was teeming, besides, with various schemes looking to the building of rail- ways, and to the promotion of commerce and indus- try ; but all these various undertakings were marked by the same steady spirit of patriotic endeavor. 412 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. For fifteen years, up to 1840, the popularity of Szechenyi had gone on increasing throughout the country, and his name was cherished by every good patriot in the land. About this time, however, the great statesman was destined to come into collision with a man who was his peer in genius and abilities. The two patriots were representatives of different methods, and in the contest produced by the shock of antagonistic tendencies Szechenyi was compelled to yield to Louis Kossuth, his younger rival. Although there was no material difference between their aims, for both wished to see their country great, free, consti- tutionally governed, prosperous, and advanced in civilization, yet in the ways and means employed by them to attain that aim they were diametrically opposed to each other. Szdchenyi, who descended from a family of ancient and aristocratic lineage, and presented himself to the nation with connec- tions reaching up into the highest circles of the court, with the lustre of his ancient name, and with his im- mense fortune, wished to secure the happiness of his country by quite different methods' from those adopted by Louis Kossuth, a child of the people, who, although he was a nobleman by birth, yet be- longed to that poorer class of gentry who support themselves by their own exertions, and who, in Hun- gary, are destined to fulfil the mission of the citizen- classes of other countries. It is from these classes of the gentry that are, for the most part, recruited the tradespeople, the smaller land-owners, professional men, writers, subordinate officials, lawyers, physicians, clergymen, teachers, and professors. By virtue of THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. 413 their nobility, it is true, they belonged to the priv- ileged class of the country, and were not subjected to the humiliations of the oppressed peasantry, yet they had to earn a living by their own work, and were therefore not only accessible to, but were ready enthusiastically to receive, the lofty message of lib- erty and equality which the French Revolution of 1830 began to proclaim anew throughout all Europe. These doctrines formed a sharp contrast to the views of Count Stephen Sz6chenyi, views which, owing to the social position of the man who held them, were not devoid of a certain aristocratic tinge, and accord- ing to which the most important part in the regenera- tion of the Hungarian nation was assigned to the aristocracy. It was a part, however, which the Hun- garian aristocracy was itself by no means disposed to assume. Among its younger members, indeed, could be found, here and there, enthusiastic men who were devotedly attached to the person of the lordly re- former, but the great majority of his class were hos- tilely arrayed against Sz^chenyi's aims, and, obstruct- ing the granting of even the most inoffensive demands of the nation, supported the Viennese government, which was rigidly opposed to political reforms and to any changes in the public institutions of the country. This attitude of the aristocracy compelled Sz^chenyi to avoid as much as possible all questions concerning constitutionality and liberty, and to confine the work of reform chiefly to the sphere of internal improve- ments. The only way in which he could hope to obtain the support of the court of Vienna and of the majority of the Upper House for his politico-econom- 414 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. ical measures, was to remain as neutral as possible in politics. The idea which chiefly governed his actions was that the country should be first strengthened in- ternally, and that afterwards it would be easy for the nation to bring about the triumph of her national and political aspirations. After 1840, however, the bulk of the nation, and especially the small gentry whose preponderating influence was making itself continually felt, were unwilling to follow Szdchenyi in his one-sided policy. The reformatory work of Szecheny during the pre- ceding fifteen years had educated public opinion up to new and great ideas, but the leaders of that public opinion were now to be found in the House of Representatives in the persons of Francis Deak and Louis Kossuth. They wished to obtain for their country both political liberty and material prosperity. They knew the effect of political institutions upon the material well-being and civilization of a nation, and they no longer deemed it possible to attain these objects without a modern constitutional gov- ernment. Louis Kossuth, who was born in 1802, was the very incarnation of the great democratic ideas of his age. He was entirely a man of work and entered the legal profession, after having com- pleted his studies with great distinction, for the purpose of supporting himself by it. Kossuth was present at the Diet of 1832, when the gov- ernment, which conducted itself most brutally and arbitrarily towards the press, refused to allow the newspapers to print reports of the deliberations of. the Diet in spite of the repeated urgings by THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. 415 the deputies for such an authorization, and it was owing to his ingenuity that this prohibition was evaded. The censorship was exercised on printed matter only and did not extend to manuscripts. Kossuth wrote out the reports of the Diet himself, had numerous copies made of them in writing, and circulated them, for a slight fee, in every part of the country, where they were looked for with feverish expectation, and, owing to the spirit of opposition with which they were colored, were read with the greatest eagerness. This manuscript newspaper pro- duced quite a revolutionary movement amongst the people, frightening even the Austrian government. The latter now attempted to silence Kossuth by gentle means, promising him high offices and a pen- sion, but he refused the enticing offers and continued his work for the benefit of the nation. Foiled in the attempt to lure Kossuth from his duty, the gov- ernment resorted to violence, seized the lithographic apparatus by means of which Kossuth "planned to multiply his manuscript newspaper, and gave direc- tions to the postmasters to detain and open all those sealed packages which were supposed to contain the reports. But these arbitrary proceedings of the government could not put an end to the circulation of the newspaper ; the country gentlemen, by their own servants, continued to send each other single copies, and the matter was given up only when the Diet ceased to be in session. Then Kossuth, at the urgent request of his friends and, one might say, of the whole country, started a new manuscript newspaper at Buda-Pesth, which reported the deljb- 4l6 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. erations of the county assemblies. The effect pro- duced by this new paper was fraught with even greater consequences than the first had created, for it was instrumental in bringing the counties into contact with each other, thus affording them an op- portunity to combine against the government. The latter, however, soon prohibited its publication, but the prohibition gave rise to a storm of indignation throughout the whole country. The counties in solid array addressed protests to the government against the illegal act and on behalf of Kossuth, who continued to publish the paper in spite of the inhibition. The government at last resorted to the most barefaced brutality. Kossuth, the brave cham- pion of liberty, its eloquent pen and herald, was dragged to a damp and dark subterranean prison- cell in the castle of Buda, and detained there, whilst his father and mother and his family, who were looking to him solely for their support, were robbed of the aid of their natural protector. Although at that period lawlessness was the order of the day, yet this last cruel and illegal act of the government greatly exasperated the public mind, which was already in a ferment of excitement. But while the excited passions raged throughout the country, the government, nothing loth, caused Kos- suth to be prosecuted for high treason, and, having obtained his conviction, had him sentenced to an imprisonment of three years. Kossuth applied himself during his detention to serious studies, and acquired also, while in prison, the English language to such an extent that he was enabled to ad- THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. 