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Hungarian History In Translation Project - Schedule

Note: The articles in Historická revue have pictures with descriptions which will not be translated.

20.4. - Hungary At Point Zero: Christianity As A Political Mission For The Carpathian Basin (Historická revue 3/2022) + The Baptism of Hungary - A Chronological Overview (addendum 1) + From The Laws Of King Stephen I. About The Christian Religion And Church (addendum 2)

27.4. - Prince Géza And King Stephen I.: What Were The Beginnings Of Christianity In Hungary? (Historická revue 3/2022)

4.5. - St. Stephen I., King Of Hungary: Between The Ideal and Reality (Historická revue 3/2022)

11.5. - Who Helped Tame Wild Hungary?: Benedictines At The Court Of Stephen I. (Historická revue 3/2022)

18.5. - First Hungarian Coins: Minting His Own Currency Was A Matter Of Prestige For Stephen I. (Historická revue 3/2022) + Ancient Preslava - Today's Preslava

25.5. - Influence Of The Pechenegs On The Events In Early Kingdom Of Hungary (Historická revue 3/2022)

1.6. - Árpád Rulers As Protectors Of Christian Faith (Historická revue 6/2023)

8.6. - Between The Carpathian Mountains And Danube: Arpád Duchy Of Nyitra At The Beginings Of The Hungarian State (Historická revue 6/2023)

15.6. - Under The Scepter Of Polish Prince: The Partial Occupation Of Northern Hungary At The Start Of 11th Century (Historická revue 6/2023)

23.6. - Kings Against Dukes, Dukes Against Kings: The Demise Of Duchy Of Nyitra (Historická revue 6/2023) + Who Were The Nitrans (addendum 1) + Restoration Of The Diocese Of Nyitra (addendum 2)

30.6. - In The Begining Was A Feud Between Father And Son: Road Of The Anjou To The Hungarian Throne (Historická revue 5/2024)

6.7. - Morosini Family In Hungary And The Struggle For Hungarian Crown At The End Of The 13th Century: Thomasina Morosini, Mother Of Andrew III., Uncle Albertino And Andrew's Venenetian Politics (Historická revue 5/2024)

20.7. - "In This Time Bad Going Is In Moravia": The Conflict Of John Of Luxembourg With Csák Máté Of Trencsén (Historická revue 5/2024)

27.7. - Hunyadi János the Turk-buster: Father Of King Matthias (Historická revue 5/2017) + Origin Of The Hunyadi Family (addendum)

3.8. - Struggle For The Crown Of Saint Stephen: Matthias Corvinus And The Matter Of Royal Power (Historická revue 5/2017)

10.8. - King Of A Rough Hand: Matthias Corvinus And Hungary Of The Second Half Of The 15th Century (Historický revue 5/2017)

17.8. - The Brothers: Untrue Inheritors Of The Chalice (Historická revue 5/2017) + Legends And Reality (addendum 1) + The Testimony Of Period Documents (addendum 2) + Chronicler Johannes de Thurocz About The Brothers (addendum 3)

24.8. - Raven On The Throne Of A Lion: Matthias Corvinus As The King Of Bohemia (Historická revue 5/2017)

31.8. - Master Of The Sword And Diplomacy: Under The Tough Scepter Of Matthias Corvinus (Historická revue 5/2017)

7.9. - An Unusual Royal Wedding: When Matthias Corvinus Got Married (Historická revue 5/2017) + Marriage, Nuptials, Wedding (addendum)

14.9. - A Renaissance Monarch: Humanism And Scholarship At The Court Of Matthias Corvinus (Historická revue 5/2017) + János Vitéz of Srenda (addendum)

21.9. - The Truth Of A King From Buda: King Matthias In The Slovak Folk Tradition (Historická revue 5/2017)

2.10. - Turning Of The Dynasties: Struggle For The Throne After The Death Of Matthias Corvinus (Historická revue 7/2017)

15.3. - "They Find Joy In Nothing But Battle": The Image Of Magyars In The Era Of Invasions And Claiming Of Their Homeland Trough The Lens Of Contemporary Sources

22.3. - Byzantine Empire, Missions And Hungary: Pannonia And Eastern Christianity In The 10th Century

29.3. - Slovakia At The Beginnings Of The Kingdom Of Hungary

5.4. - From The Aristocracy Of Great Moravia To Hungarian Nobility: The Beginnings Of Early Medieval Aristocracy In Kingdom Of Hungary

12.4. - Musings On Christianity In Great Moravia And Christianization Of The Hungarians

19.4. - The Magnate House of Hont-Pázmány: Formation Of A Noble Class On Slovak Territory In The Middle Ages

26.4. - Monastic Orders In The Area Of Modern Slovakia In The Middle Ages

3.5. - Chapterhouses In Medieval Hungary

10.5. - On The Early Cities In Slovakia

17.5. - The Early City Coats Of Arms In Hungary

24.5. - Medieval Architecture In Slovakia: Romanesque And Gothic Style

31.5. - On A Grand Journey Trough Europe: Sigismund Of Luxembourg, The Council Of Constance And Slovak History

7.6. - Mining Industry In Slovakia In The Medieval And Early Modern Era

14.6. - Medieval University - Great Miracle Of The "Little Renaissance": Students Of Slovak Origin On European Universities

21.6. - The Carpathian Basin And Its Nomads: Hungary As A Target Of Eastern Ethnic Groups

28.6. - Interview With Michal Holeščák Corcerning The Wild Cumans

5.7. - Carpathian Germans Troughout The Ages

12.7. - Hungary Under The Sign Of The Star Of David

19.7. - The Wallachians In Slovakia

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Byzantine Empire, Missions And Hungary: Pannonia And Eastern Christianity In The 10th Century

(author: Marek Druga)

Missionary acitivies of the Byzantine Empire had already affected the Central Europe in a significant way in 863, when Constantine-Cyril and Methodius, preachers sent by the Byzantine emperor Michael III. (842-867) after a request from duke Rastislav of Moravia (846-870), arrived in the territory of Great Moravia. The at the time unique work of Constantine and Methodius in Great Moravia and Pannonia turned into a short-lived episode following the banishment of Methodius' pupils. Over the course of the 10th century, Central Europe would gradually come under the unavoidable influence of the papacy and Western Christianity.

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The influence of the Cyril - Methodius mission was significantly more pronounced in Bulgaria. That's because in the 880s, the Bulgarian knyaz-kagan Boris Mihail (852-889) gave shelter to the exiles from Moravia and entrusted to them a part in the organization of the Bulgarian church. Methodius' followers took up the task with great zeal: in Veliki Preslav, capital of the Bulgarian Empire, they were translating liturgical texts from from Greek to Old Church Slavonic and created a writing system - cyrillic, which was used for writing down the Old Church Slavonic language.

Methodius' pupils further served as missionaries - the most well-known is primarily the missionary work of Clement of Ohrid in the remote southeastern regions of Bulgaria at the borderlands of the Byzantine Empire. By supporting Slavic priests, Bulgarian ruler Boris Mihail aimed to create a counterweight against the rising influcence of Greek missionaries and priests in his country, much like Rastislav in Great Moravia before him in relation to the German clergy.

AFTER THE FALL OF GREAT MORAVIA Around the year 906, the duchy of Great Moravia fell. In Bohemia, a sphere of temporary power projection for Great Moravia, as well as the actual core of the duchy in Moravia, the influence of Western Christianity prevailed for good in spite of temporary disturbances. In Pannonia, including the former domain of Pribina from the 9th century - so originally a region under the influence of Bavarian missionaries, this only happened over the course of the 11th century during the reign of Stephen I. (997-1038). In contrast, troughout the entire 10th century, fate of the Carpathian Basin would be shaped more by military conquests and the unstable foreign policy of the Magyar princes.

In 896, Magyar armies invaded Pannonia and in 899-947, they ravaged a significant portion of Europe: northern Italy, Rome, Saxony, Lorraine, Burgundy, Provence or the territories of the Byzantine Empire, however they also entered the area of the Pyrenees or Campania and Apulia in the south of the Italian Peninsula. Only in 955 did a part of the Magyar armies suffer a heavy defeat at Lechfeld at the hands of the armies of king Otto I. of East Francia (936-973) and his allies. Incursions into Western Europe had ceased, though Magyar military expeditions would continue sporadically in the southeast of Pannonia. However, by then, princes who have adopted Christian faith were gaining power in the Carpathian Basin.

MAGYARS AND CHRISTIANITY Magyar tribes had already been coming into contact with Christians as early as the 9th century. No reliable sources show any signs of Christian faith amongst Magyars themselves. Although the grave goods included interesting items with Christian motifs like mythical animals, Greek crosses with fan-shaped leaves of the palmette and the motif of the branch, which tend to be associated with the symbol of the Christian tree of life (the Tiszabezdéd site), these rare finds are more indicative of the mixing of cultural influences by ways of warfare and trade.

In the 10th century Pannonia, Magyars found largely only the ruins of Roman forts or Carolingian buildings - fading memmorials of the previous Christian era, which was cut short by a new wave of raiding expeditions by pastoralists and nomads. However, in Pécs, Szombathely, Zalavár and other sites, Christian life was already gradually springing up anew - old ruins here provided the much-needed material for the construction of new churches and monasteries. However, the new buildings usually did not grow up on the floor plans of the old temples. Rather, they followed the trends of the period, which were mostly spreading out of the Christian West. The originally smaller religious buildings were thus largely being replaced by the wider Romanesque churches, in the important centres basilicas.

Following the battle of Lechfeld, the grand prince Géza (around 972-997) asserted his supremacy over more minor princes. His domain with the princely seat in Esztergom was located at the centre of the future Kingdom of Hungary, neighbouring the Eastern March and the Duchy of Bavaria, so it is no surprise that Géza and his son Stephen I. sided with the Christian West. However, even on the princely court itself, the Eastern Christian influences persisted, perhaps at the behest of Géza's consort Sarolt, daughter of the Transsylvanian prince Gyula (II., elsewhere also Zombor). A unique testament as to the support for Eastern Christianity at the core of Hungary around the year 1000 is a transcription of the founding document of a Greek monastery in Veszprémvölgyi, which was created on the orders of king Coloman (1095-1116) in 1109. The monastery for nuns, who were meant to follow the rule of Saint Basil the Great, was founded by king Stephen or even grand prince Géza (whose Christian name was of course also Stephen, as the chronicler Ademar of Chabannes writes). The earliest period of the monastery's existence is by now obscure, however a quite plausible suggestion seems to be that the idea of founding a Greek monastery (much like with the first Benedictine one in Pannonhalma) had already found purchase at Géza's court and that its co-author might've been Sarolt.

HUNGARIAN PRINCES IN BYZANTINE "SERVICE" The first Western missionaries worked in Hungary, on territory ruled by Géza and Sarolt, in the 970s. We can thus note with certainty that their missionary activities were preceded by more than two decades by preachers from the Byzantine Empire. The sophistication and living standards of the Byzantines, particularly powerful elites in the unconquerable Constantinople, had assuredly gained respect not only troughout the Balkans or among the rulers of Rus', but also with the Hungarian princes.

Constantinople was being visited by warriors from distant lands, including the Vikings, Slavic vladykas or Rus' boyars, coming in as mercenaries and allies of the wealthy empire. The 11th century Byzantine chronicler John Skylitzes informs us of, among others, Magyar chieftains (Bulcsú and Gyula-Zombor), who were supposed to be lifted up from the tub filled with holy water by the emperor Constantine VII. Porphyrogenitus himself. It seems that, along Bulcsú, Árpád's great-grandson Termacsu [1] also appeared in 948 in Constantinople, as he was a steadfast ally of emperor Constantine, and that he also got himself baptised there. These were undoubtedly pagans who were converting to Christianity out of pragmatism. Skylitzes depicts Bulcsú as a false Christian who was pretending to adore the true faith. In so doing he gained a powerful ally, the honorary title of patrician and immense wealth, which he took back home. However, according to the chronicler, he then snubbed the sacred covenant with the Christian God and with his entire tribe continued to attack the Romans, a.k.a. the Byzantine Empire. Gyula, on the other hand, left in the company of a monk named Hierotheos, who had been ordained a missionary bishop of Turkia (Magyars) by the patriarch of Constantinople Theophylact. Skylitzes further writes that Gyula resigned on military campaigns and became an exemplary supporter of Christianity - he took care of pilgrims and Christian captives, whom he paid ransom for and freed.

Hierotheos then, with Gyula's support, turned many new believers away from "barbarian delusions". The bishop was most likely christianizing the pagans of Transsylvania, potentially also in the area of ancient Sirmium (now Sremska Mitrovica in Serbia). His missionary bishopric lasted deep into the 11th century, since mentions of Hierotheos' successors - Ioannes of Turkia and monk Antonios, the metropolitan of Turkia - have been passed down in documents and on seals from later periods. The Golden Bull of the Byzantine emperor Basil II. the Bulgar Slayer (976-1025) likewise shows that in the 11th century, missionary bishops served around Sirmium and the later anti-Turkish fort of Smederevo as suffragans of the archbishops of Ohrid. The lasting influence of Eastern Christianity in this area also manifested itself in the founding of a monastery in Sremska Mitrovica in the first half of the 11th century; the Basilian monks were still present there as late as the 14th century.

The Eastern Christianity was later, in the late 10th/early 11th century, also supported by Ajtony, a powerful prince, whose rule we are told about by the Major Legend of Saint Gerard, the first bishop of Csanád (De Sancto Gerhardo episcopo Morosensi et martyre regni Ungariae). Ajtony received baptism in accordance with the Eastern rite from the Greeks in the Bulgarian town of Vidin, and he also built, with the approval and support of the Greeks (Byzantine Empire) the Basilian monastery of Saint John the Baptist in his capital of Marosvár (later Cenad). Following the military campaign of Ajtony's former ally Csanád, formiddable warrior serving king Stephen I. of Hungary, Ajtony lost his head and tongue, and Ajtony's monastery temporarily lacked a patron and source of funds. However, according to Gerard's legends, the monks were taken under his wing by Csanád, nobleman likely from the same enviroment as Ajtony. At the place where a lion appeared to Csanád in his sleep before the decisive battle with Ajtony in order to wake him up and give him courage to attack, Csanád built a monastery named Oroszlámos (from the Hungarian "oroszlány" - lion) [2] The new monastery church was devoted to Saint George and the Basilian monks from Marosvár were transfered there. Historians rightfully assume that it's a tale partly sourced from later tradition. While today we don't know how the monastery, which ceased to exist in the 13th century, looked like, it is likely that its name was derived from the stone lions, which guarded the gate to the monastery.

THE FORGOTTEN LEGACY OF THE EXARCHATE OF RAVENNA In current discourse, there is little focus on the fact that around the year 1000, some of the Eastern Christian influences might've also come to the Central Europe and Hungary from a less expected direction - Italy. In the 10th century, great figures of Eastern monasticism were working there - Nilus the Younger in Calabria, Greek Ioannis Philagatos (pope John XVI. [3]) or Saint Symeon of Armenia [4]. Saint Romuald, cofounder of the Camaldolese order, likewise founded monasteries in Ravenna and the surrounding area. He thus lived in the area of a former Byzantine exarchate, where Greek cultural and religious influences were maintained troughout the entire 10th century. From his monastery in Pereum emerged two excellent monks, Benedict and John, who went to Poland to christianize pagans in the borderlands.

In the first decade of the 11th century, they were followed by another of Romuald's monks, Bruno of Querfurt, who had been preaching the word of God in Hungary for many years. Around the year 1010, Romuald himself embarked upon a journey to Hungary, even taking with him an entourage of twenty four monks and two missionary bishops. The effect of these missions was likely only temporary. However, these monks likely didn't fall under the umbrella of typical representants of Western European, that is, Benedictine monasticism of the era. These missionaries and reformers harbored deep respect towards the Eastern monastic tradition and uncompromising asceticism, which after all was the also the case for the most famous monk from Zobor, Saint Andrew Zorard. Saint Gerard of Canád likewise became a later period bringer of contemporary Christian literature and spiritual culture into Hungary. This scholar was also familiar with the ideas of several figures from the Eastern Christian sphere (Origenes, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite and others), although the disputes continue to this day as to whether Gerard was perfectly fluent in Greek or if he worked with Latin translations of their writings.

THE RELICTS OF EASTERN CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES IN THE 10TH AND 11TH CENTURIES There aren't many surviving remnants of the Byzantine and Eastern Christian influences from the 10th century Carpathian Basin. On the banks of Danube and Tisza, archeologists have found around 50 precious pectoral crosses of Byzantine provenance, approximately 15-20 of which are from the 10th century. Most of them have been discovered in the southeastern part of today's Hungary in the area of Bekés and Csongrád-Csanád Counties, however several Byzantine crosses were also found as grave goods in the area of Székesfehérvár and especially Veszprém. The Greek crosses thus made their way from the site of manifacture (particularly Thessaloniki, Chersonnes [7], Constantinople and others) into the possession of Christian elites as far away as the very distant core of Hungary.

Even more uncertain are the Byzantine templates in the realm of early sacral architecture in Hungary. However, direct Byzantine influence only seems certain in the case of the remnants of a later 11th century Christian temple and rotunda in Kiszombor on the Mureş river near Szeged and in Karcsa, small village near the Slovak-Hungarian border in the Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County. The archeological site at Kiszombor also brought to light after more than a thousand years the coins of Byzantine emperors Constantine VII. Porphyrogenitus and his son and successor Romanos II. (959-963).

Some historians also considered the famous hoard of golden items from Sânnicolau Mare, a site in the neighbourhood of Cenad, to be the property of a Byzantine ally - prince Ajtony. It's a collection of lavish golden pitchers, goblets and chalices, with Greek letters also appearing on them. The Ajtony connection is merely a hypothesis. The luxury items were made in different locations in various periods, and some of them likely originally belonged to an unknown Avar prince.