417 dress in that language, during his exile, with great effect and impressiveness, large audiences both in England and in the United States of America. His imprisonment lasted two long years, after the lapse of which he obtained, in 1840, a pardon in consequence of the repeated and urgent representations of the Diet. Kossuth returned to the scene of his former activity as the martyr of free speech, and the victim to the cause of the nation. He very soon found a new field in which to labor. The government per- ceived at last that violence was of little avail, and that those questions which were occupying the minds to such a degree could no longer be kept from being publicly discussed by the press. Kossuth now obtained permission to edit a political daily paper. Its publication was commenced' under the title of Pesti Hirlap (Pesth Newspaper) in 1841, and may be said to have created the political daily press of Hungary. It disseminated new ideas among the masses, stirred up the indifferent to feel an interest in the affairs of the country and gave a purpose to the national aspirations. It proclaimed democratic reforms in every department ; the abolition of the privileges of the nobility and of their exemption from taxation, equal rights and equal burdens for all the citizens of the state, and the extension of public instruction, and it endeavored to restore the Hungarian nationality to the place it was entitled to claim in the organism of the state. The wealth of ideas thus daily communicated to the country appeared in the most attractive garb, for 41 8 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. Kossuth possessed a masterly style, and his lead- ers and shorter articles showed off to advantage so many unexpected beauties of the Hungarian lan- guage, that his readers were fairly enchanted and carried away by them. His articles were a happy compound of poetical elevation and oratorical power; gratifying common-sense and the imagination at the same time, appealing by their lucid exposition to the reader's intelligence, and exciting and warming this fancy by their fervor. Kossuth always rightly guessed what questions most interested the nation, and the daily press became, in his hands, a power in Hungary, electrifying the masses, who were always ready to give their unconditional support to his bold and far-reaching schemes. The extraordinary influence obtained by Kossuth through his paper frightened Szdchenyi, and, to even a greater degree, those whose prejudices were shocked or ancient privileges and interests were endangered by the democratic agitations for reform. Kossuth was attacked in books, pamphlets, and newspapers, but he came out victorious from all contests. In vain did Sz^chenyi himself, backed by his great authority in the land, assail him, declaring that he did not object to Kossuth's ideas, but that his man- ner and his tactics were reprehensible, and that the latter were sure to lead to a revolution. The great mass of the people felt instinctively that revolution had become a necessity and was unavoidable, if Hun- gary was to pass from the old mediaeval order to the establishment of modern institutions, and was to be- come a state where equality before the law should 420 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. be the ruling standard. The masses were strength- ened in this conviction by the unreasonable, short- sighted, and violent policy pursued by the gov/- ernment of Vienna, which obstructed the slightest reforms in the ancient institutions and opposed every national aspiration, and under whose protecting wing the reactionary elements of the Upper House were constantly paralyzing the noblest and best efforts made by the Lower House for the public weal, while the same government arbitrarily supported claims of the Catholic clergy, in flat contradiction to the rights and liberties of the various denominations inhabiting the country. The government, in its antipathy to the national movement, went even further. It se- cretly incited the other nationalities, especially the Croats, against the Hungarians, and thus planted the seeds from which spra"ng the subsequent great civil war. In observing the dangerous symptoms pre- ceding the last-mentioned movement, and the bloody scenes and fights provoked at every election by the hirelings of the government, in order to intimidate' the adherents of reform, the friends of progress be- came more and more convinced that the period of moderation, such as preached by Sz^chenyi, had passed by, and must give way to that resolute policy, advo- cated by Kossuth, which recoiled from no conse- quences. Numerous magnates, all the chief leaders of the gentry, boasting of enlightenment and patriot- ism, and imbued with European culture, raUied around Kossuth, until finally the public opinion of the country and the enthusiasm of which he was the centre caused him to be returned, in 1847, together THE S-TRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. 42 1 with Count Louis Batthydnyi, as deputy from the foremost county of the country, the county of Pesth. During the first months the Diet of i847-'8, which was to raise Hungary to the rank of those countries that proclaimed equal rights and possessed a respon- sible parliamentary government, differed very little from the one preceding it. The opposition initiated, as before, great reforms, but there was no one who believed that their realization was near at hand. Kossuth repeatedly addressed the House, and soon convinced his audience that he was as irresistible an orator as he had proved powerful as a writer. But there was nothing to indicate that the country was on the eve of a great transformation. The revolution of February, 1848, which broke out in Paris, changed, as if by magic, the relative posi- tions of Austria and Hungary. Metternich's system of government, which was opposed to granting liberty to the people, collapsed at once. The gtorm of popu- lar indignation swept it away like a house built of cards. At the first news of the occurrences in Paris Kossuth asked in the Lower House for the creation of a responsible ministry. Kossuth's motion was favorably received by the Lower House, but in the Upper House it was rejected, the government not being yet alive to the real state of affairs, and still hoping by a system of negStion to frustrate the wishes of the people. But very soon the revolution reared its head in Vienna itself, and the wishes of the Hungarian people, uttered at Buda-Pesth, re- ceived thereby a new and powerful advocate. At that time the Hungarian Diet still met at 422 THE STORY OF liUNGARY. Presburg, but the two sister cities of Buda and Pesth formed the real capital of the country, and were the centre of commerce, industry, science, and literature. Michael Vorosmarty, the poet laure- ate of the nation, lived in Pesth, and there the twin stars of literature, Alexander Petofi and Maurus J6kai, shone on the national horizon. Jdkai, who is still living and enjoys a world-wide fame as a novelist, and Petofi, the eminent poet, who was destined to become the Tyrtseus of his nation, were then both young men, full of enthusiasm and intrepid energy, and teeming with great ideas. About these two gathered the other writers and youth of the univer- sity, and all of them, helping each other, contrived, upon hearing the news of the sudden revolutions in Paris and Vienna, to enact in Buda-Pesth the blood- less revolution of the isth of March, 1848, which obtained the liberty of the press for the nation, and at the same time, in a solemn manifesto, gave ex- pression to the wishes of the Hungarians in the matter of reform. The only act of violence these revolu- tionary heroes were guilty of was the entering of a printing establishment, whose proprietor, afraid of the government, had refused to print the admirable poem of Petofi, entitled Talpra Magyar (Up Mag- yar), and doing the printing there themselves. The first verse of this poem, which subsequently became the war song of the national movement, runs in a literal translation thus : Arise, oh Magyar ! thy country calls. Here is the time, now or never. Shall we be slaves or free ? THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. 423 That is the question — choose ! We swear by the God of the Magyars, We swear, to be slaves no longer ! This soul-stirring poem was improvised by Petofi under the inspiration of the moment, and at the same establishment where it was first printed was also printed a proclamation which contained twelve ar- ticles setting forth the wishes of the people. • While thecapital was resoundingwith the rejoicings and triumphant shouts of her exulting inhabitants, HOUSE AT KRAPINA. the proper department of the government for the carrying through of these movements, the Diet, as- sembled at Presburg, lost no time, and set to work with great energy to reform the institutions of Hun- gary, constitutionally, and to put into the form of law the ideas of liberty, equality, and fraternity. The salutary legislation met now with no opposition, either from the Upper House or from the court at Vienna, and in a short time the Diet passed the cele- brated acts of 1848, which, having received the royal 424 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. sanction, were proclaimed as laws on the nth of April, at Presburg, amidst the wildest enthusiasm, in the presence of King Ferdinand V. By these laws Hungary became a modern state, possessing a constitutional government. The gov- ernment was vested in a ministry responsible to parliament, all the inhabitants of the country were declared equal before the law, the privileges of the nobility were abolished, the soil was declared free, and the right of free worship accorded to all. The institution of national guards was introduced, the utmost liberty of the press was secured, Transyl- vania became a part of the mother country — in a word, the national and political condition of the country was reorganized, in every particular, in har- mony with the spirit, the demands, and aspirations of our age. At the same time the men placed at the head of the government were such as possessed the fullest confidence of the people. The first min- istry was composed of the most distinguished patriots. Count Louis Batthydnyi was the president, and acting in conjunction with him were Francis Dedk, as min- ister of justice. Count Stephen Sz^chenyi, as minister of home affairs, and Louis Kossuth, as minister of finance. The great mass of the people hailed with bound- less enthusiasm the new government and the mag- nificent reforms. The transformation, however, had been so sudden and unexpected, and the old aristo- cratic world, with all its institutions and its ancient or- ganization, had been swept away with such vehement, precipitation, that even under ordinary circumstances THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. 425 in the absence of all opposition, the new ideas and tendencies could have hardly entered into the political life of the nation without causing no little confusion and disorder. But, in addition to these natural draw- backs, the new order of things had to contend with certain national elements in the population, which, feeling themselves injured in their real or imaginary HUNGARIAN GYPSY. interests, were bent on mischief, hoping to be able to rob the nation, in the midst of the ensuing troubles, of the great political prize she had won. Certain circles of the court and classes of the people strove equally hard to surround with difficulties the practi- cal introduction of the constitution of 1848. The court and the standing army, the party of the sol- 426 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. dier class, feared that their commanding position would be impaired by the predominating influence of the people. The non-Hungarian portion of the inhabitants, choosing to ignore the fact that the new laws secured, without distinction of nationality, equal rights to every citizen of the state, were apprehen- sive lest the liberal constitution would chiefly benefit the Hungarian element of the nation. They, there- fore, encouraged by the secret machinations of the government of Vienna, took up arms, in order to drag the country, which was preparing to take pos- session of her new liberties, into a civil war. The Croatians, under the lead of Ban Jellachich, and the Wallachs and Serbs, led by other imperial ofiScers, and yielding to their persuasions, rose in rebellion against Hungary, and began to persecute, plunder, and murder the Hungarians living among them. Dreadful atrocities were committed in the south- ern and eastern portions of Hungary, hundreds and hundreds of families were massacred in cold blood, and entire villages and cities were deserted by their inhabitants, just as had previously happened at the approach of the Turks, and thousands were compelled to abandon their all to the rebels, in order to escape with their bare lives. In the course of a few weeks, the flames of rebellion had spread over a large part of the country, and the Hungarian ele- ment, instead of enjoying the liberties won for the whole nation after a bitter struggle of many decades, was under the sad necessity of resorting to armed force in order to re-establish the internal peace. The Hungarians now had to prove on the battle-field THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. 427 and in bloody engagements that they were worthy of Hberty and capable of defending it. The government, which, by virtue of the new laws, had meanwhile transferred its seat to Buda-Pesth, displayed extraordinary energy in the face of the sad difficulties besetting it. As it was impossible to rely upon the Austrian soldiers who were still in the country, it exerted itself to create and to organize a national army. A portion of the national guard en- tered the national army under the name oihonvMs (de- fenders of the country), a name which became before long famous throughout the civilized world for the glorious military achievements coupled with it. The Hungarian soldiers, garrisoning the Austrian princi- palities, hastened home, braving the greatest dan- gers, partly accompanied by their officers and partly without them. The famous Hungarian hussars, es- pecially, returned in great number to offer their ser- vices to their imperilled country. But all this proved insufficient, and as soon as the National Assembly, elected under the new constitution, met, Kossuth, who had been the life and soul of the government during this trying and critical period, called upon the nation to raise large armies for the defence of the country. The session of the i ith of July, during which Kossuth introduced in the House of Represen- tatives his motions relating to the subject, presented a scene which beggars all description. Kossuth as- cended the tribune pale and haggard with illness, but the never-ceasing applause which greeted him after the first few sentences soon gave him back his strength and his marvellous oratorical power. When he had 428 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. concluded his speech and submitted to the House his request for 200,000 soldiers and the necessary- money, a momentary pause of deep silence ensued. Suddenly Paul Nydry, the leader of the opposition,, arose, and lifting his right arm towards heaven, ex- claimed : " We grant it ! " The House was in a fever of patriotic excitement ; all the deputies rose from their seats, shouting: " We grant it ; we grant it ! " Kossuth, with tears in his eyes, bowed to the repre- sentatives of the people and said : " You have risen like one man, and I bow down before the greatness of the nation." These sacrifices on the part of the country had be- come a matter of urgent necessity. The Serb and Wallach insurrection assumed every day larger pro- portions, while the Croats, under the leadership of Jellachich, entered Hungarian territory with the fixed determination of depriving the nation of her constitu- tional liberties. But the Hungarian government was already able to send an army against the Croatians, who were marching on Buda-Pesth, plundering and laying waste every thing before them. They were surrounded by the Hungarian forces, and a portion of their army, nine thousand men strong, were compelled to lay down their arms, while Jellachich, with his remaining forces, precipitately fled from the country. The young Hungarian army had thus proved itself equal to the task of repulsing the attack of the Croats, but the recent events were nevertheless fraught with the gravest consequences. The news of the Croatian invasion filled the Hun- garians with deep anxiety, and the extraordinary • THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. 429 excitement caused by it cast a permanent cloud over the soul of that noble and great man, Count Sz^chenyi. The mind of the great patriot who had initiated the national movement gave way under the strain of the frightful rumors coming from the Croatian frontier. He had been ailing for some time back, and his nervousness constantly increased under the pressure of the great events following each other in rapid succession, so that when the news came that the enemy had invaded the country he thought that Hungary was lost. His despair darkened his mind and he sought death in the waves of the Danube. His family removed him to a private asylum near Vienna, where he recovered his mental faculties, and even wrote several books. But he was never entirely cured of his hallucina- tion, and, exasperated by the vexations he was sub- jected to by the Viennese government, even in the asylum, the great patriot put an end to his own life on the 8th of April, i860, by a shot from a pistol. Jellachich's incursion had other important political consequences. The attack on Hungary had been made by Jellachich in the name of the Viennese government, and the intimate connection between the domestic disorders and the court of Vienna became more and more apparent. This state of things rendered inevitable a struggle between Hun- gary and the unconstitutional action of the court. The Austrian forces were arming again.st Hungary on every side. Vienna, too, rose in rebellion against the court, and now the Hungarians hastened to assist the revolutionists in the Austrian capital. Unfortu- 430 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. nately the young national army was not ripe yet for • so great a military enterprise, and Prince Windisch- gratz, having crushed the revolution in Vienna, in- vaded Hungary. A last attempt was now made by the Hungarians to negotiate peace with the court, but it failed, Windischgratz being so elated with his success that nothing short of unconditional submission on the part of the country would satisfy him. To accept such terras would have been both cowardly and suicidal, and the nation, therefore, driven to the sad alternative of war, determined rather to perish glori- ously than to pusillanimously submit to be enslaved by the court. They followed the lead of Kossuth, who was now at the head of the government, whilst Gorgei was the commander-in-chief of the Hungarian army. The two names of Kossuth and Gorgei soon constituted the glory of the nation. Whilst these two acted in harmony they achieved brilliant tri- umphs, but their personal antagonism greatly con- tributed, at a subsequent period, to the calamities of the country. Windischgratz took possesion of Buda in January, 1849, thus compelling Kossuth to transfer the seat of government to Debreczen, whilst Gorgei with- drew with his army to the northern part of Hungary, but the national army fought victoriously against the Serbs and Wallachs, and the situation of the Hungarians had, in the course of the winter, become more favorable all over the country. The genius of Kossuth brought again and again, as if by magic, fresh armies into the field, and he was indefatigable THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. 