However, the hoard from Sânnicolau Mare is also part of the evidence pointing towards the fact that Byzantine and Eastern Christian influences had been permeating the Carpathian Basin for centuries. Remnants and sources, dispersed in time and place, often preserved trough sheer coincidence, show that during the reign of the Árpáds, Pannonia remained a region on the border between two great cultures. In Hungary, as the only one of the Central European countries, the Eastern Christian influence was persisting, though naturally to a significantly lesser degree than the influence of the Christian West. Troughout the entire 11th and 12th century, Greek monasteries were benefitting from the support of kings and queens. Saints venerated mainly in the East (Saint Nicholas, Saint Demetrius and some others) were afforded high reverence in the Kingdom of Hungary. Several Christian holidays were in Hungary celebrated in accordance with Eastern customs and traditions - according to the laws of king Ladislaus I., the forty days of the Lent (Quadragesima) were in these lands supposed to begin on Monday instead of Saturday, and the rite of Blessing of Waters (Agiasmos) was performed by Eastern custom. According to Saint Gerard, in the 11th century, the methodians or Method's followers - so most likely Greek or Bulgarian priests, whom Western clerics perceived as dangerous competition - were active in the south, in the Csanád diocese, and other areas. Likewise, precious artworks were also finding their way from the Byzantine Empire into Hungary, of them mainly reliqary crosses, enameled jewelry and coronation regalia, such as the older - Greek part of the so-called Crown of Saint Stephen or the so-called crown of Monomachos (because of the depiction of the Byzantine emperor Constantine IX. Monomachos, 1042-1055), found near Ivánka pri Nitre.

In the early 11th century, yet another very well known import from the spiritual culture of Eastern Christianity appears on Slovak territory. The asceticism of Saint Andrew Zorard and the 40 wallnuts rationed to him during the Lent by Philip, the abbot in Zobor, demonstrates a clear tie to the tradition of Eastern hermitism, famously practiced by the Palestinian monk Zosimos in the 6th century. Lastly, we might mention that in the past, there appeared speculations that the monks of Zobor might've been the ones who ordered the well known interior decoration of the church in Kostoľany pod Tribečom. Historian Richard Pražák hypothesised Syro-Palestianian, Byzantine and Camaldolese origins for the visual motifs of Theotokos [6] and Adoration of the Kings (Magi). Today, a more general Italian (in a more narrow context Roman) influences are assumed instead. Historians date our oldest mural paintings to the late 11th century. As proof, they point to for ex. the stylistically related motifs from the rotunda in Znojmo or the illustrations in the so-called Codex Vyssegradensis.

[1] - Wikipedia styles his name as "Termachu" despite generally using Hungarian transcriptions for other descendants of Árpád, take that as you will

[2] - now the town of Banatsko Aranđelovo (Serbia)

[3] - now considered an antipope; numbering can get quite confusing when it comes to popes and antipopes, especially with the Johns

[4] - frustratingly, there were several saints named Symeon active around this time and I haven't been able to identify which one is talked about here.

[5] - most likely the author's misspelling of Chersonesus, a town in Crimea, at the time belonging to the Byzantine Empire, in today's Sevastopol

[6] - to my knowledge, there is no English translation of this title for Virgin Mary; the Greek translation is the best I got here, but the original Slovak uses the Slovak version (Bohorodička)

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"They Find Joy In Nothing But Battle": The Image Of Magyars In The Era Of Invasions And Claiming Of Their Homeland Trough The Lens Of Contemporary Sources

(author: Dušan Zupka)

Arrival of the Magyar [1] tribes and their subsequent campaigns all over the continent were some of the most consequential events in the history of 9th and 10th century Europe. Particularly in the initial phase, before definitively settling in the Carpathian Basin and the resulting creation of an Árpád monarchy, Magyars undeniably left a mark in the collective consciousness of their contemporaries.

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These traces are also mirrored by the mentions in contemporary sources, primarily Western European chronicles and annals, but also Byzantine and Arab sources. In these, Magyars usually feature as indomitable, invincible and brutal conquerors. This depiction and their own identification with it subsequently stayed with the Magyars for many centuries.

GLORIOUS MILITARY PAST In the early 13th century, a monk working in Hungary, unknown by name and traditionally called Anonymus or Magister P, wrote down the oldest known historical treatise concerning the origins of Magyars and their arrival in Pannonia. The work is, for the most part, pure invention of the author and falls more under mythology than history. However, it has retained certain ideas and identifications which have much older origins in the historical realities of the 9th and 10th centuries.

In this case, Anonymus faithfully "recycled" the established depiction of the Magyars as indomitable warriors. In 10th century, they roused fear in the entirety of christian Europe, and contemporaries were well aware of that: "That's because they knew that Magyars are undefeatable in the matters of battle, which for them were an everyday concern and that trough them, God had doled out the lashes of his wrath onto many a country." In his descriptions of raiding expeditions, Anonymus let loose his wildest imagination, so that he could achieve the maximum impact on his readers (audience): "And they couldn't be parted from each other, running foremost to the aid of those in danger and, roaring like injured lions, they rushed to the centre of the battle and massacred their enemies with horrible murder. And even when they were defeated, nonetheless they bested those that overcame them, being mightier and more courageous, and slayed them with horrible bloodshed. Fortunate are therefore these military campaigns of the Magyars, as on them, they have gained much experience of dangers, and from the perpetual waging of wars, they have become more self-assured, well-trained and towering over others with their capabilities and might." Then the anonymous notary takes pride in listing off the conquered and ravaged lands, including Bavaria, Saxony, Lorraine, Gaul (France), Italy, Lombardy or Pannonia. We know from other sources that Magyar raids didn't avoid even the far away Hispania or the Balkan Peninsula including the Byzantine Empire.

Besides the image of indomitable conquerors, the other component characterizing the perception of Magyars from the 10th century onward became the (fictitious) relation to other, older nomadic groups, mainly the Scythians and Huns (but also Avars and Turks), whom the sources connected them to, or flat out labeled them their descendants. The earliest Hungarian historians, like the aforementioned Anonymus, or Simon of Kéza writing in the late 13th century, also incorporated this idea into their works.

MUSLIM AND BYZANTINE TESTIMONIES Search for the beginnings of the ethnic and political identification of medieval Hungary is a question that remains to this day not satisfyingly answered. Contributing to this is the fact that the extant sources (written, material, archeological) don't allow for a formulation of universally agreed upon and indisputable theses. However, the recent years have nevertheless seen a significant reassesment of the image of Magyars at the time of their arrival in the Carpathian Basin, as well as of the related questions of ethnogenesis and self-identification. Traditionally, this matter is discussed with close proximity between the Magyar migration and Hungarian [2] ethnogenesis resulting in the medieval gens Hungarica. According to these theories, Magyars tribes were nomadic people of Ugrofinnic origin, which gradually formed troughout centuries. However, they first appear in written sources only in the 9th century. In Byzantine and Arab sources, they are often presented as Turks, in western chronicles as Avars or Huns.

The source tradition coming from muslim authors is among the oldest. The first mentions appear as early as the 9th and 10th century. Thanks to their reconstruction, we know that Magyars were perceived primarily as nomadic tribes residing in the vicinity of Pechenegs and Bulgars and were characterized primarily by their military prowess and skill. A Magyar chieftain allegedly led an army consisting of 20 000 mounted riders. During military campaigns, they were allegedly led by a gyula, whom they all had to obey. There are also known mentions of winter Magyar raids against the Slavs.

Earlier historiography has reconstructed the most ancient history of the Magyar/Hungarian origins, involving centuries, over the course of which they migrated westward from the Asian steppes into Central Europe, particullarly on the basis of archeological and linguistic evidence. This process was supposed to stretch over a long period from the 4th millenium BC up until the final decades of the 9th century AD.

Over the course of their migration, the Magyar tribes passed trough the Russian and Asian steppes, where they absorbed Turkish influences, particularly from the Turkic Khazars, who had settled on the northern shores of the Black Sea. Magyars remained under the Khazar Kaganate up until 830, when they gained independence and proceeded to clash with their former masters. In this period, three Khazar tribes (also known as Kabars) joined the seven Magyar ones (traditionally called Nyék, Megyer, Kürt-Gyarmat, Tarján, Jenő, Kér and Keszi). At the time, Magyars appear predominantly in the aforementioned Arab written sources. Besides this, most of what we know of them comes from the 10th century treatise De administrando imperio written by the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII. Porphyrogenitus (+ 959).

According to Constantine, Magyars used to live in an area called Levedia (on the Bug river) in the era of Khazar-Magyar coexistence and strong Turkic influence on the Hungarian language. Following a Pecheneg (another nomadic tribe) invasion, they moved westward to Etelköz, which was located between the Danube delta and the Dnieper and Dniester rivers. It is surmised that Etel is Itil - the Magyar [3] word for the Volga river. After suffering another military blow from the Pechenegs (around 895), Magyar tribes won their new homeland in the Carpathian Basin on the battlefield. This final phase of their conquest of a new homeland (so-called honfoglalás) took place around 895/896, only two years after the death of the Great Moravian ruler Svätopluk (+ 894), who had controlled almost the entirety of the Carpathian Basin.

The Magyar polity was made up of seven Magyar and three Kabar tribes, together with Turkish-Onogur tribes, which likely joined in during the 9th and 10th century. Byzantine and Arab sources usually portray them as nomadic horsemen who strongly resemble Huns and Avars. In reality, in the 10th century, the nomadic society of the Magyars underwent a gradual change into one based on agriculture and animal husbandry. This was caused by the local geographic conditions and climate, as well as influence of the local indigenous Slavic population of the Carpathian Basin.

Magyar society was three-tiered and consisted of the wider populace, the warrior class and the small aristocratic elite. The political structure resembled the Khazar Kaganate, as it was simultaneously ruled by two "monarchs". One of them, the so-called kende (k.nd.h), was likely a religious ruler with nominally larger authority. The efective power, including the decisionmaking on war and defence rested in the hands of the second ruler, called gyula (g.l.h.) Magyar tribal chieftains elected one of their seven leaders, Álmos, as their Grand Prince. His son Árpád (died around 907) led the conquest of the Carpathian Basin and laid the foundations of the ruling Árpád dynasty.

WESTERN SOURCES The most attractive and interesting topic for the chroniclers were the Magyar raiding campaigns. As we've mentioned, troughout the first half of the 10th century, following their settling in the new homeland, Magyars undertook tens of raiding campaigns, which wrought destruction over the entire continent of Europe from Germany to Spain and from Gaul to the Byzantine Empire.

According to extant testimonies, their raids were accompanied by an unimaginable level of suffering and scope of destruction, such that the people of medieval West weren't used to it. They became the embodiments of the uninhibited ravages of war and their invasion was often interpreted as a punishment sent by God himself in order to punish the sinfulness of the christians. A prominent place belongs to the passages captured by the contemporary historian and bishop Liutprand of Cremona (+ 972). In his work Antapodosis, written in the middle of the 10th century, he condensed all the commonly circulated rumors and ideas surrounding the Magyars and in so doing created a well-defined picture, which then became a template for a large number of contemporary, as well as subsequent authors: "The uncountable numbers of this wretched nation (Magyars) were thus quickly moving towards the massive battle lines of (emperor) Louis. No parched soul had ever longed more for a sip of cool water than these brutal peoples longed for the day of the battle. This is because they find joy in nothing but war. As I've read in a book, which describes their origins, the Magyar mothers cut the faces of their children with a sharp knife as soon as they are born, so that they are forced to endure pain before they know the taste of their mother's milk. What adds believability to this tale are the wounds which the mourners would inflict upon themselves after somebody dies." In this description, Liutprand apparently aimed to depict the Magyars to his readers in as bad a light as possible and characterize them as dangerous and bloodthirsty brutes.

It is interesting to note that the book which he refers to is actually Getica by Jordanes (+ around 552). However, described in it are not the Magyars, but the Huns, to whom were the Magyars connected all troughout the Middle Ages. According to another chronicler from this period Widukind of Corvey (+ 975), the author of Deeds of the Saxons, Magyars were the same as Avars and both ethnic groups were considered to be descended from the Huns. These ideas, as we've seen, remained in the historical consciousness and were likewise copied by the first writers of history in Hungary itself. Widukind focused on depicting the struggle between the Magyars and the Saxons, whose rulers were, in the author's view, the backbone of the christians in these confrontations. He, of course, aimed to emphasize the accolades of the Saxon warriors, who were facing down a dangerous and universally dreaded foe. Widukind quite literally writes that Magyars were the common enemy of all christians and Saxon warriors thus were to think of the God's help and of revenge against the injustices inflicted upon their homeland and ancestors while fighting them.

Widukind also left us a detailed description of the crucial battle of Lechfeld near Augsburg (10th of August 955), which was a key turning point in Magyar campaigns. Crushing defeat, which they suffered in this battle at the hands of king Otto I. the Great, forced Magyars to change their plans of conquest and reorient towards a settled way of life as they definitively decided to remain in the Carpathian Basin. Despite this, the image of savage and bloodthirsty Magyar warriors was the leitmotif in the writings of chroniclers from this period. Since their authors were generally clergymen, and very often monks and abbotts of monasteries, they also noted the extent of damage inflicted by looting, pillaging and burning of temples and church property. In these testimonies, among their victims were frequently also old people, women and children, so those that couldn't defend themselves from the violence.

DRAMATIC TURN AND A NEW VIEWPOINT The traditionally overestimated destructive effects of Magyar raids have nowadays been called into question on the basis of archeological evidence, which doesn't support the exaggerated descriptions in narrative sources. However, following the crushing defeats in 955 at Lechfeld and in 970 at Arcadiopolis, the Magyars truly did start to transform their society into a settled one. The whole process was finalized by the creation of a christianized monarchy during the reign of grand prince Géza (+ 997) and his son, the first king of Hungary Stephen I. (+ 1083).

This fact could be very nicely illustrated by the change in perception of the Magyars after they started to integrate their new monarchy into the world of Latin christianity. Perhaps nothing illustrates this transformation quite like a description by another famous chronicler of the period, Rodulfus Glaber (+ around 1047). In his History In Five Books (Historiarum libri quinque), he provided a poignant depiction of the fast and radical change of the feared pagan Magyars into christian people under the leadership of the pious king Stephen: "That tribe of the Magyars, which had comitted so many disgraceful deeds and caused people so much suffering, then finally, together with their king, turned to the christian faith. These people, previously used to mercilessly thieving the property of others, now gladly devoted their own to the Christ, the ones who had since time immemorial captured and bound in order to reduce them to slavery all those they found out to be christian now cared for christians as if for brothers or children."

We may thus note that the image of the Magyars created from the attested period sources was influenced by the current conditions and primarily their relationship to christianity. Colourful descriptions of the Magyars as bloodthirsty and merciless ravagers thus dominated the pagan period. The situation radically changed following the conversion of their rulers to christianity and at the start of the spread of christianization in Hungarian enviroment. Thus, there is no need to, on the one hand, take too much stock in truthfulness of the exaggerated and often invented depictions of Magyar cruelty and savagery. It was an intentionally applied narrative strategy, which was meant to emphasize the accolades of those that became responsible for the defeat of the Magyars, thus forcing them to change their lifestyle, ceasing of their raiding campaigns included.

However, that this image also had a real basis in the truly devastating scope of Magyar raids is confirmed by other sources of for ex. liturgical character. In old pontificals and sacramentaries from the 10th century, we can find several rites or even whole masses dedicated to praying for the christian warriors defending their homeland from the invasions by pagan warriors. In all likelihood, these prayers were aimed against the Magyars raiders as well. After all, the image of the invincible and fearless warriors was also adopted by the following generations, and they became the main cornerstone of the historical depiction and self-identification troughout the existence of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary.

[1] - A note on demonyms: Slovak is a bit confusing in this regard, as the name it uses for the Magyars is basically the same as the name for Hungarians as a nation/ethnicity ("Maďari", from the Hungarian/Magyar name for themselves), though often with the qualifier "starí" ("ancient", similar to the distinction between Greeks and Ancient Greeks). For what it's worth, Hungarian language does use "Magyar" not only for both the Magyars and their Hungarian descendants, but also for Kingdom of Hungary as a state (which Slovak, as I've mentioned elsewhere, distinguishes from both modern Hungary and Hungarian nation).

[2] - Again, in the original text, both migration and ethnogenesis are labeled with the same name, "maďarské".

[3] - In this case, I chose the translation Magyar, as it appears to be at the very least an archaism as far as the Hungarian language is concerned; modern Hungarians likewise use the word Volga for the river.

[arpad-shitposting]

Arpad-shitposting's Spring of Nations 2026

So, this round of translations is going to have an actual Theme: basically, this year, we are celebrating the multinational character of the Kingdom of Hungary. Of course, Hungarians were the hegemons of the country, that much cannot be disputed, but other ethnonational groups (since this blog concerns primarily Middle Ages, "nation" is mostly too modern a notion to describe these people groups as they viewed themselves - but also, I like that name, sue me) still existed and contributed to the kingdom's culture and general character. And while none of the nations of pre-Triannon Hungary are exactly on a warpath against each other, so this may not seem like the hottest topic in the world, most of us are still actively engaged in the process of defining and redefining our national identities, and it's important to root these identities in real history (which, let's be real here, has historically been kind of a problem for us).

Hungarians, or rather Magyars, will as the de iure founders of the kingdom of course go first (also I haven't been to the library yet, so those articles are the only ones I have at home right now). Then, we'll move on to the Slovaks, of course, since Duchess of Nyitra is one. Finally, there's a whole issue of Historická revue whose theme is "lost ethnicities", concerning a whole rainbow of ethnic groups, from Cummans to the Hungarian Jews (who aren't lost per se, but that's by the by). So look forward to that as well - I know I certainly am. Anyway, thank you all for your continued support, see you on Sunday!

[arpad-shitposting]

Okay, so... This is kinda awkward, but... We are getting back on track with the translations.

Basically, what happened is that I was forced to at the very least interrupt my education and delay my master's thesis by a whole year at the very least, if not give up on it entirely (though that's not likely seeing as I am the kind of person who would run this sort of blog). You do not need to know much more than that it happened due to an embarassing and entirely preventable mistake on my part and that I can still resume my education next year and finish my master's degree then.