43 1 in organizing the defence of the country. Distin- guished generals like Gorgei, Klapka, Damjanics. Bern, and others transformed the raw recruits, in a wonderfully short time, into properly disciplined troops, who were able to hold their own and bravely contend against the old and tried imperial forces whom they put to flight at every point. The fortunes of war changed in favor of the Hun- garians in the latter part of January, 1849. Klapka achieved the first triumph, which was followed by the brilliant victory won by one of Gorgei's divisions commanded by Guyon in the battle of Branyiszkd, and very soon the Hungarian armies acted on the offensive at all points. In the course of a few weeks they achieved, chiefly under Gorgei's leadership, great and complete victories over the enemy near Szolnok, Hatvan, Bicske, Vicz, Isaszegh, Nagy Sarld, and Komdrom. Windischgratz lost both the campaign and his position as commander-in-chief. Towards the close of the spring of 1849, after be- sieged Komdrom had been relieved by the Hungari- ans, and Bem had driven from Transylvania not only the Austrians, but the Russians who had come to their assistance, the country was almost freed from her enemies, and only two cities, Buda and Temesvdr, remained in the hands of the Austrians. The glorious efforts made by the nation were -at- tended at last by splendid successes, and the civilized world spoke with sympathy and respect of the Hun- garian people which had signally shown its ability to defend its liberties, constitution, and national ex- istence. 432 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. It should have been the mission of diplomacy, at this conjuncture, to turn to advantage the recent military successes by negotiating an honorable peace with the humbled dynasty, as had been done before in the history of the country, after similar military achievements by the ancient national lead- ers, Bocskiy and Bethlen. Gorgei, the head of the army was disposed to conclude peace. But the Hungarian Parliament sitting in Debreczen, led by Kossuth and under the influence of the recent vic- tories, were determined to pursue a different course. The royal house of Hapsburg, whose dynasty had ruled over Hungary for three centuries, was declared to have forfeited its right to the throne by instigat- ing and bringing upon the country the calamities of a great war. This act had a bad effect, especially on the army, tending also to heighten the personal antagonism between Kossuth and Gorgei. But its worst consequence was that it gave Russia a pretext for armed intervention. The emperor Francis Joseph entered into an alliance with the Czar of Russia, the purpose of which was to reconquer seceded Hungary and ultimately to crush her liberty. One more brilliant victory was achieved by the Hungarian arms before the fatal blow was aimed at the country. The fortress of Buda was taken after a gallant assault, in the course of which the Austrian commandant bombarded the defenceless city of Pesth on the opposite bank of the Danube, and thus the capital, too, was restored to the country. Yet after this last glorious feat of war, good fortune de- serted the national banners. The grand heroic epoch THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. 433 was hastening to its tragic end. Two hundred thou- sand Russians crossed the borders of Hungary, and were there reinforced by sixty thousand to seventy thousand Austrians, whom the Viennese government had succeeded in collecting for a last great effort. It was easy to foresee that the exhausted Hungarian army could not long resist the superior numbers op- posed to them. For months they continued the gallant fight, and it was in one of these engagements that Petofi, the great poet of the nation, lost his life, but in the month of August, the Russians had already succeeded in surrounding Gorgei's army. Gorgei, who was now invested with the supreme power, perceiving that all further effusion of blood was useless, surrendered, in the sight of the Russian army, the sword he had so gloriously worn in many a battle, near ViMgos, on the 13th of August, 1849. The remaining Hungarian armies followed his ex- ample, and either capitulated or disbanded. The brave army of the honveds was no more, and the gal- lant struggle for liberty was put an end to by the superior numbers of the Russian forces. Kossuth and many other Hungarians sought refuge in Turkey. Above Komdrom, the largest fortress in the county, alone the Hungarian colors were still floating. Gen- eral Klapka, its commandant, bravely defended it, and continued to hold it for six weeks after the sad catastrophe of Viligos. The brave defenders, seeing at last that further resistance served no purpose, as the Hungarian army had ceased to exist, and the whole country had passed into the hands of the Aus- trians, capitulated upon most honorable terms. This 434 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. was the concluding act of the heroic struggle of the Hungarian people, the brave attitude of the garrison and their commander adding another bright page to the already honorable record of the military achieve- ments of 1848 and 1849. As soon as the imperialists had obtained possession of Komdrom, their commander-in-chief, Baron Hay- nau, began to persecute the patriots, and to commit the most cruel atrocities against them. Those who had taken part in the national war were brought be- fore a court-martial and summarily executed. The bloody work of the executioner commenced on the 6th of October. Count Louis Batthydnyi was shot at Pesth, and thirteen gallant generals, belonging to Gorgei's army, met their deaths at Ardd. Whole- sale massacres were committed throughout the country, until at last the conscience of Europe rose up against these cruel butcheries, and the court itself removed the sanguinary baron from the scene of his inhuman exploits. The best men in the country were thrown into prison, and thousands of families had to mourn for dear ones who had fallen victims to the implacable vindictiveness of the Austrian gov- ernment. Once more the gloom of oppression settled upon the unhappy country. Many of the patriots had accompanied Kossuth to Turkey, or found a refuge in other foreign coun- tries, and for ten years a great number of distin- guished Hungarians were compelled to taste the bitterness of exile. Kossuth himself went subse- quently to England, and visited also the United States. In the latter country he was enthusiastically THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. 435 received by the free and great American nation, who took delight in his lofty eloquence. During the Cri- mean war, and the war of 1859 i" Italy, Kossuth and the Hungarian exiles were zealously laboring to free their country by foreign aid from the thraldom of op- pression. At last, however, the Hungarian nation suc- ceeded in reconquering, without any aid from abroad, HUNGARIAN LADY. by her own exertions, her national and political rights, and made her peace with the ruling dynasty. But the Hungarian exiles had their full share in the work of reconciliation, for.it was owing to their exer- tions that the nations of Europe remembered that, in spite of Viligos, Hungary still existed, and that again, at home, the people of Hungary were not per- 436 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. mitted to lose their faith in a better and brighter future. Kossuth, the Nestor of the struggle for liberty, lives at present in retirement in Turin, and, although separated from his people by diverging political theories, his countrymen will forever cherish in him the great genius who gave liberty to millions of the oppressed peasantry, and who indelibly in- scribed on the pages of the national legislation the immortal principles of liberty and equality of rights. It is proper, however, to present in their regular order the chief events through which down-trcrdden Hungary of 1849 became from a subordinate prov- ince again an independent kingdom, taking part as an equal partner in the great realm of Austria-Hungary. It was not until 1854 that the state of siege inaug- urated in 1849 '^^s abolished, and only in 1856 that an amnesty was proclaimed. In 1857 the emperor visited Hungary, and during his stay, he decreed the restoration of their confiscated estates to the late political offenders. From this time the emperor and the government of Vienna seemed anxious, by means of concessions to the national aims, to cause the Hungarians to forget the bitterness and strife of 1848 and 1849. Iri 1858 agricultural colonists were given special inducements to settle in specified dis- tricts, and were allowed certain exemptions from taxation. In 1859 ^ most important concession was made by the imperial government to the spirit of nationality. By a ministerial order the language used in the higher schools was for the future to be regulated ac- cording to the circumstances of nationality, the pre- THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. 437 dominance of German being thereby abolished. In the same year was issued what was known as the Protestant patent, which granted to the communes the free administration of their own educational and religious matters. In i860 the supreme court of judicature, known as the curia regia, and the county assemblies were re- instated, and the Magyar was recognized as the offi- cial language. Later in' the year the district called the Banate of Temesvir was re-annexed to Hungary. WOMAN S HEAD-DRESS. In 1861 the old constitution was restored to Hun- gary, including Transylvania, Croatia, and Slavonia, and the Hungarian Diet reassembled in the old capital, Buda, afterwards removing across the river to Pesth. Within a few months, however, an address was pre- sented at Vienna demanding the fullest autonomy for Hungary. To this the emperor declared himself unable to accede, and the Diet was dissolved. Strin- gent measures were again put into force by theimpe- 438 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. rial government, and military aid was invoked to en- force the collection of the taxes. In 1865 the Diet was opened by the emperor in person, and the imperial assent was given to the principle of self-government for Hungary. The pro- visions of the Pragmatic Sanction (of 1722) were pro- posed as the basis for the settlement of the questions still at issue. The Diet also demanded, however, an acknowledgment of the continuity of the constitu- tional rights of 1848. Before an imperial decision had been reached on this point, the war of 1866 broke out between Austria and Prussia (allied with Italy), and the Diet was prorogued. The Hungarian troops formed an important contingent in the Aus- trian army which faced the Prussians in Bohemia, and the general in command, Marshal Benedek, was him- self by birth a Hungarian. Hungarians also fought in the army of the south, which, under the leader- ship of the Archduke Albrecht, made a brief but brilliant campaign against the Italians. In Bohemia . the Austrians met with a decisive defeat at Sadowa (in July, 1866), and although in Italy Archduke Al- brecht gained the important battle of Custozza, and Admiral Tegetthoff a naval victory near Lissa (in the Adriatic), the general results of the summer's cam- paign were adverse to Austria, and brought about material changes in its relations to Germany and in its own imperial organization. By the peace of Prague (August, 1866) the Ger- man confederation was dissolved, and Austria's long preeminence among the states of Germany came to an end, the leadership in German affairs being trans- THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. 439 ferred to Prussia. The centre of gravity of the Aus- trian empire (which was thus, as it were, pushed out of Germany) was thrown southward and eastward, and the most important result for Hungary was the constituting of the present dual-monarchy of Austria- Hungary, finally sanctioned in February, 1867. Under this arrangement the constitutional, legal, and administrative autonomy of 1848 was secured to r ..-'■■' Hungary, while the full control of the army rested with the emperor-king. The representative commit- tee of the Diet, which conducted and completed the new constitutional arrangements, was headed by Dedk, and the presidency of the first ministry was given to Count Andrdssy. In June, 1868, the emperor and empress were crowned at Buda-Pesth King and Queen of Hungary, 440 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. and a complete pardon was proclaimed for all politi- cal offenders. It is worthy of note that twice in the checkered history of Hungary has Prussia been in- strumental in securing for the kingdom from its Aus- trian rulers recognition and privileges which, had it not been for the pressure of the Prussian attacks, might long have been delayed. In 1765, Maria Theresa, in grateful acknowledg- ment of the cordially loyal support given her by her " faithful Hungarians " in the bitter struggle against Frederic the Great, initiated various most important reforms, while just a century later, under the convinc- ing influence of the second great struggle with Prussia, the Austrian ruler again falls back on his Hungarian subjects as the chief support of his reorganized realm, and in the new dual empire of Austria-Hungary the ancient kingdom of the Magyars, whose wonderfully elastic national vitality had withstood so many vicissi- tudes and disasters, again takes a commanding place among the nations of Europe. BARKS ON DANUBE. INDEX. Abdi Fasha surrenders Buda to Duke Charles, 332 Academy of Sciences at Buda- Pesth founded, 407 Adalbert, St., Bishop of Prague, 56 Agram, Bishopric of, founded, iii Ahmed Pasha, besieges Temesvar, 302 ; takes fortress, 305 ; be- sieges Erlau, 308 ; is repulsed, 3" Albert, Emperor of Germany, comes to the assistance of Wen- ceslaus, 153 Albert, King of Hungary, dies, 210 Aladar and Csaba, sons of Attila, 30 Albert, Duke of Poland, lays waste Hungary, 262 Albrecht, Archduke, 438 AlfOld (Lowland), taken by the Turks, 340 ; colonized by the Servians, 361 ; depopulated, 368 Ali. Pasha of Buda, besieges Dre- gel, 299 ; clemency to two youths, 300 ; takes Dregel, 301 ; generosity to remains of Szondi, 301 Aliportug, 315 Almos, first duke of the Huns, 36 ; oath to, 36 Almos, brother of Coloman, rebel- lion of, 116; defeated 116; de- prived of sight, n6 ; rebels against Stephen II., 116 ; dies, tl7 Altai Mountains, cradle of Magyar race, 32 Anagarini, John, Papal envoy to Matthias, 236 Andrassy, Count, 439 Andrew, Prince, rebellion of, 60 ; made king, 61 ; issues rigorous laws, 61 Andrew I., King of Hungary, 102 ; victories over pagan reb- els, 103 ; gives one third of his realm to Bela, 103 ; son born, 104 ; feild with Bela, 105 ; de- feated by Bela, 106 Andrew, brother of Emeric, 123 ; defeats Emeric and proclaims himself Duke of Croatia, Dal- matia, Rama, and Chulmia, 123 ; captured by Emeric, 124; made guardian of his nephew, 125 Andrew II., ascends the throne, 125 ; under his wife's dominion, 125 ; weakness of, 126 ; cam- paign in Galicia, 126 ; goes to the Holy Land, 129; grants "Golden Bull," 129; dies, 133 Andrew III., ascends the throne, i49 ; death, 150 Andrew, son of Charles of Anjou, betrothed to Joanna of Naples, 164 ; assassinated, 166 Anjou, house of — first king, 151 Anna, daughter ofUladislaus, 265; betrothed to Ferdinand, son of Maximilian, 266 Anna, Duchess of Teschen, mother of Stephen Szapolyal, 265 441 442 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. Anna of Candal, wife of Uladis- laus, dies, 276 Anna Pekry, wife of Losonczy, tries to raise money for her besieged husband, 303 Apafify, Prince of Transylvania, 357 Apors, 147 Apotheosis oi Augustus, 18 Amulph, King of Germany, 39 Arpad, first ruler of Hungary, 42 ; death, 44 ; house of, 97 ; ex- tinction of, 149 Astrik, mission to Rome, 76 Attila, pushes forward, 23 ; death of, 24 ; sons of, contend for possession of empire, 24 ; Ala- dar and Csaba, sons of, 30 Augsburg, victory near, 48 Aurelian, withdraws legions, 32 ; allows Goths to settle, 23 Austrian government persecutes the Protestants, 344 ; encourages the Catholics, 347 ; defeated by Kossuth, 431 ; declared to have forfeited its right to Hungary, 432 Austria, supremacy comes to an end, 438 Austria-Hungary, new kingdom of, 440 Avars, first appearance, 24 ; con- quered by the Franks, 25 B Bajan, prince of the Avars, 25 Bajazet, on Hungarian soil, 182 ; defeats Sigismund, 184 Bakacs, Thomas, archbishop, as- pires to the papal see, 268 ; or- ganizes crusade against the Turks, 268 ; appointed guardian to Louis, 276 Balassa, Valentine, 318 ; takes part in the storming of Gran, 319 Balkan Peninsula, appearance of Turks on, 299 Barbara, wife of Sigismund, nego- giates with Ladislaus III. of Po- land, 193 ; imprisoned, 193 Bardico, John, captain of the re- public of Venice, 180 Bathory, Stephen, traitor to the son of Matthias, 261, 285 ; at battle of Mohacs, 288 Batthyanyi, Count Louis, deputy from county of Pesth, 121 ; pres- ident of new ministry, 424 Batu Khan, leads Mongolians across the Carpathian range, 138 ; massacres Kuthen, defeats Bela at Muhi, 139 ; retreats from Trau, 141 Bavaria, invaded by the Hutigari- ans, 48 Bazarad, Ban Michael, ruler of Wallachia, revolt of, 160 Beatrice, daughter of the king of Naples, wife of Matthias, 234 ; favors candidature of Maximill- ian of Germany, 260 Bela, Adalbert, brother of Andrew, 103; defeats Henry IH., 103; popularity of, 104 ; feud with Andrew, 105 ; conquers Andrew, 106 ; proclaimed king, 106 Bela I., rebellion against, 106; sons of, resign claim to throne in favor of Solomon, 107 Bela IL, son of Almos, ascends the throne, 117 ; Ilona, wife of, 117 ; vengeance of, at Arad, 117 ; dies, 118 ; Geyza IL, son of, 118 Bela III., brother of Stephen III., 98 ; goes to Constantinople, 119 ; adopted by Manuel, 119 ; takes oath never to attack the Greek empire, iig ; returns to his na- tive country and ascends throne, 120 ; restores order, 120 ; intro- duction through wives of German and French manners, 122 ; Eme- ric, son of, 123 ; dies, 123. Bela IV., ascends the throne, 133 ; drives back Frederic, of Austria, 134 ; admits Kuthen, king of the Kuns, and his people into the land, 135 ; defeated by the Mon- golians at Muhi, 139 ; flees to Spalato, then to Trau, 141 ; re- INDEX. 443 turns to Hungary, 141 ; strives to revive his desolated country, 142 ; founds Buda,i44 ; triumphs over Frederick, of Austria, 144 ; dies, 145 Belgrade, Turks defeated by Hun- yadi at, 214 ; taken by the Turks, 284 Benedek, Marshal, 438 Beni, 431 Bethlen, Gabriel, Prince of Tran- sylvania, leads the Czechs and Protestants of Hungary, and takes Presburg,348 ; makes terms with Viennese government, 348 ; dies, 350 Black Iroo^, organized by Mat- thias, 224 Bocskay, Stephen, Prince of Tran- sylvania, leads insurrection against the Hapsburgs, 345 ; proclaimed king of Hungary by the Turks, 345 ; counsels a con- ciliatory policy, 346 Bonafini, lectures of, at the court of Matthias, 249 Brankovitch, Prince of Servia, 212 Branyiszko, 431 Brebiris the, 147 Bruno, 56 Buda, assembly of lords at, 184 ; under Matthias, 252 ; founded by Bela IV., 144 ; captured by Soly- man the Magnificent, 28g ; re- stored to Hungary, 332 ; diet at, 386 Buda-Pesth, 10 ; statue of Stephen Szechenyi at, 400 ; national ca- sino at, 411 ; newspaper started at, by Kossuth, 415 ; real capital, 422 ; revolution in, 422 ; seat of government, 428 Capistrano, John, preaches a cru- sade against the Turks, 213 Caraffa, 360 Carlowitz, treaty of peace signed at, 334 Carpathian range, I Casimir, King of Poland, 159 ; ac- knowledges Louis, son of Charles of Anjou, his heir, 162 ; dies, 171 Census in Hungary opposed, 384 Charles Robert, of Anjou, ascends the throne, 151 ; crowned the fourth time, 154 ; defeats Mat- thias Czak, 157 ; introduces chiv- alry, 158 ; popularity, 159 ; es- capes from Wallachia, 161 ; ac- quires Naples and Poland, 162 ; arranges with Cassius, King of Poland, that Poland should de- scend to Louis, his son, 162 ; death, 164 Charles of Durazzo conquers Na- ples, 168 ; crowned at Stuhlweis- senburg, 177 ; death, 178 Charles IV., of Germany, suspi- ious of Louis of Hungary, 170 ; Charles, Duke of