Untill then, I am seeking a job, and untill I get THAT, I have a library card, no money of my own and more free time than I know what to do with. So, fuck it, we are doing this. Duchess of Nyitra is back, baby!

More info about the upcoming articles on Monday.

[arpad-shitposting]

Well, that's about all for this season! Having started my final year and working on my magisterial thesis, I unfortunately won't have enough time to continue with the translations untill May of the next year at the very least. This blog isn't over by any means, but I am more or less putting it on an hiatus, unless I just want to post something. I'd also like to thank everyone who liked, reblogged and in the case of @rockfarkas also blazed (which I am infinitely grateful for to this day) my posts. I hope I helped at least some of you learn more about medieval history. So, goodbye for now and see you sometime next year!

[arpad-shitposting]

Turning Of The Dynasties: Struggle For The Throne After The Death Of Matthias Corvinus

(author: Tibor Neumann; original article translated from Hungarian by Jitka Rožňová)

Matthias Corvinus passed away on the 6th of April 1490 in Vienna. News of his death spread throughout the country at lightning speed and in many places trigged waves of violence. That's because the warlike ruler lacked a lawful heir, so it became clear that the country is facing another "time of chaos" [1]. This is how people at the time called periods when a lack of central authority resulted in weapons, not law solving even local feuds.

***

Following the outbreak of violence, evaluation of Matthias Corvinus - in modern terms his "index of popularity" - went trough a significant change in a matter of weeks. Even Antonio Bonfini, famous historian from this period, noted that nearly all social strata, previously chafing under the on its face despotic rule of the warlike king, now mourned him, as his time on the throne was at least peaceful. But for the rule of law to be reinstated, they had to wait for another nearly two years. This tumultuous period, which the splendid historian András Kubinyi rightfully called "the two fateful years", can be divided into two phases - interregnum (period without a king), which lasted from Matthias' death to the coronation of a new king in September, and war for the throne, which ended in early 1492.

THE WIDOW AND THE "BASTARD" At the moment of Matthias' death, the administration of the country was taken over by the prelates and barons present in Vienna, led by king's widow Beatrice of Naples and his illegitimate son János Corvin. The situation was critical. All truces and peace treaties had expired with the king's death, and so attacks could be expected not only from the Ottomans, but also the Habsburgs as the party most harmed by Matthias' wars of conquest - emperor Frederick III. (1440-1493) and his son Maximilian (1486-1519), king of the Romans. On the other hand, it was also clear that the throne is going to be claimed by several candidates, which could easily lead to the country becoming a battleground full of foreign armies.

The contemporaries could count on three royal houses to stake their claim. For many years, Matthias worked towards being succeeded by his son János, whom he instated as the only heir of the Hunyadi dynasty trough numerous acts, real and symbolic. But according to valid international agreements - that is, the peace treaty, which Matthias signed in 1463 in Wiener Neustadt and which was confirmed by the pope himself - and due to the lack of a legitimate heir, the Crown of Saint Stephen belonged to the emperor and his son. However, the Polish-Lithuanian Jagiellonian dynasty disputed this, as according to them, the Hunyadis came to power trough a coup, which they considered to be unlawful. Since they viewed the Polish king at the time, Casimir IV. (1447-1492) (who was married to Elisabeth of Habsburg, sister of Ladislaus V. (1440-1457)) as the last lawful king of Hungary, the Polish royal couple wished to see noone else but one of their sons on the throne of Hungary.

Dealing with the critical situation was also made harder by the obviously clashing interests of the two largest political "movers" in the country - Matthias Corvinus' widow and his son. Even Matthias was aware that the largest obstacle to the ascension of János Corvin to the throne could be none other than Beatrice, who owned massive properties all throughout the country - among them also nearly a dozen castles, as well as the mining towns of Upper Hungary and Maramureş, which provided her with sizeable revenue. In addition, the queen had at her disposal the full extent of financial resources of the Archdiocese of Esztergom as the wealthiest church institution in Hungary, ever since she made her husband name her barely seven year old nephew Ippolito d'Este from Ferrara as the head of the archdiocese in 1486. Since Beatrice couldn't expect the Hungarian estates to elect a queen instead of a king, she could maintain her power by only one means - if she became the consort of the new king. From all the claimants to the throne, this outlook disqualified only one - her stepson.

The prince's chances of victory were minimal, and not only due to the royal ambitions of his stepmother. It was admittedly true that his properties of truly spectacular proportions, made up of not only the family inheritance from his grandfather János Hunyadi, but also dozens of estates (among them also Liptó) bestowed upon him by his father in the 1480s, might've been his advantage. They included even de facto royal and not family castles (Bratislava, Komárno/Komárom and Tata). This massive wealth was completed by Austrian castles and Silesian princedoms (especially Opava - Troppau) on the annexed territories, which he had at his disposal (of course, sometimes as merely a titular lord). Such personal wealth could make for a fantastic basis of stable royal power, but also become a convenient instrument for preventing a second monarch from exercising his power in the country. However, it did not balance out the handicaps which would appear for János Corvin. If it was him who was elected king, the country would be forced to hopelessly and alone face the anticipated attacks from multiple sides - from Austria, Bohemia and Poland, while the coronation of a foreign candidate would increase chances of military success due to the participation of at least one allied country. Besides, the prince's popularity among the political elite was decreased by the policies of his father - in the final years of his reign, Matthias bestowed upon his son all of the properties belonging to extinct magnate families, which returned to the ownership of the crown; he also seized estates of many noble families from their legitimate owners in show trials constructed specifically for this purpose. Let's also not forget that János Corvin as king would have to fight for his authority (especially on the international scene), which would certainly be undermined by the "stain" of illegitimate birth. From the reports of Italian ambassadors, it is abundantly clear that behind his back, contemporaries would refer to him exclusively as "the bastard" [2].

In the interregnum period, queen Beatrice clearly masterfully wove the webs of power, while the seventeen year old Corvin wasn't able to see trough the false promises of the magnates. Even in Vienna, he was the only one who saw himself as having a real chance to ascend the throne, although everyone would admit that his claims cannot be dismissed lightly.

ELECTION OF A KING The queen, prince and members of the royal council, accompanying the remains of Matthias Corvinus, got on a boat in Vienna and headed to the capital trough Danube. On the way, they took breaks first in Bratislava and then in Komárno, from where they sent out letters on the 17th of April, summoning the Hungarian Diet, which was meant to pick the new king. Despite the conflicting interests, everyone was aware that reestablishing peace in the country and keeping Austria would require a crown on someone's head as soon as possible. The following weeks were filled with preparations for the Hungarian Diet. The queen was giving away properties trough which she aimed to tie as many magnates as possible to herself; the prince was likewise seeking out allies, while the prelates and barons led in part official, in part secret deliberations surrounding the identity of the future king, and in the meantime, everyone strived to gather as large of an army as possible, so that they could actively influence the election. On the 25th of April 1490, Matthias Corvinus was laid to rest in Székesfehérvár. Certain voices were heard claiming that the funerary ceremony wasn't worthy of the greatness of the late king, which is entirely possible, since the winds of the upcoming war and chaos in the country were already being felt the participants.

Shortly thereafter, Matthias' trusted friend of Moravian origin, cardinal and bishop of Oradea Jan Filipec, contacted king Vladislaus II. of Bohemia (1471-1516), the eldest son of the king of Poland. We might surmise that this occurred with the approval of Beatrice and at least some of the country's magnates. Trough him, Vladislaus lured to his side István Zápolyá, count of Szepes, the lord of Trenčín and gubernator of Austria, the second richest man in the Kingdom of Hungary (right after prince János Corvin), who held not insignificant military power. He promised to give him the Spiš territories held by Poland as collateral in exchange for his support. From then on, bishop Filipec strived to do everything in his power to make it so that Vladislaus II. is elected king, while a significant portion of the barons flocked to the queen.

In early June, the Hungarian Diet began on the Rákos Field. The atmosphere in the country and general political necessities required that the estates be able to make a decision without triggering a civil war, i.e. so that the entire country could unanimously get behind the new king. That's why the negotiations with János Corvin began immediately. On the 17th of June, an agreement was successfully reached, guaranteeing the acceptable minimum to the prince. In it, the estates promised that if he isn't elected king, they let him keep his properties and the new king will name him the king of Bosnia (subordinate to the Kingdom of Hungary), prince of Slavonia, as well as a lifetime ban of Dalmatia and Croatia.

The peaceful progression of the diet was disturbed by two events. From what we've said so far, it seems as if the processes in the background had been heading towards the election of Vladislaus II. from the very start. When it comes to the other candidates, it is known for certain that Maximilian I., king of Romans, had no support in the diet, his seemingly unquestionable legal claims notwithstanding. The most significant role in this probably wasn't played by the traditional anti-German orientation of the Hungarian nobility, but by the quite justifiable worry that should Maximilian I. be elected, he'd only use the country as a tool for his power plays in Western Europe. Everyone agreed that the new king of Hungary must establish a stable seat and court in Buda, which was out of the question in Maximilian's case. On the other hand, the Polish prince (later king of Poland 1492-1501) John Albert, Vladislaus' younger brother, enjoyed more substantial support, since his military capabilities were well-known. A group of nobles, mostly from counties near Polish border - that is, Sáros and Zemplén, unexpectedly proclaimed him the king on the 8th of June, which, while not accepted as valid election by most, did empower John Albert to enter the country, seeing himself as the king elect.

The second moment of disturbance was the turn of János Corvin. After he and the estates made a deal, he was visited by his allies and partisans from the southern regions, who were dissatisfied with the contents of the agreement and convinced the prince to leave the capital with the royal treasury and the Crown of Saint Stephen - perhaps with the intent to thwart his own coronation or the coronation of someone else. The queen and those around her, along with the estates, considered it an open violation of their right to freely elect a king. Beatrice provided István Báthory and Pál Kinizsi, the two victors of the Battle of Breadfield, with her army, joined by the troops of other magnates, and thus they embarked upon a pursuit of Corvin's army. The clash took place on the 4th of July near the village of Szabaton in the Tolna County, in the Csontmező area [3], where the prince's army suffered a defeat. His treasury and legal documents were "dispersed" by the victors, which made Corvin's royal ambitions vanish. The victors returned to Buda, more negotiations followed and on the 15th of July after the morning mass, the verdict was presented - king Vladislaus II. of Bohemia is going to be elected the new ruler of Hungary, with the stipulation that he marries Beatrice of Naples.

KING "DOBŘE" The reader might rightfully ask why did the Hungarian estates in July 1490 elect Vladislaus of all people [4]. The question is especially pertinent if we recall that even as little schoolchildren, we were introduced to the figure of Vladislaus "Dobře", which could scarcely be considered anything other than pitiful. This legend is perhaps several centuries old and popular to this day, but it appears that the image of a puppet, controlled by the country's magnates and absolutely incapable of rule, simple-minded, but at least kindly king, who would be more at home in a fairytale, is completely out of touch with reality. Rather, the newer historical research points towards the phenomena and context, which to a significant extent modify the previous view of the person and reign of Vladislaus II. We could only reach the banal view - that it was the egoism of the country's political elite which was behind the election of the thirty four year old king of Bohemia, which according to the popular line of argument led directly to the tragedy at Mohács - if we accept this twisted tradition.

Though even in 1490, the leaders of the country were flesh and blood humans that probably didn't like to make decisions that would go against their own interests, it is hard to imagine that they'd want to purposefully hurt the country. After all, they voted for a king that had nineteen years of experience as a ruler and considerable authority internationally and who once managed to resist even Matthias' attacks. At the same time, it is without question that in 1490, the country required a ruler with a different temperament. Most of the electors wanted a king that wouldn't weaken the country by valiant, but sometimes almost senseless wars in the west. Without a doubt, Vladislaus' personality was far from the ideal of a brave knight. Unlike his predecessor, he disliked wars, his propaganda espoused peace, order and justice. The period of his rule can generally be considered peaceful and it certainly wasn't solely his fault that the Kingdom of Hungary increasingly struggled to keep the pace with the rising Ottoman Empire. Of course, other, more timely factors might've also played the role in his election - thanks to the Bohemian-Hungarian personal union, the Bohemian territories annexed by Matthias could at least formally stay in the purview of Hungary, there was also hope that in the case of an emergency, the king could use the considerable potential of the Bohemian troops for the defense of the country. Of course, the romantic notions of the Bohemian historian Dubravius, working in the mid-16th century, according to whom the handsome young Vladislaus caught Beatrice's fancy as early as the Olomouc peace talks in 1479, cannot be taken seriously, although our sources really do emphasize the king's attractive appearance, personality and regal bearing.

At the time of his election, Vladislaus had nearly reached the Hungarian border. On the Angern - Malacky - Stupava route, he broke camp first under Bratislava and later under Trnava, so that he, in accordance with the preliminary agreements, would wait for the magnates who appeared in his presence in the name of the country and wanted him to confirm the conditions of the election. After this had taken place on the 31st of July at Farkašín in the Pozsony County, the king elect entered Buda, where he symbolically sat down on the throne following a ceremonial welcome on the 9th of August. The ceremony was disturbed by two events - at the same time, king's younger brother John Albert arrived under Pest with the Polish army six thousand strong, but he didn't risk an attack on the city, full of Bohemian soldiers, nor a crossing of Danube; so following failed negotiations with his brother, likely because of issues with the supply of new soldiers, he was soon forced to withdraw, but he didn't leave the territory of the country. Alongside that, increasingly disturbing news continued to arrive about the Habsburgs gathering their forces and preparing for an attack in order to regain their Austrian territories.

Stuck in an increasingly more tangled situation, the court immediately sent out invitations for the king's coronation in Székesfehérvár, the date of which they set to the mid September and which would, by Hungarian tradition, secure Vladislaus' higher authority in comparison with his rivals. The internal situation in the country was to an extent stabilized by the fact that the king's supporters created a coalition with János Corvin, who personally paid tribute to Vladislaus.

Following the coronation, which took place on the 19th of September, the estates gathered in Fehérvár were struck with a battle fever. They divided the country into three parts - the western counties gathered troops against the Germans, eastern ones against the Poles, while the southern ones against the Ottomans. They voted on mobilization and collection of a wartime tax, but they were in danger of not having sufficient time to prepare. After annexing Vienna and several castles around it, Maximilian of Habsburg was getting ready for an attack against Hungary in order to seize the throne, and did not concern himself with the fact that the majority of Austrian castles remained in the hands of Hungarian garrisons. In the meantime, John Albert encircled the most important city of the northeastern Hungary - Košice. Since the treasury was empty, Vladislaus' reign was suddenly on the brink of collapse despite initial successes.

KING - MARRIAGE FRAUDSTER Following his return to the capital, the king was forced to ask queen Beatrice for help. Months before, he vowed to take the widow of Matthias Corvinus as his consort, but in fact he had no intention of doing so. The thirty three year old Beatrice did not give Matthias an heir in the fourteen years of their marriage. However, he did have a child from another woman, so there were no doubts that the queen is infertile, which would've been an unacceptable handicap for a monarch aiming to found a Bohemian-Hungarian dynasty. Since his hold on the throne was shaky due to a lack of money and there was a danger she'd support another candidate for the throne should he screw over Beatrice, who was hastening him into marriage, Vladislaus had no choice but to enter a forced union. However, what he did in order to give the state and dynastic interests their due, scarcely filled him with pride. With the help of the bishop of Győr and Matthias' former secretary Tamás Bakócz, who was soon about to become his closest Hungarian supporter, he set a trap for the queen. First, he proclaimed in front of witnesses, that is a couple of his own close associates, that he is marrying the queen under duress, then, on the 4th of October, he visited the queen's court with his entourage. There, Bakócz called up both parties to the side and consecrated their marriage without witnesses. In so doing arose three conditions, which they planned on using for the eventual annulation of the marriage. First, Vladislaus hid that years before, he had already entered a proxy marriage to Barbara of Brandenburg, and though the union wasn't consummated, it wasn't proclaimed invalid either. Beside that, during the ceremony, the king intentionally gave a wrong answer to one of Bakócz' questions (he said "yes" instead of "I do"). The last and most important fact was that the royal couple did not spend a night together over the entire duration of their marriage. Vladislaus took special care to not spend a single night with the queen while the war for the throne was ongoing. He managed to do this by asking his wife, immediately following the nuptials, to retreat from the insufficiently stocked Buda to the more secure Esztergom for her own safety, and also to not make their marriage public just yet. He promised her that he'll marry her publicly as well once the war is over. Meanwhile, the king with Bakócz' help secretly contacted the ducal court in Milan in order to ask for the hand of Bianca Maria Sforza, who had previously been engaged to Corvin.

The false marriage brought the awaited results. The queen continued to give her troops at Vladislaus' disposal, aided him with not insignificant sums of money, set a tax on Kremnica and other mining towns and expedited the collection of taxes in counties under her control. To a massive extent, Vladislaus had this support to thank for avoiding a downfall in late 1490.

WARS On the day the marriage to the queen took place, Maximilian I., king of the Romans, embarked upon a journey from Vienna to the Hungarian border with an army of nearly seventeen thousand men. He exploited the moment of surprise, conquered several castles in counties Vás and Zala and continued towards Fehérvár and the capital. King Vladislaus called up Báthory and Kinizsi to defend the coronation city, and he himself departed for Bratislava in order to make a deal with Matthias Corvinus' mercenary commanders with the help of money from the queen. When the Báthorys realized that they have no chance to win a battle at Fehérvár against Maximilian's much stronger army, they retreated to defend the capital, and so on the 17th of November, the king of the Romans managed to take the coronation city in a single attack. Since he himself had increasing issues with paying his mercenaries, he gave his soldiers a free pass to pillage. His mercenaries robbed not only the citizenry, but also religious institutions, and on top of that, they desecrated the grave of king Matthias Corvinus. All of this caused great outrage throughout the country and escalated antipathy towards Maximilian. Nonetheless, it seemed that the Habsburg prince is unstoppable. He was heading to his capital accompanied by his soldiers, but they mutinied on the way, demanding their unpaid wages. Maximilian thus decided to interrupt his campaign and depart the country in early December, leaving garrisons on the annexed territories, so that he could obtain money for the continuation of the campaign in the empire proper.

On Christmas, Vladislaus returned to Buda with a few thousand Bohemian soldiers. There, he learned the long awaited news of his envoys in Magyaróvár signing a truce with Maximilian, which was to last untill 25th of April 1491, and afterwards he set out with a large portion of his army in the middle of the winter to liberate Košice, which had been facing Polish attacks for months. The march in unrelenting storm and blizzard was exceptionally difficult. On the 14th of February, the king arrived under the walls of Košice, where he linked up with the army of István Báthory, count of Szepes, and with his sixteen thousand troops, he gained a significant advantage over prince John Albert. He was thus able to force a peace deal without any more serious clashes - if his brother gives up the claim to the Hungarian throne, he'll gain territories in Silesia and a vague promise of inheriting the Polish, or maybe Hungarian throne. The country was starting to believe that Vladislaus has a significant chance of securing his position on the throne.

With the start of spring, the king returned to Buda in order to organize reconquest of the western parts of the country, which were in German hands. István Báthory became the main commander, encircling Fehérvár in June. The German garrison surrendered after a nearly a month and a half siege and on the 29th of July, king Vladislaus was able to enter the city. Celebratory bonfires lit up throughout the entire country. At this moment, Vladislaus was in a victorious position against Maximilian. He immediately sent part of the army to Austria, wanting to regain the territories conquered by Matthias, which Hungary lost the previous year - especially Vienna and Wiener Neustadt.

However, in a few days, the situation had turned once again. Vladislaus was struck with malaria, allegedly with even news of his death spreading. Then John Albert, dissatisfied with the contents of the peace treaty, used Šariš, Prešov and Sabinov, which were temporarily in his hands, as bases and started to resume activity in the northeastern part of Hungary, while at the same time, ominous news were coming from the Ottoman borderlands as well. Vladislaus' associates had to divide the army in Fehérvár and sent the soldiers out to all the fronts. A consequence of this was that a military campaign against Austria could at best bring the bolstering of Hungarian positions, but not any significant success. In a not too advantageous situation, Maximilian's father Frederick III. initiated peace talks with Vladislaus.

THE PEACE OF BRATISLAVA AND BATTLE OF PREŠOV The negotiations of Hungarian and Bohemian envoys with the envoys of emperor and his son began in Bratislava (on the Austrian-Hungarian border) in September 1491. The first round was unsuccessful, as the demands of the German party were too high given the current situation, and the envoys returned home. Right after this, more fighting commenced - Hungarian offensive into Austria de facto got stuck, while Maximilian was approaching a couple of Hungarian garrisons in an increasingly threatening manner. On top of this, István Zápolyá, sent out to defend northeastern Hungary, lacked sufficient military strength to stop John Albert. The royal court thus opted to accept the German peace offer. On the 7th of November, following another round of negotiations, the famous peace of Bratislava, traditionally considered by the Hungarian historiography to be exceptionally unfavorable and basically humiliating, was born.

At a first glance, the main provisions of the treaty from Bratislava were truly unfavorable for Vladislaus II. and the country. The king had to give up all of the Austrian territories annexed during the reign of Matthias Corvinus, accept that Frederick and Maximilian could also be the nominal kings of Hungary, and pay a not inconsiderable indemnity. On the other hand, both Habsburgs accepted Vladislaus as an undisputed, so the actual ruling king of Hungary and Maximilian had to surrender the Hungarian territories he was still holding to him. The treaty also contained - aside from many other important details - the provision that should Vladislaus die without a rightful heir, the throne of Hungary would pass to Maximilian or his descendants.

However, if we delve into it a little deeper, we might easily come to the conclusion that such was the reality - even at the cost of massive compromises. The Habsburgs would never forsake even a little bit of their hereditary domains, which means that the power plays from the years 1490-1491 would've gone on, and for territory that scarcely produced any revenue due to the war, at that, while for the Hungarian treasury, the cost of keeping it and paying the soldiers' salary would mean an unresolvable burden. Vladislaus was forced to make peace with the fact that Matthias' famed conquests on the Austrian territory only made any sense within his own dynastic intentions, while in the wider European context, they only deepened the state of war, which made the country even more vulnerable at the Ottoman front. It is perhaps no coincidence that the Hungarian delegation on the negotiations in Bratislava was led, next to Tamás Bakócz, also by voivode István Báthory, who even during Matthias' reign tried to persuade his lord to not turn his weapons against the Christian countries, but rather against the Ottomans.

The peace treaty from Bratislava didn't only lay the foundations of the "vladislavid" period of peace, but soon began to "produce" results - the Hungarian command immediately called back the garrisons from several Austrian castles and together with the mercenaries from the Black Army, which then got the name from its captain Johannes Haugwitz "the Black", redirected them to northeastern Hungary. On the 1st of January 1492 at Prešov, the armies of István Zápolyá and Johannes Haugwitz together destroyed the Polish troops of John Albert. It was the final military conflict of the struggles for the Hungarian throne.

FATE OF THE HUNYADI DYNASTY IN JAGIELLONIAN HUNGARY On the Hungarian Diet, which took place from the 2nd of February 1492 untill the end of March, the estates were presented with the passages of the Bratislava treaty thus far kept from them. Its contents arose much outrage, especially among the nobility, which is understandable - after all, Hungarian estates also massively contributed to Matthias' military expeditions, among other ways by a repeated approval of a wartime tax. Despite this, the monarch and his associates made the prelates, barons and Hungarian elite issue decrees about fulfilling the provisions of the peace and the inheritance rights of the Habsburgs in the name of the realm. The functioning of the courts finally resumed and everything started to return to normal.

A time had arrived for Vladislaus to finally clear up his relationship to the queen. After so many promises and delays, he could suddenly proclaim without much danger that due to her infertility, he will not marry her and that before, he acted solely under duress. In an initial fit of rage, the queen listed in front of a notary all of the resources she had expended to enable Vladislaus' ascension to the throne and bolster his power, as well as other expenses for the defense of the country. In the matter of the marriage, the queen initiated a dispute in front of the Holy See, which ended eight years later with Vladislaus' victory - in 1500, the pope annulled their union and Beatrice returned to Naples, where she ended her life full of disappointments in 1508.

The path of young János Corvin was likewise paved with disappointments. He never got the promised crown of Bosnia and in 1495, he also had to give up the title of the prince of Slavonia, which had lost its value because of the court. In 1501, he exchanged the small Silesian duchy (Opava) he had left and which he could rule "by the grace of God", though he never visited it in person, with king Vladislaus for estates in Hungary.

The relationship between the new monarch and the prince remained ambivalent untill the end. In 1496, János Corvin, together with disgruntled Croatian nobles, organized a conspiracy against Vladislaus, but the Hungarian court nipped it in the bud and the prince was basically a persona non grata in Buda untill 1498. In that year, he made a deal with Vladislaus and regained the lifetime title of a ban. By the end of his life, he scored several victories against the Ottomans and attempted to leverage his rising popularity into becoming a palatine in 1503-1504. However, the court prevented him from succeeding in this once again. János died in October 1504 as a thirty one year old. In the next half a year, he was followed by his sons Kristóf and Mátyás and a few years later by his daughter Erzsébet as well, which meant the Hunyadi family died out.

And why are the two years filled with warfare considered "fateful"? Of course, it is not because the country would start to "head towards disaster" with Vladislaus' election, but mainly because these years limited the king's "freedom of movement" for a long time afterwards. Vladislaus didn't manage to build a power base akin to the one Matthias had at his disposal - in part due to none other than his predecessor. Castles ended up in the hands of Matthias' son, and so the royal estates seemed negligible in comparison with the prince's, but also those of the Zápolyá family, who became unimaginably wealthy thanks to Matthias. During the interregnum, the royal council gave away as collateral a significant portion of their financial resources, so that the individual magnates could hire soldiers - chiefly for the defense of Austria. On top of that, the country suffered heavy devastation due to war - besides Fehérvár, the suburbs of Košice a Bardejov were also destroyed. Although from early 1493 onward, the king managed to regain many of the properties he lost, the two fateful years put the treasury into extreme debt.

[1] - yes, those quotation marks look just as unwarranted in the original text, don't ask me, I am just the translator

[2] - originally "pankhart", which is more antiquated and if anything even more derogatory (Slovak uses "bastard" too, with the same connotations as in English)

[3] - I'll be honest, I have no idea what Csontmező even is, I wasn't able to find it anywhere, so I don't know how exactly to translate it. Edit: "Csontmező was an area in Tolna county, literally can translated to Bonefield. Now the area is part of the village Kölesd (somewhere in its nothern part)." (Thanks @klucksize!)

[4] - ...I swear, this sentence did not come off so mean in the original. You mileage may vary on whether Dobrze deserves it.

[arpad-shitposting]

The Truth Of A King From Buda: King Matthias In The Slovak Folk Tradition

(author: István Käfer)

"Matthias died, so did the truth; we often hear from the mouths of people to this day." (Ľudovít Štúr)

***

King Matthias is dead, justice [1] is gone. This phraseological unit is alive in the Slovak language to this day. The tumultuous history of the nation couldn't expropriate, slovakize nor exclude this Hungarian monarch, and that's despite, or exactly because of the fact that he allegedly spoke Slovak, spent a lot of time on Slovak ethnic territory, sorted out ethnic relations in Trnava, is indirectly responsible for a long-form artifact of the Slovak language dated to the 25th of October 1479 and to this day lives in Slovak folk art, in songs with a historical theme and some historical prosaic works of the national writings. This truth of Matthias is so durable that it hasn't even become a subject of traditional Hungarian-Slovak feuds around the ownership of the common cultural legacy, even though king Matthias has become one of the greatest figures of the Hungarian nation.

THE LANGUAGE OF SLOVAKS UNDERSTANDABLE TO THE KING'S EARS Kaspar Bak, Matthias' soldier from the Black Army, was Hungarian [2]. For his exceptional service in the military, the king named him the provost of Spišská Kapitula. The former soldier studied for years on the University of Bologna, even becoming a doctor of theology, and on the 25th of October 1472, he received holy orders from pope Sixtus IV. He came back home, finished the construction of a temple in Spišská Kapitula and 25th of October 1479, seven years after his ordination and on the day of the anniversary, he consecrated it. He valued dignity of traditions and in his prayer during the mass, he thanked the chapterhouse [3] and perhaps also some of the wealthier Spiš/Szepes families for their sacrifices and financial support, "who have been helping me since my school years trough donations, mayhaps I could name each one separately..." He similarly thanked and prayed "for all of those that have contributed robes, chalices, books, whatever [4] jewels". Last but not least, he prayed for "the state of the world, for our king Matthias of Hungary". It might thus be assumed that this serious priest also knew Slovak, but not well enough to be able to adequately serve mass from memory. So he wrote the text down, or maybe ordered it written down on a piece of parchment, which however had to be repaired at several places.

King Matthias positively intervened in ethnic relations in other parts of today's Slovakia as well. In 1486, he determined the order of mayors in Trnava between the Germans and the Slovaks, and in 1488, he likewise bestowed a noble coat-of-arms upon fidelo nostro Paulo Holy de Hradna and named him the captain of the city. Although matters of ethnicity didn't play that significant of a role, Matthias was intimately familiar with his subjects and certainly didn't speak to them only in Latin. The king in Buda had lively contacts with the Kingdom of Bohemia and the adoption of Czech language in Hungary as a literary and liturgical tongue of the Slovaks could be considered an international rarity in the development of Central European nations before the mid-19th century. Matej Bel, Slovak preacher in Bratislava, wrote, somewhat surprisingly to modern ears:

"The Slovak language had already been established in Hungary, since the remainders of Cisdanubian Slavs spoke it following the arrival of Magyars under seven chieftains... However then, after Matthias Corvinus suppressed the Hussites, many of the Czechs, obtaining citizenship, settled in Hungary and elevated the language of the native Slovaks to such level of advancement and sophistication... that it compares to the natural beauty of the Czech... In Hungary not only the scholars, but the magnates and nobility... didn't hesitate to support the cultivation of the Czecho-Slovak language."

This language, called by the Czech exiles "Czech or also Slovak" was also intelligible to the common Slovak populace. Its beautiful poetry and fairytales occasionally also include bohemisms. In a well-known folk ballad from Rakovec, a blacksmith had a beautiful daughter: "The king himself fell for her and sought how to reach for her... He disguised himself as a woman, and so He got close to the maiden... And when the light of day shone trough It was being said around town That Anička is a maid no more That she laid with the Hungarian king And a year thereafter She carried little Janko on her arm And when she rocked him She used to sing him thus: Oh, quiet, my pale son King Matthias is your father!" [5]

Kollár's collection includes this variant of the song: "My green wreath [6] I wouldn't give you even for ducats or jóságs [7] from Mátýás-Király [8] I've lost, oh, lost What I loved to wear I lost a golden belt King Mátyás found it Mátyás, Mátyás, give it back I'll give you a coin [9] for a beer It will be of use to you When you'll go hunt game"

ON KRÁĽOVÁ HOĽA, AS WELL AS THE BUDA CASTLE The Slovak folk art traditionally connects Matthias Corvinus to Kráľová hoľa. To this day, the visitors are shown a large stone, on which the king liked to sit and eat lunch, and a reminder of his name on the land belonging to almost every local village. We can find traces of this in the works of Matej Bel and Bohuslav Tablic as well. Bel also mentions king Béla IV., but this name has not been identified in the folkloric tradition. Slovak tollmen and common people allegedly had close relations with king Matthias; an oft-mentioned figure in this regard is a poor teacher that provided Matthias with a modest meal. Since he lacked money for wine, he gave his own coat to the pub owner as collateral. The king then repaid him with lavish gifts in his palace in Buda. While the South Slavs sing of Matthias' heroic deeds, the connection Slovaks have with him is human, intimate. All the more because Matthias' fairness is a close relation to the Jánošík tradition.

The figure of a just king from Buda and the Buda Castle as a symbol of the country's freedom also lives in Slovak history-themed songs. Let's quote three passages from a 1599 song Of Eger And Some Of The Victors: (7) The Hungarian Kingdom has changed Such that the Buda Castle is not in our hands (8) Where is the Upper Belgrade, where the Lower Belgrade Where Hunyadi Mátyás, out good defender? (48) O Lord, let us live trough a better time See the king of Hungary in Buda" [10]

The king from Buda still lives in Slovak historical prose, mainly in the works of Ján Kalinčiak The Bozkovický Family and Milka's Grave, but also in rarely read ones, such as Orava and his other writings. To quote from The Bozkovický Family [11]: "A king glorious and just sat the throne of Hungary, since the ancient times the Crown of Saint Stephen has not gleamed on a more worthy head. Matthias was a sun among all the kings thus far greatest and brightest. Though the power of his army and wisdom of his advice relied on Slovaks, he nonetheless wouldn't allow a Slovak hurt a Hungarian or a German, or vice versa."

A careful reader will surely note the already present reality of the mid-19th century, which involved the Slovak nation seeking a path to the approval of their equal rights within the country. After all, as Ján Kalinčiak writes in his Own Biography: "the pupils were already divided according to their nationality, the youth with a Hungarian mentality wanted nothing to do with Slovaks and vice versa. The words "fratres" and "amici" had already died down. Truth be told, arriving from Levoča, I joined the Slovak side."

KING MATTHIAS AND MARTIN FROM DETVA In the pre-revolution era, the Slovak cultural sphere considered Hungary their homeland, though they were aware that this nation is also a member of the great Slavic family. The Slovak intelligentsia then accepted this fate. Kalinčiak's peer Andrej Sládkovič also expressed this in his works. In the poetry he wrote at his peak, king Matthias became a suitable hero of the Slovak nation for him as well.

The third part of The Man From Detva [12], called The Market In Slatina, expresses conscious identification of the Slovaks with their Hungarian [13] homeland and history, along with all of the other nations and the entire territory of the country: "Then spoke Rozgony of the happenings that had come about in Jiskra's camp Báthory and Kňaz, the great, glorious men in an engaging discussion pictures from the war against Ottomans, of their own land to the Transylvanians tell tales to pass time; and wherever they behold the town there a peasant, here a noble, burghers, Jews noise, singing, bam, market, eat, play." (109.)

The king is a just ruler, all the people, burgher and peasant alike, laud him. The poet has set aside the bitterness of a lowly valley, of wronged people. This is caused by king Matthias' kind reception of Martin; he forgives him the killing of his falcon, but for the country's issues to be presented precisely, the Slovak youth, who speaks to the king as an equal, is chastised for his manners by some German man: "Is this how you talk to his excellency? You insolent lowlife! That's how one German from the ranks of market attendees speaks to Martinko from the sidelines."

It is the teutonic envy of Marína, the antigermanic stance of the impoverished Slovaks, Daniel Krman and Slovak kuruces.

Matthias, depicted as a nigh revolutionary popular tribune and hero, finds true allies only in the strong Martin and in sons of the common populace. This is why his authority remains undamaged despite the slap given to him by Elenka, Martin's beloved. Slávkovič could take profound inspiration from the Slovak tradition, and so the king from The Man From Detva could be a real figure, but also idealized as one could only appear in folklore, because he originates from the Slovak popular epic poetry and prose. This popularist king knows very well that: "The minutes of your bliss are endless of which there is none of in a lowly cottage and there are joys in peasant corners which cannot be found in palaces..."

The populace loves, adores the king, who is aware that his power is in the hands of the people and the people have to be free for the homeland to be free as well. Martin of the Hudec family from Detva won't give up his shepherd's axe [14], which for him means liberty, even for the sake of the Black Army, he won't give up his folk costume [15], symbolic of the lifestyle of the common people, and won't set aside the natural beauty of his shiny raven braids [16]. He wouldn't put on the strange outfits of the Germans for anything, much like the burghers in Kalinčiak's short story Holy Spirit.