Lorraine, routs the Turks, 33 ( ; takes Buda, 332 ; conquers at Mohacs, 333 Charles III. of Austria and Hun- gary inaugurates new policy, 368 Church of Hungary, relations with the Vatican, 186 Church of Rome, condition of, J87 Christianity, victory of, 60 Cities, franchises of, 186 ; privi- leges of, 343 Climate, 9 Coloman, ascends throne, 114; drives crusaders away, 114; receives Godfrey of Bouillon, 114; increases domains, 115; styles himself King of Croa- tia and Dalmatia," 115; called Konyves, a bookish king, 115 ; Brother Almos rebels — 115 ; ad- ministers justice, 115 ; Stephen, son of, 116 Congress of Vienna, 404 Conrad, death of, 50 Conrad II., Emperor of Ger- many, 88 ; war with Stephen, 89 Constantinople, capital of the Turkish empire, 212 444 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. Constitution, i6 ; restored to Hun- gary, 437 Constitutional monarchy estab- lished, 424 ; enthusiasm for, 424 Corvinus, John, son of Matthias, candidate for the throne, 259 Council of Constance, igo County assemblies, 437 Court of Matthias, 250 Cracow, coronation of Louis of Hungary at, 172 Croatia added to Hungary, iii ; dissatisfaction in, 176 ; old con- stitution restored to, 437 Croats, incited by the Viennese government against the Hun- garians, 420 ; rebel, 426 ; de- feated, 428 Crown, double, of Hungary re- moved by Joseph IV. to Vi- enna 382 ; sent back to Buda, 386 Crusade, 114 ; third, 122 ; against the Turks, 213 ; proclaimed, 268 Csak, Matthias, 159 ; marauding expeditions from the castle of Trecsen, 155 ; excommunication of, 156 ; defeated by Charles Robert of Anjou at Kassa, 157; dies a horrible death, 157 Csak (family), 147 ; extermination of, 159 Csaky, Nicholas, killed, 271 Cselenyi, John, 160 Culture, renaissance of, 247 Curia regia, supreme court of ju- dicature, 437 Custozza, battle of, 438 Czechs, clamors of, against Hun- gary, 203 ; routed on plain of Morava, 146 ; joined by the Protestants in insurrection against the Hapsburgs, 348 ; routed by Tilly near Prague, 348 D Dacia, province of, 20 Damjanics, 431 Danube Steam Navigation Com- pany, 411 Debruzen, seat of government, 430 Deak, Francis, 414 ; minister of justice, 424 ; heads representa- tive committee, 437 Diakovar, 179 Diet (1567) inveighs against the foreign soldiery, 341 ; religious discussion in, prohibited by Ru- dolph, 345 ; minority of Prot- estants in, 358 ; relinquishes the people's right, 360 ; at Buda, 386—389 ; removed to Presburg, 387 ; reforms institutions of Hungary, 423 ; removed to Buda-Pesth, 427 ; driven to Dubreczen, 430 ; declares the house of Hapsburg to have for- feited its right to Hungary, 432 ; dissolution of 437 ; opened by the emperor, 438 Dobo, Stephen, commandant at Eriau, 307 ; repulses the Turks, 311 Dobozy, Michael, flight and death of, 293 Dozsa George, made leader of cru- sade, 270 ; leads his men against the Tiobles, 271 ; besieges Tem- esvar, is defeated and executed, 272 Dragfy, John, Chief-Justice, at the battle of Mohacs, 287 Dregel, taken by the Turks under Ali Pasha, 300 ; monumental chapel erected at, 301 Elizabeth, daughter of Andrew HI., 151 Elizabeth, wife of Charles of Anjou, builds cathedral at Kassa, 162 ; goes to Naples in aid of her son Andrew, 162 Elizabeth, wife of Louis of Hun- gary, offers to Poland her daugh- INDEX. 445 ter Hedwig as queen, 176 ; strangled, 179 Elizabeth, daughter of Sigismund, married to Alliert of Austria, 186 Emeric, son of Stephen, 90 ; educa- tion of, 90 \ death of, 94 Emeric, son of Bela III., ascends the throne, 123 ; defeated by Andrew, 123 ; dies, 125. Emperor and Pope, rivalry of, 70 Eperjes, bloody tribunal of, 360 Erlau besieged by Ahmed Pasha, 308 Eugene, Duke of Savoy, assumes commandership of Hungarian forces, 333 ; annihilates a Turk- ish army, 334 ; defeats the Turks near Peterwardein, 335 ; defeats the Turks, 359 Europe threatened by a new foe, 170 Ferdinand of Austria, elected king of Hungary 295 ; king of Bohe- mia, 338 Ferdinand II., cousin of Matthias, King of Bohemia, 347 Ferdinand V., King of Hungary, 424 Field of Blood, 396 Fiume, city of, 7 ; given to Hun- gary by Maria Teresa, 371 France, revolution in, 386 Francis I., of France, stirs up Soly- man, 286 Francis I., crowned, 390 ; perse- cutes enlightened men 396 ; arbi- trary government, 398 ; returns to constitutional government, • 399 Francis, Joseph, enters into alli- ance with Czar of Russia, 432 ; visits Hungary, 436 Frangepan Christopher, 267 ; con- spires against Leopold I., 355 ; beheaded, 355 ^ Frederic Barbarossa leads third crusade, 122 Frederic, Duke of Austria, defeat- ed by Bela IV., 144 ; dies, 144 French enter Hungary, 397; defeat the Hungarians near Raab, 398 Fuggers, the, 279 Funfkirchen (Pecs), University of, 174 G GalambBcz, siege of, igi Galicia, campaign in, 126 Garay, palatine of Croatia, 176 ; defends the queens and dies, 178 George of Brandenburg, appointed guardian to Louis 276 Gepidse, ruling people in Hungary, 24 Gerhard, St., death, 61 Germans, defeat of, 44 ; victory of, 48 ; in Hungary, 322 German confederation dissolved, 438 Gertrude, wife of Andrew II., 125 Geyza II., ascends throne, log ; son of Bela, 118 ; hostiUties, 118 ; dies, 118 ; Stephen III., son of, 118 Gisella, wife of Stephen, 69 Golden Bull, 99 ; rights granted by, relinquished by diet, 360 Gbrgei, commander-in-chief of the Hungarian army, 430 ; surren- ders. 433 Gran (Esztergrom), capital of Hun- gary, 68 Gregory VII., claims submission from Ladislaus, no Grosswardein, Tomb of Ladislaus, 112 ; Hungarian victory at, 168 Gustavus Adolphus, 350 Guyon, 431 Gyula, Duke, rebellion of, 60 : de- feated, 60 H Hajnoczi, Joseph, 393 ; arrested, 395 Hapsburg, house of, rulers of Hungary, 337 ; Rudolph of, 145 Hatvan, diet at, 280 446 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. Haynau, Baron, persecutes the pa- triots, 434 Hedervari, Francis, deserts Bel- grade, 284 Hedwig, daughter of Louis of Hungary, marries Dukejagello, 174 ; becomes queen of Poland, 175 Henry the Fowler, 47 Henry II. of Germany, 88- Henry III. visits Stephen, 89 Horvathy, John, attacks the two queens near Diakovar, 179 Holubar, contest with Matthias, 22g Horse-racing introduced into Hun- gary, 41 1 Hungarian Alps, 6 Hungarians (early), legends in re- gard to origin, 27 ; invade Ger- many, 42 ; invade Italy, 44 ; incursion into Germany and France, 46 ; disasters of, 56 Hungary, topography and climate, I ; cities of, 16 ; conquest by fhe Huns, 39 ; invasion by Luitpold and Ditmar, 44; under two kings, 2g5 ; reduced to an Austrian province, 356 ; reorganized by government of Vienna, 361 ; material condition improved by Maria Teresa, 372 ; German made the official language, 382; new laws, 423 ; recovers her national rights, 436 Huns, first appearance, 23; of Turkish extraction, 33 ; seven dukes of, 34 ; mode of warfare, 37 ; conquer Hungary, 39 Hunyadi, John, 194 ; defeats the Turks, 197 ; gallantry, 198 ; tri- umphs in^ the Balkan passes, 205 ; victorious at Varna, 207 ; defeated, 209; governor of Hun- gary, 210 ; unites with the Al- banians, 211 ; defeated, 211 ; death, 215 Hunyor, 28 ; settlement of pro- geny, 29 Huss, John, 189 Illeshazy, 344 Ilona, wife of Bela II., 117; opens diet at Arad, 117 ; orders mas- sacre at Arad, 1 1 7 Industrial and commercial status, 16 Iron gate (Vaskapu), 5, 411 Ishak, pasha of Semendria, 198 Izolda, nurse of Andrew, 165 Jacobins, Hungarian league of, 392 Jagello, Duke of Lithuania, mar- ries Hedvig, a daughter of Louis of Hungary, 174 James, son of Vatha, leads pagan rebellion against Bela I., 107 ; defeated, 107 Jellachich, Ban, leader of the Croats, 426 ; defeated, 428 Jesuits inaugurate Thirty Years' War, 347 Joanna of Naples, wife of An- drew, conspires against her hus- band, 165 ; marries Louis of Taranto, 167 ; sentenced by the Pope, 168 Jokai, Maurus, 422 Joseph I., Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, 366 : grants amnesty to the insurgents, 367 Joseph II., sends crown back to Buda, 386 ; death, 386 Joseph II. refuses to receive the crown of Hungary, 375 ; called the " kalapos " king, 375 ; wages war against the Hungarian na- tionality, 376; reigns as absolute sovereign, 278 ; hated by the people, 380 ; gives religious free- dom to the Protestants, 380 ; shocks the religious feelings of the Hungarians, 381 ; removes double crown to Vienna, 382 ; makes, . by edict, German the official language of Hungary, 382 ; declares war against Tur- key, 385 INDEX. 