SLOVAK HOPE LIVING OFF OF THE PAST In the post-revolutionary period, up untill the mid-1870s, the Slovak hope for an acceptable deal with the leading politicians of Hungary concerning the possibilities of national existence was yet alive. In the Saintmartiniad, Sládkovič once again alludes to Buda and Pest: "Who takes that Slovak word? Who will carry it to the fathers of the homeland, where Danube carries Slovak waters and in enormous bonds above it granites of the Tatras dwell silent, in the bustle of nations eternal nuptials consecrating the proud Buda [17] with his bride in Hungarian diadem clad, Pest?"

The Central-Eastern Europe becomes a romantic future, vision of a continent at once old and new: "Lay your hand here, brothers and compatriots! Come here, the Rusyn, the Croat, the Serbian, the Hungarian and the Romanian! Let us bind with a rim golden and holy Hungarian rainbows of that sacred vessel, which we call "homeland" and in which the sweet wine of liberty sparkles, the one that is ours!"

The idea of the equality of Hungarian [13] nations can be found in the historical legend Valgatha, written by Ľudovít Kubáni, who envisioned the unification of Slovaks with Hungarians [2] trough Vagaltha's daughter entering a marriage to László Hunyadi:

"He gave to Szekély the center, where the Romanians from Transylvania and Slovaks who had stayed faithful to the Hunyadis made up an unparalleled, rock-solid wall of infantry, to Rozgony the left flank of Cummans and horsemen from hajduk towns, but the left one, consisting of the Hungarian gentrymen cavalry, to his son László, leaving Kanizsai as the commander of the lighting-fast csikós from Lower Hungary, left behind as a reserve... A terrible wave of Bohemian infantry broke down on the unyielding breasts of the Romanians."

The truth of the king from Buda lives to this day. The quoted excerpts are available to read [18] and can serve towards improving relations between the nations today. The historical research also talks of Matthias in a similar manner in the new book about Hungarian history from the pen of Slovak historians:

"King Matthias should be considered a king of Hungary in a true sense, that is, ruler of a country, which long before and after was the homeland and country of many ethnicities and nationalities, whether we are talking Hungarians, Slovaks, Croats, Rusyns, Germans, Latins, Wallachians or Hungarian Jews."

[1] - The word "pravda" in the headline means simply "truth", but can also be interpreted as an antiquated word for "justice".

[2] - Here explicitly "Maďar" in an ethnic sense.

[3] - "Spišská Kapitula" is the name of the town, but it originally referred to the local chapterhouse, literally "the chapterhouse of Spiš"

[4] - the original is in an archaic, but intelligible Slovak, in fact there is only one word which I wasn't able to identify at all, and that's "grušimi", placed here

[5] - Translations of these verses are mine. They are crude, literal and lack the rhymes, which are definitely present in the originals. I am not confident enough in my ability to translate actual poetry, so I simply focused purely on the content of the songs and poems quoted.

[6] - an archaic Slovak expression meaning "maidenhead"

[7] - I have absolutely no idea what it means, other than it literally translates to "goodness" or something like that in Hungarian

[8] - while transcribed in Slovak grammar, the Hungarian form of these words is from the otherwise (archaic) Slovak original

[9] - literally "turák", which is just an archaic slang term for a coin

[10] - this poem is in archaic Czech

[11] - once again, translation mine

[12] - OH GOODIE I GET TO TRANSLATE DETVAN, ONE OF THE SEMINAL SLOVAK POEMS OF SLOVAK LITERATURE COOL COOL COOL. No, really, along with Marína, The Man From Detva is Sládkovič's best known work and Sládkovič is considered one of the great Slovak poets - like, Goethe or lord Byron level famous. I am just a humble history blogger, I don't think I can do this work justice.

[13] - Hungarian in a "Kingdom of Hungary, the state" (Uhorsko) sense, not ethnic/national Hungarian (Maďarsko/Maďari)

[14] - orig. "valaška", a type of axe typical of shepherds in mountainous regions of Slovakia, who were originally of Wallachian descent, but much of their culture was adopted by Slovaks around them as well, and now many of its elements, including "valaška", are considered so intrensically Slovak they seem almost as gauche as sombreros for Mexicans

[15] - Which, it is worth noting, looks like this: 42aba274ab8bc823fbfb1e4b14319fd6.jpg (316×587) I am not saying not giving it up is a mistake. I am saying the mistake was wearing this in the first place. Jokes aside, though very unusual-looking by Slovak standards, the Detva folk costume is among the more iconic ones, in no small part thanks to Sládkovič's legendary work.

[16] - Men from Detva are often associated with a typical hairstyle, consisting of small braids, which looks something like this: Posledny_keckar-1.jpg (421×563) As far as I can tell, it has been phased out sooner than most parts of the folk costume and now is extremely unusual even among those that wear Slovak folk costume (usually as part of folk song and dance assemblies or the like).

[17] - Slovak variant of Buda is "Budín", which has a masculine gender, unlike Pest, which has a feminine gender (the modern city of Budapest takes its grammatical gender from Pest)

[18] - in Slovak at least, I don't think I found any of them in other languages

[arpad-shitposting]

János Vitéz of Srenda (addendum to A Renaissance Monarch: Humanism And Scholarship At The Court Of Matthias Corvinus)

János Vitéz was born in 1408 in the Slavonian town of Sredna (today in Croatia), which belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary, in a family of petty nobles. Following his graduation from the University of Vienna, he began a career in the chancery of Sigismund of Luxembourg, where he served as a prothonotary. After Sigismund's death, he held the offices of provost in Zagreb and later also in Oradea. In 1440, he was a member of the Hungarian delegation in Kraków, which negotiated with Vladislaus I. of the Jagiellonian dynasty his ascension to the throne of Hungary following the death of Albert of Habsburg. In 1445, he was named the bishop of Oradea, since his predecessor died in battle with the Ottomans at Varna (1444). In his mansion, Vitéz built the bishop's library, where he frequently invited Polish or German scholars, and maintained close relations with Italian humanists (one of whom was, for example, Enea Silvio Piccolomini - future pope Pius II.) as well. In the following years, he worked as a diplomat in the service of Hungarian gubernator János Hunyadi, whose death after a victorious battle with the Ottomans at Belgrade (1456) meant that Vitéz as his partisan lost political support and fell into disfavor with king Ladislaus V. the Posthumous. For this reason, he was imprisoned together with sons of János Hunyadi, László and Mátyás, in 1457. Is was likely trough the intervention of the papal legate and cardinal Juan Carvajal that János Vitéz escaped the fate of László Hunyadi, who was executed. He was later released due to pressure from the Papal Curia and could return to his post in Oradea. Following the unexpected death of the young monarch in November 1457, Vitéz reentered the service to the Hunyadi family. In early 1458, he led successful negotiations with George of Poděbrady concerning the release of Matthias Corvinus back to Hungary (since at the time, he was located in Prague at George's court). His service at the court of king Matthias was the apex of his career. The Hungarian ruler frequently utilized him as a diplomat (missions in Bohemia, Rome or to emperor Frederick III.), following the passing of Dénes Szécsi, the archbishop of Esztergom, in 1465, he ascended to the office of the primate. At the time, he also served as the privy chancellor and became the first chancellor of the newly created Universita Istropolitana. In the late 1460s, the tensions between the king and Vitéz gradually arose, especially relating to the monarch's insufficient concern with defense against the Ottomans, constant taxation and warfare against the Kingdom of Bohemia. The situation boiled over into a failed conspiracy (1471) led by none other than the archbishop of Esztergom, who was then interned in house arrest, where he died in August 1472.

[arpad-shitposting]

A Renaissance Monarch: Humanism And Scholarship At The Court Of Matthias Corvinus

(author: Tomáš Homoľa)

The era of king Matthias Corvinus' rule (1458-1490) is in popular consciousness perceived as a golden age of the Kingdom of Hungary. It is linked to a notable spiritual, economic and territorial growth of the country. Aside from military success, Matthias has also been attributed the status of a "renaissance monarch", i.e. supporter of the humanist and renaissance thought, spreader of education, patron of artists and scholars.

***

Aided by the effects of monarch's interest and patronage, the ideas of humanism and renaissance penetrated societal consciousness of the contemporary Hungary and influenced its character in a substantial way. This manifested itself in the foundation of the Istropolitana University (exactly 550 years had just passed since it became active [1]), the work of many scholars and artists at the Hungarian royal court or the construction of the famous Bibliotheca Corviniana library, one of the largest European libraries of its time.

MATTHIAS' TEACHERS The perceptiveness of king Matthias towards the new kinds of thought had its roots in his very childhood and upbringing. János Hunyadi, gubernator of Hungary and famous warrior against the Ottoman Turks, entrusted the rearing of his second-born son to the care of two notable scholars of his era - János Vitéz of Sredna, at the time bishop of Oradea, and Polish scholar Grzegorz of Sanok - who influenced the development and education of young Hunyadi in a significant way. Thanks to this upbringing, the future ruler was even in his youth able to speak several languages, apart from Latin also German, Hungarian, Czech and other Slavic languages (oft mentioned are for ex. Polish or Slovak).

Particularly János Vitéz, also known as the "father of humanism in Hungary", was an extremely important figure in Matthias' youth and early reign (before 1471). Though Vitéz' education was scholastic in nature (likely obtained at the University of Vienna), he did encourage Corvinus to read the classic works of ancient literature or humanist authors. In a similar way (but mainly financially) he aided his nephew, the most notable Hungarian poet of his age, Johannes Pannonius, who studied at the University of Padua, and afterwards, finishing his studies (in 1458), returned to Hungary in order to work in service to the king and his uncle.

Untill 1471 at the very least, Matthias seems to have had a positive and close relationship to the aforementioned scholars. János Vitéz was the privy chancellor and archbishop of Esztergom in 1464-1471, Johannes Pannonius the bishop of Pécs and, in the late 1460s, treasurer. Other scholars holding various important offices in this period included for ex. István Várdai, archbishop of Kalocsa, or Albert Vetési, bishop of Veszprém. But in the first decade of Corvinus' reign both Johns [2] played a key and irreplaceable role in building up institutions like the Istropolitana University or Bibliotheca Corviniana.

However, in 1471, Vitéz and Pannonius took over the leadership of a conspiracy against the Hungarian monarch, which came to fruition in the autumn of that same year in the form of an invasion of Hungarian territory by Polish prince Casimir. Though the conspirators, motivated by disapproval of the monarch's policies, offered Casimir the crown, the local nobility did not provide sufficient support to the Polish army, and so the Polish attempt at a military intervention ended in failure in December of that very year. As a consequence of the aforementioned circumstances, archbishop Vitéz was punished with house arrest in Esztergom, where he died in August 1472. Johannes Pannonius escaped the king to Medvedgrad near Zagreb, where he found refuge on the property of another one of the participants in the rebellions, the bishop of Zagreb Osváth Thuz, where he died in March 1472. It is interesting to note that this whole time, Matthias had been convinced that Pannonius had ran away westward across the border.

UNIVERZITAS ISTROPOLITANA The need to obtain educated people for the administration of the country led the king of Hungary to the idea of establishing an university on the territory of the Kingdom of Hungary. The originators of this idea were none other than János Vitéz and Johannes Pannonius, who in 1465 led a mission to pope Paul II. with the goal of gaining the permission to open an institution of learning. In Rome, the initiative was welcomed with open arms. On the 19th of May 1465, pope Paul II. issued the founding document, in which he ordered: "...in one of the cities or towns of this here kingdom, deemed most suitable by the king himself, a university with several faculties shall be established; in addition, salaries for the lecturers shall be sent to the chancellor in time, the lecturers shall be chosen, and not only provisions of the statute, but also manner of living and education modelled after the University of Bologna are to be created and secured."

The pope also requested that the university statutes be sent to him in advance in order to be approved by the Apostolic See. However, it took another two years before Istropolitana started to operate. Over the course of the preparations, they needed to specify the statute of the institution and content of the curricula of all the faculties, obtain the right professors as teachers, as well as money for running the university and salaries for the professors. Per the decree of king Matthias, the building obtained from István Gmaitl on what is now Ventúrska ulica [3] became the university headquarters. Although no university registers or statutes of the Istropolitana have been preserved, it is assumed, on the basis of extant reports, that it included all four faculties of a typical medieval university, that being the faculties of philosophy, theology, law and medicine. A name it is known under in literature and established in the popular consciousness is Academia Istropolitana, despite the fact that this term wasn't in use at the time of its existence. It was called a "studium generale" or "universitas", since in the 15th century, the term "academia" was used for private institutions, which were not in possession of rights and privileges belonging to a university.

János Vitéz, archbishop of Esztergom and one of the main initiators of its creation, became the university chancellor, the office of vice-chancellor went to Georg von Schönberg, a provost in Bratislava. Later, in 1469, Vitéz delegated his powers onto provost Georg. Significant influence concerning the founding of the school was also exerted by the Viennese Dominicans, who were supposed to be entrusted with leadership of the faculties of theology and philosophy. Their activities in Hungary were also supported by the monarch himself. At his request, the pope ordered János Vitéz to free up a Poor Clares monastery in Bratislava to be at the disposal of the Dominican order.

However, in the end, the Dominicans failed to arrive, though they maintained their influence at the university. This is because János Vitéz consulted questions of organization with the Viennese professor of theology and Dominican abbot Leonard Huntpichler, who saw the founding of the university as a tool for solving the problems of the church. Huntpichler was also a staunch proponent of a crusade against the Bohemian ruler George of Poděbrady (an Utraquist Hussite), in the 1460s, he encouraged the Austrian and Bohemian nobility to join the struggle against him.

The Dominican abbot was of the opinion that the school is meant to be accessible to students from Slavic countries and Greece. Of the Greek scholars, the university attempted to recruit the philosopher Ioannis Argyropoulos, a humanist and translator of Aristotle's work, who found refuge on the Italian Peninsula following the fall of Constantinople. While Argyropoulos accepted the invitation in 1472, he never embarked upon a journey to Hungary. Aside from the obvious aim for a spiritual, cultural and societal development of the country, political motivations also certainly played a significant role in the king's founding endeavors. It is likely that a university in Hungary was supposed to potentially serve as a bridge between the western and eastern Christianity, after all, Matthias positioned himself as a protector of Christianity since the beginning of his reign. This role didn't manifest only in the struggle against the Ottomans, but in the 1460s also against the "heretical Bohemians" (as were supporters of the Bohemian king George of Poděbrady often labeled).

ORGANIZATIONAL MODEL AND IMPORTANT FIGURES OF THE UNIVERSITY From the founding document, it can be surmised that Istropolitana was established on the basis of the Bologna model, statutes were probably (much like those of the Charles University in Prague) also put together according to the Bologna template, as was at the time usually the case with the Central European universities. However, this didn't automatically mean a full adoption of the Bologna model in terms of organization. The manner of providing salaries on the basis of benefices, powers of a chancellor and other organizational questions demonstrate that in the case of Istropolitana too, we are talking about a mixed-type administration (the Parisian model, following the example of the University of Vienna). The analogy with other Central European universities likely also stands when it comes to the provisional conditions in the early days of the university. Interior of the St. Martin's Cathedral likely served as a lecture and assembly hall for students and professors.

The newly founded institution needed to also be supplied in terms of personnel. The main task ahead laid in securing the presence of renowned professors, who would create conditions for the proper functioning of the university. This task was taken up mainly by János Vitéz, who as the archbishop of Esztergom and diplomat in royal service possessed the authority required for it. On top of that, he had at his disposal a wide web of contacts, which he had built up thanks to the education he obtained at the University of Vienna and his diplomatic service.

Beside the aforementioned functionaries (Vitéz, Schönberg), quite a few notable scholars had also worked at the university - German astronomer and geographer Johannes Müller Regiomontanus, Polish astronomer Marcin Bylica of Ołkusz, as well as Italian scholars - theologian and lawyer Johannes Gattus (Gatti) and law professor Marzio Galeotto (Galeottus), medicine doctor Piero of Verona and others. The number of professors invited was substantially higher; outside Ioannis Argyropoulos mentioned above, several important, mostly Italian scholars were also invited to Bratislava, such as Lodovico Carbo (Carbone), humanist and historian from Ferrara, or Florentine humanist Bartolomeo Fonzio, both of whom however rejected the the invitation for various reasons. Outside the influence of Vitéz and Pannonius, other Hungarian scholars also had contacts in the Italian sphere, such as Péter Garazda, canon in Nitra, who had studied in Florence, Ferrara and Padua.

Most of the foreign professors left the university following Vitéz' failed conspiracy against the monarch (1471). Regiomontanus, Galeotto, Bylica or Gatti all resigned their posts one by one. Regiomontanus continued his work in Nuremberg, where he created the most modern observatory of its time, and later on, he was called up to the service of pope Sixtus IV. Bylica and Galeotto worked at the Corvinus' court, Bylica was the court astrologer of king Matthias and later also Vladislaus II., while Galeotto worked as an author in royal service.

In the following years, not even the capable provost Georg von Schönberg was able to overcome the crisis Istropolitana was embroiled in. The university did not, in spite of the ambitious plans of its founder, become an international and unifying subject, it was more of a regional institution. This is attested by the information about the progress of work engagements of the professors and - by the way, quite sparse - records of the origins of students at the university, which tended towards Hungarian. The importance of the school slowly declined and the previous support from the monarch also vanished. The existence of Universita Istropolitana was tied to the life of its founder and did not outlast the era of Matthias Corvinus' rule, most likely ending its activity over the course of the years 1489-1490.

BIBLIOTHECA CORVINIANA Many scholars, artists and writers both foreign and domestic worked at the Hungarian royal court. They frequently had close ties to the newly created university, as was the case with Vitéz or Pannonius, who were also known for building their own bishop's libraries. However, these could by no means compete with the royal library, situated at the Buda Castle and known as Bibliotheca Corviniana, which was at the time one of the largest and most magnificent European libraries. The overall number of books, manuscripts and incunables was estimated by the Hungarian historian Csaba Csapodi to be 2000-2500, and the overall number of works as 4000-5000. In the early days, it was mostly the three humanists working at Matthias' court - Vitéz, Pannonius and Galeotto - who were contributing to the buildup of the library. Pannonius was buying up books during his 1465 diplomatic mission to Rome and Galeotto held the office of the royal librarian. Following the deaths of Vitéz and Pannonius (1472), their books were confiscated and became part of the royal library.

After Matthias' wedding to Beatrice of Aragon, development of the library accelerated even more. It reached its peak in the last five years of Corvinus' reign, chiefly trough the efforts of Italian humanist and new royal librarian Taddeo Ugoleto. The library served mainly to demonstrate the power and prestige of the king of Hungary and aided the high concentration of artists and scholars serving at the Hungarian court. In the late 1480s, king Matthias ordered 150-200 more manuscripts from Florence, but these never arrived in Hungary due to Corvinus' death. In 1498, Hungarian ruler Vladislaus II. unsuccessfully requested that his predecessor's order be sent. Throughout the reign of the Jagiellonian dynasty, the collection did not grow anymore and the tragic battle of Mohács in 1526 spelled the end for Corvinus' library. Only 216 titles from the library and another roughly 50 manuscripts, which however stayed in Florence, is all that remains of the library to this day.

On the Hungarian court, quite a few works, treatises and chronicles were created at the behest of the royal couple; the Hungarian monarch was mentioned in their works by many an author. The humanists at Matthias' court contributed to the creation of an idealized image of a king fighting for the good of Christianity. They likened Corvinus to ancient warlords (Alexander the Great or Atilla), they likened him to Roman emperors, and so on. An oft repeated motif was comparing Corvinus to Alexander the Great, this imitatio Alexandri being characterized by several typical elements. Matthias was portrayed as a lion, i.e. the king of the animal kingdom, and not only in terms of character traits, but also physiognomy. It was this so-called lion physiognomy that served as a frequent tool for depicting ideal physical parameters and character traits.

For building a positive image of the king, the works of Italian humanists working at Matthias' court were of exceptional importance - the chronicles of Antonio Bonfini or Pietro Ransano, laudatory works of Marzio Galeotto or Alessandro Cortesio. King Matthias maintained contacts with the notable Florentine philosopher Marsilio Ficino, who dedicated several works to the Hungarian king and praised him particularly in relation to his successful struggle against the Ottoman Turks. In some cases, queen Beatrice also played a significant role, as she supported art (especially music) and literature in every way she could, much like her husband. Beatrice had strong ties to humanists since her youth. Her tutor in Naples was the humanist Diomede Carafa; in Hungary, Francesco Baroni de Baroncelli, philosopher and friend of Marsilio Ficino, worked under her patronage.

Universita Istropolitana and Bibliotheca Corviniana were first and foremost cultural and educational institutions. However, for the Hungarian monarch, they also served as very effective tools for representation. It was also trough them that Matthias Corvinus demonstrated his own power and authority; after all, founding and building a university, library, patronage of artists and celebration of the king's greatness in their works significantly increased the ruler's prestige. However, the aforementioned by no means diminishes the impact, importance and consequences of Corvinus' support towards spreading the ideas of humanism and renaissance in the Central European environment.

[1] - the original article was written in 2017

[2] - János and Johannes are both variants of John and, in the original article, are also both called by the Slovak variant of the name (Ján)

[3] - a street in Bratislava (ulica literally means "street", I have no idea how to translate "Ventúrska")

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Marriage, Nuptials, Wedding (addendum to An Unusual Royal Wedding: When Matthias Corvinus Got Married)

In the Middle Ages, the spirit of the law and customs of the period usually viewed marriage and wedding differently than today, when it is, in our civilizational sphere, considered to be a lawful and monogamous union and cohabitation of a man and a woman [1], the wedding ceremony is an official ritual - usually a civil and religious act - accompanying the creation of a marriage, and the wedding on the one hand the totality of ritual moves and customs concerning entering a marriage, but also the wedding feast or party. The origins of a differing conception of the content of these realities in the past can be found as early as the Roman legal system and in the early Christian ideology, which was in fact the first one to espouse the inseparability of marriage, and around the 12th century, it even elevated marriage to the seventh sacrament.

According to medieval principles of the canon law, a bride and a groom were considered to be married once they reached an agreement and both parties signed a marriage contract or verbally gave their consent with its terms. Back then, the wedding ceremony was merely a formal finalization of the matrimony, and for the longest time it wasn't clear to what extent should the priest contribute to the process of marriage formation. Untill the Council of Trent in 1563, the church considered consent of the bride, the groom and their relatives with the marriage contract to suffice as a testimony on the realization of the holy matrimony. One usually participated on their own wedding in person, but also common - especially for the members of royal houses - were proxy (per procuram) weddings, so people who had never seen or met each other could become a husband and wife.

[1] - worth noting that "civilizational sphere" here seems to mean "our [Slovak] stupid little constitution" specifically; also, Vladimír Segeš is a 75-year old Slovak man, so you know

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An Unusual Royal Wedding: When Matthias Corvinus Got Married

(author: Vladimír Segeš)

At the end of the year 1476, the entire Hungary was engulfed in a slew of ceremonies and celebrations. For one simple reason - after 13 years as a widower, king Matthias was getting married again. The bride came from the south of Italy, and with her, the royal court welcomed new fashions and refined taste as well.

***

King Matthias I. Hunyadi, also known by the surname Corvinus, sat the throne of Hungary between 1458-1490. He had been betrothed two times before he even became the king. In 1453, he was betrothed, for political reasons and at the behest of his father János Hunyadi, to Elizabeth, daughter of his biggest rival Ulrich of Celje. Per the customs of the era, the little fiancée started living at the Hunyadi family estate, while Matthias went to the royal count in order to obtain the experience needed in the uppermost echelons of the Hungarian society, dominated by members of the magnate Celje and Garai families, related to king Ladislaus V. the Posthumous. However, this exchange of the intendeds was also meant to make them de facto hostages to the other party. The planned marriage did not take place anyway, since in 1455, Elizabeth unexpectedly died.

Following the passing of János Hunyadi, who died on the 11th of August of a plague right after his grand victory against the Ottomans in the battle of Belgrade, the political situation in Hungary changed dramatically. This led to the execution of László Hunyadi, Matthias' older brother, and afterwards to a civil war and flight of Ladislaus V. the Posthumous from Hungary to Vienna, then to Prague. The surprising death of this 17-year old king allowed for a consolidation of the situation in Hungary. Reconciliation of the two political camps - the Hunyadi one, led by his mother Erzsébet Szilágyi, and the oligarch clique, represented by the palatine László Garai (de Gara, Gorjanski) - resulted in an agreement reached on the the 12th of January 1458, on the basis of which was Matthias betrothed to the palatine's daughter Anna Garai. This time, the engagement also came to naught, as before his return to Hungary in February 1458, Matthias promised the Bohemian gubernator George of Poděbrady to marry his daughter Catherine. He did indeed fulfill this promise.

A LONG-TIME WIDOWER Matthias' first marriage did not end happily. His first wife Catherine, whom he had married on the 1st of May 1461, passed away after barely three years of marriage in premature childbirth, along with the child. Likely noone would've guessed that the widowed king could possibly encounter difficulties in finding and picking another bride. He was young, 21 years old, with the reputation as a strong, wealthy and wise ruler, exemplary Christian, virtuous knight and unwavering warrior for the true faith. He was a favorite of the Holy See. In terms of his personal traits and abilities, Matthias was an almost ideal partner for the eligible ladies, although his real appearance left much to be desired in comparison with the artists' flattery on his portraits. He was of a short, stocky stature, with a not too handsome face, so even the humanist Marzio Galeotto eloquently said of his patron that his is a beauty of Mars, the god of war, rather than that of Venus.

However, the physical appearance itself wasn't the reason why Matthias remained a widower for nearly full 13 years. Many a Hungarian noblewoman would've been happy to find herself by the king's side. But Matthias, led by political considerations, was aware that he should seek the new queen abroad. He turned to the crowned heads of Europe with envoys and ample gifts. Monarchs from the royal dynasties - Habsburgs, Jagiellonians, Hohenzollerns or Wittelsbachs - as one refused to marry their daughters, granddaughters or sisters off to Hungary. The main cause of the unsuccessful wooings was particularly the lower birth of the Hunyadi family. The Polish king Casimir IV. from the Jagiellonian dynasty even publicly labeled Matthias "a tyrant that merely usurped the royal title".

SUCCESS AT LAST Finally, Matthias was helped to breaking the ice of rejections mainly by the overall political situation in Europe. Following several rounds of negotiations, it was finally decided in 1474 in Naples that his future bride was to be Beatrice of Aragon. The official announcement of an engagement of the king of Hungary and the Neapolitan princess was unusual in terms of time as well as place. That's because it happened on the 30th of October 1474, not in Hungary or Italy, but in the Silesian town of Wrocław. Matthias happened to be there at the head of Hungarian troops, which were encircled and fighting the many times larger army of the Polish king. On this day, Matthias released all of the Polish prisoners of war, which was a rather magnanimous answer to the aforementioned insulting proclamations from Casimir IV.

From the wedding gift of 200 000 ducats, which were given to him before the wedding by the Neapolitan king Ferdinand of Aragon, his future father-in-law, Matthias left a third to his chosen bride. Beatrice was also given as dowry the mining towns of Upper Hungary (Kremnica, Banská Štiavnica, Banská Bystrica, Nová Baňa and Ľubietová), or rather the rents from them, as well as the Zvolen Castle, Krupina, and the mint and the mining chamber in Kremnica. In the end, two years passed from the announcement of the betrothal to the act of wedding itself. Magnificence of the wedding had been shown even during the preparations. Numerous delegations of Hungarian envoys carried invitations from Buda to the royal courts in the entire Europe. A massive Hungarian entourage numbering supposedly 756 people was heading to Naples itself in order to fetch bride. A note marking the occasion when the bridal procession arrived by boat to Ferrara, ruled by duke Ercole, Beatrice's brother-in-law, was written down in exact detail. In the list of attendants can be found 579 Hungarians - eight magnates (among them for example king's cousins Péter Geréb and János Pongrác, of the prelates Jan Filipec, bishop of Oradea), 42 courtiers and other named nobles and knights, escorted by 529 horsemen. Also included on the list are 350 Neapolitan horsemen and courtiers, who were accompanying Beatrice.

In early December 1476, the procession was already in Hungary and heading to Székesfehérvár, which was meant to be the location of the first meeting between the newlyweds. Matthias was nearly 34 and Beatrix 19 years old. We are informed of the festivities on a nearly day by day basis trough the diary of Peter Eschenloer, Wrocław's notary. "On the Friday, December the 6th, king Matthias invited the gentlemen gathered in Vienna to ride with him to Székesfehérvár and greet the bride. On Sunday, he embarked upon the journey with 3000 riders, and on Monday, he arrived in Fehérvár. [1] On Tuesday, he came out to meet the noble lady. The entire procession was downright shining with gold, silver, jewels and precious gems. Before the king rode 10 pages dressed in clothes of yellow, grey, green and brown velvet. Tents were built for half a mile in front of Fehérvár. [1] There, Matthias greeted his bride with great joy and respect..."

INTERESTING DETAILS The chronicler carefully jotted down the presence of magnates, prelates and foreign envoys. He also didn't miss that "on the ground were spread out 13 packets of light blue broadcloth, they led the princess this way to king Matthias. At the front arrived (the comes of Pozsony Miklós) Bánffy, who handed Matthias a gorgeous wreath in the name of the noble lady. In the middle of the wreath shone a precious diamond ring. King took the wreath with appropriate joy and respect. Then came the bride and queen mother (Erzsébet Szilágyi); both were sitting in a gilded carriage, which was covered in green velvet with gold embroidery. The coachmen were likewise dressed in velvet clothes decorated with golden buttons. Besides that, another 7 golden carriages arrived, each one driven by 6 horses, the first one by whites, the second one by blacks, the third one by browns..."

The bride and Matthias' mother stepped down on the broadcloth, where the king was awaiting them. Then Beatrice sat down on a white stallion and king Matthias on a brown one, and in this way they entered the coronation town of the kings of Hungary. The coronation ceremony of the new queen, which took place on the 12th of December 1476, was followed by a grand feast, consisting of 24 courses. However, per a chronicler's testimony, "due to the shortness of the day, not all of them ended up being served".

The notary from Wrocław remembered in exact detail the moments which stood out from the mundane and everyday. "The queen was dressed in a dress of red velvet, sleeves cut open in an Italian fashion; in her hair, worn down, were shining two precious and almost perfectly round true pearls. Left of king Matthias stood the king of Bosnia (Miklós Ujlaki), whose suit was covered in gold, silver, pearls and precious gems; his gold chain weighed 16 grzywnas." After this, Peter Eschenloer also evaluated the aforementioned nearly four kilo chain and luxurious coat [2] for 80 000 ducats and a golden belt, inlaid with diamonds, for 60 000 ducats. Therefore, just these pieces of Miklós Ujlaki's clothing cost 10-times the yearly income of an average Hungarian bishop or the monthly minimum for 140 000 feudal subjects in Hungary.

A SERIES OF PARTIES AND FEASTS But the welcoming and coronation of Beatrice in Székesfehérvár were just the beginning of a magnificent and opulent spectacle, the main director of which was king Matthias himself. The celebrations continued in Buda from Sunday, 15th of December 1476, onwards. In front of the city gates, the incoming wedding guests were welcomed by a procession of Buda citizens and royal courtiers. Even the Jews of Buda were present, "bringing out flags and a canopy, under which they carried the commandments of Moses, and welcoming the queen with peculiar singing." Every day of the week, there was something happening, party followed party and feast followed feast.

Hans Seybolt, a deputy from the Bavarian delegation, likewise provided a detailed account of his experiences. On Thursday, 19th of December, he wrote down in his diary that "the guests were reveling with music and dance. Duke Christopher (of Bavaria) and Bohemian prince Hynek (of Poděbrady) faced each other in a duel with spears. Both were thrown from their saddles. Two more pairs were dueling beside them. The tourney lasted two and a half hours. Meanwhile in the palace halls, people were being entertained by a show from a certain jester." The revelry reached its apex on the 22nd of December, when, following the religious ceremony in the Church Of The Blessed Mother Of God [3], the wedding feast took place on the Buda Castle.

Owing to Hans Seybolt, we know the exact menu: "The first course were the desserts. During the second course, live birds were singing. The third course was roasted venison, fourth white and brown cuts of minced meat, fifth course consisted of a gilded bush, upon which dwelt dazzling angels and squirrels. On the sixth tray were quails and capons laid over yellow apples. The seventh course depicted a gated garden. Birds sat on the fence, a golden myrtle tree was towering in the middle of the garden, upon which brown and green pears and candy as big as a coconut hanged. This all was made out of caramelized sugar. The eight course was rice, the ninth one roasted venison once again, the tenth a chicken in yellow sauce of some sort, finally the eleventh course were doughnuts." Not even this Lucullus-esque [4] feast put an end to the revelry, Christmas was followed by the New Year, which in turn was close to the Carnival season of the year 1477. Only then did the last honored guests depart Buda and the royal couple likewise started to familiarize themselves with the routine of everyday.

Finally, let's add to our view of Matthias' and Beatrice's wedding the note of an observant guest from Bavaria: "There were no strangers witnessing the wedding night, noone to serve the newlyweds food or drink. The king laid beside his wife and stormed the castle." The metaphor of Hans Seybolt serves as a clever epilogue to the tale of the royal wedding.

[1] - in the original, "Belehrad" from "Stoličný Belehrad", Slovak version of the name

[2] - in the original "mentieka", which is a name for the traditional coat worn as part of Hungarian, Slovak and other related national costumes

[3] - I was not able to identify which one this is, so it's just an approximate translation of its Slovak name

[4] - "lukulské hody", a semi-common literary expression in Slovak, but fairly understandable in English too, I think

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Master Of The Sword And Diplomacy: Under The Tough Scepter Of Matthias Corvinus

(author: Vladimír Segeš)

"Since the very beginning of his reign, fate put Matthias into three massive wars, and that was in order to demonstrate that he was like Hercules destined for magnificent feats. These were such [wars] that they would require no youth but a second Hannibal or Alexander [the Great]. One was against the Roman, the second one against the Turkish emperor, third one against the Bohemians who had conspired together and who were called the Brothers." In these words, historian Antonio Bonfini succinctly characterized the military and political situation during king Matthias' early reign.

***

King Matthias built a stable mercenary army, which served as a strong pillar of his internal power. It had also earned respect and admiration throughout all of Europe. Road that led to its legendary glory was long, and its milestones consisted of nearly constant struggle and warfare: against the dangerous Ottoman Empire (1459-1464), against the land of the Kingdom of Bohemia (1468-1478, see the article from J. Čechura) and finally against Austria (1477-1487), whose capital Matthias managed to conquer in 1485, so from then on, he often dwelled in Vienna.

BANDA NERA Matthias' army came to being as a result of the king's long-time efforts, which he was able to realize due to the fact that he managed to achieve a maximum increase in his revenue. A gradual rise in numbers of his army was made possible by a constant increase in fiscal obligations of his subjects trough for instance a special war tax (subsidium) of a florin per porta (gate), collected almost every year. Military expenses also ate up a half or a higher percentage of the royal budget, since the monthly salary of an infantryman was usually 3 florins and of a cavalryman 5 florins. The name itself, Black Army or Black Regiment (in the Latin sources from the period exercitus nigrorum or banda nera), only came into use after Matthias' death, and initially only for a certain part of his mercenary army. Likely because these mercenaries wore black ribbons.

In the first decade of Matthias' reign, the mercenary army numbered barely a few thousand soldiers. Its core was made up of experienced familiares of the Hunyadi family and many former Brothers or Jiskra supporters. At the start of the Hungarian-Bohemian war, it had around 6000 to 8000 mercenaries and their first commander was a Czech, František of Háj. During the Austrian campaign, the army numbers soared to 15 000 to 20 000 men, with Matthias' court historiographer Antonio Bonfini counting as many as 20 000 cavalrymen and 8000 infantrymen on a military parade in Wiener Neustadt in 1487. At its height, Matthias' army was one of the largest in Europe at the time. It was actually the first regular and stable Hungarian army, as although the previous kings of Hungary did hire mercenaries, it was usually only in small numbers and for a certain, mostly short time period.