447 Julius II., 268 Juianics, Lawrence, 317 ; death at siege of Szigetvar, 317 Juricsies, Michael, commander of Koszeg, 297 ; saves Austria, 29! K Kaan, Prince, defeated by Ste- phen, 60 " JCalandos " Society, 281 Karolyi, Alexander, 335 Kassa, battle of, 157 ; cathedral of, 162 ; given to the Catholics 344 Kazinczy, Francis, regenerator of Hungarian literature, 394 ; im- prisonment of, 396 Kiev, fate of, 136 Kieystut, Prince of Lithuania, 168 Kinizsy, Paul, captain of Matthias, 230 ; traitor to the son of Mat- thias, 261 ; massacres Hungarian soldiers near Halos, 264; dies, 264 Kisfaludy, Charles, 285 Klapa, 431; defends Komarom, 433 Komarom, 431; taken by the Im- perialists, 433 Kont, Stephen, of Hedervar, death, 181 Kopan, rebellion of, 59 ; death of, 60 Korogi, Peter, of the wonderful stomach, 277 Kosovo, battle of, 186 Kossuth, Louis, rival of Szechenyi, 412 ; refuses to be bought by the government, 415 ; starts news- paper, 415 : imprisoned, 416 ; pardoned, 417 ; obtains permis- sion to edit a paper, 517; at- tacked by the press, 418; deputy from the county of Pesth, 421 ; asks for responsible ministry, 421 ; Minister of Finance, 424 ; introduces motions in Assembly, 427 ; head of the government, 430 ; exile, 434. KOszeg, refuses to do homage to Solyman, 297 ; siege of, 298 Krafi Bey, death of, 208 Kuns (Cumanians), routed by . Ladislaus, in ; under Kuthen, settle in Hungary, 135 ; cruel- ties,i52 ; devastate Moravia,i7o Kurucz-Labancz era, 357 Kurucs, rebellion, 268; insurgents, 357 ; receives aid from the French, Porte, and Transylvania, 358 ; led by Tokolyi, 358 ; led by Francis Rakoczy II., 363 ; demands of, 394 Kuthen, King of the Kuns, settles in Hungary, 135 ; massacred by Batu Khan, 138 Labancz (Austrians), 357 ; surren- der, 358 Laczkovics, John, 393 ; arrested, 395 Ladislaus, son of Bela, 109 ; as- cends throne, 109 ; character of, no; sides with Pope, no; ex- tends his kingdom, in ; routs the Kuns, in ; laws of, 112; buried at Grosswardein, 112 ; apparition of, 168 Ladislaus, son of Emeric, dies, 125 Ladislaus IV., 155 ; defeats Otto- kar, 146 ; alliance with Rudolph, 147 ; death, 148 Ladislaus of Naples, penetrates into the interior of Hungary, 186; defeated, 186 Ladislaus V., King of Hungary, 212 Ladislaus, son of Hunyadi, assas- sinated, 218 Lands of the Sacred Crown, 374 Language, regulated according to nationality, 436 ; Magyar recog- nized as the official language, 437 Lazarevitch, Stephen, Prince of Servia, 191 448 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. Lehel, Duke, death of, 50 Leo the Wise, Emperor of Byzan- tium, 39 Leo X., Pope, 268 Leopold I., tries to conciliate the Turks, 33 [ ; defeats George Rakoczy IL, 352 ; defeated by the Turks near Raab, 353 ; en- deavors to make homogeneous empire, 354 ; imposes land and corn tax, 355 ; death, 366 Leopold II. , ascends the throne, 387 ; crowned, 389 ; death, 390 Library of Matthias,252; destroyed by Solyman, 289 Linz, Peace of, 327 Lissa, naval battle at, 438 Literature, leaders in, 404 Lithuanian insurrection, 172 Logody, Simon, heroically defends Shabatz, 224 Longobards, invited by Justinian to settle in Pannonnia, 24 ; col- lision between, and Gepidse, 25 Losonczy, Stephen, commander of garrison at Temesvar, 302 ; be- sieged by Ahmed Pasha, 302 ; tries to raise money, 303 ; writes last letters, 304 ; withdraws troops, 305 ; death, 305 Louis of Taranto marries Joan- na, widow of Andrew, 167 Louis Laczfy, voyvode of Tran- sylvania, defeated at Gross- wardein, 168 Louis, son of Charles of Anjou, acknowledged heir to the throne of Poland, 162 ; ascends Hun- garian throne, 164 ; swears re- venge for his brother's death, 166 ; subdues Naples, 167 ; puts an end to incursions from the East, 168 ; Servian victories, 169 ; Venetian victories, 169 ; offered the German crown, 170 ; crowned king of Poland, 172 ; death, 174 Louis II., son of Uladislaus, born, 266 ; crowned, 276 ; poverty of, 377 ; marries Mary of Austria, 283 ; defeated and killed at Mo- hacs, 289 Lukacs, Bishop of Cenad, 263 M Magyars, 28 ; rebellion against, in 997, 59 Manuel, Emperor of the East, 118 ; offers peace to the Hunga- rians, 118 ; promises to adopt Bela heir, 119. Marcomanni, the, invasion of, 21 Maria Teresa, policy of, 368 ; ap- peals to the Hungarians, 370 ; gives Fiume to Hungary, 371 ; improves the material condition of Hungary, 372 Maritza, defeat of the Turks at, 171 Martinovics, Ignatius, leader of Hungarian Jacobins, 392 ; ar- rested, 395 Marton, Father, embassy of, to Ali Pasha, 300 Mary, daughter of Louis of Hun- gary ; betrothed to Sigismund, son of the Emperor Charles IV., 170 ; proclaimed queen of Hun- gary, 175 ; marriage of, 176 ; made prisoner, 179; dies, 183 Mary, widow of Louis I., flies to Presburg, 292 Matthias, son of Hunyadi, pro- claimed king, 217 ; chivalric character of, 220 ; victories over the German knight Holubar, 220 ; captures Vienna, 222 ; or- ganizes Black Troop, 224 ; lays siege to Shabatz, 224 ; anec- dotes of, 226 ; campaign against Frederic, 229 ; sends embassy to France, 233 ; to Naples, 234 ; reforms the laws, 240 ; capacity, 243 ; increases royal revenue, 246 ; dies, 256 Matthias, successor to Rudolph, 346 Maximilian, treaty with Uladis- laus, 266 INDEX. AA9 Maximilian of Austria, King of Hungary, 341 Melancholy Magyars, 49 Merseburg, battle of, 47 Meszaros, Lawrence, 270 Mettemich, Prince, 408, 421 Mezid Bey, dispatched by the Sul- tan against the Hungarians, igS Miecislas, wife ef Bela, 103 Mohacs, battle at, 288 ; slaughter at, 292 Mohammed I., Sultan, 190 ; Vice- roy of Hervoga, 191 Mohammed II. makes Constanti- nople his capital, 212 Mongolians, invasion of, 137 ; de- feat the Hungarians at Muhi, 139 ; retreat of, 141 Money (paper), issue of, 3 ^8 Morava or March, plain of, route of the Czech armies, 146 More, Michael, treachery of, 284 Muhi, battle of, 139 Murad, Sultan, death, 182 Mustapha II., Sultan, defeated by Duke Eugene near Zentu, 334 N Nadasdy conspires against Leo- pold, I ; seized and beheaded, 355 Nagy, Paul, 407 Nagy, Simon, 229 Napoleon endeavors to tempt the Hungarians from their Austrian allegiance, 397 National Assembly, 427 National Breeding Association, 411 National casino at Buda-Pesth, 4" National exhibition (1885), 17 National museum of Buda-Pesth, 402 Nicopolis, battle near, 183 Nickolsburg, treaty of, 328 Nobles arm under Bathory (Comes) and Csaky, 271 ; oppose the Aus- trian government, 343 ; poll-' ax imposed upon by Leopold I., 356 Honv^ds, national guard, 427 Nyary, Paul, leader of the op- position, 428 Olah, Blasius, 284 Ostyaks, 32 Ottakar, King -of Bohemia, over- thrown by Bela IV. and his sons, 145 Otto the Bavarian, assists Wences- laus, 153 ; decoyed by the vay- vode of Transylvania, 154 Otto the Great, of Germany, 48 Palace of Matthias, 252 ; sacked by Solyman, 295 Palaeologos, John (Emperor of the East), 171 ; visits Buda, 171 Palisna, John, delivers up Mary, wife of Sigismund, to Venice, 180 Pannonians, 18 Parliament (diet), i6 ; at Arad, 117 Patriots, persecutions of, 434 Pazmany, Cardinal Peter, 326 ; primate of Hungary, 347 Peasants, condition of, 269 ; op- pressive laws for, 274 Peasant war, 267 ; end of, 273 Perenyi, Francis, Bishop of Gross- wardein, 287 Persecutions, 391 Pesti Hirlap (Pesth newspaper), 417 Petchenegs, defeated by Stephen, 79 Peter, successor to Stephen, lOo ; asks help of the German em- peror, 100 ; takes oath of fealty to Germany, 100 ; rebellion against, loi ; prisoner and de- prived of sight, 102 Peterwardein, 287 Petofi, Alexander, 422 ; death, 433 Philip of Taranto, son of Cather- ine of Valois, at Naples, 165 450 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. Pilgrin, Bishop of Passau, 55 Piso, Jacob, teacher of Louis Podrebrad, George, King of the Czechs, 242 Poland, troubles in, 172 Political divisions, 9 Porte, secretly promises aid against the Austrians, 357 Pragmatic Sanction, 369 Prague, root of the Czechs at, 348 ; peace of, 438 Press, liberty of, gained by the Revolution in 1848, 422 Presburg, battle of, 45 ; taken by the Turks, 293 ; taken by Beth- len, 348 ; diet at, 389 Protestantism, rise of, 320 ; loses ground in Hungary, 348 Protestants, laws against, 323 ; persecuted, 325 ; given equal rights by Stephen Bocskay, 326 ; persecuted by the Austrian gov- ernment, 344 ; join the Czechs against the Hapsburgs, 348 ; freedom of worship interfered with, 361 ; receive religious freedom from Joseph II., 380 R Raab, Turkish victory at, 353 ; French victory at, 398 Rakoczy, George I., Prince of Transylvania, 351 Rakoczy II., George of Transyl- vania, rebels against the Aus- trian rule, 334 ; retires to Poland, 335 ; victorious over the Ger- mans and Turks, 352 ; defeated by Leopold, 352 Rakoczy, Francis, conspires against Leopold I., and estates confiscated, 355 ; leads new in- surrection, 363 Rakos, diet at, 258 ; meeting of National assembly at, 265 Raven Knight, the, 196 Reformation, 282 ; in Hungary, 323 Religions, 14 Rivers and islands, 8 Roman influence, weakening of, 23 Roman emperors of Pannonian origin, 22 Rozgonyi, Cecilia, heroism of, 192 Rudolph of Hapsburg, alliance with Ladislaus IV., 145 ; letter to Ladislaus, 146 Rudolph, son of Maximilian, King of Hungary, 342 ; irritated with the Hungarian diet, 342 ; leaves Huugary for 25 years, . 342 ; prohibits religious discus- sion in the diet, 345 Ruprecht, Emperor of Germany, dies, 187 Russ, Melchior, Svriss envoy, re- ceived by Matthias, 236 Sadowa, battle of, 438 Sarolta, wife of Duke Geyza, '51 ; mother of Stephen, 63 Selim, Sultan, vows to build mos- ques in Jerusalem, Buda, and Rome, 282 Semendria, fortress of, 196 Serbs, rebellion of, 426-428 Seredy, Caspar, 286 Servia, conquered by the Turks, 182 Shabatz, siege of, 224 ; siege of, by the Turks, 283 ; taken by the Turks, 284 Shamanism, 53 ; Magyars, re- ligion of the, contains traces of the Parsee religion, 55 Sigismund, husband of Queen Mary, hypothecates the coun- tries' funds, 176 ; crowned king of Hungary, 179 ; marches into Croatia and Bosnia, 180 ; makes alliance with Manuel, Emperor of the East, 183 ; defeated by Bajazet, 184 ; imprisoned, 185 ; marries Barbara, daughter of Count Arminius Cilley, 186 ; es- tablishes the Order of the Drag- on, 186 ; elected emperor of Germany, 187 ; war with Venice, INDEX. 