In interpreting the centralization and foreign policy of king Matthias, there is a tendency towards controversy, as well as generalization. Subject to contradictory assessments is first and foremost Matthias' military policy and strategy, seemingly defensive towards the Ottoman Empire and offensive, even expansive in relation to western and northwestern neighbors. The oft voiced objection is that instead of fighting the Ottoman Empire, king Matthias increasingly focused on conquest in Central Europe. This argument is to some extent an oversimplification - it is, after all, a more complex phenomenon. However, it is true that Matthias' aggressive foreign policy caused dissatisfaction even among the ranks of previously faithful royal supporters, who ended up rising against their king.

THE CONSPIRACY OF FAVOURITES The conspiratory group of Hungarian aristocrats and prelates, which formed in summer 1471, was led by the main chancellor and archbishop of Esztergom János Vitéz of Sredna, and his nephew Ivan of Česma [1], better known under the literary pseudonym Janus Pannonius. The conspirators offered the crown of Hungary to the Polish prince Casimir from the Jagiellonian dynasty, son of Casimir IV. In early October 1471, the young prince embarked on a journey to Hungary at the head of a Polish army 12 000 strong. He entered Slovakia trough the valleys of Dunajec and Torysa and on the 29th of October, he met up with his Hungarian supporters under the Šariš Castle: Rajnald Rozgonyi, the house of Perényi and a couple members of the gentry from Šariš/Sáros. [2]

Casimir gave up the siege of Košice and didn't proceed towards Buda either. That's because on the order of king Matthias, a Hungarian army flocked to the area around Košice, led by Miklós Csupor, voivode of Transylvania, and bolstered by mercenaries from the towns of eastern Slovakia. For a short time, Casimir's army camped out near Hatvan, and trough the mountains of Cserhát came to the Ipeľ Valley, from which they headed towards Nitra. In November 1471, gates of the Nitra Castle were opened to the Poles on the orders of bishop Ivan of Čazma. Casimir didn't continue any further, staying in the castle. In the meantime, king Matthias with his army besieged Esztergom, in so doing making it impossible for archbishop János Vitéz to link up with Casimir. The Hungarian primate was thus forced to make an agreement with king Matthias on the 19th of December 1471, vowing to participate in the retaking of Nitra and ousting of the Polish army from Hungary. Casimir eventually retreated from Nitra, where he kept only a small garrison, and returned to Poland trough the Považie region. He left Hungary on the 26th of December 1471.

The small Polish garrison in Nitra couldn't resist the royal army of Hungary, so in the end even bishop Ivan of Čazma fled the castle. In early January 1472, Nitra was already in the hands of king Matthias and other smaller Polish garrisons in northeastern Slovakia were soon thereafter gradually expelled by the Hungarian troops, led by István Zápolya, hereditary comes of Szepes. In his ranks fought also 400 infantrymen sent by Košice, Bardejov, Levoča and Prešov. After halting the Polish military invasion, Matthias also dealt with the leader of the uprising. In March 1472, he took away the properties of archbishop János Vitéz and imprisoned him. Although the king did release him after a month, the archbishop remained a persona non grata to Matthias untill his death (8th of August 1472). The other ringleader of the uprising, bishop and humanist poet Janus Pannonius, died of tuberculosis on the lam in Medvedgrad in Croatia on the 27th of March 1472.

TURKISH THREAT AND THREE OPTIONS FOR DEFENCE Since the beginning, contemporaries associated the rule of young Mátyás Hunyadi with memory of the heroic struggle of his father against the Ottoman threat. They thus expected the new king to take an active stance in this area as well. Strategic dominance of the Turks in the Balkans had been noticeable even in an era when the territorial extent of the Ottoman Empire had not been larger than that of Hungary. Under Mehmet II., when he inherited the throne from Murat II., the empire had already stretched over the area of 570 000 km(square) [3], while Hungary had 350 000 km(square). By the end of his reign (in 1481), the Ottoman territory had grown in size to 800 000 km(square). Territorial growth was inextricably linked to the growth of economic, military and human potential.

Matthias Corvinus certainly did not neglect the fight against the Ottoman Empire. It is thus not true that his passivity supposedly enabled the eventual growth of its power, as is oft repeated even in Slovak historiography. The analysis of Matthias' foreign policy and his diplomatic activities shows that this course of action was premediated, since in relation to the Ottoman Empire, he had basically three options.

The first option was offensive warfare with the effective aid of most of the European (christian) countries, which was something his father János Hunyadi had already strived to put into practice. The second option was a peaceable policy on the basis of economic, societal and military cooperation with the aim of strengthening borders, trough potential local or limited military offensives. The third alternative was a violent aim for territorial gains outside Hungarian borders, leading to the growth or increase in military-economic potential of the Kingdom of Hungary.

The first alternative was far outside the realm of possibility for Hungary, and actually even for the aid of the European countries. That was insufficient, apart from the ample financial support from the Holy See. The second alternative was also unsuitable for various reasons. Matthias thus attempted to realize the third option, in a limited capacity. He gained Moravia, Silesia, Lusatia, Lower Austria and a part of Styria, all the while applying the strategy of active defense against the Ottomans, which resulted in a relative peace after reaching an agreement with sultan Bayezit II. in 1483.

CONSTRUCTING A LINE OF DEFENCE At the same time, throughout his entire reign, Matthias took care to perfect the defensive line on the southern border of the kingdom of Hungary. It consisted of a double line of castles and fortresses, which had been continuously built and maintained as early as the reign of king Sigismund, when, for example, 11 castles were built only between Drobeta-Turnu Severin and Belgrade in 1419-1428.

In 1479, Matthias created as many as three areas of defense. Leading the first, southwestern region was the ban of Croatia and Slavonia; command of the second, middle area was held by the main captain of Lower Hungary and also comes of the Temes County, whose jurisdiction included several southern counties.

The third, southeastern area of defense, commanded by voivode of Transylvania and count of the Székelys, was made up of Transylvania. Here, the mountainous and densely forested massif of the Carpathians, not a web of castles as in the previous case, naturally became the foremost defensive element. In the first line, outermost and directly facing the Ottomans, were located these main forts and castles: Drobeta-Turnu Severin, Beograd, Šabac, Srebrenik, Jajce, Knin, Klis and Skardin. Around 50 to 150 kilometers to the north, the inner defensive line could be found, made up of castles Caransebeş, Lugoj, Timişoara, castles and fortified houses of Syrmia, as well as Petrovaradin, Banja Luka and Bihać.

BATTLE OF BREADFIELD The aforementioned active defense of king Matthias Corvinus reached its apex in 1476 with the conquest of a Turkish fort in Šabac in Serbia. Matthias then aimed to, over the course of multiple rounds of negotiations in 1477-1478, broker a truce with sultan Mehmet II. This is because he needed to free his hands for a war against the Holy Roman emperor Frederick III. However, in early 1479 in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire forged a peace with the Republic of Venice. The sultan seized this opportunity and ordered the beylerbey of Rumelia (Balkans) to lead a campaign in the Balkans with the aim to put an end to the the growing closeness and potential alliance between Hungary and Moldavia, which especially the king of Hungary strived towards.

In a bloody battle on the 13th of October 1479 at Breadfield (Kenyérmező in Hungarian, Cimpul Pinii in Romanian) near the river Mureş, Hungarian troops, led by István Báthory, voivode of Transylvania, and Pál Kinizsi, comes of the Temes County, defeated the Ottomans even in spite of being massively outnumbered. The battle of Breadfield thus became a nigh textbook example of the fighting spirit and tactical-strategic success of the Hungarian army over a more numerous enemy, who by some estimates lost a whole third of his troops in battle, that is, 5000 to 6000 men. The Hungarian army suffered heavy losses as well, for example only in the banderium of the bishop of Transylvania, over a two hundred armed horsemen, that is, a half, fell in battle. The losses in Báthory's banderium were even somewhat higher. From this point of view as well, the battle of the Breadfield is considered to be one of the bloodiest episodes of the Hungarian-Ottoman wars.

WAR AGAINST THE EMPEROR The relations between king Matthias of Hungary and Holy Roman emperor Frederick III. were marked by a continuous rivalry, which manifested itself not only in tense, even hostile relations, but also several military conflicts. They revolved around the struggle of both monarchs for control over the wider European space. Since the very beginning of his reign, Matthias had to face Frederick, elected in February 1459 by some Hungarian aristocrats as king of Hungary, on the battlefield. However, the emperor did not let himself be crowned, despite having in his care, or rather possession the crown of Hungarian kings (of Saint Stephen) since 1440, when the queen dowager Elizabeth gave it to him, along with the designation as the tutor of her son Ladislaus the Posthumous.

The conflict between the two rivals for the Hungarian throne lasted untill a peace agreement was signed in July 1463 in Wiener Neustadt. The agreement stated, among other points, that Matthias is to pay 80 000 florins to Frederick in return for the crown. And further, that the emperor adopts Matthias as his son. Thus, should Matthias die without a lawful heir, the Hungarian throne would belong to Frederick or his son Maximilian. Beside that, emperor Frederick had the right to continue using the title of king of Hungary. This status quo lasted up untill the outbreak of the Hungarian-Austrian war, which is usually determined to last between the years 1477-1487. The war between Matthias and Frederick had all the hallmarks of medieval warfare. It was limited to seasonal campaigns with a small number of battles, protracted sieges and taking of castles, and sabotage on enemy land.

In April 1482, following previous border clashes, king Matthias formally declared war against emperor Frederick III. as well. Battles and skirmishes took place largely in Burgenland, to a lesser extent also in Lower Austria and Styria. The Hungarian summer offensive targeted Bruck an der Leitha and Hainburg, which were the strategic gates to the hereditary Habsburg lands and their metropolis - Vienna. Path to its conquest wasn't at all smooth or direct, least of all fast. The Hungarian army had to for three years, over the course of multiple campaigns, tenaciously fight for literally every kilometer of the Austrian territory.

VIENNESE TRIUMPH On the 29th of January 1485, king Matthias arrived near Vienna with a 25 000 strong army, and that same day, the city was showered in canon fire. The following months serve as an example of Matthias' military strategy. The king of Hungary conducted the siege quite methodically. The battle plan was based on a complete encirclement of the city, toppling down and destroying its fortifications and starving the denizens. In order to achieve this goal, throughout February to March, the Hungarians put siege towers in front of the most important city gates and bastions, then they built a web of ditches and ramparts and dammed Danube with large chains. The space between the Hungarian camp and siege towers was constantly guarded by the fearsome hussars. An interesting factor, which king Matthias applied in demoralizing his opponent, was propaganda. He paid off a couple of people in Vienna, who then spread disconcerting news throughout the besieged city and kept convincing the rest that further resistance is futile.

Defenders were faced with two main military aims. For one, to eliminate Hungarian siege towers and equipment, for another to secure supplies for the besieged city. At times, they did manage to succeed in conducting small-scale attacks, like on the 18th of March 1485, when they destroyed the newly built Hungarian fortifications in a place named the Hanging Town (im hängenden Ort) at the foot of a distributary of the Danube, while killing 60, wounding 23 and capturing 211 Hungarian warriors.

Encouraged by this success, a hundred armed mercenaries marched out from the city that very same day and captured two wagons with a thousand florins worth of goods on the outskirts near the Saint Nicholas Gate (St. Niklastor) at Landstrasse. King Matthias himself nearly lost his life in canon fire from the city gates, when a canon ball fell on the barrack in which he was currently deliberating with his commanders. However, this was a rather rare occurrence which couldn't change the overall direction of events, as time worked in favor of Hungarians.

The biggest problem for the city of nearly 50 000 people was the continuously worsening starvation. The lack of food forced especially the poorer classes to consume even cats and, allegedly, rats. Pleadings of the Viennese people for aid, addressed to the emperor, remained without nearly any real effect, because Frederick III. could support the fighting resolve of the Viennese people only with promises and letters, rather than with real action. Emperor's powerlessness was also witnessed first hand by Viennese burgomaster Stephen Een, who in February managed to, accompanied by 500 horsemen, fight his way from the encircled city and visit the emperor in Linz. It is to the burgomaster's credit that despite the bleak prospects, he didn't leave his fellow citizens alone and on the 2nd of April, he returned to Vienna by the same risky route.

Over the course of May, the Hungarian army intensified military pressure and attacked the city walls several times. On the 14th of May, the day after a barrage of canon fire targeting Vienna, a delegation of the city and university representatives asked Matthias for negotiations. Over the course of a meeting on the 20th to 23rd of May, an agreement was reached that should help from the emperor not come by the end of the month, the city will capitulate. The Viennese people did not get their help and on the 1st of June 1485, at the bridge in front of the Stubentor Gate, they handed over the keys to the city to the king of Hungary.

On the 1st of June 1485, at eight in the morning, 8000 chosen men from the Hungarian army marched into Vienna. According to the eyewitnesses, the parade was headed by 32 wagons loaded with food, followed by 2000 armed horsemen. Then came 24 camels loaded with caskets containing king's treasures and valuables, 400 marching infantrymen served as a vanguard for 24 bishops, escorted by a thousand armored cavalrymen, whose horses were covered with long (nearly reaching the ground) decorated blankets, and after them marched two hundred armored footsoldiers. At the end of the parade, herders rushed forward a thousand oxen, which king Matthias gifted to the starving city.

On the 6th of June 1485, city representatives swore an oath of allegiance to the king of Hungary. Life in Vienna was slowly returning to normal. The war against emperor Frederick III. continued for another two years. Matthias finished it with a victory and conquest of Wiener Neustadt on the 17th of August 1487. The king of Hungary took a liking to Vienna and chose it as his new seat. It remained so untill his untimely death on the 6th of April 1490.

FINAL ASSESSMENT From the analysis of reports and dispatches of foreign envoys from the period concerning the power and military activities of the Hungarian army, we might conclude that king Matthias sent troops which were more numerous, but also less valuable in terms of battlefield prowess, on campaigns and expeditions against the Ottoman Empire. On the other hand, less numerous, but more valuable contingents, especially cavalry of the knightly and semi-heavy type and armored infantry, were fighting against the northern and western neighbors (Poles, Bohemians and Austrians).

The summary of Matthias' reign shows that over the 32 years on the throne, he almost always commanded his armies in person. If the internal conflicts within Hungary are also taken into consideration, the conclusion would be that over the course of his reign, there were only five years of peace: 1465, 1466, 1478, 1489 and 1490. From a military-political standpoint, Matthias was successful. He did after all manage to conquer many lands, such as northern Bosnia, Moravia and Silesia, Lower Austria, Styria and a good chunk of Upper Austria, although only for a time. From time to time, he also managed to take control of Romanian principalities Wallachia and Moldavia. Thanks to a well-thought strategic concept, based on effective defense combined with fast, efficient attacks, king Matthias was able to eliminate the pressure and expansion of the more powerful Ottoman Empire.

The Habsburgs, who nominally ruled the Holy Roman Empire and actually in the Austrian lands, found themselves in a defensive position relative to Matthias' armies and even the Polish Jagiellonians, who struggled for not only the Bohemian, but also Hungarian throne and dominance in the north of Central Europe, weren't able to put their ambitions into practice. However, despite the fact Matthias was an exceptionally capable commander and diplomat, he didn't manage to achieve two of his goals: gaining the royal scepter of the Holy Roman Empire and securing the Hungarian throne for his only son János Corvin.

[1] - I am still unsure of whether to call János Vitéz the Croatian variant of his name (Ivan Vitez), since he was partly of Croatian descent, but I suppose since in the Middle Ages, the ethnic lines weren't as strictly drawn as they were post-19th century, so both are sort of correct. The same could be said for Ivan/János of Česma, but I get the sense that he leaned more towards Croatian? Dunno, can't we just share them???

[2] - I tend to render regions in Slovak (because they still exist) and counties in Hungarian (because they were subdivisions of a majority Hungarian polity); I use both whenever it's unclear and/or immaterial which one is talked about

[3] - sorry for writing this down in such an awkward manner, I don't know how to do numbers in an index on tumblr

[arpad-shitposting]

Raven On The Throne Of A Lion: Matthias Corvinus As The King Of Bohemia

(author: Jaroslav Čechura)

In 1458, an exceptional act took place in two notable monarchies of Central Europe. In January of that year, the royal election had taken place in Buda, with young, barely 15-year old Hunyadi Mátyás, nicknamed Corvinus, becoming the king of Hungary. Barely two months had passed and in the Old Town Hall in Prague, 38-year old George of Poděbrady was elected king of Bohemia. In Bohemian, as well as Hungarian history, this was a unique occurrence: member of a local noble or magnate family became the king.

***

These events were the result of a specific and irreplicable sequence of events and constellation of power in both kingdoms in the first half of the 15th century. According to the medieval way of doing things, only members of royal houses, dukes, princes or at least counts could become candidates for the office of a king, while for petty lords [1] (barons), path to the throne was barred.

The second layer of these grand events involved one somewhat surprising fact. The young king of Hungary was at the time in the hands of the lord of Poděbrady, and as a hostage, at that. This was actually a remnant from the policies of Ladislaus the Posthumous, the recently deceased king of Bohemia and Hungary. These unexpected circumstances bore George's plan of a marriage alliance between the two houses, that is, the idea of marrying the young Matthias to Kateřina, daughter of George of Poděbrady. I might add that in 1458, the princess was merely nine years old. The wedding actually did take place, in 1461. However, life of the teenage queen of Hungary ended only three years later in childbirth.

JIŘÍ OF PODĚBRADY - FATHER-IN-LAW AND ENEMY Matthias received a versatile education, since his parents also favored unconventional approaches to his studies if it made the education as effective as possible. Encounters with humanism were the key for the young, talented boy. It wasn't exactly common for the teenage king, who had his roots partially in an urban environment, to be able to speak many languages, that is, Latin, German, Czech, Croatian and other Slavic languages. It is worth noting that when it comes to the hundreds of Matthias' extant autographs [2], though the ones in Latin are naturally more numerous, there exist also a couple of tens in Czech. However, what is completely missing are letters written in Hungarian. While this does not mean Matthias did not speak this language, nonetheless... The outlined direction of his upbringing arguably imprinted certain renaissance traits into Matthias' restless personality. But the elements of medieval knighthood were by no means less important in shaping his personality, so it would perhaps be pertinent to call him a man of his changing times.

Closeness of the Bohemian and the Hungarian king, facilitated by this marriage, which could've meant a significant boost for the modus vivendi between the two kingdoms, was soon gone. On the contrary, throughout the 1460s, the differences in interests, aims and options of both monarchs had crystalized. While George was focused on diplomatic efforts, meant to bolster his slightly awkward position, Corvinus was much more uncompromising and didn't hide his ambitions concerning power in the entire Central European space. In this regard, it's notable that he set his sights more on the Lands of the Bohemian Crown than on the Ottoman Empire, which was directly neighboring the kingdom of Hungary. The entire christian Europe expected Corvinus to show himself to be a "Turk-slayer". However, this did not come to pass. And that's despite the fact that the king of Hungary was in possession of an unusual amount of material resources: in 1463, his income totaled around 300 000 florins a year and in the year of his passing (1490), the revenue of the Royal Chamber has been estimated as unbelievable 800 000 florins.

In his time at George's court, Matthias Corvinus had had more than enough opportunity to become familiar with his weaknesses. And so we shouldn't be surprised by his decisive move, which was to a significant extent bolstered by the stronger position of the catholic church in Moravia. In early May 1469, Matthias was elected king of Bohemia, or rather anti-king of George of Poděbrady, in Olomouc. However, this event had its causes, a prehistory of sorts. Let's turn our focus towards it for a bit.

In 1467, the pope added king George, archbishop Rokycanský and other people to his list of heretics, recited every Maundy Thursday. A large-scale military engagement followed. Battles in the years 1467-1471 are sometimes called the Second Hussite War. [3] And it was this war that the king of Hungary was markedly involved in. The clash with Matthias Corvinus, as the lord of Poděbrady himself realized, was first and foremost about which of the two men would gain hegemony over Central Europe.

In early 1469, Corvinus invaded Moravia, in February, he was already heading to Bohemia, but he didn't get further than the east of the country. In the final decade of February, the king of Hungary attempted a risky maneuver: he requested mediation of the negotiations with his Bohemian counterpart. The negotiations themselves took place on a desolate estate in a Hungarian village in the Iron Mountains. We could perhaps criticize the Bohemian king for being too trusting of his opponent; he might've relied on the classical premise that the king's word is truly the king's word...

George promised Corvinus his support on the way to the imperial crown, which was no pittance. The king of Bohemia was still a member of the board of imperial electors; in exchange, Matthias agreed to play the role of an intermediary in any negotiations George might lead with the Papal Curia. They also agreed upon a truce, which was supposed to last up untill the 11th of May 1469. More negotiations between the two monarchs were supposed to take place, but this did not come to pass. And not only because of the aforementioned event in Olomouc, that is, Matthias' election for the king of Bohemia.

Within the Lands of the Bohemian Crown, who was on Matthias Corvinus' side in summer 1469? A large portion of Silesia, both of the Lusatias, cities in Moravia, part of the local nobility, bishop of Olomouc and the catholic opposition in the Kingdom of Bohemia. The difference between this and the era a whole half a century before was surprisingly small. However, probably the most difficult situation was in the Kingdom of Bohemia, where two parallel administrations functioned alongside each other. It was certainly highly problematic that no real border between the two domains existed, as they literally overlapped. However, contacts between the aristocratic opposition and the monarch were also active, as it soon became apparent that the matter wasn't just the form of the double reign. In early June 1469, the Bohemian Diet met up in Prague, approving the suggestion of George of Poděbrady to make the young Jagiellonian prince Władysław his successor on the throne of Bohemia. Here we are at the root of the Jagiellons establishing themselves on the Bohemian throne, but at the same time, we must not forget that the road to putting this plan into praxis was long indeed.

ANTI-CORVINUS ALLIANCE AND THE PEACE OF OLOMOUC George of Poděbrady died in March 1471, and as early as that May, 15-year old Władysław/Vladislaus from the Jagiellonian dynasty was elected king of Bohemia in Kutná Hora, then crowned. However, that same month, Matthias let himself be crowned as the king of Bohemia in Jihlava. Thus, the double reign over the kingdom of Bohemia continued, since the experienced and crafty Matthias Corvinus stood as anti-king against this youth. Surprisingly, Matthias himself interpreted his electoral failure in Kutná Hora as a conspiracy of not only his Hungarian opposition and enemies, which he did not exactly lack, but also of the "Bohemian heretics".

Emperor Frederick III. of Habsburg initially did not approve of Vladislaus' election either. Only in 1474 did the emperor officially confirm Vladislaus as the king of Bohemia and promised to give him Bohemia [4] as a fiefdom. And to make the contours of this line more proper, he also signed a rather far-reaching treaty of alliance with the Polish king Casimir IV. (1447-1492), father of young Vladislaus. It's interesting that both treaties directly, "explicitly" included anti-Corvinus passages, which took into consideration not only the situation in Hungary, but also minded the potential allies in Austria. With these agreements, we can truly speak of a Habsburg-Jagiellonian coalition.

Thus a road to get rid of neuralgic spots between both Bohemian monarchs was being steadily threaded. For Corvinus, Moravia was still a key territory, where he restored the office of the local hetman in 1475. And here, something rather unusual happened, which signalized a gradual change in circumstances. This high Moravian office was given to lord Ctibor Tovačovský, formerly a key collaborator of George of Poděbrady. This important aristocrat served Vladislaus II. in the illustrious office of high chancellor, as well as his advisor. The developments taking place, which slowly weakened the tension between the formally hostile camps, could perhaps to a certain extent be called "evolutionary". By accepting the aforementioned prominent utraquist into the Moravian hierarchy of power, Matthias Corvinus himself had seemingly sent an unmistakable signal that he could be not only an acceptable, but actually good monarch for this part of the "political spectrum" too.

And so - step by step - the direct negotiations of both kings of Bohemia, Vladislaus of the Jagiellonian dynasty and Matthias Corvinus, were being prepared. They took place in June 1479 in Olomouc. A clear change in circumstances was already shown trough the ceremonial entrance to the Hanakian metropolis. The kings went side by side with a canopy carried above them, and they were accompanied by numerous high-born figures. Following their arrival, a mass was held in the parish church of Saint Moritz. The mutual negotiations came to be called the peace of Olomouc. Certainly rightfully so. They not only confirmed the previous peaceful modus vivendi between the two rulers, but simultaneously clearly outlined their subsequent policy.

DIFFERENT IN MORAVIA THAN IN HUNGARY And how did Matthias do in Moravia after 1479? He continued in the traditional vein of his policies, which were simultaneously very nimble and effective. His success was based on his ability to suss out the needs of the church and the royal towns, and to "balance" all of that out with strong aristocracy, as well as lower nobility. It is arguably interesting that while in Hungary, he had to constantly struggle against the opposition of local nobles, who were able to cause him much grief, the situation in Moravia was different: the local high-born classes felt no need to chafe against their ruler. It is something of an open question as to why was the nobility there (and in Hungary not at all!) given sufficient political space - Matthias took the confessional issues in stride, and on top of that, he was also understanding towards the ancient claims of the nobility. As if this wasn't the same ruler who was willing to burden kingdom of Hungary by an unbelievable hailstorm of special taxes. On the contrary, in 1484, he vowed to not collect any taxes in Moravia outside the norm. And on top of that, he extended the inheritance claims in Moravia up to the fifth degree of relation (and so he actually significantly reduced his possibilities of collecting escheat from the nobility).

The peace negotiations in Olomouc also deeply affected the situation in Bohemia. And then the year 1485 came, and during it the key diet in Kutná Hora, which met up from 13th of March to the 20th of March. Certain agreements concerning peaceful relations between the confessional parties, which had already been reached the year before in Prague, formed the basis of negotiations in Kutná Hora. The changes were truly negligible. It is interesting that the religious peace was supposed to be in place for a 31 year period. Catholics maintained the status quo based on the realization that they don't have at their disposal the power they'd need to overturn the present situation. On the other hand, the Calixtines were well aware that should they continue resisting, their international isolation would only bring them misfortune. And so, in accordance with the letter of the Articles, a freedom of religion was ensured for the members of both denominations, including, naturally, for the feudal subjects. One might certainly say that the religious peace of Kutná Hora actually foreshadowed the Confessio Bohemica from 1575.

YOUNG KING VLADISLAUS - HEIR TO THE CROWN OF BOHEMIA Now, let's turn our attention to one more common action of both kings of Bohemia. The year was 1486 and the college of electors gathered again after unbelievable 46 years. And because time began to mercilessly cut into the second half of the fifth decade of emperor Frederick's rule and his son was also an actual adult, the college of electors arrived in their the usual location, that is, Frankfurt am Main. They were intent on forcing the emperor, who always had enough time for all things, into the election of a new emperor. In attendance were six electors, one truly does not need to ponder which one was missing. For us, this fact has a certain almost juicy flavor: imagine, this is what for a time united the two long-time rivals, who both held the same title, king of Bohemia. This is because neither of them was even invited into Frankfurt. Which was perhaps to be expected in Matthias' case, but why wasn't Vladislaus invited to Frankfurt either?

Of course, it is hypothetically possible to find some reasons. First: the Habsburgs considered the Jagiellonian dynasty an unwelcome competition. And second: we know that the pope didn't approve Vladislaus II. as the king of Bohemia. The reasoning thus appears to be quite understandable. But the Jagiellonian was quite well trained in his role: he sent a protest note to the college, but not only in his own name. Members of the Bohemian citizen polity also joined; they unequivocally considered the conduct of the college of electors insulting. Matthias also used the opportunity to attract attention on the international scene. In 1486, he initiated a personal meeting of both rulers in Jihlava, during which he tried to gain the Jagiellonian as an ally in his conflict against the Habsburgs. But first, he made a dramatic gesture, when he resigned on the function of an elector in a rather theatrical manner.

No matter how successful Matthias was in relation to Frederick III., it didn't change anything about king Vladislaus' rise in status. This can also be demonstrated trough the negotiations of the six electors between 15th of April and 21st of May 1489: the college of electors finally gave the function of an elector to Vladislaus, along with the title of the imperial arch-waiter. [5] All of Corvinus' reactions rang hollow, including trying to induce yet another uprising in Prague. The conspiracy was discovered and five people paid for this attempt with their lives. And so came about a situation previously unknown to Matthias: he found himself in international isolation, from which only death freed him.

It found him on the 6th of April 1490 in his second residence, which was at the time Hofburg in Vienna. His passing was commented upon in various ways: "King Matthias is dead, justice died with him." is how the common people supposedly reacted to the death of the first Central European ruler with local roots. Intellectuals apparently had different priorities, since we know of a saying: "Matthias is dead, the books in Europe are about to get cheaper." which was apparently spoken a couple of times by Lorenzo de' Medici, when the news reached him at the center of the renaissance movement, the famous Florence. Old Bohemian manuscripts, for the 15th century purely works of urban provenience, have preserved this note: "...the Hungarian king Matthias died in Vienna, who for a long time in all manner took care that he ruled in Bohemia, acting with peculiar cleverness trough prince Hynek of Poděbrady. King Vladislaus, hearing of his death, had bells rung in his honor throughout all of Prague." [6]

From that date onward, king Vladislaus from the Jagiellonian dynasty finally became the sole ruler over the entire territory of the Bohemian Crown, but also of the Crown of Saint Stephen. Day by day, he was becoming one of the most powerful European monarchs. At the same time, it as if the events of spring and summer of the fateful year 1490 confirmed Matthias' bleakest premonitions about the fate of his empire. The sizeable union of states which he had ruled nigh instantaneously became a literal battlefield, where parts of the dominion were fought over by the Jagiellonians and the Habsburgs, against whom surprisingly held his own Corvinus' seventeen-year old illegitimate son János.

[1] - the original term used was "slobodný pán", the Slovak equivalent of Holy Roman title "Freiherr"

[2] - here meant in the sense of (to quote Wikipedia) "manuscript written in its author's or composer's hand"; this is a little clearer in original Slovak, which simply calls autographs in the common sense "podpis" (signature), but it technically makes sense in English as well

[3] - in Slovak, not in English, as far as I can tell

[4] - the Slovak wording is clear that it's not the whole thing, just the core territories outside Moravia, Silesia or Lusatia; confusing as hell, I know

[5] - Erz-Mundschenk in German, Archipincerna in Latin, title traditionally held by the kings of Bohemia; once again I could not find the proper English translation, so I had to work with what I had

[6] - Old Czech once again; this time, I wasn't quite sure about some of it, especially the formulation "chytrost divnou", which I translated as "with peculiar cleverness", even though the declension is all kinds of wrong (I really cannot overstate how much weirder and more archaic the whole thing sounds in the original)

[arpad-shitposting]

Chronicler Johannes De Thurocz About The Brothers (addendum to The Brothers: Untrue Inheritors Of The Chalice)

(Translation mine)

"Besides Ján Jiskra, there were at the time in the land many foreign nation(al)s, who used all their might for the desolation of the realm. Piotr Komorowski subjugated the entire Liptó County into his dominion, man named Pongrác, as we've mentioned of Hungarian [1] origin, took over of the entire Thurócz County, seized the Starhrad [2], castles Branč and Strečno and was not far behind the others in merciless plunder of the country. They harbored exceptional hatred towards one another and each persecuted the others and pitilessly plundered the aforementioned counties and everything in their vicinity. There was also another kind of robbers devastating the Upper Hungary. [3] They were recruited from former mercenaries. Their units were committing violent acts and seized many of their bases trough betrayal, force of arms or having them newly built. They adopted the name brother in the fashion of monks in a monastery, which they called in their language "bratrík". [4] From amongst themselves they picked captains, and they destroyed all of the areas in their vicinity trough pillaging, killing and burning, and they were worse than any others. Their audacity had spread through the country..."

[1] - the word used is "uhorský", meaning born within kingdom of Hungary, not of Hungarian nationality in a modern sense, but unlike Slovak, Latin doesn't distinguish between the two, so take that as you will

[2] - also Starý hrad (Old Castle)

[3] - literally "Upperlands" (Horná zem), but I don't think there is any other proper English name than Upper Hungary

[4] - Czech name for the Brothers movement and its members is Bratříci/bratřík, an antiquated diminutive form of the word brother, in modern Czech not used in any other context; meaning, in Czech and Slovak, there is no mistake whenever you talk about "bratrík/bratríci", unlike in English (at least as far as English Wikipedia knows, as it only uses Czech, Slovak, Polish and Ukrainian sources, because my life isn't hard enough).

(Translator's note: the official English translation exists, but scouring it is a pain and I am lazy. I wasn't able to find the particular Mikoláš Aleš drawing that was used in the original article, so I picked the one above, which depicts Jan Talafús.)

[arpad-shitposting]

The Testimony Of Period Documents (addendum to The Brothers: Untrue Inheritors Of The Chalice)

In the Archive of Bardejov, several tens of documents providing evidence for the activity of Peter Aksamit since 1450 untill his end can be found. For example, one of them is a letter, written in German, from around the year 1450, in which Peter Aksamit threatens the people of Bardejov, because they had two of his men - Vyšacký and Petrík - hanged. Another interesting one is a letter written in Czech from January 1456, which was addressed by "Petr of Cossowo, residing at Plawczy", or the Plaveč Castle, to "wise and honourable gentlemen the mayor [1] and councilors of the town of Bardejov, my dear friends etc.". Among other things, it says "...with you I'd like to enter a truce, so that you don't say I would like to start a war rather than peacefully live with you, if that's possible and you want it." He further announces that he's leaving in order to deliberate with his "brothers", among other things "if God wills it, the good end will come to pass. And I also ask you as my friends and neighbours if you'd borrow me four hundred florins..." Evidence of whether the Bardejov citizens did indeed lend 400 florins to Aksamit hasn't been passed down to us, but we know that strained relations between the Brethren captain and the royal free city continued.

[1] - richtár in Slovak, a.k.a. the head of the municipal administration in Middle Ages and Early Modern Era; English Wikipedia translates it as advocatus or Vogt, but that article is poorly sourced and common Slovak parlance understands the office as having at least vague similarity (though it's by no means a close equivalent!) to modern mayors

[arpad-shitposting]

Legends And Reality (addendum to The Brothers: Untrue Inheritors Of The Chalice)

The figure of Peter Aksamit, as pointed out by Slovak historian Matúš Kučera, has been shrouded in myth by the populace. In the area around the village of Haligovce in the Spiš region, there is a place called Aksamit's Hill. A nearby cave is also named Aksamitka. The Brethren hetman supposedly often dwelled in these places and met there with various dignitaries and military commanders. He allegedly gained the nickname Aksamit after taking an expensive cloak made out of velvet (or aksamit) [1] off a certain gentleman somewhere in Poland. This tale was also immortalized in a song from this period, which claimed that however well-dressed, Aksamit has no value if his comrades, who had elected him their captain, don't stand by him.

The origin of the Brethren leader, who was always signing documents as Peter Aksamit of Košovo or Kosovo, hasn't been satisfactorily explained to this day. Several older historians, such as František Palacký or Josef Jireček, had no doubts about his Czech heritage, others saw him as Polish, but for example the aforementioned Václav Chaloupecký called him a Slovak, who came from the Kosovo hamlet [2] near Dvorníky in the Hlohovec district.

Since 1440, Peter Aksamit served in the mercenary army of Ján Jiskra of Brandýs. In 1443, he is attested as one of the junior commanders at the Spiš Castle. In a report to pope Nicholas V. from 1453, cardinal Enea Silvio Piccolomini characterized Peter Aksamit like so: "He's some sort of a Czech, coming from an unknown place, from low-born parents. However, he is a brave man, gifted with not only cleverness, but internal alertness, hard-working, not balking at any kind of effort or danger."

[1] - aksamit is a Polish and older Slovak word for velvet

[2] - in original Slovak "samota" (lit. solitude), a scattered settlement with households very far apart, not clustered in a village