451 l88 ; travels of, igo ; offered the crown of Bohemia, Ig2 ; death, 193 Sigismund Hampr, Bishop of Fiinfkirchen, 263 Siklos, castle of Sigismund, 185 Silistria, conquered by the Turks, 182 Simon Kemeny, Igg Slavonia, old constitution restored to, 437 Slovaks, sway of, ^37 Slovenes, 37 Sobieski, John, of Poland, routs the Turks, 331 Solomon, son of Andrew, 104 ; betrothal of, 104; ascends throne, 108 ; feud with sons of Bela, log; defeated at Mogyorod, 109; leads the life of a hermit, 109 Solyman the Magnificent, 282 ; sends ambassador to Louis II., attacks Shabatz and Belgrade, 283 ; invades Hungary, 286 ; defeats Louis at Mohacs and enters Buda, 28g ; returns to Constantinople, 2g5 ; marches towards Vienna, 2g7 ; retreats after siege of KBszeg, 2g8 ; be- sieges Temesvar, 302 ; invades Hungary for the sixth time, 311 ; besieges Szigetvar Spalato, X41 Spanish war of succession, 364 Standing army, 36g States, general meeting of, 260 Stephen, baptism of, 57 ; rebellion against, 5g ; defeats Gyula and Khan, 60 ; first king of Hun- gary, 65 ; extinguishes the pagan faith, 72; founds abbeys, 80 ; munificence of, 82 ; constitu- tional reforms, 84 ; war with Conrad, 89 ; advice to his son, 91 ; chooses his successor, 95 ; death of, 95 ; canonization, g6 Stephen II., son of Coloman, as- cends the throne, 116 Stephen III., son of Geyza, as- cends the throne, 118 ; dies, 119 Stuhlweissenburg, capital of Hun- gary, 102 ; Wenceslaus crowned at, 152 Svatopluk, King of Moravia, 39 ; death of, 41 Sylvester II., Pope, confinns Hun- garian bishoprics, 74 ; gives Ste- phen title of " Apostolic King," 75 ; presents crown to Stephen, 75, Szalankemen, complete rout of Turks at, 333 Szalkan, primate of Hungary, 267 Szalkay, Bishop, 285 Szapolyai, Governor of Vienna, sells Hungarian throne to Ulad- islaus of Poland, 261 Szapolyai, Stephen, aspires to the throne of Hungary, 265 ; at- tempts to murder Uladislaus, 266 Szechenyi, Stephen, statue of, 400 ; birth and history of. 402 ; travels, 404 ; speaks in Hun- garian, 406 ; founds the Acad- emy of Sciences. 407 ; first lit- erary work, 409; "Credit," 410; introduces horse-racing, 411 ; rivalry with Kossuth, 412 ; aristocratic tendencies of, 413 ; insanity and suicide, 429 Szecsi, Desiderius, death of, 161 Szerenc, Emeric, 280 Szigetvar besieged by Solyman, 312 ; death, 317. Szondi, George, gallant defence of Dregel, 299 ; asks favor of Ali Pasha, 300 ; death, 301 SzSreny, Turks repulsed by Kin- izsy at, 264 T Talpra Magyar, poem by Petofi, 422 Taltos, Shamanish priests, 54 Tartars defeat Rackoczy in Po land, 352 Tax, land and corn, imposed, by Leopold I., 355 ; oppressive, im- posed, 362; made permanent, 369 452 THE STORY OF HUNGARY. Tax-poll, imposed on every in- habitant of Hungary, 356 Taxes, military aid invoked to collect, 437 Tcheremisses, 32 Tegetthoff, Admiral, 438 Telegdy, Stephen, protests against crusade, 268 ; killed, 271 Temesvar, royal seat of Charles Robert of Anjou, 157; siege of 302 ; taken by Turks, 305 ; re- storged to Hungary, 335 Theiss, battle of, 106 ; regulation of, 411 Thirty Years' "War, beginning of, 347 Throne, claimants to, 151 Thurzo, Alexius, lends money to King Louis, 280 Tilly routs the Czechs near Prague, 348 Tinody, Sebastian, poem on siege of Szigetvaf , 318 Tokolyi, head of the rebels, 358 ; proclaimed by the Porte king of Hungary, 359 ; exiled in Turkey, 363 Tomory, Paul, defeats the Turks at Nagy-Olasz, 286 ; comman- der-in-chief at Mohacs, 287 Tonna, Andrew, heroically de- fends and is killed at Shabatz, 284 Torok, Valentine, deserts Bel- grade, 284 Trajan, campaign in Dacia, 20 Transylvania, gold and salt mines of, 20 ; still asserts indepen- dence, 306 ; forms a bulwark against the Turks, 330 ; under Bethlen, 348 ; downfall of, 351 ; devastated by Tartar hordes, 354 ; refuge for Hun- garians, 357 ; remains a sepa- rate duchy, 361 ; old constitu- tion restored to, 437 Trau, castle of, 141 ; siege of, 141 Treaty of peace signed, 334 Tripartite code, 274 Turks, defeated at Maritza, 171 ; invade Servia, 182 ; condition of, Igo ; a dangerous enemy, 197 ; defeated by Hunyadi, 200; victorious, 2og ; invade Albania, 210 ; defeated by Hunyadi near Belgrade, 214 ; repulsed near Szoreny, 264 ; victorious at Mo- hacs, 288 ; take Buda, 289 ; take Presburg, 293 ; take D re- gel, 301 ; take Temesvar, 305 ; repulsed before Erlau, 311 ; take Szigetvar, 317 ; routed near Vienna, 339 ; defeated at Mo- hacs, 333 ; completely routed near Szalankemen, 333 ; anni- hilated by Duke Eugene, 334 ; defeated near Peterwardein,335 ; oppose the increase of power of the house of Hapsburg, 339 ; seize Alfold, 340 ; treaty with the Germans, 351 ; attack Leo- pold, 353 ; invade Hungary, 359; defeated by Prince Eugene, 359 . Two kings, the rivalry between, 295 U Uladislaus, elected to the throne of Hungary, 210 ; King of Hun- gary and Poland, 203 ; defeated by the Turks, 209 ; dies, 210 Uladislaus of Poland, elected king of Hungary, 262 ; birth of son, Louis, 266 ; Anna of Candal, wife of Uladislaus, dies, 276 ; dies, 276 Ujlaky, Duke, molests the royal domains, 267 United States enthusiastic recep- tion of Kossuth, 435 Vajdafy, leader of the forces of Sigismund, 181 Valentine, John, envoy from Fer- rara, received by Matthias, 236 Various nationalities, 12, 13 Varna, Hunyadi's victory at, 208 INDEX. 453 Vaskapu (Iron Gate), 5, 201, 411 Vata, rebellion of, 60 Vatha, leads Pagan rebellion against Peter, 102 ; defeat of, 103 ; James, son of, 106 Vatican, the relations with the Church of Hungary, 186 Venice, humiliation of, 169; beaten by the Hungarians, 188 Verboczy, Stephen, leader of party hostile to Uladislaus, 264 ; tri- partite code, 274 Vezprem, engagement at, 60 Viddin conquered by the Turks, 182 Vienna, Matthias holds court at, 249 ; peace of, 346 ; besieged, 359 ; rebellion at, 429 Vilagos, battle near, 433 Visegrad, Charles of Anjou makes his residence at, 158 ; tourna- ments at, 159 ; guests at, 162 ; Matthias' sojourn at, 236 ; gor- geousness of, 254 Voguls, 32 Volga and Danube, country be- tween, 34 Votyaks, 32 VarOSmarty, Michael, 422 W Wallachs, rising of, 385 ; led by Hora and Kloska, 385 ; rebel- lion of, 426 Wenceslaus, King of the Czechs, crowned at Stuhlweissenburg, 152 Wesselenyi, palatine of Hungary, heads conspiracy against Leo- pold I., 355 ; dies, 355 Windischgratz, Prince, invades Hungary, 430 ; loses his posi- tion, 431 Wolfgang, tries to spread Chris- tianity, 55 Zalan, Bulgarian prince, 37 Zemplen, 395 Zenta, defeat of Turks at, 334 Zemivar, fortress of, 329 Ziska, John, of Bohemia, devas- tates Hungary, 210 Zoltan, son of Arpad, 38 Zrinyi, Nicholas, commander at Szigetvar, 311 ; begs aid from king, 312, tempted and threat- ened by Solyman, 314 ; makes oration to his soldiers,. 317 ; death, 317, 329; annoys the Turks from his fortress of Zer- invar, 329 ; dies, 330 Zrinyi, Peter, conspires against Leopold I., seized and behead- ed, 355 Zyrians, 32 The Story of the Nations. Messrs. G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS take pleasure in announcing that they have in course of publication a series of graphic historical studies, intended to present to the young the stories of the different nations that have attained prominence in history. In the story form the current of each national life will be distinctly indicated, and its picturesque and note- worthy periods and episodes will be presented for the young reader in their philosophical relation to each other as well as to universal history. It will be the plan of the writers of the different volumes to enter into the real life of the peoples, and to bring them before the reader as they actually lived, labored, and struggled — as they studied and wrote, and as they amused themselves. In carrying out this plan, the myths, with which the history of all lands begins, will not be overlooked, though these will be carefully dis- tinguished from the actual history, so far as the labors of the accepted historical authorities have resulted in defi- nite conclusions. It is proposed to have the series present the results of the latest investigations in the progressive department of historical research. Disputed points will, however, not be discussed, but, instead, the writers will present, in a simple, direct, and graphic style, the story of each land, utilizing also, to illuminate the narrative, the side lights that the poets and novelists have cast upon it. Possessing a knowledge of and sympathy with the youthful way of looking at such subjects, the writers will not offer annals, arid and unconnected, nor bare chrono- logical statements of events, however complete. They will not expect to include all details of minor importance, but, on the contrary, will try to present pictures adapted to leave faithful impressions of the essential facts. The editors will endeavor to preserve a unity of design and execution that will enable the series to give to the reader a survey of the rise and progress of the nations sufificient to form a sound basis for subsequent reading and study ; but it will not be attempted to cover in detail the entire ground of universal history. The subjects of the different volumes will be planned to cover connecting and, as far as possible, consecutive epochs or periods, so that the set when completed will present in a comprehensive narrative the chief events in the great Story Of the Nations ; but it will, of course, not always prove practicable to issue the several volumes in their chronological order. The "Stories" are printed in good readable type, and in handsome i2mo form. They are adequately illus- trated and furnished with maps and indexes. They are sold separately, at a price of $1.50 each. The following is a partial list of the subjects thus far determined upon : THE STORY OF EGYPT. Prof. George Rawlinson. *CHALDEA. Z. Ragozin. " *GREECE. Prof. James A. Harrtson, Washington and Lee University. " " " *ROME. Arthur Oilman. *THE JEWS. Prof. James K. Hosmer, Washington University of St. Louis. " CARTHAGE. Prof. Alfred J. Church, University College, London. " GAUL. BYZANTIUM. Charlton T. Lewis. EARLY BRITAIN. Prof. Alfred J. Church. ' THE GOTHS. Henry Bradley. •■ THE NORMANS. Sarah O. Jewett. PERSIA. S. G. W. Benjamin. *SPAIN. Rev. E. E. and Susan Hale. *GERMANY. S. Baring Gould. " THE ITALIAN REPUBLICS. " HOLLAND. Prof. C. E. Thorold Rogers. " *NORWAY. HjALMAR H. Boyesen. " THE MOORS IN SPAIN. Stanley Lane-Poole. " *HUNGARY. Prof. A. Vambery. " THE ITALIAN KINGDOM. W. L. Alden. * (The volumes starred are now ready, August, 1886.) G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS New York London 27 AND 29 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET 2/ KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND